New Egypt Speedway

New Egypt is probably my favorite track. There's just a great atmosphere there. Sure, I'm a race fan, but the fans are a huge factor in enjoying a day at the races. It could be the best race ever on the track, but if the fans are just sitting there, basically looking dead from the neck-up, it takes away from the whole show. New Egypt doesn't have that problem. The crowd is passionate every time there are cars on the track, they're standing up, hooting and hollering, cheering on their favorites. I mean, come on, what more could you expect from a track that is operated by a 30-year old 400-pound Hawaiian man that refers to himself as simply, "The Pimp."

Section 6 of the main grand stands has a group of fans that are self-titled the "Section-6 Psychos." Every track has a group of fans that are more obnoxious than the rest, but, the Section-6 Psychos are probably as good as it gets to fan groups. A group of at least 20 college-looking guys and girls show up wearing plastic helmets, face and body paint, and are completely decked out in New Egypt's all-time winningest driver, Billy Pauch gear. When I go to New Egypt, I'm sure to sit in section-7, so I don't get stuck in the middle of the arguments, but, when the racing is boring, I'm close enough to stay entertained just by looking one section down from me.

I started going to New Egypt weekly to watch my personal favorite driver Kenny Brightbill run there every Saturday night back in 1998. The track has two playgrounds for children to play around on, which of course has a racing theme. A friend of mine, Josiah, and me were basically racing experts for being 9-years old. We knew who was in every car out there, and knew who was good, and who wasn't, so, at the playground, we'd set up racing pools. Basically, we'd tell my dad that we wanted something to eat, get $10 or so, go to the playground, and hope other kids had money on them and were willing to bet us on who would win each qualifying race or feature. Usually, no kids had any money on them, for obvious reasons, but, every once in a while, we'd get someone to take our bet. Despite our best efforts, we probably only ever got around 5 kids to bet with us, and we certainly didn't win every time.

My fondest memory was watching Kenny Brightbill, in late 2002, at the age of 54, win the feature event for the night. Brightbill has over 500 career victories in modified racing but this was different. First of all, he was on the downside of his career, the man certainly didn't have the reaction times he once had but, on this night, it seemed like he was 20 again. After starting mid-pack, Brightbill took the lead and seemed headed for an easy victory. With just 4 laps to go, his luck quickly changed. While attempting to put another car a lap down, Brightbill caught a large rut going into turn 3 while broke the left front bird cage (a major part of the suspension) and caused the left front wheel to break off, and fly over the outside wall, into the pit area. Brightbill's car quickly slowed down and he fought hard to keep the car moving and hold onto the win. The car dug into the ground and it seemed Brightbill's night was over. He came off of turn 4, and drivers Roger Laureno and Keith Hoffman, who were running second and third at the time of Brightbill's misfortune, snuck passed, pushing Brightbill back to third. As he was passed, Brightbill swung the rear end of the car around, jumped on the throttle, which forced the left front of the car off the ground. He kept the left front off the ground until he reached turn one, and hit the brakes, the car dug into the ground and shot large pieces of clay skyward. Brightbill once again jumped back onto the throttle hard, and picked the left front off the ground. He ran around the outside, and in turns 1 and 2 passed both Laureno and Hoffman back. He continued this pattern of having the left front of the car off the ground through the turn and down the straight-away, getting on the brakes, shooting clay up, getting on the throttle again for the final 3 laps, and went on to win with just 3 wheels.