To would-be British tourists it conjures thoughts of gambling, gangsters and glitz, a city of 24 hour decadence. To Americans it's now a resort destination that is upwardly mobile, trying to shake off those gangster days, trying to move up-scale.

But to motorsport fans it's an unrivalled opportunity for a truly unforgettable few days of excess, combined with great racing.

And with Las Vegas in the eye of the financial storm they were set for, possibly, the biggest bargain in the city's history!

Kyle Busch celebrates by performing a burnout

NASCAR fans have always been made very welcome here, but never like they were last weekend. For right now; behind the headlines and the lights, Vegas is in meltdown.

The high rollers and the big company conference parties are staying away. Nobody, it seems, wants to be seen to be 'wasting' money in times of austerity.

So there had never been a better time to come to Fun City and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A stock car fan could expect plenty of 'bang' for his 'buck'!

Busch land

Of course, to some, Vegas is home. And the front row of last Sunday's Shelby 427 starting grid, (a race extended from 400 to 427 miles to commemorate Shelby's 427 Anglo American AC Cobra sports car of the early 60s), saw brothers and 'Vegas' natives Kyle and Kurt Busch qualify side by side. And they say there's no such thing as 'home' track advantage!

But then Toyota suffered the penalties of a mechanical nightmare, four directly prepped cars and Kyle Busch's Joe Gibbs version were sent to the back of the grid for changing engines before Sunday's race.

The furthest back this race had ever, officially, been won from previously was 25th by Matt Kenseth in 2004.

That was the start of the headline-grabbing action even before 86-year-old Carroll Shelby himself growled the command, "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines".

We didn't have to wait long for the first of a record 14 caution periods either as Brad Keselowski smacked the wall in turn four. At the end of lap six, Matt Kenseth, going for the all time record of three wins from the first three races of the year, was on pit road with a problem.

Drama on the course

One lap later everything happened in such a blur it was visually difficult to keep up. Almost simultaneously; Kenseth blew up, Todd Bodine spun after he and Denny Hamblin touched.

Behind them, Marcos Ambrose was on the brakes and was hit by Elliott Sadler, and heading for pit road was Martin Truex jnr with his axle shaft sticking out like a scene from Gladiator. Oh it was going to be one of those days!

Lap by lap the drama unfolded over the 285-lap scheduled race distance. Some spectacular driving, (Jamie McMurray's save from a Joey Logano tap was awesome). The odd record broken, (Jeff Gordon's twenty thousandth lap led). And, the biggest shock, to the previously gloating non Japanese marques; the rate at which American metal was failing.

With the needle hitting 9,600 revs-per-minute and 850 brake-horsepower forcing well over 190 miles-per-hour out of these V8 monsters I'm surprised anyone was surprised by the internal destruction!

Jack Roush had three cars under-geared and eventually out with engine problems, Mark Martin, (725th Cup race), David Ragan and, right at the flag, Carl Edwards. There could have been, should have been, more.

Despite Las Vegas Motor Speedway being the Busch brother's local track neither had won here. But after three hours 34 minutes and 37 seconds, at an average of 119.515 mph, (with a record 66 caution laps it was the slowest race on record), Kyle Busch cleverly took the 'air' off the strategically brilliant 75-to-1 shot Clint Bowyer's Chevy, sending him up the track and leaving the way clear for the win. It was also Joe Gibbs Racing's first win at this track.

But despite this momentous victory from the back of the grid, due to a NASCAR quirk, the record book will show 'the wild thing' as starting from pole position. But he knows the truth, and with 140,000 witnesses' trackside, no one can take that fact away.

This track should give a real indication of what's to come, many on the 2009 calendar are similar. But you'd never find a location that offers as much as here.

And, as the NASCAR circus was Leaving Las Vegas, only one question was on the minds of the faithful; why on earth do we only come here once a year?

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