HAMPTON, Ga. – Next year Atlanta Motor Speedway will host one race, not two. This isn’t breaking news, but no change will occur in terms of time, probable meteorological conditions and getting to sleep at a decent hour.

            Like this year, AMS will host one night race again next year and, presumably, as long as the sun rises over the fourth turn and descends into the first. The Great White Father, O. Bruton Smith, has promised the tribe here that he will continue to visit the reservation, just not as often.

            Things have changed since Smith bought the place and promised rainbow stew and free bubble-up.

            Night races feature both good and bad. They are colorful, which is good. Sparks fly. Many fans don’t get home until the wee hours, also known as “oh-dark-30.” They spend most of their money at the track, not in the surrounding area, and that’s part of the reason NASCAR and Smith love night races so much.

            Many fans say they love night races, and some of them actually do so for reasons other than NASCAR told them so.

“I love night races / I love night races / I love night races / For the Frances tell me so”

            Of course, it’s much better in the grandstands. Apparently those fans can actually see the race.

            Since it had been a year since I had seen a race here at night, I forgot the problem until shortly after the race started and cars began zipping around the track.

            I’ve been known to complain about the cars looking just alike, but a night race here takes that to a completely new and diabolical level.

            Undoubtedly some people have better vision than I, but when Atlanta runs at night, I literally can’t tell the cars apart.

            When this track was flip-flopped (old back straight now front straight) and rebuilt with many seats likely never to be filled, there were apparently no plans for night races.

            That’s why the track put windows over the press box -- and, presumably, the luxury suites -- that are tinted. All the glassed-in areas are wearing sunglasses. (It’s possible, of course, that this dire circumstance was corrected for paying customers.)

            I cannot tell one car from another when peering through these windows, though I am capable of distinguishing fast cars from slow ones. For instance, during the early laps, I was pretty sure I had a positive ID on Kevin Conway’s car before it lost 40 laps.

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.