NEW ORLEANS -- Maybe it's the addictive strains of all that zydeco music, the spice in the gumbo at K-Paul's, or the effects of one too many Abita Turbodogs. No matter. After a few days here, immersed in so many things so indulgent, at least one thought becomes very clear: this city really needs a race weekend.

And why not? It's difficult to think of anyplace other than New Orleans that's more perfectly suited for the traveling carnival that is NASCAR's premier series, a tour that would feel right at home in this melting pot of jazz and jambalaya and fruity adult beverages. After all, few American cities know how to throw a party better than New Orleans, which has hosted the Super Bowl and the Final Four numerous times each, and effectively shuts down one day every year so residents can wear masks, ride parade floats, and sling plastic jewelry at one another. And if you've ever been in the infield at a place like Talladega or Daytona, you know there's a lot of partying going on. A Big Easy 500 would go over as smoothly as a barge floating down the Mississippi.

It's difficult to think of anyplace other than New Orleans that's more perfectly suited for the traveling carnival that is NASCAR's premier series. If you've ever been in the infield at a place like Talladega or Daytona, you know there's a lot of partying going on. A Big Easy 500 would go over as smoothly as a barge floating down the Mississippi.

OK, so there is a little matter of a race track. Specifically, there isn't one. In fact, scanning all of Louisiana, oval stock-car tracks are more difficult to find than a sober conventioneer on Bourbon Street at 3 a.m. There's only been one premier-series NASCAR race ever held in the state, and that was way up in Shreveport, which is a lot closer to Arkansas than New Orleans. Lee Petty won that event back on June 7, 1953, on a half-mile dirt fairgrounds circuit that had opened as a horse track and has since closed. These days, Monroe Motor Speedway, a modern, fast, 3/8-mile facility that proudly hosts the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, is about as good as it gets.

But like Shreveport, Monroe is a long way from New Orleans. Actually, there's been talk of a major NASCAR facility in the Crescent City itself dating back to 1997, when the group behind the construction of Homestead-Miami Speedway began to show some interest in the area. At one point a task force was even formed to explore the idea. Of course, nothing came of it. In more recent years, a businessman unveiled plans to develop a 42,000-seat, 1-mile track called Louisiana International Speedway up in Kentwood, a town about 90 minutes north of New Orleans that's better known as the birthplace of Britney Spears. There was even a big news conference on the steps of the governor's mansion in 2007 to announce the project -- which was either never built, or is in desperate need of a new public relations agency.

But then again, this part of the world does seem like it's slipped into a kind of motorsports void. When the developer of the Monroe short track was finalizing his project, he told the local paper that "there is literally nothing like this between Talladega and Dallas," emphasizing the fact that the area between the Pearl and Sabine rivers seems to be kind of a NASCAR no-man's land. That's especially true in New Orleans, where racing-related sightings thus far have been limited to one gentleman wearing a bright yellow (and terribly outdated) Nextel Cup cap on the riverfront streetcar, and another sporting a Richard Petty T-shirt sitting outside the Café Du Monde. Makes you wonder how the King takes his café au lait.

And yet, there are a few signs of motorsports civilization. Although we didn't spot any, we have it on good authority that Mardi Gras beads are available in NASCAR-themed driver colors, one type even with a black No. 3 pendant dangling at the bottom. Down the road in Jefferson there's a 24-hour biker bar -- that's right, no mandatory closing times here -- called the Pit Stop that allegedly came to life because a few of the locals wanted a place where they knew they could find the NASCAR races on television. And even in the heart of the French Quarter, there's an Irish bar that features the usual NASCAR sponsor promotional items, like a Robby Gordon car hood, an old Busch Series neon sign, or a Dale Earnhardt Jr. door frame (in Budweiser colors, of course). But there's also a checkered flag tacked to the ceiling, a clock that looks like a Goodyear tire, and Moto GP on the TV above the bar. Is this the place to watch the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday? Confidence is high.

The real heart of NASCAR in Cajun country, though, is about an hour up the road. That would be little Bogalusa, home to Skip Manning, the 1976 rookie of the year on NASCAR's premier series and widely believed to be the only Louisiana native to compete at that level in the sport's modern era. A quick glance at the record books reveals that Slidell native Roxy Dancy started one event, the race at Shreveport in 1953. Kim Crosby, an ARCA racer and driving instructor who was once an assistant principal at a junior high school in Slidell, has made 10 starts on what is now the Nationwide Series. So when it comes to accomplished Louisiana NASCAR drivers, the book basically begins and ends with Manning.

Even he had to go elsewhere to further his career, starting out on dirt tracks in neighboring Mississippi. Manning won rookie honors in a stout field that also included Bill Elliott and Neil Bonnett, started 79 Cup-level events, and posted a top finish of third at Talladega in 1977. He might have achieved more had he not broken his left hip and several ribs when he was T-boned by Joe Frasson in the Southern 500 at Darlington. Rescue crews spent almost an hour extricating Manning from the car. He returned, but eventually dissolved his partnership with car owner Billy Hagan, and retired after two starts in 1979.

Nevertheless, Manning seems like a fine candidate to serve as grand marshal for the first national-series event at a hoped-for New Orleans track. Of course, given that there's no longer an active movement for a racing facility here, those long-overdue levee repairs seem more likely to happen first. But hey, you've got to dream. After all, this is a city whose unofficial mantra is "laissez les bon temps roulez," a loose French translation of "let the good times roll." Can "les messieurs, mettent en marche vos moteurs" -- "gentlemen, start your engines" -- be very far behind?

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.