Even out here, next to Nellis Air Force Base and the waste lands stretching out toward Area 51, they never let you forget you’re in Las Vegas. Pre-race festivities were heavy on local color, complete with showgirls and a brief but very entertaining performance by Blue Man Group.

And they’re beating the drum for a second annual event here. Track owner Bruton Smith stepped to the mic and asked anyone who wanted to see a second race in Vegas to hold up two fingers. Of course, everyone did. Then came mayor Oscar Goodman. “We have earned the right to have a second race in Las Vegas,” he bellowed, flanked by showgirls. “Now the girls and I are going to have a martini.”

Goodman runs, I will admit, a pretty unique city. It is very much the adult playground everyone makes it to be. The facts that you can walk down the street with an open container, win money, and get just about anything even at 3 in the morning are quite alluring. But as much as I like the place - and I do, having been here five times now - I also have some serious issues with it, including:

1. Noise. A room with a Strip view sounds tempting, until you’re trying to sleep. Evidently, the ambulance drivers in Las Vegas are very busy. And the volume of helicopter tours is downright ridicuous. During the daytime it sounds like Beirut with all the dang choppers making slow circles over Las Vegas Boulevard.

2. Litter. There’s not a dirtier major city in America, something Goodman and the powers that be in Clark County desperately need to address. Obviously, in a desert city with a lot of wind and open spaces, you’re going to have more than your fair share of trash blowing around. But every fence has a thick line of litter running along the bottom. The Strip is littered with free pamphlets and the cards the smut peddlers try to hand out. Sure, all that neon is beautiful. But when you look at the ground, the place is filthy.

3. The unruliness on the Strip. Remember all those stories about how crazy and dangerous the place was during NBA All-Star weekend last year? I completely believe them. Why? Because there is little to no police presence on a Strip, where crowds and alcolhol can create a combustible mix. All the casinos have their private secrity forces, and they’re primarily focused on what happens inside. Outside can be hairy, like when the dope head started harassing the GF and me as we were walking back from dinner here last year. This wasn’t in a dark, desolate area, but right outside the Mirage. Every now and then you see a police car, or a few Metro PD officers on bicycle. There need to be more on foot.

But even with all that - and the often reckless drivers, and the general rudeness displayed by many of the visitors, and the constant presence of cigarette smoke - I still like the place. I just don’t think I’m going to come back for a while.