CALVERT CITY, Ky. – The management of Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway wish they could give a definite answer to the question many fans have posed: When will the track re-open?

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is as clear as – well, mud. There’s a lot of moisture left behind by the melting away of all the snow and ice that fell on the region, and on the 3/8-mile dirt oval, in recent weeks.

“We’re pedaling as fast as we can,” co-owner Ronnie Jones said. “But we can’t control the weather.”

A three-day event sanctioned by the National Dirt Racing League has been penciled in on the KLMS calendar for several weeks, but Jones said it depends on the weather if the race will be run as scheduled or if will have to be postponed.

Jones, co-owner Jim Hale and track general manager Tommy House are united in feeling that they’d rather wait than try to run on a track that is anything less than ready for racing.

“You only get one chance to make a first impression,” said House, a 25-year veteran of the NASCAR organization.

“We hope fans will be patient and understand that we can’t make the mud dry up,” House said. “We don’t want to just present a program. We want to present a first-class program that racers and spectators can enjoy.”

The situation is different from tracks that have been operating on a regular basis in recent years, House pointed out. A great deal more track preparation is required at KLMS, which has set idle and unattended for the better part of the last five years, and with no activity at all the past there years.

Jones and Hale purchased the speedway at auction in June for $990,000.

Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway was built by Dwight and Keith Greer and opened in 1997. It is considered by fans and racers as one of the finest short tracks in America.