GREETINGS FROM OCALA, FLORIDA

 

 

CELEBRITY WATCH

 

As you know, we live near Tinsel Town and are somewhat accustomed to seeing TV and movie stars in our everyday lives.  Recall that just last season, we saw Peter O’Reilly, son of Seton and Gerry O’Reilly (avid readers of the Trackchaser Report) appear as the Director of the 2012 New York Olympic campaign on The Apprentice.

 

I’m a major fan of reality TV shows.  We just learned we have a connection to the reality TV program, The Bachelor.  Daughter Kristy used to date Moana’s brother Cheyenne (a real Eddie Haskell type kid).  Moana is now one of the three finalists of The Bachelor program.  No one in our house is rooting for Moana!

 

The upcoming season of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice begins next week.  Kristy’s law school friend, Roxanne Wilson will be one of the candidates for a future job with Donald Trump.  Roxanne spent the 4^th of July with us a couple of years ago.  She seemed very nice.  The Lewis family is rooting for Roxanne.

 

 

SPECIAL NOTICE

 

You can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos from this weekend’s new track visits in Florida.  You might also want to see the outpouring of support from the residents of Auburndale, Florida on the occasion of my 1,000^th track.  I never would have expected this event to draw so much attention.

 

 

 

SPECIAL, SPECIAL NOTICE

 

THE STREAK IS OVER!!

 

Yes, the streak that began on the morning of Sunday, May 8, 2005 at the Bellekouter oval in Affligem, Belgium is now over.  Of course, I am talking about my consecutive trackchasing days streak without a day being rained out.

 

The streak ends after 109 consecutive days of trackchasing.  During the streak, I saw 160 new racetracks.  My travels took me to 24 states as well as trackchasing visits to Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Canada.

 

The streak almost didn’t end today.  The weather forecast for Ocala, Florida called for a 50% chance of rain at 2 p.m. increasing to a 60% chance of rain at 6 p.m. before decreasing to just 20% for the balance of the evening beginning at 8 p.m.  The actual rainfall started and continued as predicted.

 

We had a 110-mile drive to the track following our afternoon movie, “Walk the line.”  By the way, this is the second time I’ve seen this movie in a theatre as well as once on an airplane.  This life story of Johnny Cash is my favorite movie of this Oscar year and one of my all-time favorite flicks.

 

It rained lightly for the first 50 miles or so of our drive.  Calls to the track yielded strongly worded replies such as, “We’re racing.  It’s not raining here now.  We expect the rain to blow out and we’ll be racing.”

 

The last 60 miles of our drive were nearly rain-free.  Only when we got very near the Ocala Speedway did the rain begin again.  Carol and I were traveling with the Virts.  We pulled into the speedway only to find a Wisconsin license plated Chevy Blazer in the parking lot.  Inside that Blazer was none other than the old Badger himself, Ed Esser. 

 

The races weren’t scheduled to begin for another 60 minutes.  We invited Ed to join us for dinner and he accepted.  We had a nice Italian dinner at Bella Luna (exit 350, I-75).  The service was great, but the process took a bit longer than expected.  I kept looking outside at a large rain puddle.  There had been no sprinkles showing up in that puddle for the last 45 minutes of our dinner.  Things were looking up!

 

We didn’t get out of dinner until about 7:30 p.m.  The races were scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.  Tonight we are in line to see two new tracks, both the asphalt oval and the figure 8 track.  The restaurant was 12 miles from the track.  We joked that if they started on time at 7 p.m., which we didn’t think was possible, they might run the school bus figure 8 race first and we might have missed it.  No, they wouldn’t do that, would they?

 

Just as we left the Bella Luna parking lot, the worst happened.  It started to rain!  The rain was supposed to have moved out by now!  Since it had been dry up until 7:30 p.m., and the track was supposed to start racing at 7 p.m. had they already run a few races while we were eating?  Probably not, because the track had been wet from earlier rains in the day.  However, you never know.  We might have missed a new track opportunity while we were eating…..and now it was raining.

 

We pulled into the track at 7:45 p.m.  The track lights were out.  Racecars were being pulled out of the track on their haulers.  The races were cancelled.  The streak was over!

 

We made some inquiries.  They had not run any races tonight.  The entire program, both asphalt and figure 8 racing, would be rescheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, at 2 p.m.

 

It was great we would still be able to get our two new tracks tomorrow.  It wasn’t great that the streak had ended.  It wasn’t great that tomorrow’s forecast calls for a high temperature of 51 degrees with strong northwesterly winds.  It wasn’t great that we would have to make the 220-mile round-trip drive again.  It wasn’t great that Carol and my plan to take in the sights of Orlando, where we honeymooned, to celebrate our 34^th wedding anniversary (February 13, 1972) would have to be cancelled.

 

Nevertheless, we are trackchasers.  Carol is the reigning 2005 Women’s Trackchasing Champion.  She can’t be denied.  Neither, can I.  We will layer on every piece of clothing we brought to the “Sunshine” state.  A new streak begins today!

 

There have been some significant sports longevity streaks in the past.  Which one of these do you think was most difficult to achieve?

 

- Tiger Woods 142 consecutive cuts made (1998-2005)

 

- Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive baseball games played (1982-98)

 

- Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game major-league hitting streak (1941)

 

- UCLA men’s basketball 88-game winning streak (1971-74)

 

- Randy Lewis’ 160 new tracks seen without a rainout day (2005-06)

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

Today was my first planned “Same location” trackchasing double of 2006.

 

Back on February 10, 1991, I saw Kenny Jacob’s wheel the #1W to victory lane in an All-Star sprint car race at Ocala’s DIRT track.  My records also show I visited the Ocala Speedway dirt track during the “Pre-1980” period.  The Ocala Speedway, the oldest speedway in Florida is now a paved asphalt track.  Did you know that the trackchasing rules allow a trackchaser to count a track a second time when there is a change in surface?

 

One of the rules established by our trackchasing ancestors long before I joined the group was the following,

 

“Tracks that change between a paved surface and a dirt surface can be counted once for each surface. Changes between different types of pavement (asphalt, concrete, etc.) or different types of dirt (dirt, clay, shale, grass, gravel, etc.) surfaces only count once. Ice tracks formed over an existing paved or dirt track can not be counted as an additional track, but they can be used to count the track once.”

 

If I were setting up the trackchasing rules from scratch, I probably would not have done it this way.  I think I would have preferred to count a track just once regardless of whether it changed racing surfaces or not.  However, I was not involved with the initial rules making efforts.  When I joined the group, I agreed to abide by the rules that were in effect at that time.

 

Not only will I get to count the Ocala oval track in both its dirt and asphalt versions, but also I will get a third Ocala track.  Today, they were carrying over the planned school bus figure 8 race from the rained out Saturday show to this afternoon’s Sunday show.  I’ve waited a long time to return to the asphalt oval for one simple reason.  When I did return, I wanted to be able to get a “Same track” double using the figure 8 track.  Ocala has had very few figure 8 races since changing the oval from dirt to asphalt.  That made my wait a long one, but a rewarding one.

 

 

The People

 

Let’s talk about the promoter of Ocala Speedway as our people person of the day.  His name is Bob “Something.”  I spoke with him about a week ago regarding his racing program this weekend.  He seemed like a nice enough guy.  He had just closed on his purchase of the speedway on December 9, 2005.

 

I reminded him that I had the Ocala Speedway figure 8 track on my final trackchasing plan once before.  On that occasion, the track cancelled at the last minute because they couldn’t get enough school buses.  “Mike” assured me that would not be the case with his race promotion.  He had purchased six racing school buses just to make sure he always had enough buses.

 

On the way up to the track today, I called and asked what time the school bus figure 8 race would be running.  The main program started at 2 p.m.  I was told the figure 8 race would be the last race of the day and should start somewhere around “Dark thirty.”

 

When we arrived at the track, the announcer told the crowd over and over again that we would soon be seeing the figure 8 race.  If he mentioned this once, he mentioned it 20 times.  But, you know what.  At nearly 7 p.m., they announced that in order to “Make the crowd more comfortable” and “Because we love you” (I’m not making one word of this up!!!), the figure 8 race was being cancelled and would be run at a later date.

 

I’ll give you more details down in the racetrack news section.  I guess this shouldn’t surprise me.  I always need to remember we’re dealing with short track racing promoters here.  You really can’t believe what they tell you, even though they sound so sincere when they talk to you.

 

The trip

 

Following the races, we were so hungry we stopped at three separate Waffle Houses for dinner.  You’re thinking the Lewis’ must have been mighty hungry! 

 

Actually, the first two Waffle Houses we entered were so cold we couldn’t eat dinner inside.  I guess they didn’t think to provide much insulation in Florida built Waffle Houses.  Finally, on our third WH, we learned not to sit by a window.  This new strategy worked.  Carol and I enjoyed waffles, grits and a bacon and egg sandwich before staying overnight in Orlando.

 

Sunday was supposed to be our wedding anniversary celebration in Orlando.  Saturday’s rainout spoiled that.  If I had known the Orlando Speedway wasn’t going to race on the figure 8 track, we would have bagged the idea of going there on Sunday.  As it stands, I will have to go back to Ocala Speedway someday to see the figure 8 track.  I’m sure they’ll be running on the oval that day as well.

 

Most of our actual anniversary day, February 13, was spent traveling back to SoCal.  Our official anniversary entertainment will now be a Valentine’s Day combo at Staples Center.  We’ll see Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets 7 foot 6 inch center, and NBA All-Star top vote getter, battle the Los Angeles Clippers on Valentine’s night.  Yes, I am an entertainment junkie and Carol is a good enough sport to go along.

 

In closing, I wanted to share three of my Florida observations with you.  Although I’ve been to Florida every year for several years, this is the first time I’ve noticed the tremendous amount of residential construction.  I traveled roads such as U.S. 27 around Haynes City in central Florida and was blown away by the new housing tracts that have sprung up.  Of course, this growth makes traffic bad throughout the state.  It will take them a while to build the roads and infrastructure to keep up with the growth.  The Orlando International Airport had the longest security lines of any airport I have ever flown into or out of.

 

We were also surprised during our visit to Daytona Beach.  Again, we’ve been going here for the last 30 years.  It was fun to drive along the beach, but the beachfront hotels looked terrible.  It reminded us of visiting Atlantic City many years ago when just a few casino hotels were operating.  In Daytona there were some good-looking modern high-rise hotels, but many more properties were leveled, about to be leveled or should be leveled.  We were very disappointed in the beachfront accommodations of Daytona Beach.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

OCALA SPEEDWAY – ASPHALT OVAL, OCALA, FLORIDA TRACK #1,001 – 2/12/06

 

This track was my 44^th and Carol’s 9^th in Florida.  I'm trying to close in on Ed Esser’s Florida track lead.  He now leads the state standings with 47 tracks.  Carol’s 9 tracks give her a 36^th place state ranking.

 

The weather during most of our trip wasn’t that great.  I often say that the coldest night’s I’ve ever spent racing were nearly all in Florida during Speed Weeks.  We did see two of our three planned tracks and depending on how you look at it, were lucky or unlucky to see two tracks.

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

OCALA SPEEDWAY – ASPHALT OVAL, OCALA, FLORIDA

 

The forecast several days ago called for today, Sunday, to be much cooler than normal.  That forecast called for a high of about 55 degrees.  Actually, it turned out to be even cooler.  The high when we arrived at 2 p.m. was just 48 degrees.  I doubt it got any warmer than that.  When we left at 7 p.m., it was 39 degrees.

 

As I mentioned above, the promoter cancelled the figure 8 race and thus both Carol and my new track.  His somewhat pathetic announcer explained that this cancellation was really for the benefit of the fans, because of the cold temperatures.

 

Maybe if the promoter had run a better program, there would have been no need to cancel just one event on his Sunday afternoon program, the figure 8 race.

 

Here is what led up to this debacle.

 

As noted the Saturday night program was cancelled by rain with no events running whatsoever.  Saturday night’s show was to be for four classes of stock cars and the school bus figure 8s followed by fireworks.  The promoter decided to run the “Full show” from Saturday on Sunday afternoon.  The regularly scheduled program for Sunday was a 200-lap modified race to begin at 2 p.m.  That long race as well as a couple of last chance races was the only event on the original Sunday schedule.

 

With temperatures on the very cool side and people needing to get home at a reasonable hour on Sunday for a Monday workday, maybe the promoter should have started the activities a little earlier on Sunday.

 

-        The start time should have been moved up from 2 p.m. to 1 p.m., if not earlier.

 

Knowing that he had a very full program; wouldn’t it have been a good idea to start on time?  The first race started 46 minutes past the 2 p.m. scheduled starting time.

 

      - Start your program on time.

 

It was a cold day to be sitting in the stands.  I went to the concession stand during the intermission to get some coffee and hot chocolate.  I came back empty handed.  They were out of hot chocolate and the coffee they had brewed was by their own admission, “Bad.”

 

-        When you run a racetrack, make sure you don’t run out of food and drink, especially coffee and hot chocolate on a cold day.

 

There were several small children in attendance today.  I was surprised there were so many kids on such a cold day.  Do you think those kids were at the track to watch a 200-lap modified race or maybe the school bus figure 8s?

 

-        When you have a novelty race or event that attracts kids or people who come just for the novelty, put it earlier in the program, so the people who came to see it will still be at the track.

 

The announcer promoted the 50/50 drawing for more than five hours.  Even though the racing program ran for more than five hours, the announcer told the crowd that the 50/50 drawing would not be made until the very last race was completed.  That race ended no sooner than 7:30 p.m.  Remember, the show was supposed to start at 2 p.m.  It was now dark.  Many of the people had already left by the time the last race was run and the 50/50 ticket was drawn.  Was the track hoping the person who held the winning 50/50 ticket had already left the track, so the track could keep both ends of the 50/50 pot?

 

-        When you have a 50/50 drawing, make sure the winning ticket is drawn when most of the people are still at the track.

 

Finally, the announcer, who had a nice radio voice, was essentially clueless.  He rarely mentioned a driver and number during the race.  He just didn’t inform the crowd about racing related items very often at all.  He did mention that he was drinking his Pepsi and that Pepsi was sponsoring the 200-lap Blue-Gray modified race.  As a matter of fact, he mentioned that about 50 times or more.  Of course, you have to mention the race sponsor.  Nevertheless, if you mention it too much like the announcer did today, it can turn the crowd off from the intended message.

 

I must admit that we did like ONE thing the announcer told the crowd.  He advised everyone that caution laps would count toward the 200-lap modified race total.  Both Carol and I ran our elbows together trying to do a fist pump and yell, “Yes!”

 

When the announcer needs to communicate bad news to the crowd as when he telling them part of the program is going to cancelled, he shouldn’t try to tell us the “Bad news” is “Good news.”  We’re not stupid.  I dare say that many people were very much looking forward to seeing the school bus figure 8 races, especially the kids. 

 

-        Don’t insult the intelligence of the crowd, by telling them that “Bad news” is really “Good news”.  Run your program efficiently and start on time and you won’t have to cancel a race that may have taken up only 10-15 minutes.

 

Now, back to the racing.  The main event of 200-laps for the modifieds was a yawner.  The winning driver led all 200 laps.  I did not see a pass on the track in any of the top five positions over the entire race.  That’s the classic definition of a yawner. 

 

During the first 100 laps, they never raced as many as 10 consecutive green laps without a caution flag.  If a car even got loose, the flagman threw a yellow flag.  The drivers immediately recognized there was no need to get going after a spin.  The better strategy was just to sit there and wait for a caution flag.

 

The track ran a 30-lap, 14-car V8 stock car feature.  They also had 30-laps for a 14-car street stock feature.  The 30-lap sportsman feature for eight cars was way to long.  There were a couple of 15-lap 7-9 car last chance races for the modifieds, followed by the 200-lap modified race.  The modifieds took a 15-20 minute pit stop in the middle of their race.  That race was followed by a mini-stock? feature event.  The race was shortened from 50-laps to 35-laps.  Ya!  The aforementioned figure 8 race was cancelled so everyone could watch fireworks in 39-degree temperatures after having been outside for more than five hours.

 

Despite several things the track’s management could have done better there were several aspects of our experience that were better than average.  The overall appearance of the track and its facilities showed that everything was clean and freshly painted.  They even had fresh flowers in both the men and women’s bathrooms!  They did a good job of cleaning up wrecked racecars to keep the program moving.  Their $12 admission price was reasonable for the amount of racing entertainment they were offering.

 

The only positive people note is that Carol and I had a nice chat with Nancy Brown.

 

 

 

Carol’s Comments

 

Carol had some great one-liners regarding our viewing conditions.  Check these out.

 

“This is just like skiing, but without the fun.”

 

“It’s pretty bad when you’re lipstick freezes.”  (I hate that too.)

 

She was quite bummed there was no figure 8 racing.  She liked the lap counter because it gave her motivation to hang in against the cold weather.  She liked the track facilities and the black and white theme throughout.  The bathrooms were nice.  They had a lot of them and even had yellow flowers.  You don’t see that often, if ever!  The cars hardly ever passed and the first 100-laps of the modified feature were pathetic because of the yellow flag delays.  It was great we could use the car as a “Warming hut” during intermission periods.

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

This will be the second consecutive week I’ll be driving a National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix.  I like that car.  It’s probably my “Car of choice” from what major rental car companies call “Full size” cars.

 

We covered 895 driving miles on this trip.  We stopped for gas three times and paid an average price of $2.37 per gallon.  The Grand Prix gave us 24.6 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 9.6 cents per mile.  I did notice that the majority of people buying things in gas station convenience stores buy beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets.  Of course, these are the people least capable of blowing money on such things. 

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.

 

1.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,038 (+37)

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (+20)

3.  Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (+6)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (+6)

5.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,001

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 990 (-11)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.

 

40.  Don McAuley, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - 235 (+1)

41.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 234

42.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 233 (-1)

43.  Colin Casserly, Stevenage, England 232 (-2)

44.  Bernie Harlen, Goshen, Indiana - 229 (-5)

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 10

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 6

3.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 5

4.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 4

4.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4

4.  Rick Young, Maxville, Ontario, Canada - 4

7.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 2

7.  Will White, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 2

9.  Several trackchasers – 1

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21^st century

 

Trackchasing doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Orlando, FL – 2,210 miles

 

RENTAL CAR

 

Orlando International Airport – trip begins

Auburndale, Florida – 389 miles

Ocala, Florida – 789 miles

Orlando International Airport – 895 miles – trip ends

 

AIRPLANE

 

Orlando, FL – Los Angeles, CA - 2,210 miles

 

Total air miles – 4,420 miles

 

Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 5,315 miles

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Auburndale Kartway - $10

Ocala Speedway - $12

 

Total race admissions for the trip – about $22

 

 

 

Past trackchasing stories are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

 

Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:

www.trackchaser.com  

 

Some of my standings data comes from trackchaser.com

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

 

Airport Speedway, Rialto, California – February 18

 

 

 

 

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2006 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

992.  Watermelon Capital Speedway, Cordele, Georgia - January 14

 

993.  Cross Roads Motorplex (asphalt oval), Jasper, Florida - January 15

 

994.  Norfolk Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia - January 20

 

995.  Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California - January 21

 

996.  Oregon State Fair & Expo Center, Forster Livestock Arena, Salem, Oregon - January 28

 

997.  Morosso Motorsports Park, Jupiter, Florida – February 4

 

998.  Thunderbowl Speedway of Ocala, Ocala, Florida - February 4

 

999.  Cross Roads Motorplex (dirt oval), Jasper, Florida - February 5

 

1,000.  Auburndale Kartway, Auburndale, Florida - February 10

 

1,001.  Ocala Speedway (asphalt oval), Ocala, Florida - February 12