GREETINGS FROM BARBERVILLE, FLORIDA AND THEN FRUITLAND PARK, FLORIDA

REST IN PIECE ST. LUCIE SPEEDWAY

Back on February 4, 2006, I was in Florida for some trackchasing.  It was a rainy weekend.  Although I picked up the Morosso Motorsports Park while sitting through an afternoon downpour that day, my planned evening race at the St. Lucie Speedway was rained out.  No problem, I thought, I would just see it on some future trip to Florida.

No, I won’t.  I learned this week that the track’s management and the property owner cannot come to terms and the track is closing permanently.  I came so close to adding the St. Lucie Speedway to my list a couple of time and now it looks like I will never get this track.

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

The Strategy

Trackchasing is a lot like golf or dealing with the IRS.  It’s important to understand the rules.  I don’t know of any other trackchaser that runs into rules interpretations or has the need to consult the official trackchasing rules more often that me.  I really can’t explain it.

I carry a copy of the rules with me.  I do this so that situations like today can be understood and my trackchasing results can be maximized.  Because nearly everyone on this distribution list has been handpicked for their intelligence and common sense, I’m going to take you through the details of what I faced this afternoon.  Trust me; this is going to take your full concentration.  If you’re at work right now, you might want to wait until you have the time it will take to tackle this project.

Here is the rule that applied to my situation at the Volusia Speedway Park, “Permanent ovals or figure eights (located on separate areas of the facility) are separately countable whether or not they exist at the same time.”

As background, the Volusia Speedway Park has had permanent racetracks located on both the East and West sides of their property.  It was my good fortune to run into Mike Hunter today.  Mike has worked at VSP for about 20 years.  He has a very good memory of Volusia’s history because he was there for much of it.

Mike is a big burly rough looking guy.  It took all of my considerable persuasive skills to allow me to keep asking him questions about the history of Volusia’s ovals without getting him mad at me.  I actually approached him on three separate occasions with questions, and he was more than willing to answer my questions, which I’m sure to him, didn’t seem to have a point.

The first racetrack at Volusia was built on the East side of the property.  It was a dirt track and they began racing here in the 1960s.  In about 1987, they decided to change the racing surface of the East oval from dirt to asphalt.  When this happened, they built a permanent dirt oval on the West side of the property.  At this point, the property was home to two permanent ovals, one dirt (West) and one asphalt (East).

In approximately 1996, they decided to switch the eastern oval back to dirt.  Yes, that means it started out as dirt, changed to asphalt and then returned to a dirt surface, which is the surface it has today.

At the same time they were switching the Eastern oval surface from asphalt back to dirt, they decided to change the Western oval’s surface from dirt to asphalt.  Why would they do this?  I have absolutely no idea.  The western oval ran only one season as an asphalt oval and they never raced on it again.

In 1994, a permanent inner oval was built inside the Western dirt oval track.  Neither of these ovals touched.  The go-kart track has been the inner oval t both the Western dirt and the Western asphalt oval.  Mike Hunter is the man who built that inner oval back in ’94.  The track has been racing go-karts continuously for 13 years. 

However, the go-kart track is no longer an inner oval.  It was last year, but it’s not this year.  That’s because the Western outer oval was totally removed about six months ago.  I had both Mike Hunter and an older track photographer separately and patiently explain to me the exact original location of the no longer present Western oval.  Their explanations confirmed that 1) both Western ovals raced at the same time and 2) both Western ovals were totally disconnected.  I even told Mike Hunter that I might have to subpoena him in Trackchaser court someday regarding the topic.

So….there you have it.  This go-kart track (I estimate it’s length as 1/6 mile, but I’m really just guessing) meets the rules described above because it was totally disconnected from the permanent Western dirt oval I saw with my stepfather back in 1995.  The go-kart track is also a permanent track as photos on my website show.  It pays to know the rules and to know someone who understands the entire track’s history in case you don’t.

The People

I went trackchasing today with my stepfather, Bill Virt.  By my count, this is the 127^th new track that Bill and I have shared together.  That may be a record for father and son.

Bill has had a long history with racing himself.  Back in the 1955 racing season, he and a friend owned a stock car.  It was a ’38 Plymouth and they raced it at the old Peoria Speedway as well as the old Lincoln Speedway.  The car carried the #71. 

Bill and his partner traded labor for an engine and other car parts.  Bill told me that he had “Less than $100 in the car.”  After a year as a car owner, he realized that racecar ownership can be a money pit and exited the ownership scene.

Back in my freshman year of high school, I was what you might call a “rookie” trackchaser.  I had been to two tracks.  Both of them were in Peoria, Illinois.  My first track was at the Peoria Speedway at the Mt. Hawley Airport.  That track closed and relocated to the current location of the Peoria Speedway.  The second Peoria Speedway maintains its position as my favorite all-time track after seeing it for the first time more than 40 years ago.

Of course, as a 14-year-old trackchaser I was looking to branch out!  When my divorced mother told me she was going to date a man interested in racing that sounded good.  Somewhere during this courtship, I was invited to go to dinner with my mother and Bill.  The significance of this dinner invitation was that a new track opportunity was promised following dinner.

Not only was this going to be a new track, but also it was going to be the first track I had ever seen outside of my native state of Illinois.  We were planning to go to the Davenport Speedway in Davenport, Iowa.  My intrastate trackchasing career was about to take off.

Davenport was 104 miles from my hometown of East Peoria, Illinois.  And, of course, it still is.  We stopped for dinner at some fancy supper club near Galesburg, Illinois.  I remember it being very dimly lit.  I guess that’s what a couple of 34 year olds might like if they were courting.  The scary thing about going to dinner with my mother when she was that age is that our kids aren’t far from that number today!

Anyway, my mother and Bill seemed to be having a very good time.  That was great, but I kept looking at my watch.  They kept talking.  Even back then I seemed to have a sense for the logistical relationship of point A and point B.

Following a very loooooong dinner, we finally got on the road for the Davenport Speedway.  I’m sad to report we missed the race.  When we pulled into the back of the grandstand all of the racing was over.  We had missed the race!

Nevertheless, Bill ended up marrying my mother.  They were married for 34 years until her death in 1997.  Bill has remarried now and his new wife is also named Betty.  I visit them often, as I am doing this weekend, at their home in Auburndale, Florida.

By marrying into the family, Bill had the opportunity to share in my teen-age driving experiences.  He was there to tow my girlfriend and me out of the mud in his ’62 Ford Galaxie.  He was there to come out at 11 p.m. to my girlfriend’s (same girl) driveway to break the wing window in our ’59 Ford after I had locked myself out of the car when I had simply walked the young woman to her front door.  Editor’s note:  I have a long history of locking myself out of cars.  We started the ’59 Ford with a screwdriver since the ignition was broken.  I felt there were extenuating circumstances to my being locked out on that occasion!

He also had to endure my bringing his ’57 Pontiac Chieftan back home from Driver’s Education training in a damaged state.  I had picked up two of my friends who were hitchhiking and wanted to show them what that “358 Pontiac” could do.  That was a long afternoon for me waiting for Bill to come home from work.  I must admit he handled it in a low-key manner.  Bill would later total that car while bending over to retrieve a coffee thermos and rear-ending the car in front of him.

It was about this time that he and my mother decided I needed my own car.  They plunked down $185 for a 1955 Pontiac painted turquoise and white.  Now I was stylin’!  Writing this story reminds me of the patience I as a father needed to show when my own son had his share of driving difficulties.  I hope that I did.  I guess being a young driver isn’t always easy.

The trip

The actual racing trip today was nearly as complicated at my strategy explanation!  We had two potential new track opportunities today.  The problem was they were both scheduled to start racing at nearly the same time.  That’s even more of a problem when the tracks are located 60 miles apart.

The first track on the radar screen was Speedway Park in Fruitland Park, Florida.  Their website told me that racing started at 5:30 p.m.  The website was less clear on whether or not any countable small car classes were running.

In order to check things out, we drove over to Speedway Park at about 2 p.m.  We found out that they did, in fact, have Senior Champ Karts racing.  They also planned to start their racing at 5:30 p.m.  Finally, the Senior Champ Karts were scheduled to be the 18^th class out of 20 classes of go-karts on the entire program.  That late start for the only countable class on the program could be a godsend.

Next, we made the 1 hour and 20 minute, 60-mile drive over to the Volusia Speedway Park.  We arrived at 3:30 p.m.  This was

great timing.  I had emailed the sanctioning group earlier and they told me, “Randy, Yes, we race on a special track just for karts and if we are lucky racing should start around 4 or 5.  Dana.”  This was good news because they raced on a countable

track, but only marginally good news that they would be starting so late.  What “4 or 5” probably meant was “6 or 7” and with 20 go-kart classes or more racing, the chances of getting back to Speedway Park before they wrapped up was slim.

When I walked up to the pit shack the woman told me she wouldn’t be charging us any admission.  That was great news!

Why would she charge us to get into the track?  She told me, We’ve already started running our feature events.  Our drivers come from a long way away and we want to get them out of here at a reasonable hour.”

Yep, that’s short track racing management for you.  Most of the time they can’t come close to staying on schedule.  Now today, we’re here at 3:30 p.m. for a “4 or 5” p.m. start and they’ve already completed seven of 22 planned features!  Where do I go to have myself committed?

To add insult to injury, she informed me the Senior Champs were “either on the track now or they’ve just finished their feature.”  The Senior Champ class is the only trackchaser countable class of go-karts racing.  If they’ve already run their feature, we’re toast.

It turns out the Senior Champ LITES had just completed their feature event.  However, the Senior Champ HEAVIES would be running as the 17^th of 22 classes.  The Lite class has a minimum weight limit of 385 pounds.  The Heavy class has a weight limit of 410 pounds.  The same cars race in both classes.  They simply bolt on or take off lead weight to meet the weight limits of the class.  It’s a very strange system.

Bottom-line is we saw the five car, 15-lap Senior Champ Kart Heavy feature wrap up at 5:30 p.m.  After having seen about 10 different classes of go-karts race, we hopped in the National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix and made our way to Fruitland Park.

We arrived at just before 7 p.m.  Remember their racing was scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. and our countable class was supposed to run as the 18^th race out of 20.  Now we seemed to be AHEAD of schedule.  The prospect of the Senior Champs racing so late looked like a bad thing.

When we bought our admission tickets from the car, we were informed the track was at intermission.  They had already completed heat racing and feature races were to follow.  That meant we were looking at sitting through 17 feature races before our countable class took the green flag.

Tonight at Speedway Park, they would be having a “Money race” for five selected classes.  That meant that five of the twenty classes would be picked from a hat and they would race for prize money.  Everyone else would race for trophies.

Care to guess which class was drawn from the hat to race both a money race and to be the first feature event of the night?  The Senior Champ Karts!!  I am a lucky trackchaser.  Yes, I’m a very lucky trackchaser.

Not only did we get out of Volusia Speedway Park with a countable track much earlier than expected, we got a second track that had appeared doubtful.  Not only did we get that second track but we got out of there almost three hours earlier than we expected in our “Best case scenario.”  We were home in time to see most of the UCLA-Alabama NCAA basketball game.  It pays to be lucky.

RACE TRACK STATS:

VOLUSIA SPEEDWAY PARK WEST (1/6^TH MILE OVAL), BARBERVILLE, FLORIDA - TRACK #1,008 – 3/18/06

This track was my 46th to see in Florida.  I currently rank second in Florida ahead of P.J. Hollebrand’s 41 tracks and behind Ed Esser’s 49 tracks.  Florida ranks as my seventh highest state in my U.S. trackchasing totals.

SPEEDWAY PARK, FRUITLAND PARK, FLORIDA - TRACK #1,009 – 3/18/06

This track was my 47th to see in Florida.

RACE TRACK NEWS:

VOLUSIA SPEEDWAY PARK WEST (1/6^TH MILE OVAL), BARBERVILLE, FLORIDA AND SPEEDWAY PARK, FRUITLAND PARK, FLORIDA

As far as I can tell the Volusia Speedway Park kart track does not run countable racing on a weekly basis.  Today was a special “State race” with two classes of countable classes.

The racing surface at VSP is unusual.  It’s made of dirt treated with tree sap!  The surface looks like a Midwestern highway construction project where the black tar has just been applied to the surface.  I was told this is done for dust control.  It’s very effective, there was no dust.

The track has several light poles.  There are permanent aluminum grandstands and a very large pit area.  There were 22 classes of go-karts racing today.  Some classes use the same cars.  I would estimate there were 125-150 separate entries today.

The program included a 15-lap feature for each and every one of the 22 classes.  We saw about 10 of the features.  There was not much delay between races except when they used a blower to remove loose impediments from the track.  All of the racing we saw today was in the daylight.

By the way, it was opening night for the Volusia Speedway Park Eastern dirt oval.  They had a TON of racecars showing up for this event.  We probably would have stayed for their program but we had miles to go before we slept.  We were off to track #1,009 for me.

The Speedway Park is also a go-kart track.  It is billed as the oldest 1/8^th mile go-kart track in Florida.  They have been racing there for 58 years!  We first arrived at the track at 2 p.m.  They were watering the surface by hand with a large water hose. 

Following Volusia, we pulled into Speedway Park at 7 p.m.  The track was not well lit.  For some reason, go-karts tracks emulate road courses in the fact that announcers are not there to entertain the crowd.  They simply make announcements telling the competitors which class is racing next.  For the spectator, of which there are few, it’s difficult to know exactly what is going on.

With 20 classes on the schedule, I would estimate they had more than 100 competitors in the pit area.  Several large overhanging trees create shade in the pits.  The pit area looks more like a rural campground than a racetrack.

WEATHER CONDITIONS

The weather was great today.  Temperatures were in the low 70s although the wind blew some 20 M.P.H. at Volusia.

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

The National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix took Bill and me through some very rural Florida backcountry.  I have never seen this part of Florida.  We saw several large herds of cattle.  I am told that Florida ranked number two in cattle production behind only Texas.  We spent most of our time on Route 33 as an alternative to U.S. 27 which is heavily congested and has way too many stoplights.

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 (+29)

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (+12)

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,011 (+2)

4.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,009

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-2)

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 993 (-16)

Other notables

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

40.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 241 (+7)

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

42.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 234

42.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 234 (+/- 0)

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

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

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 18

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 12

3.  Rick Young, Maxville, Ontario, Canada - 9

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 7

4.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 7

4.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 7

4.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 7

8.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 6

8.  Will White, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 6

10.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 5

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 – Tampa, FL – 2,150 miles

RENTAL CAR

Tampa International Airport – trip begins

Gibsonton, Florida – 23 miles

Barberville, Florida – 199 miles

Fruitland Park, Florida – 260 miles

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

East Bay Raceway – $10

Volusia Speedway Park West (1/6M oval) – Free

Speedway Park - $7

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

February 19 – Sand Mountain Speedway (road course), Ft. Meade, Florida

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

1,002. Speedworld Speedway, Surprise, Arizona - February 19

1,003. Lowe’s Motor Speedway (1/5 mile asphalt oval), Concord, North Carolina - February 25

1,004. Concord Raceway, Concord, North Carolina - February 25

1,005. Antioch Speedway, Antioch, North Carolina - February 25

1,006. Green Valley Speedway, Gadsden, Alabama - February 26

1,007. East Bay Raceway (inner oval), Gibsonton, Florida – March 17

1,008. Volusia Speedway Park West (1/6M oval), Barberville, Florida – March 18

1,009. Speedway Park, Fruitland Park, Florida – March 18