GREETINGS FROM COLDWATER, ALABAMA AND THEN TALLADEGA, ALABAMA

 

You can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos from my last two weekends of trackchasing, first in the Carolinas and then during Alabama this past weekend.  This is my last website update until I return from my Northern Ireland/England Easter trackchasing visit.

 

 

 

AND THE READERS RESPOND

 

Rather than identifying my readers by name in the “And The Readers Respond” section, I will identify them by their geographical region.  This will allow some to offer more direct points of view.

 

Regarding my comment about the NCAA championship basketball game – from the Far West.

 

“It’s the Florida GATORS, not the Seminoles.”

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

Successful trackchasing is about three major things.  First is getting access to information about racetracks.  Second is the ability to organize that information to create logistical and travel efficiencies.  Finally, a successful trackchaser needs to have a willingness to get out there and do it.  Permit me to elaborate.

 

Without current information about which tracks are running when and where, a trackchaser won’t achieve much.  I get my information from racetrack and race sanctioning websites as well as various racing oriented chat groups and message boards.  I also use racing newspapers but too a much smaller degree than ever before.  I now only subscribe to two racing papers.  Finally, personal and phone contacts round out my information sources.

 

I take all of this information and throw it into one big Excel spreadsheet.  I can then mix it and match it, sort it, highlight it, delete it and then do all of this over and over again.  It’s a lot like a chef adding and deleting ingredients until he gets just the right finished product.  That’s what I do to get the right combination of tracks and locations for a successful trackchasing trip.

 

Finally, a good trackchaser needs to have willingness to go out there and do it.  I never lose sight of the fact that accident, illness or injury can change a person’s lifestyle in a quick second.  Therefore, I try to do the things that are important to me each and every day.  I don’t put virtually anything off.  You just never know.

 

The first track of this evening’s trackchasing double was a new one for me.  Despite the extensive research I put into this hobby, I had never even HEARD of this track until Thursday afternoon.  I was on my cell phone with a track promoter talking about his track and he happened to mention that the Coldwater Raceway would be running on Saturday night. 

 

Does your heart race when you’re walking along by yourself and you spot a twenty-dollar bill lying on the ground?  By the way, the best magic trick I ever bought had a twenty-dollar bill attached to a very thin fishing line type string.  On the opposite end of the string was a push button retrieval mechanism.  I could lay that twenty dollar bill out in the open, have someone come along and bend over to pick it up.  At that point, I would press the button and the bill would come flying back into my hand.  The kids and I had a great time with that one!

 

Well, a trackchaser’s heart races when he/she hears of a track that was heretofore unknown.  Being able to incorporate such a find into the current trip was better than finding a twenty-dollar bill, much better.  I’ll tell you more about the Coldwater Raceway in the Race Track News section below.

 

The People

 

Our original travel plan called for a 6 a.m. flight home from Memphis.  I knew we would never make that flight.  Carol didn’t know about my plan to move our departure time back.  This confusion messed up her plan to go to church back in Orange County on Palm Sunday.

 

Therefore, we needed to find a Catholic church somewhere between Talladega, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee. Carol has an “800” number she can use to find a Catholic church while we’re on the road.  We ended up in Jasper, Alabama for the 9 a.m. services at the St. Cecila Catholic church.  I guess they don’t wear shorts to church in Alabama just as most people have not been wearing shorts to the racetracks I’ve visited this winter.  I didn’t know!  In a most supporting way, Carol reminded me that we are not likely to see these folks again.  She makes a good point.

 

Trackchaser commissioner, Will White, has recently shared some fascinating information with our trackchasing email group.  He has calculated the season trackchasing champions from the 1969 season to present.  This data is based upon all of the tracks submitted to him where a date seen was included.  Sometimes a trackchaser will submit a track seen long ago without a date associated with it.  I only started keeping track of my tracks by date in 1980.  All of the tracks (about 70) that I had seen prior to them are known as my “Pre 1980” tracks.

 

I will share Will’s list on my website for you to review soon.  I was surprised to see that P.J. Hollebrand has the most championships to his credit with eight.  Starting in 1969, he saw more tracks than anyone did for six straight years.  We’ve had 12 different trackchasers win season championships.  Andy Sivi had the biggest amount of time between championships - 1978 & 2002.  Gary Jacob had the fewest number of new tracks (8) to still win a season long total.

 

By the way, I consider the season championship the most significant accomplishment a trackchaser can have during any given year.  In 36 years of the championship record keeping, I have managed to win the title only two times in 2004 and 2005.

 

For the first time this season, the top three trackchasers are the same folks who finished in the 2005 top three.  We’ll see if any other trackchasers can challenge for a podium position.

 

A furious battle is taking place back around 40^th place in the worldwide trackchaser standings.

 

The trip

 

Have you ever used those self-checkout machines now being offered in some grocery stores?  I did for the first time ever at a Wal-Mart in Oxford, Alabama.  I purchased the following.

 

     CD Wallet $0.97

     Hood Poncho $0.87 (for England)

     Planes, train and automobiles DVD $7.50 (One of my all-time favorites)

     Solarcaine $4.97

     Sunglasses $17.63 (This is the most I’ve ever paid for sunglasses in my life)

 

I was surprised.  Everything was very intuitive and the transaction went perfectly.  I must admit a Wal-Mart employee just a few feet away kept a close eye on me.  I think she may have been watching three or four self-service machines.  Was she there to answer consumer questions about these new machines or to make certain no one stole anything?  Have you noticed how large companies are moving more and more of the customer buying/service transaction from their employees to the customer himself?  They couldn’t do it without the expansion of computers and related technology.  It’s a great way for companies to save money by reducing their labor expense.  Wal-Mart became one of the first companies to create these savings and pass them along to the consumer in the form of lower retail prices.  Of course, when they lower their prices, they increase their business.  This is called the “Productivity loop.”  Wal-Mart has done this as good as or better than anybody has.

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

COLDWATER RACEWAY, COLDWATER, ALABAMA - TRACK #1,017 – 4/8/06

 

This track was my 16th to see in Alabama.  I rank third in Crimson Tide tracks seen.  John Moore leads in Alabama with 25 tracks.

 

 

TALLADEGA SHORT TRACK, TALLADEGA, ALABAMA - TRACK #1,018 – 4/8/06

 

This track was my 17th to see in Alabama.

 

 

These were Carol’s third and fourth Alabama tracks.  She is hot on the trail of Mike K. just six tracks behind.  Only the top 40 trackchasers in the world are considered “Ranked.”  Carol currently sits in 41^st place.

 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

COLDWATER RACEWAY & TALLADEGA SHORT TRACK

 

These two racetracks formed a Blended double without a feature for our last evening on the Memphis trip.  Up until Thursday of this trip, this type of double was not planned.

 

The Coldwater Raceway is a banked 1/5 mile red clay oval.  They race go-karts on this track.  This is the third year for this track and this was the first race of the season for the track and its new owner.  They had some minor operational problems, but everything worked out.

 

The Coldwater Raceway is just 8.1 miles from the Talladega Short Track.  The TST is located just one mile from the famous Talladega Super Speedway.  Talladega is one of my top three most favorite NASCAR tracks.

 

We weren’t certain that there would be countable racing at the Coldwater Raceway.  We drove over to the track at 5 p.m. to check it out.  There was only one racecar in the pit area.  The owner was out working on the track.  I spoke with a track official and was told the program would start at 7 p.m.  I asked and was told, “We don’t have many Senior Champ Karts around here.”  That meant the track might offer countable racing and it might not.

 

A post race check of the track’s website after we returned home told us that not only were we lucky to learn about the track but we were lucky they raced at all.  The owner’s message at 9:30 a.m. on race day said the track was “wet and muddy” and a decision would be made later in the day on whether they would race or not.  At 2 p.m., the owner sent another message saying “The track is drying out nicely” and they would be racing.

 

With our track visit knowledge, we now had one more question.  Would the track have trackchaser countable cars racing?  We went off to dinner.  Following dinner, we returned to the Coldwater Raceway to see which racing competitors had shown up.  It was now 6:30 p.m. and there were about 25-30 racers in the pits. 

 

While still in our car, we approached the ticket seller and I told her our situation.  I asked her if she would mind if I took a quick walk through the pits to see if any trackchaser countable competition was available.  She agreed to my proposal.  As I walked through the pit area, I saw several flat (non-countable) go-karts.  I did not see any Senior Champ Karts.  Before, my fellow trackchasing competitors raise a glass in celebration of this fact; let me tell you I did see another countable form of racecar.  Tonight there were three Junior Late Models ready to race. 

 

I can’t recall if I have ever seen Junior Late Models before.  When I saw them tonight, I didn’t know for sure what their class was actually called.  A few inquiries told me these cars are driven by adults.  A companion class, mini late models are commonly driven by children.  There were no mini late models here tonight. 

 

Junior Late Models seem to have a lot in common with a class called “Slingshots.”  Except rather than having a modified stock car body they have a late model style stock car body.  In some ways, the cars are very similar to real late models.  They have shocks on all four wheels and even use a sway bar.

 

We had countable cars in the house at the Coldwater Raceway.  Now I had to find out when they would be racing.  I did find out that each class would have practice, a heat race and a feature event.  Since there were only three Junior Late Models here, seeing a heat race was as good as seeing a feature race.

 

To give it to you straight, the track’s management had absolutely no idea when practice would start or end, or when the actually racing would begin.  When pressed, and it’s difficult for a city boy to press a country boy without it being noticeable, I was told that the Junior Late Models might run their heat race sometime between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.  This lack of having a planned itinerary is common amongst race track promoters and I am no longer surprised by this.  It’s actually something that many, but not all, racetrack promoters have in common.

 

With this lack of knowledge, we ventured over to the Talladega Short Track.  This is one of the top 25 dirt short tracks in the country.  They run lots of big races here and have an excellent weekly program.

 

Tonight was going to be chilly.  It was “Stocking cap and gloves” chilly.  We arrived at the Talladega Short Track at 7 p.m.  The parking lot sits off of turns one and two and isn’t the most convenient for easy access to the track.  Additionally, it was very wet from yesterday’s heavy rain.  Since they were hot lapping, we sat in the car to avoid the cold weather before there was any countable racing.

 

The overall plan was to spend most of our evening at the Talladega Short Track.  We entered the track at 7:30 p.m.  I had hoped to see a few heat races at the TST before we made the 10-minute drive back to the Coldwater Raceway.  They were hot lapping when we sat down at TST.  After seeing about 20 minutes of practice, I started to get antsy about the countable race at the Coldwater Raceway.  They were a somewhat unstable operation.  They only had three cars in the one countable class for trackchasing.  I didn’t want to miss those three cars in either their heat or feature event.

 

At 8 p.m., we went back from the TST to Coldwater.  They were still practicing even though the event was supposed to start at 7 p.m.  I questioned the promoter again.  He was having the cars complete extra practice laps because he felt the track was too wet.  It looked good to me.  I told him so.  After some thought he agreed.  Soon they were racing.

 

It was cold.  Carol and I took a walk around the pit area.  We talked with one of the Junior Late Model race teams and got some great information about other Coldwater type tracks in the area.  We then toured the Coldwater Raceway track “Facilities.”  They weren’t much.

 

The bathrooms were porta potties located in the pit area.  This track was like those in England.  For our $10 admission, we could can walk back and forth from the grandstand area to the pit area.  The track itself was poorly lit.  They had only four lights for the entire place.  The concession stand had a sign that told us they had not received approval from their county health department to serve hot food.  Remember, this was their first race night of the season.  They offered only drinks and candy.

 

The grandstand seating area was a small set of bleachers that were totally unoccupied.  The “Press box” was actually a wooden building that was affixed atop the center of an old school bus.  The school bus had antique license plates on it.  The bus looked like it had not been moved in a very long time.  The wooden press box didn’t look like it was built in this century or even the 20^th century.

 

Finally, at about 8:55 p.m., after seeing several flat kart heats, the Junior Late Models came onto the track.  For some reason the #89 car parked next to us in the pits did not make the race.  The two remaining cars came out for a slow pace lap.  We were about ready to see the green flag for the start of this countable race.  Just at that moment with the two cars circling the track at a very slow pace, the yellow flag was displayed.

 

The cars were not lined up properly!  Yes, the two cars running in the same row, side by side, would have to switch sides before this race could be started.  This preciseness, given all of this track’s inadequacies was lost on me.  Nevertheless, Carol and I exuded patience (we really had no other choice).  Soon the 10-lap heat race was run without much fanfare.  By the way, seeing two countable cars race against each other is the absolute minimum.  If only one car had come out to race all by himself, the track would not have been countable.

 

Trackchasers before me have long ago decided that it is perfectly acceptable to leave a “Small car” race after their heat race if the heat race included all the eligible cars that would run a feature race later in the day.  I certainly concur with my trackchasing ancestor’s judgment on this one.  Nevertheless, this track will go down in my records as the first half of a Blended Double without a feature for the first track.  We exited the Coldwater Raceway property.

 

By 9:15 p.m., we were back at the Talladega Short Track.  They were still running heat races for the program that had begun at 8 p.m.  The track is a 1/3 mile high-banked red clay oval.  There are no retaining walls around the turns.  This saves car owners lots of time and expense, but tonight caused several delays for cars that slid over the bank.

 

It was cold and the high powered stock cars sent a fine mist of dirt and grit into the grandstands.  I provided eyewear protection in the form of some yellow tinted goggles for Carol.  She was quite the fashion plate.  I went with my Wal-Mart polarized sunglasses with one side of the frame broken off.  Yes, I’m always trying to carry a low profile.

 

I had spoken with the track’s promoter, Lynn Phillips, yesterday about the Talladega Short Track go-kart track.  The go-kart track is located beyond turn three of the short track.  They did not race on Friday even though it did not rain a drop.  That track cancelled based upon a threat of severe weather.

 

Lynn had asked me to look him up when I arrived at the track.  I did just that.  He was happy to see Carol and me.  He was very appreciative of our trackchasing exploits and treated us with great southern hospitality.  He even offered to “Get in the golf cart and I’ll take you over to see the kart track.”  We declined his offer mainly because of the cold weather.

 

Lynn has been promoting this track for the last 28 years even though he seemed too young to have been able to pull that off.  He was busy meeting and greeting one person after another.  Nevertheless, he took the time to talk to us and make us feel welcome.

 

When our conversation had finished, he invited us to watch the races from the glass enclosed V.I.P. suite.  This was a great place to watch the races.  It was warm in there and the enclosure kept the dirt and dust off us.  The suite had huge glass windows and provided an excellent view of all the action.  We had access to both the track’s internal radio communication as well as the track announcer’s description of the action.  It was a little warm in there for us because we had dressed for the cold weather.

 

Both the sportsman and late model features started 20 cars that were great looking and fast.  There was lots of side by side racing and room to pass even though the heat winners started up front.  There were several yellow flag delays.  This was caused by over aggressive driving and commonly resulted in cars driving over the bank in the turns.

 

Having access to the track’s radio was helpful during these yellow flag periods.  I have never seen a track get back to green flag racing faster after the wrecked cars had been removed than the Talladega Short Track.  If the racecars were on the backstretch when the wrecker left the track, the race was given the green by the time the cars returned to the start/finish line.  Another thing I really liked about the flagman was that he did not throw the green flag until the cars reached the flag stand.  This assured single file, orderly starts.  Just about every track in the nation could learn from the TST in these important starting/restarting areas.

 

I’m sure I will be back someday to see the Talladega Short Track’s short track as in the kart track.  If and when I do, I’ll look up track promoter Lynn Phillips again.  He’s the track promoter I mentioned in an earlier track report who told me on Thursday, “I’m not going to lie to you, our weather forecast for Friday is terrible.”  Not many track promoters would be so forthright.

CAROL’S COMMENTS

The Coldwater Raceway track looked nice, but the surroundings need work.  The lights were bad.  I liked the banking of the track.  We were really lucky the two Junior Late Models ran their race.  It was cold.

 

The Talladega promoter reminded me of Fred Johnson, star of “Walking Tall” and former U.S. Senator of Tennessee.  It was a nice track with lots of good cars, but there were too many in each race.  They wrecked all the time.  (Editor’s note:  Most trackchasers comment on the lack of racecars.  The downside of too many racecars is they can run into each other causing too many caution flag delays.)  We were lucky we were in the V.I.P. lounge because it was so cold and windy.  There was a large crowd of race fans on hand.

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

The weather was cold.  It was 50 degrees when we left the track tonight.  We had hats and gloves so it wasn’t to bad.  I will be happy when we get a little further into the spring/summer season and we can just about be assured of warm weather wherever we go.  We’re not there yet, and when we get there, it will only last for about three months.  Auto racing was meant to be viewed in comfortable temperatures.

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

The National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix fit the bill just perfectly for this trip.  The dual power sources powered our XM portable radio and the RANLAY Racing Dell computer very effectively.

 

 

This trip covered an unexpected 1,138 driving miles.  Carol helped a good deal with the driving.  We stopped for gas three times (Carol pumped it once!) and paid an average price of $2.66 per gallon.  The Pontiac gave us 25.1 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 10.6 cents per mile. 

 

 

 

 

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 (+20)

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (+3)

3.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,018

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,011 (-7)

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-11)

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 996 (-22)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

38.  Virginia Schuler, Allentown, Pennsylvania - 248 (+10)

39.  Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Indiana – 246 (+8)

40.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 244 (+6)

41.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 238

42.  Don McAuley, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - 235 (- 3)

43.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 234 (- 4)

44.  Colin Casserly, Stevenage, England 232 (-6)

45.  Bernie Harlen, Goshen, Indiana - 229 (-9)

 

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 27

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 19

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 13

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 10

4.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 10

4.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 10

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

8.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 8

8.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 8

10.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 6

10.  Will White, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 6

10.  Bob Schafer, Oshkosh, Wisconsin – 6

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Santa Ana, CA – Cincinnati , OH – 1,901 miles

Cincinnati, OH – Memphis, TN – 424 miles

RENTAL CAR

 

Memphis International Airport, Memphis, TN – trip begins

Grand Bay, Alabama – 465 miles

Leeds, Alabama – 759 miles

Coldwater, Alabama – 832 miles

Talladega, Alabama – 840 miles

Memphis International Airport, Memphis, TN – 1,138 miles -trip ends

AIRPLANE

 

Memphis, TN – Atlanta, GA - 384 miles

Atlanta, GA - Santa Ana, CA – 1,946 miles

 

 

 

Total air miles – 4,655 miles

Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 5,793 miles

 

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Sunny South Raceway – $10

Barber Motorsports Park - $20

Coldwater Raceway - $10

Talladega Short Track - $10

 

Total race admissions for the trip – about $50

 

 

 

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

 

Ballymena Raceway, Ballymena, Northern Ireland – April 14

Oulton Park, Little Budworth, England – April 15

Somerset Rebels, Rooks Bridge, England – April 16

Mendips Raceway, Shipham, England – April 16

S.A.A. Raceway, Horndean, England – April 17

Angmering, Angmering, England – April 17

Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne, England – April 17

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

1,010. Sand Mountain Speedway (road course), Fort Meade, Florida – March 19

 

1,011. Anderson Motor Speedway, Anderson, South Carolina – March 31

 

1,012. Westminster Speedway, Westminster, South Carolina – March 31

 

1,013. East Lincoln Motor Speedway, Stanley, North Carolina – April 1

 

1,014. Margarettsville Speedway, Margarettsville, North Carolina – April 2

 

1,015. Sunny South Raceway, Grand Bay, Alabama – April 7

 

1,016. Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama – April 8

 

1,017. Coldwater Raceway, Coldwater, Alabama – April 8

 

1,018. Talladega Short Track, Talladega, Alabama – April 8