Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
SHENADOAH, VIRGINIA
It's
time for a shoe shine in Washington, D.C. before my trip begins.
No, I am not wearing white sox. That's my golf tan!
The Virginia scenery was quite beautiful except for the fire that was raging in the nearby hills.
It was even more beautiful in person.
Spring is nearly in full bloom in southwestern Virginia.
This was my view of the Shenandoah Speedway grounds as I entered the property.
This
was a beautiful facility, but I would have liked to have seen the
spectator concourse paved instead of the crushed rock they used.
Tonight's races were sponsored by, you guessed it, Hooters!
The concession stands lines were long and moved slowly.
The grandstand wasn't huge, but it was packed. There was a small amount of seating elsewhere at the track.
There were 32 stock cars taking the green flag for tonight's 250 lap race.
It was a sunny day for the 7 p.m. start of this Hooters Cup race.
This is turn four of the Shenadoah Speedway just as the race begins.
Scoreboards are becoming a popular item at short tracks such as this one.
GREETINGS FROM
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL
NEWS
The Strategy
I try to see as many tracks as I possibly can by flying as few times as
I can, driving as few miles as I can and spending as few nights away from home
as I possibly can. Why would I do
that? I want to experience the fun of
trackchasing, but I have many other things I like to spend my time on. I don’t want to waste any of it. While I am trying to maximize my time
effectiveness, the laws of trackchasing are fighting me every step of the way.
I normally schedule my future trips (except international) 2-4 weeks in
advance. Let’s say there are four
weekends in a typical month. I might
schedule an out of town trip on weekends one and three with the full intention
of staying home on weekends two and four.
However, it’s not uncommon for some compelling trackchasing adventure to
pop up at the last minute to fill one of my previously planned to be open
weekends.
When this happens, it can make for some unusual trips scheduled back to
back. It might even look like I’ve done
a poor job of planning. That’s what
happened with this trip and the one I just completed.
Carol and I arrived home from our five-day trackchasing/touring trip to
The overall result of the two trips is consistent with two of my major
2006 trackchasing goals. First, these
two trips will allow me to continue moving up in the worldwide trackchaser
standings. Secondly, the effort of this
trip is consistent with another one of my three total goals, “Put more time and resources into trackchasing than any
other trackchaser.”
The trip
I wanted my first race of the trip to start at the Shenandoah Speedway
in
I needed a non-stop flight to make it to the track on time. The only non-stop I could make that might get
me to the track on time was from
My favored airlines, American had a non-stop that landed in Dulles at 5
p.m. I figured I could get my checked
bags, rental car and drive 97 miles in some rush hour traffic in three hours
for an 8 p.m. starting time. I turned
down an opportunity to fly Jet Blue and get in at 4 p.m. because I wanted to
earn double frequent flyer miles on American.
A few days before the race, I learned there would be no preliminary
races on Thursday night. I also learned
the 250-lap race was scheduled to start promptly at 7 p.m., not 8 p.m. This was a problem. By landing at 5 p.m., I couldn’t have
anything go wrong or I wouldn’t make even an 8 p.m. start.
I didn’t like the odds. It
wouldn’t be much fun to fly all the way across the country for a race and then
show up after the one and only race had already started. What could I do? The Jet Blue alternative was no longer a good
idea. There last minute price was nearly
$700 and a flight delay could still sink me.
After analyzing all the alternatives, I chose to fly Spirit Airlines (a
first for me) overnight. For the
frequent flyers among us, this is called a “Red
eye” flight. I don’t like flying
overnight. I don’t like flying overnight
for the same reason you don’t choose to sleep in an upright chair at
night. It’s a real hassle. Nevertheless, I am charged with putting more
time and resources into the hobby than anyone else puts, so I had to do it.
American Airlines charged me a $100 penalty for backing out at the last
minute. National Rental Car’s rate was
$7 higher for changing my location from
I would now leave
Now I had to hope the weather cooperated. The rain forecast called for a 30% chance of
rain and isolated thundershowers. It
would be a shame if I went to all this work and then was rained out. Yes, it would be a real shame!
Starting at about 11 p.m. at night and sitting in a straight-backed
chair for four hours is probably not the best way to spend the evening, but
that’s how I did it. I landed in
I needed more sleep. I found a
somewhat secluded hallway at the end of the Spirit Air terminal. I used my computer security cable to bind
together my laptop, briefcase and rolling carry bag. I then laid down on the carpeted floor and
went to sleep. Of course, I had both my
portable alarm clock and cell phone alarmed so I wouldn’t miss the connecting
flight.
The whole set-up wouldn’t have been complete without a couple of stealthily
placed booby-traps just in case anyone got grabby. I could tell you how the booby-traps worked,
but then I would have to kill you. We
don’t need that. All went well, until a
female gate agent woke me up to ask if I was waiting on the
I landed in
Being an “Executive Selection” member
of the National Rental Car Emerald Club (that’s a mouthful) allows me to pick
any car from their preferred section.
After I picked out my car, I simply leaned the seat back and went to
sleep until 1 p.m. Now I can return the
car on Monday as late as 1 p.m. and I will still have plenty of time to make
the two hour drive down to Shenandoah.
I have a six track, four day trip planned. The weather gets a little shaky on
Saturday. I may have to make some
adjustments during the trip. We’ll see
how it goes. I also dragged my golf
clubs as my DSP fraternity brother, Mike S. and I plan to play at the
The People
People can be funny. In public, I
have an expectation that you shouldn’t disturb the folks around you. While I was waiting for my plane to depart
It’s not always easy to find accessible power outlets in airports. It had to be located near a seat. Many times those seats are already occupied
by fliers who have no interest in using the power outlets at all.
Finally, I found a secluded space where another flyer was already using
the power outlet for his laptop. I sat a
couple of seats away from him, plugged into the other section of the two-outlet
power source, and went to work.
My newly found power seatmate insisted on humming while he worked. Yes, humming.
I guess he was just pleased to be where he was. However, I felt he was violating the laws of
public behavior as in “Don’t bug other people in
public.” Nevertheless, it was
soon time to board my flight and even though it was a bummer while I worked, I
left the hummer.
RACE TRACK STATS:
SHENANDOAH
This was my 13th track to
see countable racing at in
RACE TRACK NEWS:
SHENANDOAH
The Shenandoah Speedway is brand new.
It opened in 2005. It is located
out in the country, with beautiful green rolling hills surrounding the one-half
mile asphalt oval. They have also
indicated on their website they will have figure 8 racing. Tonight they are racing on the oval. I could have waited until later in the
season, and visited this location only once and seen racing on both the oval and
figure 8 tracks. That would give me two
tracks with just one visit.
On the other hand, getting the oval track by itself on a Thursday night
when nobody else was racing seemed like a good idea. Later in the trip, I would learn that figure
8 racing had been removed from the Shenandoah schedule for 2006. That made my decision to see the oval only, a
good one.
This is another newly built asphalt track constructed in the image of
the Irwindale Speedway. I’ve seen
several imitators, but no one has yet matched the
Shenandoah has outstanding restrooms, similar to what you might find in
professional sports stadiums complete with self-flushing technology. They have some quality aluminum grandstands,
a good P.A. system with a professional announcer and top notch sight lines and
safety barriers.
A major miss seems to be the crushed rock parking lot and spectator
concourse areas. I don’t know how much
it would cost to pave everything but that would be the first class way to
handle things and match it up with Irwindale in this important area. Shenandoah also seems to have missed the
concessions opportunity. They had very
little choice beyond the typical racetrack fare. There were about six windows operating and
the lines were a constant 15 people deep.
They had to be losing sales by the dollar full with this inept system.
I stayed for just one race and was outta there! O.K., they only had one race. They started exactly on time at 7 p.m. From a trackchasing point of view, I’m glad I
flew on the “Red-eye.” I never would have made the race if I had
landed at Dulles at 5 p.m. on American Airlines or even at 4 p.m. on Jet
Blue. On the other hand, my body told me
not to fly the “Red-eye” very often.
The race was rather uneventful.
There was very little passing up front.
The leaders rarely battled with lapped traffic because someone seemed to
spin out every 10-15 laps creating many many yellow flags. In the last half of the race, the lapped cars
(from mechanical/wrecks) caused some real problems for the leaders on restarts.
The most enjoyable part of the race for me was provided by my race
scanner. I hooked onto the
communications from a spotter to a driver running in about 12th
place. Over the last 100 laps or so, he
moved up slowly to finish in 6th place. It was fun to hear him, his female spotter
and car owner shouting encouragement and at other times disgust toward the
lapped cars that were difficult to pass.
Overall, I’d much rather watch good close racing on a quarter-mile dirt
track than a state of the art asphalt oval.
Maybe that’s why I’ve only to been to nearby Irwindale Speedway four
times since it opened in 1999. Of
course, maybe I haven’t been to Irwindale because I am rarely in
WEATHER
CONDITIONS
I pulled into the Shenandoah
Speedway parking lot at 5 p.m. It was 80
degrees with only a few thin white clouds in the sky. The forecast called for a 30% chance of rain
with isolated thundershowers. From the
looks of things, everything on the weather front will be O.K.
I had a 30% rain possibility for all
of my locations on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
That’s a little bit higher than I would like for each and every
day. We’ll see how it goes.
RENTAL CAR
UPDATE:
I’ll be going with another National
Rental Car Racing Chevy Impala LT on this trip.
This car does not seem to be as well maintained. The “Change
engine oil soon” warning is lit.
There is no windshield washer fluid and the wipers are severely worn
out.
LIFETIME
TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
These worldwide trackchasers are
within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.
1.
Rick Schneider –
2. Randy Lewis,
3.
Allan Brown,
4.
Guy Smith, Effort,
5.
Andy Sivi,
6.
Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring,
Other notables
These worldwide trackchasers are
within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.
37.
Mike Knappenberger,
38.
Spike Rixon,
39.
Virginia Schuler,
40.
Steve Kinser,
41. Carol Lewis,
42.
Don McAuley,
43.
Andy Ritter,
2006
TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
2.
Ed Esser,
3.
Roland Vanden Eynde,
3.
Mike Knappenberger,
5. Carol Lewis,
5.
Paul Weisel,
5.
Linda Thomas,
8.
Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs,
9.
Roger Ferrell,
10.
Rick Young,
10.
Guy Smith, Effort,
Thanks for reading about my
trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
The World’s #2 Ranked Trackchaser
That’s all the news that’s fit to
print from
CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – Detroit, MI – 1,973
miles
Detroit, MI – Washington, D.C. – 409
miles
RENTAL CAR
TRACK ADMSSION
PRICES:
Shenandoah Speedway – $35
Past trackchasing stories are available at:
Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:
Some of my standings data comes from
trackchaser.com
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
Moving north.
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2006 (** not the first time to visit
this track)
992.
Watermelon Capital
993.
Cross Roads Motorplex (asphalt oval), Jasper,
994.
995.
Qualcomm Stadium,
996.
997.
998.
Thunderbowl Speedway of
999.
Cross Roads Motorplex (dirt oval), Jasper,
1,000. Auburndale Kartway,
1,001.
1,002. Speedworld Speedway,
Surprise,
1,003. Lowe’s Motor
1,004.
1,005.
1,006.
1,007.
1,008.
1,009.
1,010.
1,011.
1,012.
1,013. East
1,014. Margarettsville Speedway,
1,015. Sunny South Raceway,
1,016.
1,017. Coldwater Raceway,
1,018.
1,019. Ballymena Raceway,
1,020.
1,021.
1,022. Mendips Raceway,
1,023. Oval Raceway,
1,024.
1,025. Southside Speedway,
1,026. Motor Mile
1,027. Wythe
1,028. Summit Point Raceway, Summit
Point Circuit, Summit Point, West Virginia - April 30
1,029. Old Dominion
1,030. Shenandoah Speedway,
