GREETINGS FROM CUDDEBACKVILLE, NEW YORK AND THEN CENTER LISLE, NEW YORK. 

 

I AWOKE IN DOYLESTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA THIS MORNING. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

 

SPECIAL RAINOUT UPDATE

 

Way back on May 7, 2005, Roland Vanden Eynde and I towed over to the Autograss track in Beervelde, Belgium.  It was a rainy day and the grounds were so wet they cancelled the race.  We were shut out for the day.

 

Today, May 6, 2006, marks a full year that has passed since that rainy day in Belgium.  During those 365 days, I have been rained out only one time.  That was in Ocala, Florida on February 11, 2006.  Actually, we came very close to getting that race in.  They cancelled right at the scheduled start time when a last minute storm brought more rain.

 

During this one-year period, I have seen 194 new tracks during 131 trackchasing days.  Counting tracks that I had visited previously (9), I have seen races on 203 different racetracks with only one rainout in an entire year.  I think that’s pretty fantastic considering how little rain it takes to wash out a program. 

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

Obviously, the strategy for a world-class trackchaser is to see as many countable tracks as possible.  The challenge is twofold.  Where are the future tracks and when do they race.

 

By 7:15 p.m. today, I had already seen two countable tracks.  Unfortunately, neither of these tracks had very many cars.  My 1 p.m. stop at Empty Jug had only four cars and my 6 p.m. stop at the Oakland Valley Raceway Park had only seven cars spread over two classes.

 

Following the two countable races at Oakland Valley, this shivering West coast trackchaser returned to his rental car.  I kept kicking myself (figuratively) for not bringing a blanket.  Each week I go trackchasing I leave my “Blankie” at home reasoning that we’re one more week closer to summer and it can’t get that cold.  Of course, it always does.  Nevertheless, I fired up my laptop for warmth.  Figuratively, speaking once again.

 

It was Saturday night.  It was only 7:15 p.m.  Surely, I could find another track racing tonight.  This was not a new plan for me.  I had considered this possibility.  The unfortunate thing was that, during the past week, in the warmth of RANLAY Racing headquarters luxurious offices, I could not find anything in Eastern Pennsylvania or southern New York or any other nearby eastern states that would be a new track for me.

 

Was my own Geographical Driving Circle trying to put a noose around my neck?  I tried my Microsoft electronic map one more time.  Each and every one of the nearly 1,250 tracks I have not seen in North America is plotted on a series of more than 50 maps.  I use these maps to help determine geographical locales and driving distances is situations just like this.

 

I get questions from my readers asking, “Why do you share your trackchasing strategies so openly.  Aren’t you afraid you’re racing competitors will steal your secrets?”  No, I’m not.  It is one thing to know how someone creates his or her success in life.  It’s another thing to be willing and able to put the effort in to achieve that success. 

 

After some more searching, I found the Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, New York.  They raced on Saturday night.  They were a two hour and 45 minute drive to the Northwest from where I currently was.  This was the wrong direction to be traveling since I needed to be in Massachusetts tomorrow by noon.  Nevertheless, it was worth a try.

 

I would just ring them up to confirm they were racing.  I pulled out my trusty cell phone to see the words, “No network.”  I was in such a rural part of New York that my Cingular (no, not my singular cell phone) would not work.  I decided to head out to Thunder Mountain anyway.  Although it was cold, it was clear so they couldn’t be rained out.  This is how a world-class trackchaser does it.  I was off.

 

 

The trip

 

For the most part the trip was uneventful.  First, I drove through some very winding two-lane roads in heavily forested areas.  The sun was going down.  This would be a perfect time to hit a deer.  I saw a few grazing on the side of the road, but they stayed put.

 

Once I got on a four-lane highway (Route 17), my cell phone came back into range.  I called the track to confirm they were racing.  They were!  I told the woman I was talking too that I expected to arrive at about 10 p.m.  Would they still be racing then?  Yes, “We will probably be racing well past 11 p.m.”  In race promoter translation, that meant they would probably be racing until the wee hours of the morning.

 

 

 

The People

 

I got out of the Thunder Mountain Speedway at nearly midnight.  I sat in my car as the crowd left following the last feature event of the night.  I fired up the laptop once again.  I used my electronic maps to locate nearby hotels.

 

It was Saturday night and I expected it might be difficult to get a hotel especially since it was so late.  I found a Super 8 Motel listed in Binghamton, New York.  That was only about 25 miles away.  It had been a long day.  It was already late and I didn’t need to be driving very far tonight.  I would bite the driving bullet tomorrow with a 3-hour plus early morning drive to Massachusetts.

 

I called the Super 8.  They had one room left.  I booked it.  While I was on the phone with the desk clerk finalizing the reservation, he told me three different people had come in looking for that last room.  I am a lucky trackchaser……..with a good cell phone and a great system of information technology.

 

After I checked in, I walked over to the hotel vending machine.  I was considering my choices when a young man wearing a racing t-shirt came into view.  I asked him if he had been to the races tonight.  He had. 

 

Since I had been through short track racing’s version of a dirt sandblaster tonight, I asked him what he thought of the races.  Yes, he said it had gotten very dusty.  We talked for a few minutes more about our common experience.  It wasn’t until we had just about wrapped up our conversation that we discovered we had not seen racing at the same track!

 

My new friend, Chris Reilly, from down Philly way, had been to the Five Mile Point Speedway in Kirkwood, New York.  I had been to “The Point” on October 13, 2001 with Carol.  My comment about that track back then was, “A real dust bowl!”

 

The track I saw, the Thunder Mountain Speedway and Chris’ track the Five Mile Point Speedway were only 33 miles apart.  Nevertheless, our experiences were nearly identical.  I was very surprised these tracks were so close together and run similar classes of cars on dirt surfaces.

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

 

OAKLAND VALLEY RACE PARK, CUDDEBACKVILLE, NEW YORK - TRACK #1,033 – 5/6/06

 

This was my 41st track to see in the Empire state.

 

 

THUNDER MOUNTAIN SPEEDWAY, CENTER ISLE, NEW YORK - TRACK #1,034 – 5/6/06

 

This was my 42nd track to see in New York.  I am now tied with Allan Brown for 19^th place.  I am 32 tracks out of 10^th place.  Good friend, P.J. Hollebrand leads the state with 139 tracks.

 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

 

OAKLAND VALLEY RACE PARK

 

It’s early May in southern New York.  I would have thought it would have been warmer.  When I entered the OVRP at about 6 p.m., it was 54 degrees.  The wind was blowing strongly and it was cold!

 

Although there were many classes of go-karts racing, only two were countable by trackchasing standards.  By the way, here’s what the trackchasing rules have to say about “little cars.”

 

“Little cars such as micro stocks, mini cup cars, champ karts and half midgets count but in general all other go-karts do not count.”  Many of the drivers of go-karts are not of adult age.  We only count races in which adults are driving.  Therefore, both the class of car and adulthood of the driver must be present for the track to be countable.

 

Of the 15-20 classes racing today, only two were countable.  Those classes were the Senior Champ Karts (4) and the Micro Stocks (3).  I nosed around the pit area talking to the owners and drivers of these racers to see where else they might be racing during the season.

 

The track itself was very similar to “full-sized” dirt ovals.  Larger cars than go-karts could definitely race here.  The surface was so packed down with only a fine level of dust on it that I had to inquire if it was dirt or asphalt.  It was dirt.  The track has lights but the P.A. was limited to letting the drivers know which class was racing next.

 

With fields of just four and three cars, the racing was forgettable.  The very unique thing about this facility was the road course that sits just behind the Oakland Valley oval.  The course is asphalt and has some minor elevation changes.  They were racing go-karts on the road course today as well.  From what I could tell, they were only racing flat karts (non-countable) although I kept a watchful eye out in the hopes of an unexpected double.  No luck.

 

The Oakland Valley Race Park would be the back half of a day/night double with the Empty Jug.  This is my fifth day/night double of the season as well as my most frequent double type of the young season.

 

 

 

THUNDER MOUNTAIN SPEEDWAY

 

I was thrilled to get this track in tonight.  Three in one day doesn’t happen often.  In my rush, and in a virtually non-lighted entrance to the track, I pulled into the pit entrance rather than the spectator entrance.  I was concerned the races might be over.  When I had neared the track, I had seen several racecar haulers heading away from the track.

 

The man guarding the pit gate assured me there was more racing to come.  He wouldn’t let me in the pit entrance and directed me through the dark toward the spectator side of the track.  For some reason he wanted to talk to me about the Virginia license plate my rental car sported.  I had no time to talk, I wanted to see racing.

 

Arriving at this late hour, 10 p.m., I was able to secure a parking spot near the front gate.  They were no longer charging admission, so I simple walked in.  Did I tell you it was 33 freaking degrees!!  I was wearing shorts, a sweatshirt and deck shoes with no socks.  It was 33 degrees in May.  I don’t know how these folks do it!

 

I was pleased as punch to be able to see three feature events.  These included the four cylinder stock cars, modifieds and thunder pups (kind of a down scale four-cylinder class).

 

The track’s LP&A (lights, public address system and announcer were great).  I was able to get a quick mention from the track’s announcer for being a visiting trackchaser.  Unfortunately, during his speech my video camera battery went dead.  Oh well, that’s what happens when you see one more track than you expected for the day.

 

It was actually fun to see racing with full fields of cars.  Each feature started more than 15 cars.  I was in for a surprise with the high-powered modifieds.  This is one of my favorite classes.  However, with power comes dirt and dust.  When they began to race, a nuclear like cloud of dust and dirt came my way.

 

Not only was it 33 degrees out, it was now New York’s version of the Arabian desert in their worst dust storm of the year!  I pulled out my yellow tinted race goggles and stared the storm directly in the eye.  I had come too far to be intimidated by such deplorable conditions. 

 

After seeing the modifieds, I considered heading for the exits.  But, how could I?  The Thunder Pups were next.  I glanced down into the grandstands to see more than 100 people still bundled up in hats, gloves, stocking caps and blankets at nearly midnight in the midst of a major dust storm waiting for those Thunder Pups.  Actually, I thought most still in the grandstand were sick puppies indeed, but maybe they knew something I didn’t.  Did they?  No, they didn’t.  The Thunder Pups were not worth waiting for but I waited like the rest of the folks for this race to checker.

 

The Thunder Mountain Speedway would be the second half of a blended double without a feature seen at the first half of the double (Oakland Valley – champ karts).  This would be my third double of this type in the 43 new tracks I’ve seen this year.

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

I left Doylestown, Pennsylvania on Saturday morning and it was a beautiful day with temperatures in the low 70s.  By the time I drove north to Hawley, the temperature had begun to drop.  Hawley is at about a 2,000-foot elevation.  A temperature of 64 degrees with a stiff wind forced me to go to the sweatshirt early in my Empty Jug visit.

 

By the time I reached Cuddebackville, New York for my early evening show, it was getting cold.  The temperature was in the low 50s with a strong and chilly wind.  I continued to go with a sweatshirt, surfer shorts and deck shoes.

 

By the time I reached the Thunder Mountain Speedway, further north in New York, the temperature had dropped to an incredibly low 33 degrees.  I feared they might cancel the program because of cold.  Most were dressed in heavy coats, stocking caps, and gloves and clutched to their “Blankie.”  I bravely stood in my Royal Troon golf sweatshirt, above mentioned surfer shorts and dust covered deck shoes.  No one else wore shorts.  On my short drive to my Binghamton, New York motel, the car thermometer showed just 31 degrees!

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

The National Rental Car Racing Chevy Impala LT has two power sources.  One is permanently connected to my portable XM radio that broadcasts through the car’s audio system.  The other is normally reserved for my laptop.

 

 

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 - 1,039 (+5)

2.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,034

3.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-13)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,015 (-19)

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-27)

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 998 (-36)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

38.  Spike Rixon, Watford, England - 252 (+9)

39.  Virginia Schuler, Allentown, Pennsylvania - 248 (+5)

40.  Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Indiana – 246 (+3)

41.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 243

42.  Don McAuley, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - 235 (- 8)

43.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 235 (- 8)

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 43

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 29

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 26

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 21

5.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 16

6.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 13

6.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 13

6.  Linda Thomas, Watford, England - 13

9.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 12

10.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, all of the children are above average and the real estate prices are way above average.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Detroit, MI – 1,973 miles

Detroit, MI – Washington, D.C. – 409 miles

 

RENTAL CAR

 

Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan National Airport – trip begins

Shenandoah, VA – 130 miles

Bridgeport, NJ – 549 miles

Empty Jug – 644 miles

Oakland Valley Dirt Oval – 704 miles

Thunder Mountain Speedway – 834 miles

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Shenandoah Speedway – $35

Bridgeport Speedway - $10

Empty Jug – Free

Oakland Valley Dirt Oval – Free

Thunder Mountain Speedway – Free

 

 

 

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

 

No trackchasing next weekend.  It’s Mother’s Day!  We’ll be in Central California doing some wedding planning.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

1,019. Ballymena Raceway, Ballymena, Northern Ireland - April 14

 

1,020. Oulton Park, Little Budworth, England - April 15

 

1,021. Somerset Rebels Banger Raceway, Rooks Bridge, England - April 16

 

1,022. Mendips Raceway, Shipham, England - April 16

 

1,023. Oval Raceway, Angmering, England - April 17

 

1,024. Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne, England - April 17

 

1,025. Southside Speedway, Midlothian, Virginia - April 28

 

1,026. Motor Mile Speedway, Radford, Virginia - April 29

 

1,027. Wythe Speedway, Wytheville, Virginia - April 29

 

1,028. Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point Circuit, Summit Point, West Virginia - April 30

 

1,029. Old Dominion Speedway – inner inner oval, Manassas, Virginia - April 30

 

1,030. Shenandoah Speedway, Shenandoah, Virginia – May 4

 

1,031. Bridgeport Speedway (inner oval – front), Bridgeport, New Jersey - May 5

 

1,032. Empty Jug, Hawley, Pennsylvania - May 6

 

1,033. Oakland Valley Race Park, Cuddebackville, New York - May 6

 

1,034. Thunder Mountain Speedway, Center Lisle, New York - May 6