GREETINGS FROM CHILTON, WISCONSIN

 

I AWOKE IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNINA THIS MORNING. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

You can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos from our trip to Wisconsin (May 19-21).  After you receive the Trackchaser Report for each track, I’ll have photos posted on the website for you to see, so you can put pictures with the words.

 

 

 

BELATED MOTHER’S DAY RECOGNITION

 

There was no trackchasing for me last weekend.  It was Mother’s Day.  Carol and I celebrated by driving to the central coast of California with daughter Kristy and her fiancée, James.  We did a little wedding planning and just relaxing in a very beautiful part of the Golden state.

 

I would like to wish belated congratulations to all the mothers who read the Trackchaser Report.  You are a special group and deserve all the recognition in the world.

 

With this in mind, I thought it might be a good time to recognize Trackchasing’s First Mother, wife Carol and the mother to my children.  She has done so much for me and for our family.  Even though the kids are no longer living at home, it seems like here responsibilities never end.  I thought I would take a moment to list the things she handles around our house. 

 

I have a responsibility I have taken on as editor of the Trackchaser Report.  I must be honest, direct and all-inclusive.  That means I must even include what Carol’s roles are, even in the bedroom!  Since this reading may not be everyone’s cup of tea or suitable for my minor-aged readers, I have placed the story at the very bottom of this report.  If you are interested in a “Behind the scenes” look into the Lewis’ household, you will find it below.

 

 

 

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.

 

From an ardent reader from the southeast regarding my comment about aggressive East coast drivers,

“I-95 is only the 2nd most aggressive Interstate, I-275 in Atlanta will blow the doors off those mopes!”

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

I have not been trackchasing in 11 days.  Nevertheless, I’ve been doing a lot of behind the scenes trackchasing work.  I currently have 1,247 tracks in the U.S. and Canada still to be seen.  Exactly 843 of those tracks have websites.  I currently have 498 different racing sanctions in my database.  This means I have more than 1,300 websites where I can find that allusive new racetrack to see. 

 

I’m always amazed at how many unique trackchasing combinations I can come up with by researching all of these sites.  There is one thing I must constantly remind myself of when doing this research.  I will never have a complete database.  I simply keep finding new information until its time to leave for the next trip.

 

This weekend’s weather forecast has me worried.  Both Friday and Sunday look great.  Saturday is the problem.  There’s a good chance of rain predicted for our middle day of trackchasing.  The rain forecast may effect where we end up going on Friday.

 

I’d like to go up by Green Bay, Wisconsin on Friday night.  Most of my trackchasing trips begin on Fridays. Green Bay is a little difficult to get to from San Clemente on a Friday (too far from Chicago and a non-stop flight, and a time problem if I must make flight connections to get to Green Bay or Milwaukee).  Therefore, since this trip started on a Thursday, it would be best to get the Chilton County Speedway near Green Bay out of the way on this trip.

 

Our other option is a track, Madison International Speedway, located just outside of Madison, Wisconsin.  There’s no great need to see this track now as Madison is easy to get to from Chicago (non-stop flight) on a Friday night.  The positive for going to Madison tonight is it’s two hours closer to dry weather for Saturday.

 

Right now USA Today and weather.com is showing rain for Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa.  We might have to go to Southern Indiana, Nebraska or South Dakota for a clear weather Saturday race.  Of course, that’s a problem for our Sunday morning race.  To get back on plan, we need to be in Northern Illinois at 9 a.m. for a Blackhawk Farms road race.  You’ll learn in the next report how all that worked out.  I just wanted to give you a small sample of the logistical strategic thinking that goes on when I take a trip.

 

 

The trip

 

This was a somewhat leisurely 6:15 a.m. out of the house departure for a non-stop flight to Chicago.  This trip is special for a few reasons.  First, we’re going to the Midwest a day early.  This will make getting to the first track on Friday night in Wisconsin a real breeze.

 

Secondly, we’re staying tonight on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.  This is special because both Carol and I graduated from NIU in 1971.  We’ve been back to the campus a few times over the years.

 

In 1967 when we were freshmen, the school was just building a new student center.  The student center at that time was state of the art.  The Holmes Student Center tower rises some 17 stories about the nearly flat cornfield countryside.  The tower houses an 80-room hotel and the student center has a 12-lane bowling alley.  The student center is also, where all of the fraternity guys hung out when we weren’t going to class, which was most of the time!

 

I remember my parents staying in this high-rise hotel while I was going to school there.  They paid $12 per night!  During those school years, I worked in the dormitory food service for, I think, $1.25 per hour.  My job was to clean the uneaten food off the plates when the food trays came into the back room.  We had a huge garbage disposal we called “Igor.”  Our shift never ended until we had all of the stainless steel appliances in the dormitory kitchen looking as if they had never been used.

 

I would later move on to more refined and better paying work while in school.  This included being a dorm Resident Assistant for two years and a pizza deliveryman.  I received 35 cents for each pizza I delivered to a dormitory and 50 cents for each one that went to a private residence.  That might sound low, but with tips, I usually netted about six dollars an hour.  Compared to earning a $1.25 scraping food off dirty plates I thought I was in monetary heaven.

 

Carol and I spent the morning touring the NIU campus on a very nice spring day.  There has been several new campus school buildings built since we were in school.  On the other hand, there have been no new dorms built since the early 70s.  I suspect college attendance might have peaked during the Vietnam War.  Back then, with a military draft, going to college allowed young men a military deferment.  As long as you went to college, you wouldn’t be drafted.  That was certainly an incentive to go to class!

 

In case you didn’t know it, Northern Illinois University has a big name football program.  A couple of year’s ago we beat Alabama, Maryland (ACC champs that year) and Iowa State.  In 2006, we have both Ohio State and Iowa on our schedule.  Unfortunately, I have conflicts with both of these dates or I would be there to root on the Huskies.

 

 

The People

 

Trackchasing takes me to many, many places across the country and the world.  I love it for that reason.  This week starts in DeKalb, Illinois.  In addition to visiting my old college campus, my sister Becky lives in DeKalb with her husband Bob and daughter Jennifer. 

 

My other sister Lynn lives just two hours south and she’ll bring her two children Carley and Elliot up for the visit.  This clan will be joined by our niece Sarah and her four children Kyle, Abby, Katie and Aunica.  Sarah and her husband Dan and family live just a couple hours to the west.  It was a great evening of food and fun with the family.  Of course, all of the aforementioned adult family members are loyal readers of the Trackchaser Report.

 

We had a cookout with the biggest burgers you’ve ever seen along with all the fixins’.  I really liked Becky’s baked beans.  A special treat was the birthday cake in honor of Carley’s 16^th birthday.  Her special day is May 20.  Happy birthday, Carley!

 

We spent the evening catching up since our last visit during a trackchasing trip in September, 2005.  We went through some old photo albums with family photos going back to 1926!  I took several for my collection.  Some day I want to research our family tree, but I haven’t made that a priority yet.

 

I want to give a shout out to Sarah.  She is a woman with a plan.  She was married in her early 20s, graduated from college with an education degree and had a goal of having four children as soon as possible.  She’s done that and now has four fine looking and acting “Youngins” aged less than one to five.  The thing I like about Sarah is she’s willing to seek out advice from experts in their field and then put that advice to work.  If everyone did that, they would be much more successful and content.

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

CALUMET COUNTY SPEEDWAY, CHILTON, WISCONSIN - TRACK #1,037 – 5/19/06

 

This was my 40th track to see in the Badger state.  I broke a tie with Andy Sivi of Clairton, Pennsylvania and now have sole position of ninth place in the state.  This was Carol’s 18^th lifetime track in Wisconsin.  Her track total here is second only to California for most tracks seen by her in a single state.  Ed Esser of Madison, Wisconsin leads the state’s rankings with 94 tracks.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

CALUMET COUNTY SPEEDWAY 

 

I went to the Calumet County Speedway a couple of years ago for their fall special.  Why would I come back to Calumet again for trackchasing purposes?  I was rained out back then!  It was a cold and rainy fall evening during my last visit.  I showed up to a large field of cars and fans that were waiting to see if the rain would let up.  It did not, even though the track did everything they could.

 

We might freeze tonight, but we wouldn’t get rained out.  The skies were perfectly clear.  Every racetrack in America could learn from the Calumet County Speedway about how to run an efficient program.  First, they started on time.  Most tracks don’t.

 

The best thing about the track was that as cars exited the racing surface in the second turn following the completion of their event, the cars in the next race drove onto the track from the turn three track entrance.  They ran four classes of stock cars with enough cars in each class to run a “B” main.  They had very few caution flags all night.  The flagman was slow to throw the yellow and the cars didn’t sit on the track to wait for one.  The program told us they had only three yellow flags in 199 laps of racing at their last event.  Someone knows what they’re doing at this track.

 

The grandstand is all steel and aluminum.  The bleacher seats have backs, which is always helpful.  Many of the fans in the stands wore dark green Green Bay Packers jackets.  They wore them for two reasons.  First, I’m sure they were big fans of the Pack.  Second, it was freezing or nearly freezing.  I wished I had a Green Bay Packers jacket tonight.

 

The announcer was very thorough.  After each race, he gave the crowd an official finishing results by car number of the race just completed.  He was also the announcer for the pit area.  He could be heard reminding this car and that one to get lined up.

 

The racing surface, a quarter mile semi-banked dirt oval, is my favorite track form of Motorsports racing.  The Grand National stock cars, sort of an upgraded street stock, were my favorite class.  They could get on the gas and race side by side without wrecking.

 

The announcer discussed the hobby of trackchasing with the crowd for several minutes.  Like most track announcers, he recognized this as quite a “Gig” and wished he could do it except, “He had a job.”  He also told the crowd that I had been to Belgium and mentioned that Belgium was only about an hour south of tonight’s track.  Then he added, “Randy probably went to ‘Belgium the country’ rather than Belgium, Wisconsin.” 

 

He noticed that I was just two tracks away from tying for the lead in the worldwide trackchaser standings.  He began to think aloud with the crowd about how I could get to more local tracks during the rest of the weekend.  He recommended Manitowoc and Kaukauna for Saturday and Sunday.  He did remind the crowd that if I went to Manitowoc, “He would have to listen to three hours of me again” referring to his announcing.  I would not have minded listening to this announcer again, but I had already been to those two tracks.  I guess I will have to come up with my own plan in an attempt to become the World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser. 

 

 

CAROL’S COMMENTS

 

CALUMET COUNTY SPEEDWAY

 

This is the most efficient track I’ve ever seen.  They put the next race on the track before the cars from the last race had even left the track.  The announcer was great.  He was really into trackchasing.  I heard several people in the crowd talking about “The trackchaser” after the announcer spent so much time on the subject.  It was cold.  I’m glad we had our blanket.  The racing was good, they actually passed.

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

The temperature was 54 degrees when we pulled into the fairgrounds.  It was 46 degrees when we left.  Call me old-fashioned, call me a wimp.  I think that’s just too cold to be sitting out for nearly three hours.  Of course, I was wearing surfer shorts.  Why would I wear anything else?  Fortunately, I had at least remembered to bring our blanket that I normally forget.  Carol had a cup of hot chocolate and we huddled for warmth.  Although it was cold, we had a totally blue sky.

 

The rain forecast for the areas we plan to visit is Friday-20%, Saturday-30% and Sunday-10%.  The Saturday forecast has been fluctuating from 30%-40$ all week.  Saturday has me a bit on the uneasy side.

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

I am consistently finding great rental car values with the National Rental Car Company.  First, their reservations system is outstanding.  They almost always answer the phone with a live person.  In about a minute, I can have a rate quote.

 

Carol and I are long-time members of the AAA auto organization.  Not only is this a great value for automobile assistance (flat tire/won’t start, etc.), the AAA discounts are great.  I almost always save an additional $10-30 on a 3-4 day rental with my AAA discount.  I believe our family AAA membership is less than $50 per year.  Of all the things I purchase in a given year, the AAA membership is one of the best values I know of.

 

We’ll be going with another Chevy Impala LT.  Our car had just 3,200 miles on it when it was picked up at the Chicago O’Hare.  Carol will be helping with the driving on this trip.  Her help is always appreciated.

 

 

 

 

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 (+2)

2.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,037

3.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-16)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,015 (-22)

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-30)

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 998 (-41)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

38.  Spike Rixon, Watford, England - 252 (+8)

39.  Virginia Schuler, Allentown, Pennsylvania - 248 (+4)

40.  Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Indiana – 246 (+2)

41.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 244

42.  Don McAuley, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - 235 (- 9)

43.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 235 (- 9)

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 46

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 – 14

7.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 13

7.  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

 

Eat all your sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Santa Ana, CA – Chicago, IL – 1,736 miles

 

RENTAL CAR

 

Chicago O’Hare Airport – trip begins

Chilton, Wisconsin, WI – 278 miles

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Calumet County Speedway – $8

 

 

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

 

We’ll stick with Wisconsin as long as the weather holds out.

 

 

 

 

 

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 Isle, New York - May 6

 

1,035. Motocross 338, Southwick, Massachusetts - May 7

 

1,036. Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, Fultonville, New York - May 7

 

1,037. Calumet County Speedway, Chilton, Wisconsin - May 19

 

 

BELATED MOTHER’S DAY RECOGNITION (continued)