GREETINGS FROM LANCASTER, WISCONSIN

 

I AWOKE IN MIDDLETON, WISCONSIN THIS MORNING. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATE

 

Just about a month ago, I started a European trackchasing trip at the Ballymena Raceway in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.  The religious strife of that country crossed my mind a time or two before I departed for that trip.  I was assured the problem was “All over with” and flew into Belfast.  I had a wonderful time in Ballymena, a small city of just 28,000 people.

 

I was shocked to read this story about Ballymena in yesterday’s news.

 

BELFAST (AFP) - About 2,000 people in Northern Ireland have turned out for the funeral of a Catholic teenager who was beaten to death in a vicious sectarian attack as he went to buy a takeaway pizza.

 

Fifteen-year-old Michael McIlveen's death on May 7 was the latest in the 37-year "Troubles" between the Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland that has seen some 3,600 people killed.

The youngster was attacked by thugs in an alleyway in the mainly Protestant town of Ballymena, in the northeast of the province. He was allegedly beaten with a baseball bat before having his head stamped upon.

Six Protestant youths have since been charged with murder.

 

 

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 that track for you to see.  This will allow you to put pictures with the words.

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

Using strategy in trackchasing or anything else you encounter in life is all about understanding your options.  If you have only one option, then there is not much strategy to employ.  If you are driving up a one-lane mountain road with a steep cliff on one side and a mountain on the other and encounter a runaway 18-wheeler coming directly at you, there are two options.  You can continue and hit the truck or you can swerve and take your chances with a 1,000 foot freefall.  At least you get to make the choice!

 

This is what I find so interesting about life.  I think it’s so much fun to try to uncover as many options to a problem or opportunity.  Once you have laid out your options, you then get the chance to pick the one you want.  I don’t always choose the right one, but I least I get to choose.

 

I use an airplane to get to 98% of the tracks I attend.  Since I fly commercially (at least for now), I must go where the plane’s scheduled will take me.  I plan most of my airline trips 2-4 weeks in advance.  Of course, I have no idea what the weather will be like when I book my airline reservation.  I take 25-30 trackchasing airline round-trips each season.  That means that I’m absolutely locked into 25-30 of my track’s general locations regardless of what the weather looks like when I land.  I can’t remember ever canceling an airline trip because of a bad weather forecast.

 

Actually the same limitations surround the LAST track of my trip.  I’m locked into the airport location that I will be departing from both geographically and time-wise.  This means the 25-30 tracks that make up the last day of an airline trackchasing trip can be affected by weather as well.  Being able to fly to most of my tracks is a tremendous advantage.  However, flying is a definite limitation when it comes to the weather and possible track cancellations.  I can’t just wake up in the morning, look out the window, and decide if I feel like taking a chance on the trackchasing weather.

 

The Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wisconsin was our originally planned track for tonight.  The rain probability at race time for that area was 50-60%.  With other alternatives, that rain risk was too much for this trackchaser.  I found a safer weather bet in Southwestern Wisconsin.  The rain forecast there called for just a 30% chance of precipitation.  I called the Plymouth track later in the evening.  They had cancelled because of rain.  Score one for the #1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi!

 

When I woke up this morning I was all set to Carol and me drive nearly five hours one way to the Pike County Speedway in Pittsfield, Illinois.  That plan would add several hours of extra driving to the trip.  Pittsfield looked to have the best weather forecast of eligible tracks within five hours of Madison.

 

Playing the weather game is a requirement to be a world-class trackchaser.  With the technology at my disposal, I’m tough to beat in this aspect of our game.  Some more searching around found a track much nearer with the same rain forecast as Pittsfield.  Carol and I ended up at the Grant County Speedway in Lancaster, Wisconsin.  If you’re going to be a trackchaser you have to have a very flexible mindset.

 

Even as we watched the heats and features at Lancaster, the strategy continued.  If you’re interested, I’ll tell you more about our adventure in the “Race Track News” section.

 

 

The trip

 

Trackchasing for me is not just about the racing.  When I go to an area foreign to me, I want to see and do things that I’ve never done before and might not ever get the chance to do again.  I must admit I was a bit tardy in my off-track planning.

 

Nevertheless, I made up for it by using our high-speed internet connection in our Marriott hotel.   I simply did a Google search for fun things to do in Wisconsin.  We were alerted to several diverse activities that would easily fill our day in and around Madison, Wisconsin.

 

The first event on the Saturday morning agenda was attending a live radio program put on by International Public Radio.  This is similar to National Public Radio.  Now I would be less than perfectly honest with you, if I did not say that Carol and I have a difficult time discussing politics.  Our political philosophies have spilled over into entertainment choices that meet both of our needs.

 

I like to think that I will attend nearly any entertainment venue that I might remotely enjoy.  Carol has a stricter sense of what she might enjoy.  If anyone is, was or might be associated with the “L” word, then it’s unlikely she will attend.  That’s O.K.  Everyone needs to have their principles.

 

The National Public Radio group is definitely on her hit list.  She really didn’t like the idea that we would be paying ($5 senior admission) money to the NPR.  Again, no harm, no foul.  The program I was recommending was Michael Feldman’s “Whad’ Ya Know?” (http://www.notmuch.com/)   You may have heard it on radio before.  As far as I know it airs on Saturday mornings for two hours each week.  The radio program’s location is mainly Madison, Wisconsin but Mr. Feldman takes the show on the road as well.  Today’s show was performed at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center overlooking beautiful Lake Monona.  This is a state of the art performance center and worth the trip just to see the architecture.

 

I called up and got a couple of the few tickets that remained for the performance.  Our late purchase of tickets did not end up giving us a bad seat.  Seating was first come, first served and we arrived early.  This gave us a third row center seating location in an auditorium that seated about 250 people.

 

Mr. Feldman’s show is not political, it’s mainstream humor.  I like the wit he is famous for.  We enjoyed the two hours.  I sat next to a woman who is about ready to launch a bakery in the area named “Red Banana”.  She was very inspirational and encouraged me to write a book about my trackchasing experiences.  Maybe, I will.

 

Our afternoon activity was to drive up to Baraboo, Wisconsin.  Baraboo is where the first ever circus started.  The American Circus Museum (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/circusworld/) is located here.  Today was the 2006 grand opening.  We ended up being disappointed in their operation.  You can see most of what’s happening before you have to buy a ticket to get in.  It looked to me that no more than 50 people were on the grounds.

 

We opted to pass on the Circus Museum and go to the Baraboo Crafts Fair that was going on downtown.  We did see the “Al Ringling” (http://www.alringling.com/) theatre downtown.  Mr. Ringling was half of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus.

 

As we motored along toward the Grant County Speedway, we came across the “House on a Rock.”  This attraction (www.thehouseontherock.com) is located in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  The house is the grand vision of Alex Jordan.  This looks to be an amazing place.  We were told it takes about five hours to see the entire thing.  We didn’t have that much time, but will put it on a future trip to this area. 

 

 

The People

 

Carol and I were impressed with how everyone we met in Wisconsin was so nice.  We were also impressed with the Culver’s restaurant chain.  I think we ate there three times.  It’s a semi-fast food place.  You place your order at a counter and they deliver the food to your table.  One day for lunch, we ordered our entrees and dessert.  They asked us if we would like our desserts delivered to the table after we had finished our entrees.  Yes, we would, thanks for asking.  How many fast food chains could handle that bit of extra service?  Yes, the people of Wisconsin were very nice, indeed.

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

GRANT COUNTY SPEEDWAY, LANCASTER, WISCONSIN - TRACK #1,038 – 5/20/06

 

This was my 41st track to see in the Badger state.  I’m in ninth place and won’t be challenging Rick Schneider’s eight place total of 44 tracks for awhile.  This was Carol’s 19^th lifetime track in Wisconsin.  This state total trails only her 52 California tracks.  Ed Esser of Madison, Wisconsin leads the state’s rankings with 94 tracks.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

GRANT COUNTY SPEEDWAY

 

The racing tonight was in the small town of Lancaster, Wisconsin.  The weather forecast called for an increasing chance of rain tonight to 30% at race time.  Normally, a 30% probability is not cause for much concern.  Anything more than that would be.

 

The difference tonight was the very heavy cloud cover.  Some of those clouds were black.  We pulled into town at about 5 p.m. for the 6:30 p.m. scheduled start.  With some time on our hands and an aversion to track food, we stopped at an A&W Root Beer stand (probably called a restaurant in today’s lexicon).  There we ordered the same type of food we probably would have at the track!  Carol had chicken strips and I had a pork tenderloin.  Go figure.

 

Even though we were served via curb service (my favorite), we took our food about two miles over to the track’s parking lot to eat.  I wanted to make certain I didn’t miss any pre-race ambiance with the cars pulling into the track, etc.

 

There were some very dark clouds around us as we ate our gourmet dinner.  After eating we took a brief nap.  We’ve had a long day so far and it was going to be a long night as well.  We waited for hot laps to finish and entered the track.  We missed the senior discount (age 62 and over) and paid our $10 admission.  I was somewhat concerned when the ticket taker was reminding everyone to hold on to their ticket in case it rained!

 

There were not many cars in the spectator parking lot.  This translated into a crowd of about 200 people.  The grandstand was large and uncovered.  Having an uncovered grandstand is somewhat unusual for a fairgrounds track.

 

The track itself was a very wide semi-banked dirt oval.  This track is promoted by the same people who run Farley Speedway (Iowa-Friday) and Dubuque Speedway (Iowa-Sunday).  I suspect both of those promotions are superior in most ways to the Grant County Fairgrounds.

 

The races started 25 minutes late at 6:55 p.m.  Nevertheless, because of low car counts the heats were over by 7:43 p.m.  The first feature checkered at 7:58 p.m.  There were 55 cars racing in six divisions.  The announcer called the track a 3/8 mile oval.  It looked closer to a half mile to me.  On a track this large, small car counts aren’t very entertaining.

 

The Farley Flyers, a four-cylinder class had the most cars with 21.  They ran three heat races.  The B mods (8), Limited Stocks (7), Hobby Stocks (1) and Pro Stocks (8) all ran just a single heat.  Actually, the lone hobby stock ran with the limiteds.  Since the hobby stock class was a faster class, they made the hobby driver start on the pole, a lap behind.  On lap 2, with the hobby stock car about 150 yards ahead, a caution flew.  The yellow flag put the hobby stock at the back of the pack erasing his starting disadvantage.  He went on to win the race with a last lap pass.  There were also 10 modifieds that ran two heats.

 

The announcer gave me a nice mention between the heats and feature.  He told the crowd that he admired my gig and wondered how it was financed.  It’s common for announcers to envy my trackchasing lifestyle.  As for the financing, almost all of this is done with credit cards.

 

With the heats finishing well before 8 p.m., I would have thought the track might go to a long intermission.  Instead, they came right back with a 12-lap, 20-car Farley Flyer Feature event.  They ran it non-stop.  This put my creative trackchasing mind to work.

 

Only two of the six classes had enough cars for more than one heat.  We had already seen the largest class (21 cars) run their feature.  We had already seen four of the classes race exactly the same cars in their heat race they would run in their feature.  Was it really worth waiting to see the two five-car modifieds heat groups join up for a 10-car feature?  My answer was no.

 

I considered several alternatives.  I really wanted to go to Lacrosse, Wisconsin’s track.  They have an outer and inner oval.  The inner oval would be new for me.  Both tracks would be new for Carol.  That seemed like a good idea except Lacrosse was about 90 miles from Lancaster.  We could make it their by 10 p.m., but we would then be 180 miles from the Comfort Inn we had reserved in Beloit, Wisconsin.

 

Option #2 was the Jefferson Speedway in Jefferson, Wisconsin.  They also have an inner and outer oval.  I’ve seen them both but each track would be new for Carol.  Jefferson was 110 miles from Lancaster but only 40 from tonight’s hotel.  That’s it!  Following the B mod feature, we were off to Jefferson.  The weather forecast was not good for that area, but the worst case would have us getting back to our hotel at a somewhat reasonable hour as we have an early wakeup call for Sunday morning.

 

I tried calling the Jefferson Speedway to find out how long they might race tonight.  The line was busy.  A continuously busy line (I tried a few times) might mean they were having weather problems there.  I gave up trying when my cell phone flashed, “No network.”  That’s how far out in the country we were.

 

As we got a little closer to Madison, the cell phone came back into range.  The Jefferson Speedway track phone was still busy.  I tried the alternate phone number listed for the speedway and reached the promoter’s wife at home.  She didn’t know if they were still racing, but said, “It’s coming down hard here.”  Yes, she was talking about rain.  She recommended I keep calling the track. 

 

Finally, when we were within 10-15 miles of the Jefferson Speedway, the rain started although it was not that heavy.  When we were within less than five miles of the track, I got through on the phone.  It was 9:45 p.m. and they had cancelled 30 minutes ago.  That meant no late night extra double for Carol.  I tried.

 

During our travels, I also called the Raceway at PowerCom Park in somewhat nearby Beaver Dam.  At 9 p.m., I talked with a gentleman who told me they were in a rain delay during their first of five features.  I told him I thought I could be there by 10 p.m.  He told me not to bother as they would likely be finished racing.  That seemed hard to believe.  They were in a rain delay and still had five features to run and he figured they’d be done in an hour?  That’s the way the short track promotion business goes.  They always think they will start earlier than they do and finish earlier than they will.  Beaver Dam’s geographical location was not ideal.  We would settle for one track, the Grant County Fairgrounds, and call it an evening. 

 

 

CAROL’S COMMENTS

 

GRANT COUNTY SPEEDWAY

 

I liked how wide the track was.  The “Clunker” cars raced better than the fast cars.  (Editor’s note:  the reference is to the “Farley Flyers.”)  The announcer gave Randy a worthy mention.  We almost got another track, when we tried for the Jefferson Speedway, but “No cigar.”  I think I need a salad.  (Editor’s note:  This comes after Carol consumed a pork tenderloin at Culver’s for lunch and an order of chicken strips at A&W for dinner.  I think I can get her looking like I do within just a few hundred more tracks!).

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

It was much warmer today than last night.  It was nearly 20 degrees warmer.  That was welcomed by these West coast trackchasers.  It was 72 degrees when we walked in the gate.

 

With the warmer weather, came some cloudy conditions, the first hint of humidity of the spring season and ultimately some rain.  We were lucky to get our track in tonight.  The light rain that cancelled the Jefferson Speedway reminded me of exactly how LITTLE rain is needed to force a cancellation.  My good weather luck with trackchasing continues, although tonight it was twisted a bit to allow for our continued success.

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

I was disappointed in the National Rental Car Racing Chevy Impala LT.  The interior reading lights seemed to have a short in them.  That was a problem when we driving tonight and trying to use the laptop for a map and call tracks every few minutes.  I don’t expect cars with 3,000 miles on them to have reliability issues.  They rarely do.

 

 

 

 

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 (+1)

2.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,038

3.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-17)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,015 (-23)

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-31)

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 998 (-42)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

38.  Spike Rixon, Watford, England - 252 (+7)

39.  Virginia Schuler, Allentown, Pennsylvania - 248 (+3)

40.  Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Indiana – 246 (+1)

41.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 245

42.  Don McAuley, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - 235 (- 10)

43.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 235 (- 10)

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 47

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 32

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 27

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 22

5.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 18

6.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 17

7.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 15

8.  Linda Thomas, Watford, England - 13

8.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 13

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’Hara Airport – trip begins

Chilton, Wisconsin, WI – 278 miles

Lancaster, Wisconsin – 583 miles

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Calumet County Speedway – $8

Grant County Speedway - $10

 

 

 

 

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

 

I’m just one track out of a tie for first place in the worldwide trackchaser rankings.  Surely the weather will hold off for one more day, so I can gain a tie.  Heck, a double would be even better.  Stay tuned.

 

 

 

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

 

1,038. Grant County Speedway, Lancaster, Wisconsin - May 20