GREETINGS FROM LAWRENCEBURG, INDIANA

I WOKE UP IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA THIS MORNING. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

It may take me a few days to get photos up for these races.  Please bear with me.  Soon you can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos of this week’s trip.

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

We flew into Indianapolis today.  Our first track, and only available track on Tuesday, June 20, was the Lawrenceburg Fairgrounds in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.  Lawrenceburg is a suburb of Cincinnati.

 

As I have mentioned in the past, when there is only one track to choose from there really is no meaningful trackchasing strategy to employ.  However, following tonight’s race we must decide whether to travel West or East.  I have a complete trackchasing itinerary with 7-9 tracks spread over our next 5 days regardless of which way the weather drives us.  More about how that decision will be made in the next Trackchaser Report.

 

The trip

 

We were out the door at precisely 4:59 a.m.  Trackchasing’s First Mother will be joining me on this adventure.  The early morning departure was made somewhat more difficult because we went out the night before with our friends, the Robertsons.  Nevertheless, we arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 6:02 a.m.  I dropped Carol with the baggage to be checked while I went to park the car.

 

Today we are flying non-stop to Indy via Air Tran.  It just turned out that Air Tran was implementing a new computer check-in program.  Actually, they were not implementing it very well.  The line to check baggage and get boarding passes went all the way out the door and down the street.

 

It took me 20-25 minutes to park the car and ride the shuttle bus back to the airport.  Carol was still in line outside the terminal waiting to check the bags!  After more than an hour in line, we got the bags checked.  We bought breakfast from Burger King (airlines no longer provide any meals) and boarded immediately.

 

Actually, the flying portion of this trip should be easier than the driving portion.  We are dealing with a very unstable weather situation.  I suspect encountering a rainout or two is a very real possibility.  That being the case, we will probably end up driving somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,500 miles on this trip in our quest to maintain trackchasing dominance.

 

When I go trackchasing with Carol, I try to upgrade everything we do.  If I can pick trips where the driving is less, I do.  I try to get us better hotels and we see more tourist attractions when she’s along.  I really appreciate her coming along and want to make sure she has a good time.

 

Tonight we picked the Argosy Hotel and Casino in Lawrenceburg for our overnight stay.  It’s biggest plus was the hotel’s location.  It was located just across the street from the fairgrounds.  This is a riverboat casino with a large hotel attached.  Our room was great.  This was the first time I’ve ever stayed in a hotel with a flat screen TV.  We watched the last few minutes of the NBA championship game in high def!!  Hi def rules baby!  I was glad to see Shaq get another championship.

 

We made a cameo appearance in the casino.  They had slots, blackjack, craps and three card poker amongst other games.  I used to be a big gambler.  My CB nickname was “Blackjack man.”  Gambling doesn’t hold much interest for me anymore, even though I wager on EVERY golf game I play at our club.  That’s not really initiated by me, but the folks who run our golf games. 

 

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished (Remember, I was upgrading our hotel for Carol’s benefit).  We went to bed at midnight.  At just past 1 a.m., the hotel fire alarm went off!  We were only eight feet above the ground so we just sat tight until the alarm stopped.  At just past 5 a.m. one of the loudest freight trains I’ve ever heard went by our room.  A peek out the window at daybreak confirmed there were railroad tracks less than 30 feet from our room’s window!  Yes, it is a true statement that no good deed that I’ve ever done has gone unpunished.  Nevertheless, I will continue to do good deeds for no other reason to see what crazy things the good deed can create.

The People

 

I don’t often get to meet the track promoters when I visit a track.  Tonight’s promoter, Terry Eaglin, operates TE promotions.  He’s been promoting auto racing events for some 25 years.  I first met him last year during one of his shows in North Vernon, Indiana.  Terry not only promotes events, he also announces them.  During that first meeting, he interviewed me about the trackchasing hobby.  Terry has shown a strong interest in why people would go around the country trying to see so many tracks.

 

Following tonight’s races, Carol and I made our way up to the announcing booth as Terry had requested earlier in the evening.  When I introduced Carol to him, he replied, “You didn’t have her with you last year.”  No, I didn’t and now I’m glad I didn’t have anyone else with me last year (other than Carol!) since Terry seemed to have such a good memory.

 

When I do talk to promoters, I am always amazed at their passion for their operation.  Tonight, Terry had no more than 100 paying fans in the stands.  Tomorrow night, he has a $10,000 to win demo derby at the same location.  He told us, “I’m expecting to have the grandstand sold out for that one.”  The grandstand seats 3,000- 4,000 folks.  It’s hard to believe they could sell out for a derby after getting such a small crowd tonight.

 

Terry is a very hands on promoter.  Not only is he announcing, but he also organizes each race sometimes down at the track level.  Each time I’ve run into him after the races, he seems pretty worn out.  I just see what he does at the track.  I’m sure the worry about getting competitors to show up, getting purses paid and attracting crowds is very challenging.  Had I pursued another career as a young man I would have loved to be a racetrack promoter.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY (TEMPORARY OVAL & FIGURE 8), LAWRENCEBURG, INDIANA - TRACK #1,058 & #1,059 – 6/20/06 – CAROL’S TRACKS #252 & #253

 

These two tracks were my 53^rd and 54^th in the Hoosier state.  They were Carol’s 10^th and 11^th tracks in Indiana.  This was also my first visit to the state this year and my 24^th different state to visit in the first six months of 2006.  I now carry a rank of 8th in the great state of Indiana.  Roger Ferrell leads Jack Erdmann 108-77 for the state leadership.

 

Importantly, Carol increased her worldwide rank to 38^th in the world.  She had now put Spike Rixon in her rearview mirror.  She hopes to gain a few more spots before the year is out.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY (OVAL & FIGURE 8)

 

We arrived at the Lawrenceburg Fairgrounds, home to the Lawrenceburg Speedway, which was hosting the Dearborn County Fair.  According to the track sign and the very glossy color brochure we found in a nearby interstate rest area there is no such thing as a “Dearborn County Fairgrounds”.  It is the Lawrenceburg Fairgrounds.

 

I only began listing each track I visited by specific date in 1980.  Prior to that time, I had seen 72 new tracks.  One of those tracks was the quarter-mile banked dirt permanent oval known as the Lawrenceburg Speedway.  I’m not even certain what year I went to this track.  We lived in the Cincinnati area for 12 months in 1973-74.  I probably saw the track while we were living in Cincy.  If that was the case, the facility has definitely changed for the better in some 30 years.

 

This was our first county fair experience of the year.  The fair wasn’t large.  It had just a few rides.  We ate fair food including pork tenderloins, roasted corn on the cob and fresh cut French Fries.  We ate all these goodies while sitting on an aluminum bench and listening to seven year olds being recognized for their community service.  This is what you do at a county fair!

 

The great thing about tonight’s racing is that we would see racing on two different countable tracks.  Tonight’s promotional team was TE Promotions.  They promote 70-80 different events, mainly demolition derbies, in the Indiana/Ohio area.  In addition to the demos (which are not countable by trackchasing rules), they run figure 8 shows, rollover contests and enduros.  Figure 8 racing and enduros are countable by trackchasing rules.

 

The Lawrenceburg Speedway has a huge and modern aluminum grandstand of similar quality to the best tracks in the country.  The lighting is great and the sound system excellent.  I was told by the promoter that the track gets a good deal of development money from the Argosy Casino, a riverboat gambling operation, that sits just across the street from the fairgrounds.

 

The first event of the night was a six-car figure 8 heat race.  Why just six cars?  That’s all that showed up tonight.  Later, they ran a reasonably uneventful 12-lap, six car figure 8 feature race.  They raced around two large tractor tires that were not spaced very far apart, maybe 30-35 yards.

 

Following the figure 8 heat race, a celebrity enduro race was conducted.  This race track layout was a temporary oval.  The cars raced around the two tractor tires but did not crossover as the figure 8 cars had.

 

This race was for five cars and 15 minutes.  The “Celebrities” were from local radio and TV stations.  Later in the evening, we watched two of these five drivers on Cincinnati’s channel 5 TV station.

 

The crowd was very small tonight.  Carol estimated there were only 100 people in the stands.  That sounded about right to me.  The program was fun but run in a deliberate fashion.  The first race started at 7:45 p.m.  We both had two countable tracks just 50 minutes later.

 

Another event on the program was a four car rollover contest.  This might have been the most entertaining event of the evening.  The cars would run full speed down the front straightaway and drive their left or right front tire over a three-foot wooden ramp.  This usually threw the car into a series of rollovers when sometimes the car returned to its wheels and sometimes not.

 

A separate group of eight enduro drivers and cars raced on the temporary oval for 20 minutes.  This event was followed by the aforementioned figure 8 feature event.

 

Just to give you a flavor for how fortunate I am with the weather, last night’s program at this facility was rained out.  Tonight’s weather forecast called for rain to move in near race time (but it didn’t) and for tomorrow night’s weather to have severe rain.  With all of that rain around, we still saw our event and even got two tracks rather than one.

 

The track promoter, who also announces his events, gave me a hearty trackchaser mention.  This is my third or fourth event with this promoter and he is quickly getting up to speed on the trackchasing hobby!  It was nice of him to share trackchasing details with the sparse crowd.

 

 

 

CAROL’S COMMENTS

LAWRENCEBURG SPEEDWAY (OVAL & FIGURE 8)

 

This was a beautiful facility with hardly any spectators.  The lighting was some of the best I’ve ever seen.  The announcer was a very enthusiastic and nice guy.  It was fun to meet and talk with him after the races.

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

It was hot and humid at the track.  It was 85-90 degrees at race time under a partially cloudy sky.  Just when we reached the parking lot following the races, it began to sprinkle lightly.  We had defeated Mother Nature once again.

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

It’s unusual but I picked out a Nissan Altima for our rental car on this trip.  The car’s main attraction was it had only 7 miles on the odometer when I drove it from the National Rental Car lot.  It’s a bit short on some amenities.  I’ll tell you about that later.

 

Tuesday total driving miles – 123 miles

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,059

2.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,040 (-19)

3.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-38)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,020 (-39)

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-52)*

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 1,004 (-55)*

 

* Warning, you are within 50 tracks of being removed from this list.

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

38.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 253

39.  Spike Rixon, Watford, England - 252 (+1)

40.  Virginia Schuler, Allentown, Pennsylvania - 248 (-5)

41.  Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Indiana – 246 (-7)

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 68

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 38

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 37

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 31

5.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 27

6.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 23

6.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 23

8.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 18

9.  Linda Thomas, Watford, England - 15

9.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 15

 

 

Trackchasers everywhere are scurrying to be well-positioned by June 30, 2006.  At that time, I will provide my annual review and predictions for the balance of the 2006 season for the current top 10 trackchasers.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

#1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi

 

I should never care to argue for anything that would lesson the difficulty of the game because difficulty is its greatest charm. 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Indianapolis, IN – 1,810 miles

RENTAL CAR

 

Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins

Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 123 miles

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

Lawrenceburg Speedway – $7

 

 

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

 

Will we be able to head East or West for the balance of the trip?  We’ll know the answer to that question is just a few hours.

 

 

 

 

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

 

1,039. Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Rockton, Illinois - May 21

 

1,040. The Milwaukee Mile (Road course), West Allis, Wisconsin - May 21

 

** Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – May 21 (new track Carol only)

 

1,041. Park Jefferson Speedway, Jefferson, South Dakota - May 25

 

1,042. Superior Speedway, Superior, Wisconsin - May 26

 

1,043. Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minnesota - May 27

 

1,044. Canby Speedway, Canby, Minnesota - May 27

1,045. Crawford County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Denison, Iowa - May 28

1,046. Tri-State Speedway, Sisseton, South Dakota - May 29

1,047. Sheyenne River Speedway, Lisbon, North Dakota - May 29

1,048. Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, Pahrump, Nevada – June 3

1,049. The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada – June 3

 

1,050. Hibbing Raceway, Hibbing, Minnesota – June 6

 

1,051. Buena Vista Raceway, Alta, Iowa – June 7

 

1,052. Lebanon Midway Speedway, Lebanon, Missouri – June 8

 

1,053. Rocky Top Raceway, Coal Grove, Ohio – June 9

 

1,054. Midvale Speedway (oval), Midvale, Ohio – June 10

 

1,055. Midvale Speedway (figure 8), Midvale, Ohio – June 10

 

1,056. Spring Valley Raceway, Millport, Ohio – June 11

 

1,057. Rialto Airport Speedway, Rialto, California – June 17

1,058. Lawrenceburg Speedway (figure 8), Lawrenceburg, Indiana -  June 20

1,059. Lawrenceburg Speedway (temporary oval), Lawrenceburg, Indiana -  June 20