GREETINGS FROM ADA, MINNESOTA

 

 

It may take me a few days to get photos up for these tracks.  Don’t worry, soon you can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos of this week’s trip.

 

CAROL AND I WOKE UP IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

                                                                                        

This morning Carol and I woke up to the news that global terrorists had been stopped in their attempts to blow up airplanes headed from London to the United States.  We were lucky to have started our trip from Los Angeles International Airport today and not yesterday.

 

I have always said that accident, illness or injury can always stop a trackchaser in his or her tracks (no pun intended).  I have also felt for a very long time that something else can stop a trackchaser.  This “Something else” would be totally out of control of the trackchaser and could stop the entire hobby of trackchasing.

 

What would that be?  Widespread terrorism inside the United States.  I believe that if the U.S. ever had the amount of suicide bombings against civilians that Israel has had, our country would become a ghost town.  Recently there were seven suicide bombings in ten days in Israel.  Can you imagine if there were seven bombings across our country in movie theatres, sports stadiums, grocery stores, etc in just a few days?  Every movie theatre, sports stadium and many grocery stores would sit empty.

 

For those of you who studied economics in college, there is something called a “Multiplier” effect.  Loosely translated that means that if I spend a dollar on a rental car, the rental car company then spends a dollar with General Motors to buy a new car.  General Motors then spends a dollar with its parts suppliers and both General Motors AND their parts supplies spend money paying their employees.  Those employees then take those wages and buy food and clothing, etc. etc. etc.

 

Everyone saw what a just 13% decrease in flying activity did to the U.S. economy in the year following “9/11.”  That economic effect was an excellent example of a “Negative economic multiplier.”  If someone DOES NOT spend a dollar on a rental car, then the rental car company has fewer dollars to use buying new cars from General Motors.  General Motors has fewer dollars to give to its parts suppliers.  Both General Motors and their parts suppliers have fewer dollars to give to their employees.  Then all of those employees have fewer dollars to give to the folks who sell food and clothes and everything else.  You can see where this could go.

 

The economic hit we took on 9/11 would be nothing compared to the effect of indiscriminate bombings everywhere in the country, absolutely nothing.  Racetracks closing would be a part of an economic shutdown that would result.

 

I don’t mean to say that trackchasing has any importance whatsoever in the world of global and U.S. terrorism, it doesn’t.  I am simply saying that one of the outcomes, as very minor as it would be of such terrorism, could be the elimination of this hobby.  I hope someone can put a stop to all of this before it gets even more out of hand. 

 

The Trip

 

On a much lighter note today, Carol and I embarked on a few TTAs (Trackchasing Tourist Attraction) today.  I discovered TTA #2 while googling for “Fargo Fun Things to do.”  We did all of this under threatening skies.

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #1

We spent the morning at Scheels.  This is the “Largest sports only store in the world.”  That’s pretty impressive.  Especially since it’s located in a town of just 90,000 people.  Kristy and I visited this same store, just two weeks ago here in Fargo.  Then it was 102 degrees, today it was only 77.  That’s quite a difference.

 

This is a sporting goods store on steroids.  We spent a dollar to ride the indoor Ferris Wheel.  I also bought a pair of golf shoes.  If you get to Fargo, make sure you stop at Scheels, Mr. Esser has been there.

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #2

This afternoon Carol and I went to a minor league baseball game between the Fargo-Moorhead Firehawks (http://www.fmredhawks.com/) and the Edmonton Cracker Cats.  Great nicknames!  The Firehawks have a brand new stadium located on the campus of North Dakota State University.  The stadium called the Newman Outdoor Field (quite an original name if you ask me) seated 3,804 people for today’s game.  The stadium’s capacity is 4,513 and 117 of 295 regular season games have been sold out.

 

I wish that we could see more local activities such as this.  Unfortunately, most baseball games of this type and musical concerts play at night.  When we are traveling on trackchasing trips, we almost never have a free night that is not spent going to the races.  It’s fun to see TTAs, but the main purpose of a trackchasing trip is to see new tracks. 

 

I couldn’t help but compare the differences in attending a Firehawks game with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim games that we attend ten times per year.  First of all, the Firehawks charge just two dollars to park, the Angels charge eight.  A brat was $2.50.  It would be twice that in Anaheim.

 

Today, I walked up to the ticket window and said I wanted the two very best seats the ticket seller could give me.  This resulted in us sitting just seven rows directly behind home plate.  The ticket price?  Just $9.50 per seat.  Of course, those seats would not have even been available at an Angel’s game.  If they were, they would have cost more than $50 per seat.

 

Minor league baseball offers more “Entertainment” during a game than the major leagues.  Between innings, they have all kinds of spectator involvement.  The one I found most “Laugh worthy” was the “Smash the balloon” contest.  This was a real hoot and the crowd went wild.

 

Here’s how it worked.  Two couples from the stands were selected.  Each couple had three large balloons about 18” in diameter to work with.  The object of the contest was to break the balloons one by one by placing them between the two people and pressing together until the balloon broke.

 

The first balloon needed to be broken by placing the balloon between the two couples (just before their waist) while the couples faced each other.  It took many gyrations by each couple to break the balloon.  The second balloon had the woman facing away from the man with the balloon again placed just behind her butt.  Finally, the last balloon would be broken with the man laying on his back and the woman attempting to lay on top of him with the balloon in between.  You can imagine how this all worked out.  Carol said she was happy we weren’t selected for this one.

 

I did notice the quality of play was dramatically below what we see in the major leagues.  During the first five innings, there were three errors on easy ground balls and two runners were picked off.  The speed gun showed the pitchers throwing at only 85-87 M.P.H.  Major league starting pitchers routinely throw 91-92 M.P.H.  In addition, the players seemed to be smaller and slower, even from the seventh row, than major league players.

 

One good thing was that the game lasted just two hours and twenty-five minutes.  That’s about an hour less than a major league game, which was great.  The Firehawks brought an eleven game winning streak into the game.  That streak was broken with a loss to the Cracker Cats 3-2.

 

Michael (Resident Trackchaser Report music and rock band expert), it was announced that Bob Dylan, a Minnesota native will be coming to the ballpark for a concert on September 9.  I wish I could be there!

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #3

We capped off the late afternoon with a quick visit to the movies to see Talladega Nights:  The Ballad of Ricky Bobby starring Will Ferrell.  It was very funny.  We both enjoyed it.  If you want to see the entire movie, stay through the credits for the final scene.

 

The People

The people of Minnesota are the best.  I’ll tell you more about that in the “Racetrack” news section.  We did run into a woman at the baseball game that was noteworthy.  She and her brood sat in the row behind us.  She sounded like the children’s kindergarten teacher but I think she might have been their grandmother.

 

Here are just a few of the questions this woman fielded.

 

Kids:  Could the ball come through the netting and hit us?

 

Kids:  How do the players know what time it is?

 

Grandmother:  Do you want to go get some ‘Dippin Dots?’ 

 

Kids:  What’s ‘Dippin’ Dots?

 

If you don’t know what ‘Dippin Dots’ are, you need to get out more.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

NORMAN COUNTY RACEWAY, ADA, MINNESOTA - TRACK #1,088 – 8/10/06 (CAROL’S TRACK #274)

This is my 35th lifetime Minnesota track.  I am now tied for fourth place in the state with Dale O’Brien and have gained another NGD point.  Mr. Erdmann leads Mr. Esser for the state lead 62-51.

 

This was Carol’s third Minnesota track.

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

NORMAN COUNTY RACEWAY

We arrived at the Norman County Raceway at 6:40 p.m., twenty minutes before the official start time.  There were only a few people in the 1930s era wooden covered grandstand.  By 7 p.m., the place had begun to fill up.  In a move that I never see or hear happen in the short track racing world, they announced attendance figures.  This is common with major league stick and ball sports, but not here.  There were 638 paying customers tonight.

 

There were 89 cars racing tonight spread across six divisions.  There were 12-16 cars in each of these divisions:  4-cylinders, Pure Stocks, Mod-4s, Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks and WISSOTA Modifieds.  We watched about 17 heat races and all 6 feature events.  The program was run efficiently and wrapped up about 10:40 p.m.

 

With a full day to TTAs, we didn’t have time for a formal supper.  That meant we needed to eat at the track.  The sausage pizza was good and Carol and I each had a hot dog.  We had left our fruit back in the hotel room’s fridge!  I was amazed that a 16 oz. draft beer cost just two dollars.

 

The P.A. was loud and there was very little dust from the track.  They did water lightly twice.  The starter used a yellow and a black flag to signal that the third restart of a race (only happened twice I think) meant the cars would start in single file.  I’ve never seen that before.

 

Speaking of the flagman, lightning struck in nearly the same spot again.  You might recall that just 11 days ago and just 33 miles to the south, I was invited to flag a race at the Buffalo River Speedway.  This was the first time in nearly 1,100 tracks I had ever flagged a race.

 

Following my trackchaser announcement over the public address system tonight, the flagman descended from his starter’s stand perch and marched into the grandstand.  He invited me to come up and flag the Pure Stock feature event.  At Buffalo River, I flagged the start of the Road Hog feature race.  I was definitely being upgraded!  The Pure Stocks are a bigger event than the Road Hogs.  Tonight, I would get to throw the green AND the checkered.  What’s next, the Daytona 500?

 

The Norman County Raceway has a fun way for the crowd to get up close and personal with each feature winner.  After the feature race, the feature winner drives his racecar directly in front of the grandstand.  The driver then exits the car within a few feet of the first row of the grandstands.  He gets his picture taken, shakes a few kids’ hands, fires the engine and is off.  That’s a nice touch.

 

The view from the flag stand is outstanding.  If you ever get the chance and I hope you do, watch a race from up there.  RANLAY Racing’s official photographer, aka Carol, was busily snapping photos of the event.  We’ll soon see how they turned out in the dark.

 

It turns out the racetrack announcer, also does a racing radio show on Friday mornings following the Thursday night races at the Norman County Raceway.  His show airs at 11 a.m. on KRJB at 106.3 on the FM dial.  The announcer’s name is Jim.  Yes, just Jim.  Jim had a great call as the green flag drops.  He yells “Weeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr’e racing!!”  It’s great.

 

Following the races, Jim and I sat in the empty grandstands and taped an interview for his radio program.  I believe this is my first U.S. radio interview to go along with several Canadian radio appearances.  Sorry to say, that by the time you receive this the show will have been completed.  Jim did promise to send me an mp3 file.  I’ll try to share the audio on my website if I can.  If not, I’ll try to provide a written transcript of our talk.

 

 

CAROL’S COMMENTS

The track lighting wasn’t very good.  There were a large number of races.  They were efficient, but I would prefer some consolidation of the heat races (Editor’s note:  Some classes with 15 cars had three heats of just five cars each).  I thought for sure we would be rained out with the way the skies looked in Fargo.  They do very well here with a Thursday night program.  I liked seeing the feature winner park in front of the grandstand.

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

When we entered the movie theatre, at 3:20 p.m., the skies were far to the south of Fargo and it looked like “Tornado alley” to the north of Fargo.  Where was the track?  North of Fargo.  When we finished the movie about two hours later, the weather to the North still looked terrible.

 

I called the track.  They were racing and had not received any rain today at all, even though it had been raining lightly in Fargo all day.  It was raining steadily when the baseball game finished up.  Nevertheless, when we arrived at the track, it was blue skies.  I am one lucky trackchasing weather person.  The remainder of the evening the skies were blue and the temperatures in the mid to high seventies.  It was nearly perfect.

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

The National Rental Car Racing Chevy Impala is jammed packed.  It’s amazing how a set of golf clubs as well as clothing and provisions for a very long trip will eat up the cargo space.

 

 

Wednesday total driving miles – 288 miles (corrected)

Thursday total driving miles – 119 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 – 1,088

2.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,048 (-40)

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,045 (-43)

4.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-67)*

5.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 1,018 (-70)*

6.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,015 (-73)*

7.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 920 (-168)**

 

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

 

** Special exemption.

 

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

34.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 279 (+5)

34.  Sammy Swindell, Bartlett, Tennessee – 278 (+4)

36.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 274

37.  Dale Danielski, Onalaska, Wisconsin – 269 (-5)

38.  Bob Schafer, Oshkosh, Wisconsin - 267 (-7)

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 96

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 60

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 50

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 45

5.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 43

6.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 40

7.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 36

8.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 35

9.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan - 34

10.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 32

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

#1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi

 

I’m very good with figures and wish people asked me to multiply things more often.

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA -  Minneapolis, MN – 1,530 miles

RENTAL CAR

 

Lindbergh International Airport – trip begins

Morris, MN – 177 miles

Ada, MN – 351 miles

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Stevens County Fairgrounds - $8

Norman County Fair Raceway - $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

 

Tomorrow, if all goes well, Carol will see her 44^th different trackchasing state.

 

 

 

 

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

 

1,060. Thunder Mountain Speedway, Knox Dale, Pennsylvania -  June 21

 

1,061. State Park Speedway, Wausau, Wisconsin -  June 22

 

1,062. Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin -  June 23

 

1,063. Lucas Oil Speedway (oval), Wheatland, Missouri -  June 24

 

1,064. Lucas Oil Speedway (figure 8), Wheatland, Missouri -  June 24

 

1,065. Tri-City Speedway, Pontoon Beach, Illinois - June 25

 

1,066. Lake Ozark Speedway, Eldon, Missouri - June 29

 

1,067. Poplar Bluff Speedway, Poplar Bluff, Missouri - June 30

 

1,068. Indianapolis Motor Speedway (road course), Indianapolis, Indiana – July 1

 

1,069. Rush County Fairgrounds, Rushville, Indiana – July 1

 

1,070. Rock Castle Speedway, Mount Vernon, Kentucky – July 2

 

** Windy Hollow Speedway (oval), Owensboro, Kentucky – July 2

 

1,071. Heartland Park Topeka (dirt oval), Topeka, Kansas – July 3

 

1,072. Thunderhill Speedway, Mayetta, Kansas – July 3

 

1,073. Little Valley Speedway, Little Valley, New York – July 13

 

** Twin State Speedway (oval), Claremont, New Hampshire – July 14

 

1,074. Twin State Speedway (figure 8), Claremont, New Hampshire – July 14

 

1,075. Canaan Speedway (asphalt oval), Canaan, New Hampshire – July 14

 

** New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire – July 15

 

1,076. White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, New Hampshire – July 15

 

1,077. Legion Speedway, Wentworth, New Hampshire – July 15

 

1,078. Devil’s Bowl Speedway, Fair Haven, Vermont – July 16

1,079. Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, Connecticut – July 17

1,080. Little Log House Speedway, Hastings, Minnesota - July 28

 

** Elko Speedway (outer oval), Elko, Minnesota – July 28

 

** Elko Speedway (inner oval), Elko, Minnesota – July 28

 

** Elko Speedway (figure 8), Elko, Minnesota – July 28

1,081. Chickasaw Big Four County Fairgrounds, Nashua, Iowa - July 29

1,082. Buffalo River Speedway, Glyndon, Minnesota - July 30

1,083. Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, Utah, - August 4

 

1,084. Atomic Motor Raceway, Atomic City, Idaho - August 4

 

1,085. Mission Valley Speedway, Polson, Montana - August 5

 

1,086. Rock Creek Race Track, Kimberly, Idaho - August 6

 

1,087. Stevens County Fairgrounds, Morris, Minnesota - August 9

 

1,088. Norman County Raceway, Ada, Minnesota - August 10