












GREETINGS FROM
ALL PICTURES HAVE BEEN UPDATED FROM THIS
TRACKCHASING TRIP AT WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM
SPONSORSHIP
UPDATE
Due to the large number of important
topics that are included in this weekend’s Trackchaser Reports, I will include
details of my new sponsorship package at the beginning of next weekend’s
trackchasing trip.
REMINDER
If you don’t always have time to
read the entire Trackchaser Report, you can always go to the home page at www.ranlayracing.com and see the
highlights of each trip.
I currently have photos of the two
most recent
RESTAURANT REVIEW
From time to time, I will offer restaurant reviews for local chains or
individual restaurants I visit. This
report’s critical review will cover the Tim Horton restaurant chain. I visited four locations in both
Tim Horton’s is somewhat of a cross between a Starbucks,
The Tim Horton order taker took my order and relayed the information to
the young woman who would prepare my order (egg salad sandwich). The order taker then went away and the food
preparer finished the sandwich, walked up to the counter, gave me my food and
said in English “Here’s your food, have a nice
day.”
She was assuming I had already paid.
I had not. It would have been
very easy to simply leave the restaurant without paying for my food. Of course, I would not even consider doing
that. That would be stealing. I enjoy getting a good deal by negotiating
and being clever, but not by cheating or stealing. I believe that some people think that being
clever is like cheating or stealing. I
believe those people have a hard time being clever.
My egg salad sandwich was served on a French bread type roll. It was delicious. “Combo”
meals at Tim Horton’s mean that you can add a drink and donut for a special
price. That’s my kind of combo!
My other stops included a “Chili combo.” The chili was thick and without a good deal
of meat. It did have mushrooms. I have never met a bowl of chili I didn’t
like. Carol makes the best. This chili tasted O.K. but I do think I could
have turned the bowl over and the chili would have stayed where it was. Of course, the donut portion of the combo was
a plus.
A late night visit to a Tim Horton’s located in a gas station yielded
six donut holes or so I thought and a hot chocolate. I took my order back to the hotel. I discovered that my powdered sugar, jelly
filled holes did not total the six I had ordered. I actually got eight. I was feeling good about Tim Horton’s
now. The hot chocolate was way too
creamy. Of course, that is exactly how I
like it.
My final stop was for a sesame bagel with strawberry cream cheese. An offer was made to toast it and I
accepted. The bagel was cut in half and
served promptly.
Overall, I was happy with my four Tim Horton’s experiences. The stores were clean, the service was fast
and the food was good. You can’t beat
that combination. I would give the chain
a B+. Only the lack of credit card
acceptance holds them back from a higher mark as well as a couple of
questionable counter person encounters.
I did stop at a McDonalds to see if they accepted credit cards. They do.
Therefore I knew that Tim Horton’s not accepting credit cards was not a “Canadian” thing.
McDonalds’ credit card machine completes the transaction in less than
five seconds. That’s pretty good. A drive-thru visit to McDonalds provided some
concern. The chain’s “Value” items offer several selections for $1.39
Canadian (they are one dollar in the
I WOKE UP IN
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL
NEWS
The Strategy
I try to get as many trackchasing doubles as I can. I am sure it will become more and more
difficult to get doubles as the trackchasing years fly by. So far this year in 83 days of trackchasing,
I have seen 29 trackchasing doubles.
Here’s how my types of doubles break out.
Day/night – 15
Blended doubles with features on both ends - 5
Blended doubles with features on back end only - 4
Same location – 3
Traditional - 2
I also have a goal of having as many trackchasing days as golf days in
2006. Last year at this time, the
results looked like this:
Trackchasing – 98 Golf – 29
In 2006, the results have improved to:
Trackchasing – 83 Golf – 55
Now that I’m into the Fall trackchasing season, mid-week racing will dry
up. You will see golf really start to
catch up with trackchasing soon. I hope
you have goals in your life that help you reach whatever life balance you are
trying to achieve.
The Trip
Below I will tell you about my encounter with Trackchaser Commissioner,
Will White. Will was at both tracks with
me today. The races finished tonight,
Sunday night, at 8:40 p.m. Will had to
work tomorrow.
It was a 511-mile drive to his hometown of
Will’s travel schedule was brutal.
I had a difficult travel chore ahead of me before I would reach home as
well. Following Sunday night’s racing, I
drove about 150 miles. I needed to get
on the Eastern side of
I then got a full night’s rest and slept until 8 a.m. I consider sleep a requirement when
trackchasing. Only on the rarest of occasions,
will I go without sleep and try to drive through the night. On Monday morning, I drove 300 miles to the
Upon arrival at the airport, I learned my flight from
Of course, when we arrived into the
The bad weather forced us to circle the DFW airport for more than 30
minutes before we were allowed to land.
It was now 10 p.m. in
To make a long travel day sound shorter I will simply tell you that I
arrived back in
I had done nothing but travel and sleep since leaving Sunday night’s
race and it had taken me more than 33 hours to get home after Sunday night’s
figure 8 racing. Yes, if you plan to
trackchase from a west coast base, it going to be a little more difficult. This is why I sometimes refer to East coast
trackchasing as being of a “Namby Pamby”
nature. Of course, having to drive over
night and go directly to work without much if any sleep is worthy of note, even
from a west coast trackchaser.
I have discovered that it takes about 12 hours on the first day of any
flying trackchasing trip to get from my
These travel requirements are not unique to the fact that I live in the
Western region of the
The “12/24” rule, meaning it takes 12
hours to get to the first track and 24 hours to get home from the last track,
all comes from the idea that taking an airplane is a requirement to trackchase
routinely, not just once in a while, in locations far from home. You see I am the first trackchaser to be
limited by my geographical driving circle.
In order to overcome that limitation I must fly. If I fly, as I do 25-30 times each year, then
I add a complete day on the back end of the trip in order to just get
home. That’s an extra 25-30 days each
year with no tracks added, just travel.
Here’s how that part of the equation works. Most tracks race at night. If the track on the last day of the trip runs
at night, there is absolutely no chance of catching an airplane ride home
following the race. It’s too late. Even if the last track of the trip runs in
the afternoon, it’s nearly impossible to catch a flight that day to fly home
with the extra time now needed to clear security, return rental cars as well as
drive to the airport.
Most of my airline trips are booked 2-4 weeks before the actual trip
takes place. Many times I don’t even
know what track location will make up my last trackchasing day. On those occasions when I do have an advance
planned last day track, weather or some other factor necessitates a change in
my last day trackchasing locale. With
this in mind I can never schedule a morning flight because the drive to the
airport from my last trackchasing location might be too far. This pretty well forces me to schedule a late
afternoon or evening flight on the day following my last trackchasing
visit.
The sum of all of this means that if my last track finishes at say 10
p.m., I am not likely to get home until about 10 p.m., track time, THE NEXT DAY
from a normal trip. When each
trackchaser begins to be impacted by his/her Geographical Driving Circle, and
they will, they will have to decide if they will cut back on their trackchasing
frequency or face the travel penalties associated with flying. I have not even discussed the cost
implications involved. I have chosen not
to cut back on trackchasing. I fear
others will not make the choice I have.
Speeding fines are prominently posted on the highway road signs in
120 KPH = $95
130 KPH = $220
140 KPH = $295
I kept it between 110-115 KPH. I
only saw one person pulled over during my entire three days of driving.
My XM radio did not work in Canadian airspace. I very much enjoyed the wide variety of talk
radio on the AM band. It’s always good
to hear what a foreign country has to say about the
There is a good deal of talk about
I think of
The People
At the Oakwood Fair Trackchaser Commissioner Will White sought me
out. He and I have had our differences
over the past year. I must admit that
even though I knew he was at the race I had no intention of seeking him
out. I guess that makes him a better man
than me.
Will and I conversed for a few minutes at the Oakwood Fair. I gave him my point of view on our past
differences. He acknowledged what I had
to say.
Will was surprised to hear that I have personal travel behavioral files
on each leading trackchaser. It’s
similar to the FBI’s behavioral tracking of the most wanted criminals and their
known associates. Yes, it does give me
something to do in my spare time!
Will was also surprised to learn that I rarely if ever go NGD point
chasing. I always try to maximize my
track count. If that helps in the NGD
standings, it’s all the better. I figure
if I continue to add total tracks at a faster rate than anyone else does the
NGD points will take care of themselves.
I did point out that it has been discovered that a certain trackchaser
has been NGD point chasing. Yes, behavioral
travel files have their purpose. Of
course, there is nothing wrong with that.
It’s called competition!
Nevertheless, and even though I had planted an electronic tracking
device under his glow red Pontiac, we agreed to meet up later in the day for a
fistfight (just kidding) at the Western Fair.
It was a 3.5-hour drive from this afternoon’s racing to the 7 p.m.
starting time at the Western Fair. I
joined up with Will and we spent the evening talking about various elements of
trackchasing behavior as well as trackchasing rules and the future of trackchasing
as we know it.
Upon further reflection, we are probably both surprised at how much we
agree on in virtually every area of the trackchasing experience especially on
the subject of trackchasing ethics. I’m
glad Will took the initiative to say hello and appreciate his congratulatory
remarks regarding my 1,100th track.
RACE TRACK STATS:
OAKWOOD FAIR,
WESTERN FAIR,
These two tracks were my 20th
and 21st
RACE TRACK NEWS:
OAKWOOD FAIR
I was not planning to attend this afternoon’s event. I must thank Guy Smith for supplying this
date. I am unable to receive email
communications from Guy. I must also
thank Will White for passing along this information in a message I could see.
The event is promoted by the
The afternoon weather was gorgeous and reminded me that this is the Fall
part of my trackchasing season. I was
cruising along with plenty of time to make the race when I discovered that I
had made a wrong turn. I frequently do
this even when I know the correct route.
I just start paying attention to other things and not paying attention
to where I should be driving.
The races were scheduled to start at 1 p.m. My driving “Excursion”
would now prevent me from arriving at the track until 1:30 p.m. I knew they were having both figure 8 racing
and a demolition derby. I figured the
figure 8 races would be first. Demo derbies normally destroy the car and a
destroyed car can’t race in a figure 8 race that follows a demo derby. Yes, there is a good deal of science in being
a successful trackchaser!
I pulled into the parking area where the greeter was collecting the
spectator’s money while the fans sat in their cars. The admission price was $7.00 Canadian. I gave the lady four two-dollar coins. She smiled and said she was going to get me a
“Loonie.”
I replied that was not necessary as I was already married. She appreciated my attempt at humor and soon
returned with a one dollar Canadian coin.
Yes, a “Loonie” is a one-dollar
Canadian coin.
When I did get situated, I saw three figure 8 cars getting lined up to
race. This was the four-cylinder
class. The “Square”
that the cars would be racing in was small.
The cars would race around two tractor tires that were not secured to
the ground. At one point, the tires had
been nudged enough so they were only about 15 feet apart. This was not big time figure 8 racing.
The four-cylinder division ran another three-car heat race and that was
it for the figure 8 racing. I later
learned I had missed the single three-car six-cylinder figure 8 heat race. That’s right; the countable racing was
limited to three, three-car heat races.
Nevertheless, the track went into the books as #1,102.
WESTERN FAIR
The Western Fair is one of the largest fairs I’ve seen this year. When I arrived, I was directed to park in the
infield of the horseracing oval. This
was also where the figure 8 racecars were pitted. I paid my $7 Canadian to park and took the
opportunity to walk up onto the infield stage area. This was where the Thrill Show Productions (www.thrillshowproductions.on.ca)
announcer was setting up for the night’s activity.
Russ, the announcer also handled these duties last night at the
Today’s Thrill Show Productions promotion was my fourth lifetime
adventure with these folks. Every
program has been different. That’s
O.K. It keeps you guessing.
Tonight they ran four heats with 5-6 cars in each heat. Then they did a rollover contest. This was fun and will probably be the best
video footage I was able to get during the evening. After the rollover contest nearly half of the
folks sitting in the packed grandstand left to visit the rest of the fair. I would estimate there were a good 3,000
people or more in the very large covered grandstand.
The final events of the night were a consolation and a feature
race. The feature was the best race of
the night with a good combination of racing and banging. I feel that this type of figure 8 racing is
much closer to a demolition derby (which we don’t count) than actual racing
(which we do count.) The entire affair
took only one hour and 40 minutes. That
was a plus.
The entire weekend of flying coast to coast and having some significant
travel difficulties as well as a rainout produced four figure 8 tracks to add
to my lifetime totals. I try not to
think about the cost and hassle that were required to see some very marginal
track activity. As a matter of fact, I
am totally focused at this stage on next week’s trackchasing trip.
WEATHER
CONDITIONS
It was cool today with Fall like
weather. The skies were blue and the
clouds were of the white, puffy variety.
It was only 50 degrees when I left tonight’s track. For you cold weather dwellers, it will be
winter before you know it!
RENTAL CAR
UPDATE:
I am using a Dollar Rental Car
Racing Chrysler
When I made my reservation, I was
advised that if I drove the car into the
Friday total driving miles – 489
kilometers (304 miles)
Saturday total driving miles – 269
kilometers (167 miles)
Sunday total driving miles – 886
kilometers (554 miles)
Monday total driving miles – 458
kilometers (278 miles)
There are 3.78 liters per
gallon. Several hours of higher math
produced the following. If you can
understand it on the first read, you are brighter than I am.
The driving portion of this trip
covered 2,102 kilometers (1,305 miles). I
stopped for gas three times and a final top off at the airport. I paid an average price of $0.86 per liter ($3.18
LIFETIME
TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
These worldwide trackchasers are
within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.
1. Randy Lewis,
2.
Guy Smith, Effort,
3.
Rick Schneider –
4.
Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring,
5.
Andy Sivi,
6.
Allan Brown,
7.
Ed Esser,
* 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.
35.
Sammy Swindell,
36. Carol Lewis,
37.
Dale Danielski,
38.
Bob Schafer,
2006
TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
2.
Ed Esser,
3.
Mike Knappenberger,
4.
Roland Vanden Eynde,
5.
Paul Weisel,
6.
Guy Smith, Effort,
7.
Roger Ferrell,
8. Carol Lewis,
9.
Allan Brown,
10. Pam Smith, Effort,
Thanks for reading about my
trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
#1 Trackchaser Living West of the
What gets us into trouble is not
what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.
CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA - Chicago, IL – 1,749 miles
Chicago, IL – Montreal,
RENTAL CAR -
Cantley,
AIRPLANE
Montreal, Canada - Dallas, TX – 1,520
miles
Dallas, TX – Los Angeles, CA – 1,256
miles
Total Air miles – 5,276
Total auto and air miles traveled on
this trip – 6,581 miles
TRACK ADMSSION
PRICES (ALL CANADIAN CURRENCY):
Autodrome Edelweiss – Rained out
Oakwood Fair - $7
Western Fair – Free ($7 to park)
Total race admissions for the trip –
about $23 Canadian
Some of my standings data comes from
trackchaser.com
Next weekend I’ll see my first fall
season tracks in the
992.
Watermelon Capital
993.
Cross Roads Motorplex (asphalt oval), Jasper,
994.
995.
Qualcomm Stadium,
996.
997.
998. Thunderbowl Speedway of
999.
Cross Roads Motorplex (dirt oval), Jasper,
1,000. Auburndale Kartway,
1,001.
1,002. Speedworld Speedway,
Surprise,
1,003. Lowe’s Motor
1,004.
1,005.
1,006.
1,007.
1,008.
1,009.
1,010.
1,011.
1,012.
1,013. East
1,014. Margarettsville Speedway,
1,015. Sunny South Raceway,
1,016.
1,017. Coldwater Raceway,
1,018.
1,019. Ballymena Raceway,
1,020.
1,021.
1,022. Mendips Raceway,
1,023. Oval Raceway,
1,024.
1,025. Southside Speedway,
1,026. Motor Mile
1,027. Wythe
1,028. Summit Point Raceway, Summit
Point Circuit, Summit Point, West Virginia - April 30
1,029. Old Dominion
1,030. Shenandoah Speedway,
1,031.
1,032. Empty Jug,
1,033.
1,034.
1,035. Motocross 338,
1,036.
1,037.
1,038.
1,039. Blackhawk Farms Raceway,
1,040. The
** Angell Park Speedway, Sun
Prairie,
1,041. Park Jefferson
1,042. Superior
1,043. Brainerd International
Raceway,
1,044. Canby
1,045.
1,046. Tri-State
1,047.
1,048.
1,049. The Bullring at
1,050.
1,051. Buena Vista Raceway,
1,052.
1,053. Rocky Top Raceway,
1,054. Midvale
1,055. Midvale
1,056. Spring Valley Raceway,
1,057.
1,058. Lawrenceburg Speedway (figure
8),
1,059. Lawrenceburg Speedway
(temporary oval),
1,060.
1,061. State Park
1,062.
1,063. Lucas Oil
1,064. Lucas Oil
1,065. Tri-City
1,066.
1,067.
1,068.
1,069.
1,070.