





















GREETINGS FROM
ALL PICTURES HAVE BEEN UPDATED FROM THIS
TRACKCHASING TRIP AT WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM
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. By the way, I can neither endorse nor be
responsible for any reader’s point of view.
It’s a free country and everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.
I received a few early points of feedback on the topic of sharing. I will share those with you.
This one comes from a Rockie Mountain area resident who is also an expert in the area of chili cook-offs.
“In our competitive chili world, some "buddies"
may share tips on a new salsa chopper that can saves hours of chopping time or
maybe where to buy a meat slicer, to again make the prep process easier.
However, the key secrets, spices, are hardly ever discussed but in the most
round about ways. I have spent 20 years and thousands developing a winning
recipe, so why give it up?
In your world, the spice is where the races are.
Here is some feedback from a
“You're something else!
I only wish everyone on your distribution list could know
you and your sense of humor like some of us lucky ones here in CA!
Concerning competition and sharing information, they are
your competitors! If your hobby is a competition then everyone should develop a
game plan and strategy to win. Don't share under these circumstances.
If on the other hand this is a friendly game to have fun
then by all means do everything to help. (Even Tiger Woods encourages Charles
Howell III to develop a 3/4 swing shot to be more competitive.)”
A viewpoint from a southeastern
reader.
“I was an only child
& to this day I want my food & I don't want any of yours!”
A last minute addition from down toward
I think it depends, Randy, on which is more important to
you: 1) Winning the trackchasing crown, no matter what it takes, without
regard to your own values; or 2) Being true to your own values, like the
importance and benefits of sharing.
I'm guessing number 2 is where you shake out.
Personally, I admire you for sharing information with your
competitors. After all, this is for fun, and doesn't involve shareholder
return, lawyers, or making enough money to buy new shoes for baby. At
least I don't think it involves any of those things. That being the case,
you are simply showing leadership to the other guys, and I admire that.
Editor’s note: I have nearly 400
separate pages on my website. My “Future track dates” page ranks fourth in number
of hits.
MEDIA UPDATE
The folks at the Tillsonburg News were nice enough to send along the
photos that appeared in their August 25, 2006 story about trackchasing. If you would like to see them simply go to www.ranlayracing.com, click on “Media coverage” and then click on “Tillsonburg News”. Thank you Nathan Taylor.
I WOKE UP IN WALNUT,
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL
NEWS
The Strategy
I now this sounds repetitive, but it’s good trackchasing strategy to
visit tracks that don’t race very often.
That is exactly what I did today.
The Trip
I finished the trip with three separate Trackchasing Tourist Attractions
(TTA). This always makes the trip
enjoyable.
TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #1
Following the action at the
At the DeKalb Oasis located on Interstate 88, I would meet
up with good friend, Pryce B. of
I used to hold nine season tickets to the
However, it is a big deal in
Soldier Field was renovated for football a couple of years
ago. The stadium is noted for the large concrete
“Colonnades” which
make it look like a Roman coliseum. However,
the stadium's rebuild looks more like a spaceship. Combining a spaceship form of architecture
with a Roman coliseum makes for some weird looking overall architecture.
Like many pro sports teams, the
Pryce had a parking pass that allowed us to park in a
parking garage that was attached to the stadium. We had a roof over our heads all the way from
the parking garage until we sat down in our seats. There are also excellent views of Lake
Michigan and downtown
The Bears dominated the game in front of a sold out crowd.
The four of us very much enjoyed each other’s company. Since we are all natives of Illinois, we reminisced
about Illinois sports including the old National Industrial Basketball league,
the Decatur Bears and the Moline NBA team which is now the Atlanta Hawks after
moving from Moline to St. Louis.
It was a most fun afternoon.
Brad bore a strong resemblance in both his appearance and mannerisms to
NASCAR star, Carl Edwards. Brad had
never heard of Mr. Edwards, but I implored him to listen to a race broadcast to
see what his twin brother might look like.
I’ll look forward to the day when we can have another outing like the
one we had today.
TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #2
Following the Bears game, we went back to DeKalb to get my
car. It just so happens that my sister
Becky and her husband Bob live in DeKalb.
I also spent four years in DeKalb (1967-1971) getting a college education
that happily helped prepare me financially for a life of trackchasing.
My trackchasing hobby allows me to be in many different areas
often to visit family and friends. Most
people don’t get to stay in touch with people personally as much as I have over
the past many years. I’m grateful for
that.
I took Becky and Bob to Pizza Villa for dinner. Pizza Villa is one of my all-time favorite
pizza joints. It’s possibly second only
to
Obviously, there were no computer spreadsheets in 1970. Therefore, I used a small notebook to record
the results of my pizza income. I
received 35 cents for each dorm delivery and 50 cents for each house or
apartment delivery. That combined with
tips and a four-dollar gas stipend normally netted me about six dollars an hour
in cash. That was pretty good money back
in those days.
Becky, Bob and I enjoyed out time together. It’s always good to hear what they are up
too. They are looking forward to a long
vacation out west that will focus on our daughter’s wedding on May 5,
2007. Unless, there is a trackchasing
double that I just can’t pass up, I plan to be at the wedding as well.
TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #3
Monday, the last day of my trackchasing trip was going to be
a long one. The plan was to play golf in
the morning with Pryce. Then I would
drive 350 miles up to
I have experienced abnormally warm weather on the entire
trip. However, weather.com has been
calling for a dramatic temperature drop for today, our golf day. For most of the week, they predicted high
temperatures of 55 degrees or so, with possible rain. With an early morning tee time and a weather
forecast of just 55 degrees, that didn’t look to enticing.
Pryce and I both showed up at the Oak Club of Genoa in
Genoa,
The course offers a senior discount to people 57 years and
older. That was awfully convenient
considering I happen to be 57 years old.
However………..the “Early Bird Special” was an even better price at $29 including cart for each
player. Compared to playing in
The course was damp early on and they don’t have a driving
range. The cart paths also leave
something to be desired. The greens were
true, but slow. It might not be a four
star course in my mind, but more like 3.5 stars.
Pryce has been tearing up the competition at his country
club in
Following golf, we had time for lunch. I asked the head pro for a local luncheon
recommendation. He recommended Trumpets
in downtown
You can just imagine two smelly golfers walking into a high
society looking restaurant where “Tea is
served”. Of course, I was wearing shorts and a Spam
t-shirt! The entire restaurant looked
like a fancy antique store. The tables
all had nice doilies and there was lots of crystal. Each place setting had about 25 pieces of silverware,
teacups, etc.
The greeter asked if we had reservations. I resisted the temptation to offer my
standard line of “Yes, but we came
anyway.” We may have been the only men in the entire
restaurant. That didn’t deter us. We had a nice lunch before bidding each other
farewell. Pryce and his wife will be
heading out to
Overall, having three such high quality Trackchasing Tourist
Attractions made for an outstanding trip.
The People
It was super seeing all the people who made up my TTAs. It’s also great to be able to share feedback
from people reading the Trackchaser Report.
They say that for everyone that calls into a radio or TV show with an
opinion, there are many, many more people with a similar opinion who don’t call
in.
RACE TRACK STATS:
HARRISON
CALHOUN
These were my 60th and 61st
lifetime tracks to see in the Hawkeye state.
RACE TRACK NEWS:
HARRISON
This appears to be a relatively unknown track in the trackchasing world,
even though they have raced figure 8 cars several times this year. The races were scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
under some rather unusual weather conditions.
The area had received two inches of rain overnight. When I arrived, it was an unlikely 88 degrees
under blue skies and a strong wind.
A major thunderstorm was predicted to hit within a few hours. The program started 10 minutes late and the
final checkered flag flew at 4:06 p.m.
Later that evening the radio would tell me that
This was about as low key of a racing operation as you are likely to
find. There was a small celebration
going on in the park adjacent to the county fair’s covered grandstand. It didn’t amount to much. There was face painting for the kids and a
dunk tank. There were no carnival rides
or anything like that.
I did see something most unusual in the park as well as throughout the
town of
The grandstand has a seating capacity of maybe 1,500. Only about 40-50 of those seats were occupied
today. There were not many racecars
either, just three “Small cars” and three “Large cars.” Each of these “Divisions”
ran two, six-lap heat races and a 12-lap feature event. A proposed powder puff derby was scratched
when no powder puffettes accepted the invitation to race.
The figure 8 markers were a set of used automobile tires tightly wound
together in sort of a ball. I’ve never
seen markers like that before. The track
was wet and muddy and made up of the famous “
The announcer and scorers sat in a small bleacher section on the
opposite side of the grandstand from the track.
The announcer’s P.A. used the speakers from his boom box. Surprisingly, he could be heard well,
although he did not have much to say.
The cars raced hard, but with so few competitors, there wasn’t a good
deal of action. I couldn’t help but
smile when the three drivers from each division were summoned to the judging
area to “Redraw” for their feature starting
positions. I was most pleased to get
this first half of a day/night doubleheader before the place becomes inundated
with my fellow trackchasers.
CALHOUN
The
The races were scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Weather.com called for major thunderstorms to
hit the area at 9 p.m. Although it was
clear skies when I entered the track, that would soon change.
The track announcer was also the flagman. From where I was sitting the P.A. system
might have been the best I have heard this season. Unfortunately, the flagman/announcer said
nothing at all during the race. He did
tell the crowd they would be splitting their 53-car field into two feature
events of 26 and 27 cars each. He never
mentioned how long these two races would be.
He also told everyone that the top five finishers in each feature race
would advance to a 15-lap “Dash of cash.”
They started nearly 30 minutes late.
The track runs from West to East.
Shortly after the first enduro began, I noticed a huge mean-looking dark
cloud forming off to the west. It kept
getting bigger and closer with lightning adding to its ominous demeanor.
The racing wasn’t much. For some
reason the primarily four-cylinder cars didn’t seem to be going very fast. I had no idea how long each race was going to
be. I searched on my race scanner for
the official track channel but never found it.
I did come across a channel occupied by three different race fans. From what they said, I was able to piece
together the fact that I was watching a 100-lap race that paid $300 to win.
They did a pretty good job of keeping the race going without unnecessary
delays. Enduros are not meant to have
many delays. They stopped for a couple
of burning racecars and that was it. The
100-lap race ended at 8:15 p.m. By now,
the big storm to the west was nearly on top of us. Just at that moment I Iooked over my shoulder
to see an even bigger and separate storm approaching from the south. We were going to get hit big and it wasn’t
going to take much longer for everyone to get wet.
The fans I was listening to on the race scanner wondered if the second
race would get in. The track announcer
told the crowd to standby, he was getting a weather update. A few moments later he announced they would
begin the second race. At about that
moment, the skies began to open up. I
knew this was the signal to pack up my gear and head for the exits. Just before I made it to my car, which was
located only a few yards from the track’s entrance, it really began to
pour. Actually, the TIMING of the rain
was perfect for me. I had seen a 100-lap
feature event, but was still getting out early so I could make the 250-mile
drive to
WEATHER
CONDITIONS
Overall, the weather on this trip
was great, especially for mid-September.
The rain hit most everywhere when it wouldn’t cause me a problem.
RENTAL CAR
UPDATE:
I am using the National Rental Car
Racing Chevy Impala this weekend.
Thursday total driving miles – 177
Friday total driving miles – 457
Saturday total driving miles – 388
Sunday total driving miles – 124
Monday total driving miles – 376
The driving portion of this trip
covered 1,522 miles. I stopped for three
full tanks of gas and a final top off. I
paid an average price of just $2.37 per gallon.
The Chevy Impala gave me 28.6 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost
of 9.3 cents per mile. The car cost 8.3
cents per mile to rent, all taxes included.
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.
Allan Brown,
9. Carol Lewis,
10. Pam Smith, Effort,
Thanks for reading about my
trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
#1 Trackchaser Living West of the
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 - Minneapolis, MN –
1,530 miles
RENTAL CAR -
AIRPLANE
Minneapolis, MN – Los Angeles, CA -
1,530 miles
Total Air miles – 3,060
Total auto and air miles traveled on
this trip – 4,582 miles
TRACK ADMSSION
PRICES:
Rice
Total race admissions for the trip –
$75
Some of my standings data comes from
trackchaser.com
It seems like I’ve been traveling a
good deal over the past two months. Maybe,
that is because I have! I’ll be home for
about 77 hours before it’s time for my last major cold weather city
trackchasing visit. I’ll begin to
migrate southward soon just like the birds do.
Trackchasing’s First Mother is
expected to hit the trackchasing trail after a 39-day layoff. She has Sammy Swindell is her sights.
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.