GREETINGS FROM CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

 

 

 

ALL PICTURES HAVE BEEN UPDATED FROM THIS TRACKCHASING TRIP AT WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM

 

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

 

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

 

The Strategy

                                                                                        

Today, October 11, is a big day for me.  It’s the one day each year that I actually work.  Yes, I rebalance my retirement portfolio.  You see I no longer work for money.  I did work for money after I completed my education for a period of 30 years.  That seemed like long enough to me.

 

However, when you no longer work for money you need enough “in the bank” to cover your expenses for the rest of your life.  Now I don’t have very extravagant tastes.  If I can afford a race ticket and maybe a track hot dog, without having to work for a living then I’ll be happy.  If I can squeeze in a country club membership, luxury cars, oceanfront mansion, a few international vacations each year and all of the things my wife would ever want then so much the better.

 

Why do I include this information in the strategy section of the Trackchaser Report?  Well, I think there are a large number of folks that think pretty much as I do.  Yes, they would like to figure out how to not have to go to work every day.  They want to have enough money to live on regardless of whether their tastes include just a race ticket and a hot dog like me or a chilled bottle of Dom Perignon and a thick slice of brie.

 

Today’s strategic focus is on investing whatever amount of money you bring with you into retirement.  You need to have that money grow during your retirement years for several reasons.  First, if you retire as I did at age 53, your IRS life expectancy likely predicts you will live another 30 years.  You might live longer and you might not.  Secondly, you’re going to be withdrawing money as you go along.  It’s a bit like taking sips from a glass of water.  Eventually, if you take enough sips without adding any more water, your glass will be empty.  Finally, in the future “stuff” will cost more than it does today.  You’re going to want more “stuff” so you had better be prepared.

 

In 1970 I bought a brand new 1970 Ford Mustang.  That car cost me about $3,000.  Today a Mustang similar to the one I bought costs about 8-10 times that much.  In 1972, Carol and I paid the princely sum of $2.75 per person so each one of our wedding guests could enjoy a sitdown buffet at the Holiday Inn (now a Kohl’s Department Store) in East Peoria, Illinois.  Over a period of time, especially over a period of 20-30 years like the length that your retirement might be, “stuff” can cost a lot more.

 

So……now you go into retirement. Your retirement stash may be $50,000 or $500,000 or $5 million dollars.  You’ve decided you don’t have to “work for the man” anymore.  Good for you!

 

Let’s say you retired with $500,000.  That’s pretty good.  Actually, it’s a lot better than most.  You decided that with the earnings on your retirement nest egg, you could withdraw enough to live on each month for the rest of your life without running out of money.  Again, good for you.

 

At some point, you’re going to have to decide how to invest that money.  You could put it under the mattress.  That way when the stock market goes down to zero, you’ll be safe.  Bad idea!  Your house might burn down, then where would you be?  Maybe your house won’t burn down, but you’ll still go broke because of inflation.  You have to invest your money so it will grow over time.  But where and how do you invest?

 

You could put your money in the bank.  Maybe, buy a C.D. (certificate of deposit).  You know the bank will guarantee your interest rate.  You can’t beat a guarantee, can you?  Well, there’s a price for such a guarantee.  The bank pays you a lower rate than you could likely invest your money for elsewhere.  That’s the premium you pay for getting a guarantee.  As folks get older, they get more financially conservative. 

 

People who are 70 years old might think they need to have financial guarantees, like CDs, to sleep well at night.  Unfortunately, or fortunately for that matter, life expectancies for people who have already lived to be 70 years old, would be about 90 years old.  With 20 more years to live, this would not be a time to be so conservative and put all of your money in CDs.  You have all read about how difficult many senior citizens had it when interest rates went down and these folks could only reinvest their money in CDs that paid half or less of what they used to earn.

 

Probably the next logical financial step would be to buy bonds.  Companies issue bonds when they want to raise money to build their businesses.  If you own a bond, then you are a lender.  You have lent your money to some institution with the promise that you will get a certain rate of return as well as the money (your principle) that you originally invested back.  You can buy short-term bonds (like a year) or long-term bonds (like 30 years).  If you hold the bonds until they mature, and the institution doesn’t go out of business, you will get the promised rate of return every period and your initial investment back at the end of the bond’s maturity.

 

Over time (1926-98) intermediate government bonds have returned returned 9.0%.  By the way, U.S. Treasury Bills, which are similar to CDs, earned 6.8% during the same period of time.  Bonds are not nearly as volatile as stocks, but they return less.

 

There are many different groups of bonds based upon length of maturity and credit worthiness of the companies issuing the bonds.  There are short-term, intermediate-term, long-term and junk bond groupings just to name a few.

 

You might also consider investing in the stock market.  There are many ways to invest in the stock market.  You could buy mutual funds or individual stocks.  I prefer mutual funds, but my son Jim is a strong advocate for buying individual stocks.

 

A mutual fund offers many advantages to the investor.  Most mutual funds, except sector funds, give you good diversification.  The S&P 500 is an index of the 500 largest companies ranked by market capitalization (number of shares outstanding times share price).  Companies in the top 10 of the S&P 500 include firms like Exxon, General Electric and Wal-Mart.  The company I retired from, Procter & Gamble ranks about 12^th in the S&P 500.  The good thing about investing in an index like this is that if Exxon goes belly-up, you have another 499 companies to make up for the shortfall.  The S&P 500 has achieved an average rate of return of 11.2% over the last 70 years or so.

 

Two other advantages of mutual funds are that you get professional management and low costs.  You have people who are trained to invest in the stock market and do it everyday.  Somehow that seems better to me than my listening to XM radio and deciding that because they have a number of stations I like, they must be a good company. 

 

Mutual funds can also invest money and trade stocks for a lot less than I can.  They invest large sums of money and get quantity discounts because of their clout.  As an example, my largest mutual fund holding charges me just 0.15% per $1,000 invested per year.  That is an annual charge of just $1.50 per $1,000 or $15 per $10,000 to manage my money for an entire year.  This includes all trading expenses, management fees, everything!

 

Another broad asset class would be U.S. small stocks.  These would be stocks of companies outside of the S&P 500.  Many different cutoffs are used to define “small” stocks.  This is where companies like Starbucks and Microsoft came from.  This asset class does even better over the long haul than their bigger brothers of the S&P 500.  They earned 12.2% from 1926-1998. 

 

By the way, you might ask why I used the 1926-1998 historical periods.  Actually, it’s the last time I looked up the data.  The market has gone down and then gone up since 1998, but not enough to materially affect these broad rate of return averages. 

 

Another major stock asset class is International stocks.  These are stocks of companies headquartered outside of the U.S.  International small stocks, as an asset class, averaged a rate of return of 17.2% during the period.

 

You could also buy gold, invest in real estate or buy a company.  I’ve never been much for buying gold, and feel my house covers the real estate bet.  Buying a company doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, because that sounds like work all over again.

 

Before I go any further, I will admit that I have some very smart people reading what I’m writing about here.  Therefore, I’ll put in this disclaimer.  What I’ve described above does not pretend to cover everything in the world about this topic.  However, the flight from Los Angeles to Charlotte is only so long AND I’m trying to watch the airplane movie, The Break-Up starring a scantily clothed Jennifer Anniston, at the same time I write this.

 

If you want more definitive documentation, I highly recommend the book, The Intelligent Asset Allocator, by William Bernstein.  He describes what I am telling you in greater detail and with much more documentation. 

 

Let’s cut to the chase.  Here’s the bottom-line.  Today, October 11, I have to go to work.  I have to look at the eleven Vanguard mutual funds that I own.  Here they are:

 

Stock Funds

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund

Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund

Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund

Vanguard Windsor II Fund

Vanguard Explorer Fund

Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund

 

Bond Funds

Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade Fund

Vanguard Short-term Bond Index Fund

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment Grade Fund

Vanguard Long-term Bond Index Fund

Vanguard High Yield Corporate Fund

 

My investment goal is to have 65% of my retirement money spread over the stock funds and 35% spread over the bond funds.  This will give me the return advantages of the stock market and the stability features of the bond market.

 

At the end of each year, and that means as soon as I get off this airplane, I have to “rebalance” the portfolio.  Let me explain.  Let’s say I had $100,000 invested.  To meet my goal $65,000 would be in the stock funds and $35,000 would be in the bond funds.  Also, let’s say that the stocks improved by 25% and the bonds increased by 5% during the past year.  The stocks would now be worth $81,250 and the bonds would be worth $36,750.  My total portfolio would now be worth $118,000.  That would be a good thing!

 

However, now that the stocks are valued at $81,250, they make up up 69% of the portfolio, which is more than my objective of 65%.  Conversely, the bonds now make up only 31% of the portfolio, which is less than my goal of 35%.

 

Even though when I land I want to get over to the Cricket Arena as soon as I can for the Arena Racing mini-cup show, I must stop and act.  I must call my Vanguard rep and sell some stock fund shares and buy some bond fund shares.

 

Yes, I must sell the stuff (stock funds) that’s been doing well and buy the stuff (bond funds) that been doing less well.  As least I will be selling the stock funds at higher prices and buying the bond funds at lower prices.  That’s a good thing. 

 

The reason there is a need for rebalancing is a statistical concept called “Regression to the mean.”  Nothing good happens forever and nothing bad happens forever.  It’s just like in golf.  If you are a 10 handicap and you start off with five birdies in a row, you are likely to fall back and play much more representative of your normal ability.

 

Well, that’s about it.  I ended up selling shares from five of my funds and putting the proceeds of those sales into the other six funds I own.  This put my portfolio ratio back in balance at 65% stocks and 35% bonds.

 

Long ago, I developed a program that would handle the number crunching part of this very easily.  I know in the past I’ve told you that I only work two hours a year and that’s on October 11.  I might be exaggerating some.  It probably isn’t really two FULL hours. 

 

If you’ve read this far, you’re obviously interested in the topic.  If you’re interested in the topic, you better go out and buy the Bernstein book.  I want you to enjoy a long and healthy retirement both fiscally and physically.  I’m just happy you’re here to read the Trackchaser Report and possibly get a tip or two.  Of course, if you give me a tip or two on whatever topic, I’ll share it with the broader group in the “Readers respond” section of the TR.

 

Anyway, the movie has ended.  It’s one of my favorites.  I just checked my pocket.  I’ve got enough loose change for a hot dog tonight and the Speed Channel is bringing me as their guest to the races, so it’s going to be a very productive financial day.  Good luck with your retirement planning!

 

The Trip

 

It is getting easier and easier to get up at 3:30 a.m. in San Clemente.  Today it was a snap.  I think that’s because I might already be on the Eastern Time zone for my body clock.

 

How’s this for a travel schedule over the past couple of months?

 

Aug. 4 – Fly to Salt Lake City – trackchasing – Utah & Idaho

Aug. 5 – Trackchasing – Montana

Aug. 6 – Trackchasing Idaho and fly home to San Clemente

Aug. 7 – Home in San Clemente

Aug. 8 – Home in San Clemente

Aug. 9 – Fly to Minneapolis – trackchasing – Minnesota

Aug. 10 – Trackchasing – Minnesota

Aug. 11 – Trackchasing – South Dakota

Aug. 12 – Rained out in North Dakota

Aug. 13 – Trackchasing – Manitoba, Canada

Aug. 14 – Trackchasing – Pennsylvania

Aug. 15 – Trackchasing – Ohio

Aug. 16 – Trackchasing – Pennsylvania

Aug. 17 – Trackchasing – Michigan

Aug. 18 – Trackchasing – New York

Aug. 19 – Trackchasing – New York

Aug. 20 – Trackchasing – Ontario, Canada

Aug. 21 – Trackchasing – Massachusetts

Aug. 22 – Fly home to San Clemente

Aug. 23 – Home in San Clemente

Aug. 24 – Home in San Clemente

Aug. 25 – Hawaii - vacation

Aug. 26 – Hawaii - vacation

Aug. 27 – Hawaii - vacation

Aug. 28 – Hawaii - vacation

Aug. 29 – Hawaii - vacation

Aug. 30 – Hawaii - vacation

Aug. 31 – Hawaii - vacation

Sep. 1 – Hawaii - vacation

Sep. 2 – Hawaii - vacation

Sep. 3 – Hawaii - vacation

Sep. 4 – Hawaii - vacation

Sep. 5 – Fly home to San Clemente

Sep. 6 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 7 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 8 – Fly to Montreal – rainout in Quebec

Sep. 9 – Trackchasing Ontario, Canada

Sep. 10 – Trackchasing Ontario, Canada

Sep. 11 – Fly home to San Clemente

Sep. 12 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 13 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 14 – Fly to Minneapolis – trackchasing – Wisconsin

Sep. 15 – Trackchasing – Iowa

Sep. 16 – Trackchasing – Iowa

Sep. 17 – Fly home to San Clemente

Sep. 18 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 19 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 20 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 21 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 22 – Fly to Wichita, KS – trackchasing Kansas

Sep. 23 – Trackchasing – Kansas

Sep. 24 – Trackchasing – Oklahoma

Sep. 25 – Fly home to San Clemente

Sep. 26 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 27 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 28 – Home in San Clemente

Sep. 29 – Fly to Salt Lake City, UT – trackchasing Utah

Sep. 30 – Fly home to San Clemente

Oct. 1 – Home in San Clemente

Oct. 2 – Home in San Clemente

Oct. 3 – Home in San Clemente

Oct. 4 – Fly to Toronto, Canada – trackchasing Ontario

Oct. 5 – Fly to Chicago, trackchasing Wisconsin

Oct. 6 – Fly home to San Clemente

Oct. 7 – Fly to Boston

Oct. 8 - Trackchasing – New Hampshire

Oct. 9 - Trackchasing – Massachusetts

Oct. 10 - Fly home to San Clemente

Oct. 11 - Fly to Charlotte – trackchasing – North Carolina

 

 

Now that’s why I need a diversified portfolio that will produce returns large enough to pay for this travel schedule.

 

 

The People

 

First, I want to wish our oldest son a happy 32^nd birthday.  Happy birthday, J.J.

 

Tonight I had the pleasure of being a guest at the races courtesy of the Speed Channel.  Special thanks to Steve Shaw, Speed’s Wind Tunnel producer for meeting up with me for an evening of indoor racing.  Steve and I have been working on a “Trackchaser” TV pilot.  A couple of our trackchasers have been able to view our work and the feedback is good.  You never know where it might lead.  Great seeing you Steve and nice to see Sam again.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

CRICKET ARENA, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – TRACK #1,118 – 10/11/06

This was my 30^th lifetime track to see in North Carolina.  I have advanced from 9^th place and am now tied with P.J. Hollebrand for 8^th place.  I am four tracks from seventh place.  The move from 9^th to 8^th in the state rankings gives me one more lifetime NGD point.  Unofficially, I now trail the leader by just four points.  I can see the hairs on the back of his neck!  Guy Smith leads the state with 63 tracks.

 

Tonight was my 127^th track of the season.  That number was the season total I had in 2004, which established a season-long record at that time.  During 2005, I had 157 tracks by October 11, so I’m a long way from challenging that record this year.

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

CRICKET ARENA

 

Tonight was a fun night on many levels.  It was great being a guest of the Speed Channel.  This allowed me to see some great behind the scenes aspects of this older indoor arena.  It was also fun to see NASCAR stars such as Tony Stewart (boo!), Denny Hamlin, J.J. Yeley and Kyle Busch race these little cars.

 

I arrived at the arena at 5:30 p.m.  The races weren’t scheduled to start until 7 p.m.  The road signs directed me to the “Independence” Arena, although signage around the arena building told me I would be entering the “Cricket” Arena.  Cricket is the name of a local phone company.

 

Fans weren’t admitted into the arena until 6 p.m. so there was quite a bit of milling around outside the place when I arrived.  It looked to me like they were going to have a really big crowd.  I even saw a ticket scalper in the parking lot with his telltale sign that read “need tickets” on one side and “have tickets” on the other.

 

I was also impressed by the number of “credentials” that were being distributed.  The race was sponsored by Interstate Batteries.  They had a huge lime green limo decorated in their NASCAR #18 colors.  The entire scene reminded me a of NASCAR race.  I was glad I already had my ticket arrangements taken care of.

 

Soon I met up with Steve Shaw, my Speed Channel friend.  He surprised me with a beautiful looking “Speed Channel” shirt.  It’s black, red, and buttons down the front.  Thanks, Steve!

 

I’ve seen the Arena Racing group run in both of their indoor facilities up in Virginia.  Those two venues are in Hampton and Norfolk.  The promoter, Ricky Dennis, is trying to get his indoor racing concept to expand across the country.  I’ve written about his promotional prowess in my previous reports.  He just might do it.

 

The Cricket Arena is nearly identical to the arenas used in Virginia.  It’s older and seats 7,000-8,000 people.  After seeing the mob scene in the parking lot, I was surprised to see the building only about 40% full. 

 

With my Speed Channel credentials, I had full run of the place.  This allowed me to explore what seemed like endless tunnels, many of which served as a backstage pit area for the mini-cup race cars.  We were even treated to dinner, gratis of course, in the media room. 

 

The Arena Racing group has a pre-race pit party where fans are allowed into the center of the track where the cars and drivers are.  There were hundreds of people taking advantage of this opportunity.  I met track announcer, Mark Potter, and told him about my trackchasing.  He was impressed.  He’s a big guy and looks a lot like trackchasing’s Rick Young.  Mark was heard to say, “1,118.  Wow!”  He remembered me from Virginia and gave a nice mention later in the program.

 

Heat races are run in the afternoon of shows like this without normal spectators.  In the evening, four feature events of 50 laps each race.  That’s another promotional plus for the spectators.  Four 50 lap races are plenty.  There is no need to subject fans to qualifying races.  The tracks that run features only all seem to do well.  Why don’t more people do it that way?

 

Washington Redskins coach, Joe Gibbs, is behind the expansion of Arena Racing.  He is also the NASCAR owner for cars driven by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley.  Look for Yeley to be fired one of these days.  There have been very few primarily dirt open wheel drivers really succeed in NASCAR.  Stewart is about the only one.

 

Those three drivers were racing tonight in car’s that looked just like their larger NASCAR brethren.  Kyle Busch was driving but not in a car that looked anything like his Kellogg’s Chevy.  NASCAR’s Mike Wallace’s daughter was also racing tonight.  There was even one driver racing who was 74 years old.  He told the crowd it was his first ever race!!

 

Since we were in Charlotte, there were a large number of NASCAR faces in the audience.  I saw Mike Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Jerry Nadeau and the father/son Eury combination from DEI.  Charlotte is to NASCAR stars what Los Angeles is too movie stars.

 

I was looking forward to some great racing, but was minorly disappointed.  The races tonight were not as good as those in Virginia.  The announcers agreed the track was just to slick.  That made the cars difficult to handle and much slower.  Most races had a caution every couple of laps.  They even went to counting yellow flag laps and I don’t think they do that in Virginia.

 

All four of the scheduled feature events were 50 laps.  J.J. Yeley led the first one before crashing out.  Kyle Busch went on to win.  Denny Hamlin broadslid through the turns to win feature #2.

 

The third feature was very entertaining.  Tony Stewart was in a bright orange Home Depot sponsored #20 car.  He started fifth out of about 12 cars.  He passed several cars but got caught up in wrecks, which put him to the back twice.  With about 10 laps to go he tried a slide job on one of the Arena Racing locals and didn’t quite clear him.  This caused the local to catch Tony’s right rear and spin him into the wall.

 

On the restart, Tony started next to last and the local driver was behind him.  When the green flag flew Tony slowed at the starting line and let the local driver pass him.  Stewart then pulled in behind the local driver, accelerated hard and drove him directly into the turn one wall.  Any U.K. banger driver would have been proud of this “follow-in!”

 

This totally destroyed the local driver’s car.  Stewart’s car was heavily damaged but he was able to restart with a few laps to go and then spin out his car owner, J.D. Gibbs who was also racing tonight.  The crowd loved this.  I didn’t.

 

After the race, Stewart admitted spinning himself out.  Then he went on to say the other guy hit him three times after that running down the straight away.  “I guess my one hit more than made up for his three,” was what “Tony the tiger” concluded.  Earnhardt Sr. would wreck people and just give that Cheshire grin.  Steward wrecks people and then brags about it.  Give me Jeff Gordon any day.

 

Following the third feature, I decided to hit the road.  I had been at the arena for four hours.  It’s too bad the crowd didn’t get to see the real arena racing with many fewer yellow flags.  It was a major plus seeing the NASCAR drivers race on a one-eighth mile high banked steel track in 13 horsepower cars that can race at speeds approaching 100 M.P.H.  That was fun.

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

It was 80 degrees when I landed in Charlotte.  Climatic conditions inside the arena were perfect.  It is expected to get much cooler after tomorrow’s round of golf with good friend George Robertson when the North Carolina Cup will be contested.  I brought my blanket, hat, gloves and long underwear.  I’m tired of being unprepared for the cold weather.

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

I’ll be going with another National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix for this week’s trip.  This one is bright red and had only 75 miles on it when I picked it up.

 

Wednesday total driving miles – 122

 

 

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 – 1,118

2.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,070 (-48)

3.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,060 (-58)*

4.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 1,029 (-89)*

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,024 (-94)*

6.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-97)*

7.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 948 (-166)**

 

I’m having a difficult time putting Guy Smith a lap down (50 tracks).  He’s hanging on but I’m about ready to use the chrome horn if he won’t move over.

 

 

* 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.  Johnny Gibson, Grand Island, Nebraska – 290 (+7)

35.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 283

36.  Sammy Swindell, Bartlett, Tennessee – 279 (-4)

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 127

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 88

3.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 86

4.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 77

5.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 75

6.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 65

7.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan - 58

8.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 57

9.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 54

10. Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 51

 

 

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

2006 (current – 10/11/06)**

 

1. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 7.14

2. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 7.22

3. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 7.86

 

**Lifetime NGD results could be affected by current track counting proposals

2005 (final)

 

1. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 7.41

2. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 7.53

3. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 8.12

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

#1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi

 

There is no empirical truth that reading the Trackchaser Reports makes you any smarter, but it does give your brain a workout.

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Charlotte, North Carolina – 2,132 miles

RENTAL CAR - BOSTON

 

Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina - trip begins

Charlotte, NC – 13 miles

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Cricket Arena – Free ($6 parking)

 

 

 

 

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

 

It’s the south baby.  Why don’t y’all come on down!

 

 

 

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