GREETINGS FROM HASTINGS, NEW ZEALAND (THAT’S WHERE THE DAY BEGAN)

IN MEMORIUM

I was sad to hear of the passing of Benny Parsons.  From what I could tell, Benny was the nicest of guys.  I had two very brief encounters with him. 

 

The first was back on March 14, 1982 at the Bristol Motor Speedway.  Darrell Waltrip had just won the race.  I was walking the NASCAR Winston Cup pits.  This was back when those pits were just like any other short track and open to everyone after the races.  I got a great picture of Benny standing by his car holding court with a large group of friends.

 

My most recent encounter with Benny was just a bit more than a year ago at the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.  Here is what I wrote about that brief meeting on October 23, 2005.

 

“The crowds at these events are staggering.  I feared a stampede with the fans trying to walk out of the track.  While Carol and I were waiting for the crowd to thin, I had a conversation with NBC broadcaster, Benny Parsons.  All right “conversation” may be exaggerating.  Benny was leaving the grounds with a friend and walked past us.  Nobody else in the crowd seemed to recognize him.  When he passed I said, “Nice job, Benny.”  He replied with a quick “Thank you” and was gone.”

 

R.I.P.  Benny Parsons

 

 

 

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

This is the FOURTH report in a multi-part series that will detail our 17-day trackchasing and touring adventure to New Zealand and French Polynesia.  The format of this Trackchaser Report will differ from those you have been reading all season. 

 

Our activities will be listed chronologically by day and divided into “Trackchasing” and “Tourist” categories.  You will get a glimpse into how another family approaches and takes a long and exotic trip like this.  I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures, until you and your family head out on your next tour of the world.

 

Warning:  If you do not want to experience the feeling of “being there” I recommend that you not read the descriptions of what went on or view the pictures of what was seen.  I would not want any future visits to these faraway parts to be ruined by the realism you are about ready to experience in words and pictures.

 

If you are receiving this Trackchaser Report via email, you can view the pictures at www.ranlayracing.com.

 

 

Part IV

 

 

 

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

TOURIST ACTIVITY

The main tourist activity today is to ride the Interislander Ferry boat from the North Island of New Zealand to the South Island.  The distance is only 53 kilometers but the ride takes three hours.

 

Recall our last ferryboat ride from Washington state to Vancouver resulted in an alleged accident.  I forgot to put on the parking brake of my vehicle.  I was accused of letting my car slide into the car in front of me causing the most minor of blemishes.  My insurance company covered that issue (about $400) without any negative repercussions to me.

 

With that experience fresh in my mind, I made certain to put the parking brake on today.  I noticed at least two racecars and haulers being transported on today’s ferry.  It is not cheap to make this crossing.  I purchased our ferry tickets online in advance for a fare of $285NZ one-way.  This fare included passage for our car and the two of us.  I bought the “fully flexible” fare, but could have saved 10-15% if I had wanted a non-refundable fare.

 

Our day started at 8 a.m. from near Napier.  It was a tough four hour drive down to Wellington through the mountains.  It rained all the way.  We were scheduled to leave on the ferry to Picton at 2 p.m.  Finding the ferryboat docking area was easy.

 

The ferryboat is huge.  They parked the cars only inches apart with no apparent restraint systems in place.  The ship has its own movie theatre, bar, cafeteria and several TV viewing areas for its passengers.

 

The captain warned us it was going to get rough….and it did.  The stewards went around passing out barf bags to every seating area before we disembarked.  It wasn’t long before the ship was tossing and turning in the rough seas in the Cook Straits.

 

It was not long after that when people starting selecting the barf bags for their intended use.  There was one major crash of waves that sent Carol and I flying to the left more than six feet in our chairs.  The cups and glasses at the nearby bar went crashing to the floor.  A nearby young fellow in a wheelchair was knocked over on his side.  It was rough.

 

People all around us were heaving their guts out.  Yuk!  Since we hadn’t eaten much, we didn’t heave but we felt the effects of the rough ride.  Of course, this is all just part of the international trackchaser lifestyle.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Once we landed, getting off the ship with the car was easy.  There were two stock cars being transported on the ferry.  I figured I would just follow them to the Top of the South Speedway in, what I thought, was nearby Nelson.

 

Once we left the ferry, I began following the stock cars but they lost me.  Dang!  The next major surprise was that Nelson, New Zealand wasn’t as close to the ferry docking point as I thought.  It was 148km away!  Adding insult to that injury was that the drive was almost entirely through the mountains.  The drive through the mountains took us three hours.  I wasn’t too happy about that.

 

Nelson is a beautiful seaside resort city.  The skies had rained on us for our entire journey through the mountains.  Once we came down the mountain into Nelson, the skies were clear toward the seaside.  The mountainside of Nelson had dark and ominous clouds.  It was going to be touch and go on whether we would see a race tonight.  That’s the way it’s been for several of our races so far on the trip.

 

The ferryboat had been 30 minutes late due to the rough seas.  The mountainous drive was more than we expected.  We then had some difficulty finding the track.  After two convenience store stops, we arrived at the Top of the South Speedway.  By the way, this track is frequently referred to as being in Nelson, when it is actually in the town next door, Richmond.  It was 7:45 p.m.  They were racing!  They had started at 7 p.m.

 

The parking lot was a mud pit.  We had to walk around nearly half of the track until we reached the ticket booth.  The booth was located on the backstretch.  Admission was just $12NZ.  That wasn’t bad.

 

As you will see below, we were rained out after only an hour of racing at 8:45 p.m.  That was good in two different ways.  First, we could find a motel easier in this seaside resort area.  We drove by place after place that had “No vacancy” signs.  I was beginning to get minorly worried.  This was the most difficult night of the trip to find a motel.  If the track had not been rained out, we might have had an impossible task of getting a room at 11 p.m.

 

At nearly 10 p.m., after getting a room, we were on the prowl for a nice dinner.  The Nelson area has a good number of waterfront restaurants.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there they had stopped serving dinner.  We did find a Thai place that was willing to provide us dinner on a takeaway basis.  We lugged our Thai food back to the motel room and ate it there with our chopsticks.  With a four hour mountain drive this morning, a three hour very rough ferryboat ride, a three hour early evening mountain drive, then an hour at the track and a tough time finding a motel and dinner, it had indeed been a long day.  We slept well!

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING

 

TOP OF THE SOUTH SPEEDWAY, RICHMOND, NEW ZEALAND – RANDY’S TRACK #1,141 & CAROL’S TRACK #297 – 1/2/07

 

With the weather threatening, I wasn’t sure we would get this track in tonight.  However, they were racing and the grandstands were absolutely jammed on a Tuesday night.

 

We grabbed a seat just at the end of turn two and only three rows from the track.  The wind was at our back, which helped with the dust.  Even though it had rained and more rain was eminent, they watered the track lightly after most races.  We found that most NZ tracks water frequently.  This made dust rarely an issue.  Listening, U.S. promoters?

 

There were several classes racing tonight including sprint cars, midgets, modifieds, street stocks and production cars.  Almost every track we visited during the trip ran two heats and a feature for each class.  All of the cars in each class raced in each heat and feature for their class.  This often meant that 20+ cars were racing in each heat race.  I liked that.  There were none of those boring 4-5 car heat races that U.S. tracks are noted for.  Listening, U.S. promoters?

 

Entrance to the pit area was restricted.  Nevertheless, I broke through the security barrier to get my trackchasing press release to the commentator.  Soon I was in the booth having a very nice chat over the P.A. with the track’s commentator.

 

He was most impressed with the idea of trackchasing.  He asked several questions and let me explain to the packed house what we trackchasers do.  I estimate I talked to more than 30,000 New Zealanders about our hobby during the trip.  If you are from New Zealand and reading this, I hope you were able to hear what I had to say at one of the tracks we visited.

 

As we were finishing our interview, the commentator made the comment that he was “pretty sure the rain would stay away.”  About two minutes after that it began to rain!  At first, the rain wasn’t too heavy, but it was consistent.

 

The track was getting wet.  The commentator told the crowd, “We’re going to run our demolition derby while we wait out this shower.”  After that comment was made, it really started to rain!  Then this announcement came, “NZ race officials have decided that we will not be able to continue.  The races are cancelled.”

 

With that, the fans got up and ran for cover.  I was just then making my way back from the front stretch interview to Carol’s backstretch location.  She was patiently sitting in the rain with an umbrella.  She also had the dirt and rained soaked Sabo sponsored stadium seats and race blanket.  Yes, she is a trooper.  I’m thinking about renting her out to worthy trackchasers in need of a racing companion.

 

We bundled up our stuff and ran for the car.  When we entered the grounds, we had parked in a muddy quagmire.  If we hurried, we might be able to make it back to the car before the Europecar Subaru Outback was carried out to the sea.  We did and the rest is history.

 

 

 

 

 

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 – 1,141

2.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,077 (-64)*

3.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,064 (-77)*

4.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 1,044 (-97)*

7.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 965 (-176)**

 

* 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.

 

31.  Chris Economaki, Ridgewood, New Jersey – 302 (+5)

32.  Gary Jacob, Turlock, California – 301 (+4)

33.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 297

34.  Ron Rodda, Lincoln, California – 297 (+/-0)

35.  Johnny Gibson, Grand Island, Nebraska – 290 (-7)

 

 

 

 

 

2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 3

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 3

 

Tracks through this date have been reported from two different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

 

 

 

 Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

#1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi

 

Your best bet is to work your butt off, reach your goals and enjoy your rewards.

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Sydney, Australia – 7,490 miles

Sydney, Australia – Auckland, New Zealand – 1,340 miles

RENTAL CAR – AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

 

Auckland International Airport – trip begins

Driving all over New Zealand

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Western Springs Speedway - $20NZ

Blue Chip Speedway at Baypark – Free

Upper Hutt Family Speedway - $20NZ

Stratford Speedway - $15NZ

Huntly Speedway – Free

Meremere Raceway – Free

Meeannee Speedway - $15NZ

Top of the South Speedway - $12NZ

 

 

 

 

 

Past trackchasing reports are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

 

Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:

www.trackchaser.net

 

Some of my standings data comes from www.trackchaser.net

 

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

 

G’day, mate.  Yep!  We’re finished with the South Island.  We’ll be back some day.  Just a few more tracks to see in the North and we will finish up our trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

 

1,139.  Meremere Dirt Track Club, Meremere, New Zealand - January 1

 

1,140.  Meeanee Speedway, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand - January 1

 

1,141.  Top of the South Speedway, Richmond, New Zealand - January 2