Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
ANGELS STADIUM OF ANAHEIM, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA
Tonight we were going to a baseball stadium to see an auto race!
When we go to a Angels baseball game here, a common meeting place is "under the hat."
We spent our afternoon at the "pit party." Here we could get up close and personal with everyone. This is the Western Midget Racing Association TQ midget group.
At first I thought these were demolition derby cars.....but they weren't.
The main attraction tonight was the monster trucks. The king of the monster trucks is the "Grave Digger."
I'm not sure I know what to say about this "autograph session."
I was surprised to learn that the 45,000 seat stadium was sold out for tonight's event. That meant I would need to resort to plan B.
What were the demo cars doing running hot laps on a large oval? Maybe they weren't demo cars after all.
The TQs get the green flag for their only race of the night.
This is the wide angle view of the Angels Stadium of Anaheim "inner oval." The picture includes about 3/4 of the track. The event was run so early in the evening that only about 5,000 of the seats were occupied.
Although the track surface was not packed very well, it was fun to see the TQ midgets in this atmosphere.
Carol always has a good attitude about this addiction, even though the cold and the wind made it more than uncomfortable.
I don't know how this "east coaster" got in the stadium.
This is how a California crowd dresses on a cold winter night.
There were lots of different kinds of racing entertainment tonight. These are the quads.
Most of the 45,000 people came to see the monster trucks and the Grave Digger do things like this.
In the end I found out these were NOT demo derby cars. The were Auto Cross cars and this was their main event.
These are turns one and two of the "outer oval" at the Angels Stadium of Anaheim.
Here's the wide angle view of the outer oval. When this event was run, the stadium was packed. The crowd loved this crash 'em and bang 'em 15-lap main event.
This was the turn three and four area of the outer oval. Note the monster trucks await their turn to entertain the crowd.
This driver's car was a lot hotter than most of the crowd tonight.
GREETINGS FROM
ALL PICTURES HAVE
BEEN UPDATED AT WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM FOR THIS TRACKCHASING TRIP.
WE WOKE UP IN
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS
The Strategy
Trackchasing strategy is very
simple. In order to be successful, you
need to go “where the fishes swim.” What does that mean? A successful trackchaser needs to go where
the tracks are. The longer a trackchaser
trackchases, the further you have to row the boat to find the fish.
It’s very unusual when you can walk
out the back door, drop a line in the water and immediately catch a fish or
maybe even a couple of fish. I will tell
you exactly how we did that below.
The Trip
Normally I spend a lot of time
telling you how far I had to fly and how long I had to drive in order to reach
the next track of the trip. Yes, I
traveled about 210,000 miles in 2006 and I traveled more than 500,000 miles
during my last three years of trackchasing.
Tonight’s travel won’t do much to augment those totals. That’s O.K.
This track trip will make up for many more that are to come of a much
longer distance in 2007.
The People
You might not think that after being
gone for 17 days to New Zealand and Tahiti and picking up 12 new tracks in the
process that Trackchasing’s First Mother wouldn’t be chomping at the bit to hit
the road again. If you think that, you
would be absolutely correct.
However, we are trackchasers. We are very competitive trackchasers. If we don’t trackchase, then our fellow
competitors will gain ground. We can’t
have that. Therefore, we must
trackchaser, especially when a trackchasing opportunity is so close to home.
During the three-year period of
2004-2006, I saw 456 new tracks and traveled more than 534,000 miles (airplane,
car and ferryboat) to see those tracks. That
means each and every one of those tracks averaged MORE THAN 1,000 miles of seat
time to reach.
Tonight’s track was only 36 miles up
the I-5 freeway. Even though we had been
back from down under for just four days, it was time to hit the road
again. We were bound for the Angels
Stadium of
This is winter in
The stadium seats about 45,000
people. Since many of
They were sold out! The program was officially scheduled to begin
at 7:30 p.m. We were at the ticket
window at 4:30 p.m. They were sold out
in advance of the event! The ticket
seller did tell me that we could come back for the identical event on January
27 (note: that’s race date sharing in
case the pundits didn’t realize it).
That wouldn’t do for us. We were
here to trackchase tonight.
Therefore, I went into “Emergency Ticket Acquisition” mode. Yes, that meant I grabbed an 8 1/2” by 11”
white sheet of paper and hurriedly scribbled in big block letters the phrase, “Need 2.” I
then directed my accomplice, that would be Carol, to accompany me to the
automobile entrance of the stadium. Yes,
we had to go “where the fishes swim.” I figured there would be somebody who had purchased
four tickets and had their friends bow out at the last minute. Those folks would likely have two extra
tickets.
We were stationed at a point where
motorists entered the stadium at only about 10-15 M.P.H. They could easily read our sign. We had about 45 minutes before it would get
dark. Since we were here three hours
before the official start time, there was not a rush of vehicular traffic. It was cold and it was windy. Carol suggested that I might want to “find a new hobby.” Of course, she was kidding I think.
Business was slow. Normally my sign works well and it works fast. It was getting darker. It was getting colder. We had a couple of cars stop with just one
extra ticket. One extra ticket wouldn’t
do us much good. What would Carol do for
the rest of the evening?
Finally, a scalper who I had turned
down earlier in the evening came by. He
wanted $60 for two tickets that each had a face value of $12. I had turned down his offer earlier, but now
it seemed to look more attractive. I
offered him fifty dollars. He countered
with $55.
I had to give him credit, he was
hanging in there. Nevertheless, I re-countered
with my original bid, telling him that fifty dollars was all I was willing to
pay. I was very much hoping he would
accept that offer as I didn’t want to stand out in the cold any longer. He did!
He left happy and so did we.
Carol and I immediately went to the
Carol Lewis owned and Life of
I mention all of this in the people
section of the TR because of our encounter with a ticket scalper. Scalpers are great. First, they are entrepreneurial. They don’t expect anyone to give them
anything for free. They go out and earn
what they get. They do better if they
are smarter. That’s the American way.
Tonight, we were saved by a
scalper. We didn’t HAVE to buy a ticket
from him. However, since the event was
sold out the scalper was our friend. We
just needed to get some tickets at the most reasonable price possible. I’m confident that I could have ended up
finding a non-scalping spectator to sell me tickets at face value or even
below, but that would have taken time. I
was happy to buy from a scalper tonight.
RACE TRACK STATS:
ANGELS STADIUM OF
ANAHEIM, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – INNER OVAL – TRACK #1,146 AND OUTER OVAL – TRACK
#1,147 (CAROL’S TRACKS #301 AND #301
These two
tracks increase my all-time
These were
Carol’s 55th and 56th tracks in our home state. She continues to ride in 5th place
in the state trailing Alan Skinrood who has 62
RACE TRACK NEWS:
ANGELS STADIUM OF
The first item on tonight’s racing agenda was the “pit party.”
This was just like last year’s Monster Truck event at the
The pit party was located in the parking lot beyond center field. We were parked near home plate. It was a long walk, against the wind, to get
to the pit party. We didn’t have any
tickets to the pit party. The longer we
walked the more I started to think we would probably need tickets. I didn’t really want to walk back to the only
ticket booth selling tickets, which was at the home plate entrance.
Yep! They wanted tickets to the
pit party. Just as I was beginning the ˝-mile
round-trip walk back for some pit party tickets, I noticed a young Hispanic boy
holding a fist full of tickets. We made
eye contact. He seemed to sense that I
might be a wayward trackchaser in need of a second chance. He offered me two pit party tickets for
free. Thank you very much young man.
Just as we entered, we noticed about ten TQ midgets. I walked up to car #36 and met West Evans. He is the president of the National Midget Racing
Association. I’ve been corresponding
with him over the last two years. We
were happy to finally meet each other.
He had told me in advance that the group would run two heat races from
about 4:30-5:00 p.m. They would then
race a feature event at 7:30 p.m. Upon meeting West, I learned of the new
plan. They would be racing only one
race. That race was planned for 6:20
p.m. In trackchasing, the word of the
day is flexibility. Recall, last year,
they raced a heat race in
Our pit party visit proved to be even more influential on the success of
this trackchasing visit than we ever could have imagined. We spent some time marveling at the huge
monster trucks and the remote control cars that were flying high into the sky
from the stationary wooden launching ramps.
Just as we were about to leave the pit party, I noticed something in the
very back of the pit area. It looked
like a stock car. Yep! It WAS a stock
car. Not just one, but more than
twenty. I walked up to the driver and
asked him what they would be doing tonight.
“Demo derby,” he said. Dang!
Demo derbies don’t count according to trackchaser rules.
Before we could enter the stadium, we had to make one more visit to the
Lexus warming hut. Soon we were warm and
toasty again. The official program was
not scheduled to begin until 7:30 p.m.
The gates to the stadium didn’t even open until 5:30 p.m. The only countable race was set to begin at
6:20 p.m.
I didn’t think the starting time for the TQ midgets was firm. I didn’t want to be sitting in the car when
their one and only race went off. We
entered the stadium at 5:35 p.m. Our $12
seats were great. We were in the ninth
row of the right field stands. On a
summer evening, we would have been sitting right behind American League MVP
Roberto Guerrero.
The entire field was covered in dirt.
There were a few jumps for the monster trucks. White chalk marked the boundaries for the
various events to be held tonight. There
were also several eight-foot tall barrels being used as course markers.
Despite the advertised starting time of 7:30 p.m., they started several
preliminary events at around 6 p.m. This
included some ATV races, qualifying for production trucks and a demonstration
by a Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) race truck. By the way, CORR will be visiting two new
venues in
During this part of the program, the stock cars came out and hot lapped
around an oval that encompassed nearly the entire interior of the stadium. This was most unusual. I thought these guys were going to run a demo
derby. I have never seen demo cars come
out and hot lap around an oval track before.
Right at 6:20 p.m., the TQ midgets came out for their race. They would be racing around three pylons that
made up something that might look like a 1/6 mile or so oval. This was a different and much smaller oval
than the stock cars had practiced on.
The dirt was loose and dry. The
cars seemed to have a hard time getting a grip.
There had been 10 midget racecars in the pit area, but only nine
attempted to start this race. I think
the race went 8 or 10 laps. It was hard
for me to tell because I was videotaping and taking digital photos for www.ranlayracing.com.
There were two yellow flag periods before the race officially got
underway. This eliminated four of the
nine cars. There were two more yellow
flags in the short race before it checkered.
Yes, I am reminded that I am once again watching racing in the
Even though the 45,000-seat stadium was sold out, less than 5,000 people
were in their seats to see the TQ midgets race.
I had seen the countable race. I
had seen the monster trucks race last year.
The temperatures were in the mid-40s with a howling wind. I had seen what I had come to see. I had gotten my $50 worth of entertainment.
I nudged Carol and asked, “Ready to go? We can go somewhere and get a nice dinner.” She didn’t respond. Was she frozen to death? Nope.
She is a practical and financially responsible girl. She didn’t feel comfortable leaving just yet
until we had seen enough of the show to justify our expenditure. I’ve got to give her credit; she manages our
money in the very same fashion.
So….we stayed. I’m glad we
did. A few minutes later, the stock cars
came out for more practice. They were
not here to race a demo derby. They were
here to race “autocross.” This meant they would be racing some 27
vehicles around an oval two to three times as large as the oval used by the TQ
midgets.
The stock cars ran a few hot laps around an oval track. Since I had been thinking demo derby I didn’t
pay too much attention to them. These
stock cars looked like street stocks. I
was also thinking they looked much too nice and well built to be demo derby
cars.
Both of these ovals are temporary tracks. I have been involved previously with the
trackchaser administration when two temporary ovals were used during the same
night. By contractual negotiation, I
cannot discuss the details of the night at the
The “Randy rule” is a rule designed
to tell all worldwide trackchasers how they should and can handle temporary
oval track situations. There is also a “Rick rule” that covers “apron”
tracks. Here is what those rules have to
say.
“All temporary tracks of the same type are only separately
countable if they physically exist and are active at the same time, even if
they are located on different parts of the property (moving a temporary track
during the course of the day does not constitute a new track), with the
following exception, tracks located inside different buildings on the same
property can be counted separately.”
“Any track that is composed entirely of the apron of
another track (ie: no part of it is physically separated) can not be counted as
a second track (ex:
My strategy is to understand the trackchaser rules and get every
possible track that I can that meets the rules.
I would never count a track that did not meet our rules. By the way, the founding fathers of
trackchasing (I was not involved) came up with the original rules. They were sometimes referred to as “guidelines.”
Later on this original set of rules morphed into the current rules as
explained at www.trackchaser.net.
Both of the temporary ovals at the Angels Stadium of
Editor’s note: Following this event, I contacted trackchaser commissioner,
Will White, to explain what I had encountered.
He agreed that both ovals met our rules.
I would never want to try to count a track where there was any question
about its meeting our rules. That is why
my phone bill over the years to the commissioner has been very high.
We were in business. There was
only one problem. The one and only “Autocross main event” was not going to happen
until most of the monster truck racing was finished. That meant we had to sit out in the cold for
more than two more hours. I didn’t like
that.
We found a place to eat our Carl’s Jr. dinner. It was not the nice dinner I had planned with
an early departure, in a location out of the wind. We still had two hours to kill before the
autocross event. We found a location,
out of the wind, where we could stand behind the last row of fans in the
terrace seating area to watch the monster trucks.
Yes, we STOOD for two hours in very cold temperatures waiting for that
autocross race which would give us an additional countable track. Most of my readers are men. I need an honest response from those
men. Would your wife and/or girlfriend
and/or significant other stand in the cold for two hours (after already being
in the cold for three hours!) to get another countable track? If she would then she’s a trooper like
Trackchasing’s First Mother.
At nearly 10 p.m., the autocross cars came onto the track. By now the stadium was packed. This was so different from when the TQ
midgets raced at 6:20 p.m. with only 5,000 people or so in their seats. The cars lined up in rows of two and took the
green flag. I asked Carol to count the
laps while I took pictures. At the end,
she told me she thought they ran 15 laps.
The 27-car race was wild. It
reminded me a lot of full-sized stock car racing like the bangers in the
The action was fierce. Only about
8-9 cars took the checkered flag.
Several were smoking badly at the finish. After the race was over one of these smokers
caught on fire. The crowd went wild
during this race.
It’s funny; this was just the first weekend of five consecutive weekends,
where the Angels Stadium of
The ticket prices are more than reasonable in the $10-15 range. How is auto racing missing out on these types
of crowds? I remember going to
WEATHER CONDITIONS
It was a cold, raw and windy night. Admittedly, we Californians are not a hardy bunch. The extent of our winter wardrobe consists of a light jacket and beanie (sometimes referred to as a stocking cap.) It was about as cold as I can remember it being in SoCal.
RENTAL CAR UPDATE:
No rental car tonight. The Carol Lewis owned and Life of
Saturday total driving miles – 72
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 –
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.
31. Carol Lewis,
32. Chris Economaki,
33. Gary Jacob,
34. Ron Rodda,
2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
1. Carol Lewis,
3. Ron Rodda,
3. Mike Knappenberger,
3. Guy Smith, Effort,
3. Pam Smith, Effort,
3. Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring,
Tracks have been reported from 7
different worldwide trackchasers this season.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
#1 Trackchaser Living
West of the
Your best bet is to work your butt off, reach your goals and enjoy your
rewards.
CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:
AIRPLANE
No airplanes!
RENTAL CAR
No rental cars!
Personal car total driving – 72 miles
Total auto and air miles traveled on
this trip – 72 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Angles Stadium of
Total racetrack admissions - $25
Past trackchasing reports are available at:
Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:
www.trackchaser.net
Some of my
standings data comes from
www.trackchaser.net
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
Time to visit my brother and do some
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007 (** not the first time to visit this track)
1,139. Meremere Dirt Track
Club, Mere
1,140. Meeanee Speedway,
1,141. Top of the South
Speedway,
1,142. Woodford Glen Speedway,
1,143. Robertson Holden
International
1,144.
1,145.
1,146. Angels Stadium of
1,147. Angels Stadium of
