TODAY’S HEADLINES

Are ‘Hub City Friday Night Tracks’ becoming dinosaurs? …….details in “The Strategy.”

 

Special Trackchaser Report from the Browns (sister and brother-in-law)………details in “And the readers respond.”

 

What is a ‘Faster Pastor?’.................details in the “Race Track News.” 

GREETINGS FROM OREGON, WISCONSIN

AND THE READERS RESPOND

 

I was fortunate tonight to have my sister, Becky, and her husband Bob attend the races tonight with me.  They live in Northern Illinois just an hour or so south of tonight’s track.  Here is what they had to say about the racing experience.

 

Becky – “The weather was just perfect for racing.  I really enjoyed the inside track.  The restrooms were very clean.  The whole night was a lot of fun because I got to spend time with you, Randy.”

 

Bob – “I really liked the late models and thought they ran a very good program.  I couldn’t believe how when the cars were bunched up there were not any wrecks.  I had a great time.”

 

 

 

IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO READ THIS TRACKCHASER REPORT DIRECTLY FROM WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM AND SEE THE PICTURES FROM THIS TRIP SIMPLY CLICK ON THIS LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IT IN YOUR BROWSER:

http://www.ranlayracing.com/may24282007.htm

I WOKE UP IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA.  I WENT TO SLEEP IN ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy                                                                                    

 

My bread and butter trackchasing trips over the years have been “out Friday and back Monday” affairs.  Most often, I would fly from SoCal into an airline’s hub of operations on a non-stop flight on Friday afternoon.  I would then see a track within 200-300 miles of that hub city.  This was an efficient way to begin a weekend trip.

 

By the way, most airlines operate on the “hub and spoke” system.  As an example, Chicago, Illinois is a hub city for United Airlines.  United operates to more than 100 cities to and from Chicago.  Passengers board a United flight near their home almost anywhere in the United States.  They then fly to Chicago and reconnect to more than 100 different cities to reach their final destination.  The outlying cities are the spokes in the wheel and Chicago, in this example is the hub.

 

As you know, I carry trackchasing sponsorship packages with Delta and United Airlines.  Delta has hubs in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Cincinnati and New York.  United’s hubs are in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

 

It’s good that Los Angeles is a hub city, rather than a spoke city, for both of these airlines.  Los Angeles is the hub in the “western wheel” for these airlines.  In order to get into the other geographical “wheels” for Delta and United, I have to fly into Denver, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, New York or Washington, D.C.

 

Here in lies the rub!  I like to begin most of my trips on Friday.  There are several reasons for this.  It all started with something called “work.”  Yes, my silly employer wanted me to work for the money they gave me.  O.K.,  fair enough.  The earliest I could get off work was Friday morning much of the time.  Secondly, 95% or more of all racing is done on Friday and Saturday.  It wouldn’t have done much good most of the time to leave earlier than Friday because no one was racing.

 

Since the beginning of the 2000 trackchasing season, I’ve been to about 170 Friday night tracks.  I suspect most of those were close to the hub city of one airline or another.  I have only about 115 regularly scheduled Friday night tracks still to see.  Not many of those are located near airline hubs.

 

Now you can see why I say that “Hub city Friday night tracks are becoming dinosaurs.”  At my current pace, I have only a 3-4 year supply of Friday night tracks.  When I run out of Friday night tracks, when will my normal trackchasing trip begin each week?  Yes, I agree with what you are likely thinking.  These are perplexing problems that require some foresight in order to prevent a much bigger problem.

The Trip

 

By the time, I finish this Memorial Day weekend trip, I’m going to have used up more than my share of jet fuel and rental car racing gasoline.  I was once again faced with “do I get a motel room or not” before reaching the Madison International Speedway in Wisconsin.

 

I left the track in Charlotte on Thursday night at 11 p.m.  My drive to Atlanta at that time of night took about four hours to cover the 275 miles.  I would be getting into town at 3 a.m. and I needed to get up at 7 a.m. Eastern time (4 a.m. San Clemente time) to start the rental car return process for my trip to Chicago on Friday morning.

 

Should I get a motel for just four hours of sleep?  I know how many trackchasers would answer that question.  I chose to get a Motel 6 room near the Atlanta airport.  I made this choice for two reasons.  The first might not be so obvious.  I needed to get an internet connection to check flight availability for the remainder of the trip.  I also wanted to get four hours of “bed sleep” rather than “car seat” sleep.  There is a difference!

 

Once I made it to the Chicago area, I found an interstate “oasis.”  Since I was a grade schooler, the interstate rest areas, aka “Welcome Breaks” in the U.K. have been called “oasis.”  I spent five hours in the Belvedere Oasis just west of the Chicago O’Hare Airport.  They now have internet connections in these spots.  It was actually a great way to spend the time as planning for these trips can take some quality not to be disturbed time.

 

 

 

The People

 

I was born and raised in Illinois.  I lived there for 23 years until I first set foot on California soil to begin my boot camp assignment in San Diego at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.  Carol and I have now lived in California for more years than any other state.  Since we’ve been in the Golden state for 28 years, we now consider that our home state.

 

Nevertheless, I still have “kin folk” living in Illinois.  Our oldest son, J.J. is based in Chicago as he works his way up the SkyWest food chain.  Although he only sleeps in Illinois a few days a month, that’s his permanent residence.  Both of my sisters live in Illinois as well.

 

It just so happened that J.J. was at O’Hare on Friday morning when I arrived from Atlanta.  He had just flown in from Allentown, Pennsylvania and would be leaving for Memphis in the afternoon.  This provided a perfect “window of opportunity” as we corporate sluggos used to say about every fourth paragraph when I was in the working world.

 

We had a nice lunch in the airport at Chili’s.  It’s always fun to hear about how the airline business hierarchy works.  After just nine months, J.J. has already worked his way up to about the middle of the first officer seniority list.  Every time someone makes Captain from first officer or leaves as a captain for a major airline, he moves up.  I hope that J.J. will be making captain at SkyWest in the next couple of years.

 

I did spend a few minutes warning him about East coast trackchasers since he had just flown in from Allentown, Pennsylvania.  I trust that based upon our discussion, any known ECTC will be thoroughly checked out before being allowed to board the plane.  It was great seeing J.J.

 

I was not finished seeing family today.  My sister Becky (aka Aunt Becky) and her husband Bob (aka Uncle Bob) live near Chicago.  I asked them if they would like to join me for tonight’s races and they accepted.  They met me at the Belvedere Oasis and off we went to the Madison International Speedway less than 100 miles up the road.

 

I’ve been racing with both of them some over the years.  Of course, I had just seen them three weeks ago at Kristy’s wedding.  They had a driving road trip from Illinois to California for that special event.  It was great seeing them.  I think they enjoyed the trip.  They have graciously offered to provide their take on the evening’s action in the “And the readers respond” section of this TR. 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

MADISON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (INNER OVAL), OREGON, WISCONSIN – TRACK #1,192

 

This was my 49^th lifetime track in the Badger state.  I broke my tie with Allan Brown and now hold sole possession of sixth place.  I’m just one track behind Dale Danielski who resides in fifth.  Ed Esser leads in Wisconsin with 97 tracks. 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

MADISON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (INNER OVAL), OREGON, WISCONSIN – TRACK #1,192

 

This track is located about 100 miles from where I went to college at Northern Illinois University.  I remember going there with Carol a few times back in the late 60s/early 70s.  Back then, the only track they had was a one-half mile asphalt oval.

 

I recall going there in the 1980s when the track’s surface had been changed from asphalt to dirt.  Had I seen a race there on dirt, I would have been able to count another track.  Alas, the program I was attempting to see that night, an All-Star sprint car race, was rained out.  I would never get another opportunity to see them race on dirt, because they switched back to asphalt a few years later. 

 

By the way, I remember sitting in on the driver’s meeting when the All-Star sprint car drivers were told by the promoter that he was canceling because of rain.  I remember Steve Butler, who was the leading All-Star Sprint car driver yelling out from the back of the group, “Are you going to pay for our gas?”  Of course, Steve and most of the other drivers had driven over from Ohio and they weren’t too happy about not getting any purse money on this night.  I suspect that Mr. Butler had paid far less than the $3.72 per gallon I paid on this trip!

 

With this as background, I didn’t think I would ever darken the door of the Madison International Speedway again.  That was until they opened up an “inner oval” quarter-mile high banked asphalt track.  This is a freestanding track located inside the half-mile oval. 

 

A big plus for my coming to this track is that it was racing on a Friday night and it was located somewhat near a hub airline city, Chicago.  It looks like my nearest Friday night track to Chicago is now in Hartford, Michigan.  Their new inner oval is just 130 east of the Windy city.

 

The track’s website told me the races were supposed to begin at 7:30 p.m.  Following a drive-through pork tenderloin meal at a Wisconsin staple, Culver’s, we arrived precisely at 7:30 p.m.  We didn’t hear any racecar noise, but we could hear some life music being played.

 

The local Stoughton High School band was standing, some 75 members strong, on the front straightaway entertaining the fans.  It was a beautiful night for racing and a large crowd of some 500-700 fans looked on. 

 

This track is located in a very wooded and rural farm-like setting.  It’s quite beautiful.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.  I’ll be honest.  I had absolutely no recollection of this track whatsoever!  That happens when you reach 58 years old, which by the way is the new 56.

 

The admission price was a more than reasonable eight bucks.  Nevertheless, I had to wait behind one patron who complained that the track did not have a senior citizen discount.  He made me embarrassed for all of us who have ever enjoyed a silver-haired price reduction.

 

The first race hit the track at 8:05 p.m.  I was somewhat concerned about the later than advertised start.  I wanted to be out of the track by 10 p.m. so, I could reach my motel by midnight.  Even with that, I would only get five hours sleep before it was off to Washington state.  I should not have worried.

 

The Roto Rooter Bandits race on the quarter mile.  The thirteen of them put on a good show of two heats and a feature.  The inner oval is the highest banked track of its kind I have ever seen.  Nevertheless, even though the track is wide and banked, the cars mainly race just along the inner lane.

 

In victory lane, the winning drivers were handed a microphone so they could thank their fans.  Their Wisconsin accents were noticeable as they spoke to an appreciative crowd.

 

A special event tonight was the “Faster Pastor” race.  This was for local clergymen to show their skills on the smaller oval.  It might also be a reason to increase the crowd count when a church’s congregation comes out to support their minister.  Five men of the frock raced tonight.  They drove bandit cars that had been loaned to them.  They were quite a bit slower than the regular bandit drivers were, but did have some wall banging incidents.

 

The track facility is in great shape.  They have a five-position scoreboard and lap counter on the backstretch.  They have a couple of concession stands that offer brats (a Wisconsin staple) and freshly popped corn (also a Wisconsin staple.)  Of course, Wisconsinites are rarely seen without a beer in their hands and that was the case again tonight.  Mr. Zimmerman, care to comment?

 

I really had only one complaint.  The P.A. system was just too loud.  They need to turn it down some.  I did get a nice trackchaser mention from the dual announcing team.  This seemed to surprise the visiting Browns much like it did the Eich’s of Idaho a couple of weeks go.  I can’t explain how they would know that the World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser was in the house.

 

There was just one other class racing tonight.  Seventeen late models raced two heats and a 50-lap feature on the larger one-half mile oval.  There have been some great late model drivers race here over the years.  The announcer told us the top five drivers in feature wins at the track included:  Dick Trickle, Conrad Morgan, Joe Shear, Johnny Ziegler and Matt Kenseth.  That’s a pretty good group of drivers!

 

The entire program, called an “abbreviated” program by the announcer ended at 9:33 p.m.  We were told this was day one of a two-day show, which would feature the USAR Hooters late models tomorrow.  On the way, home it rained steadily after I crossed into Illinois.

 

One final note.  I was originally intending to see the USAC Silver Crown cars at the Indiana State Fairgrounds tonight in Indianapolis.  However, a 40% chance of rain scared me off.  This is probably one of the top ten tracks I would still like to see sometime.  Nevertheless, I didn’t want to drive all that way and not get a countable track.

 

Editor’s note:  The USAC race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds was postponed by rain.  They are looking at a replacement date.  Maybe I’ll still be able to get this track in 2007.

 

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

The weather at the track was beautiful.  There was not a cloud in the sky.  It was 69 degrees when we arrived.  There was a minor chill in the air after the sun went down, but it never got cold.

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE

 

Chicago car

 

Friday (and early Saturday morning) total driving miles – 255

 

I drove this car 255 miles.  I paid an average price of $3.72 per gallon.  This may have been my highest ever U.S. average fuel charge.  The Pontiac Grand Prix gave me 24.5 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at a very high average cost of 15.2 cents per mile.  The car cost 11.9 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. 

 

 

Atlanta car

Wednesday total driving miles – 131

Thursday (and early Friday morning) total driving miles – 422

 

My rental car wasn’t the cleanest one I’ve ever rented.  I had to move two other cars so I could get to one that had XM radio, but it was worth it.  This will likely be the first of four rental cars on this trip.

 

I drove the car 553 miles.  I paid an average price of $2.99 per gallon.  The Chevy Impala Prix gave me 28.2 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 10.6 cents per mile.  The car cost 17.7 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, San Clemente, California – 1,192

 

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,106 (-86)*

 

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,092 (-100)*

 

7.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 1,005 (-187)**

 

* Warning, you are within 50 tracks of being removed from this list. 

 

** Special exemption.

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

 

2007 (current thru 5/14/07)**

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 6.82

2. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 7.12

3. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 7.55

 

 

**Until the end of the year, NGD rankings are unofficial.  Rankings are affected not only by the leader’s activities but also by other trackchasers impact on the leader’s position in each state. 

  

 

 

 

Other notables

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.

 

31.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 315

 

There are no trackchasers within 10 tracks (either above or below) of Carol’s current total. 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 54

 

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 40

 

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium - 22

 

3.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 22

 

5.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 21

 

6.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 15

 

7.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 12

 

8.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 11

 

9.  Rick Young, Maxville, Ontario, Canada - 10

 

10.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 9

 

10.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 9

 

Tracks have been reported by 34 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

Utah’s #1 Trackchaser

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Orange County, CA – Salt Lake City, UT – 588 miles

Salt Lake City, UT – Atlanta, GA – 1,589 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR - ATLANTA

 

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – trip begins

Concord, NC – 273 miles

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – 553 miles - trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Atlanta, GA – Chicago, IL – 606 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR - CHICAGO

 

Chicago O’Hare International Airport – trip begins

Oregon, WI – 123 miles

Chicago O’Hare International Airport – 255 miles - trip ends

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Lowe’s Motor Speedway - $20

Wisconsin International Speedway - $8

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past trackchasing reports are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

 

 

Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:

www.trackchaser.net

 

 

Some of the data in this report comes from www.trackchaser.net

and my Garmin GPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

 

Let’s see, I already hit the East coast (North Carolina) and the Midwest (Wisconsin) in the first two days of this Memorial Day trackchasing weekend.  Why not try the West coast tomorrow?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

1,142.  Woodford Glen Speedway, Christchurch, New Zealand - January 3

 

1,143.  Robertson Holden International Speedway, Palmerston North, New Zealand - January 5

 

1,144.  Taupo Motorsports Park, Taupo, North, New Zealand - January 6

 

1,145.  Waikaraka Park International Speedway, Auckland, New Zealand - January 6

 

1,146.  Angels Stadium of Anaheim (inner oval), Anaheim, California - January 13

 

1,147.  Angels Stadium of Anaheim (outer oval), Anaheim, California - January 13

 

1,148.  West Valley Speedway, Surprise, Arizona - January 14

 

1,149. Sandia Motorsports Park (road course), Albuquerque, New Mexico - January 28

 

1,150. Grand Prix De Lanaudiere, Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada – February 3

 

1,151. Ste-Eulalie Ice Track, Eulalie, Quebec, Canada – February 4

 

1,152. St Guillaume, St Guillaume, Quebec, Canada – February 4

 

1,153. Caldwell Rodeo Arena, Caldwell, Idaho – February 10

 

1,154. Balsam Lake Ice Track, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin – February 18

 

1,155. Northeast Pond Ice Track, Milton, New Hampshire – February 24

 

1,156. Lee Pond Ice Track, Moultonborough, New Hampshire – February 25

 

1,157. New Hendry Country Speedway, Clewiston, Florida – March 3

 

1,158. Florida Sports Park, Naples, Florida – March 4

 

1,159. Honeoye Lake Ice Track – Road Course, Honeoye, New York – March 10

 

1,160. Houston Raceway Park, Baytown, Texas – March 16

 

1,161. Houston Motorsports Park, Houston, Texas – March 16

 

1,162. Dawgwood Speedway, Chatsworth, Georgia – March 17

 

1,163. Toccoa Speedway, Toccoa, Georgia – March 17

 

1,164. Tazewell Speedway, Tazewell, Tennessee – March 18

 

1,165. Malden Speedway, Malden, Missouri, Tennessee – March 23

 

1,166. Dacosa Speedway, Byhalia, Mississippi – March 24

 

1,167. Swinging Bridge Raceway, Byram, Mississippi – March 24

 

1,168. Florence Motor Speedway, Florence, South Carolina – March 25

 

1,169. Foothills Raceway, Easley, South Carolina – March 30

 

1,170. Mileback Speedway, Gray Court, South Carolina – March 30

 

1,171. Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida – April 1

 

1,172. Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas, Nevada – April 8

 

1,173. Huntsville Speedway, Huntsville, Alabama – April 13

 

1,174. Low Country Kartway, Aynor, South Carolina – April 14

 

1,175. Dillon Motor Speedway, Dillon, South Carolina – April 14

 

1,176. Valley Dirt Riders, Berthoud, Colorado – April 15

 

1,177. Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Lancaster, California – April 22

 

1,178. Sertoma Speedway, Tularosa, New Mexico – April 27

 

1,179. Sandia Motorsports Park (outer oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28

 

1,180. Sandia Motorsports Park (inner oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28

 

1,181. Hollywood Hills Speedway, San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico – April 29

 

1,182. Meridian Speedway, Meridian, Idaho – May 11

 

1,183. Diamond Mountain Speedway, Vernal, Utah, Idaho – May 12

 

1,184. Rocky Mountain Raceways (oval), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12 

 

1,185. Rocky Mountain Raceways (figure 8), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12

 

1,186. Modoc Speedway, Modoc, South Carolina – May 18

 

1,187. Possum Kingdom Super Speedway, Belton, South Carolina – May 19

 

1,188. Laurens County Speedway, Laurens, South Carolina – May 19

 

1,189. Fairplex at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, Pomona, California – May 20

 

1,190. Lowes Motor Speedway (inner oval), Concord, North Carolina – May 24

 

1,191. Lowes Motor Speedway (road course), Concord, North Carolina – May 24

 

1,192. Madison International Speedway (inner oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25

 

** Madison International Speedway (outer oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25