Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
CASTROL RACEWAY, CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA
Any track voted the "No 1 Track in 2006" seemed like a worthy place to see my 1,200th lifetime track.
I knew it had been raining in this area. I came to find out the track had a two hour and twenty minute rain delay from their 6 p.m. start.
Nevertheless, a large crowd stuck around for the sprint and stock car racing.
This is the wide view of tonight's 3/8 mile banked dirt oval.
The track had a nice field of late models on hand. They provided more entertaining racing than the sprint cars did.
This track is out in the country. It's definitely a top 50 North American oval track.
Tonight the track was troubled by rain. After the long rain delay to start the program, this rain cloud finished them off at about 10:30 p.m. However, I was still happy to have come to the Castrol Raceway to see my 1,200th lifetime track.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
I started out as a “one grandstand, one track” type of
trackchaser. Why did that change? …….details
in “The Strategy.”
First trackchaser to see 1,200
tracks!........details in “Summary of ‘century’
trackchasing achievements”
Note
I am receiving some interesting “Sports Spectating Resumes.” Please send me yours. I will publish them all soon.
GREETINGS FROM
This evening I saw my 1,200th
lifetime racetrack. Below is a list of
when and where I saw other “Century” mark
tracks.
SUMMARY OF
“CENTURY” TRACKCHASING ACHIEVEMENTS
# 100 -
# 200 -
# 300 - Brownstown Speedway,
Brownstown, IN (Billy Moyer Jr. winner) - April 19, 1997 -
# 400 -
# 500 - Freedom Raceway,
27, 2001
# 600 - Trail-Way Speedway (figure 8
course),
# 700 -
# 800 - Five Flags
#900 - I-96
# 1,000 – Auburndale Kartway,
# 1,100 –
# 1,200 – Castrol Raceway,
On the occasion of my 900th
track, I wrote the following. I don’t
think I can add much to those words.
“Today is a special
day - #900. I am happy about that. I would like to thank everyone who has
supported me or shown an interest in my trackchasing hobby. Special thanks go to Carol for being so
tolerant of my obsession. She is a smart
woman and recognizes that it is a good idea to let me pursue my hobbies from
time to time. Also, thank you to all of
the trackchasers who have provided me information and support along the way
(you know who you are) and to those trackchasers who have motivated me through
other methods (you know who you are).”
I’ll add a special thanks to Guy
Smith for inventing, if you will, the entire trackchaser concept. I’ll also offer special thanks to Trackchaser
commissioner Will White for formalizing the trackchaser statistics, which make
the hobby even more fun.
It took me 52 ˝ years to see my
first 500 tracks. At that point, I told
the boys at the golf club that I would be cutting back on my trackchasing. I missed that one by a bunch! In the following 6 years, I have added
another 700 tracks. Most people would
never have expected that, including me.
I offer my apologies to readers who
signed up some 400 or 500 tracks ago or more.
Maybe you thought these emails would cease, or at least become less
frequent, as time went on. I hope you
received some entertainment value and maybe even a cost-saving tip or two. If you have, then it’s all been worth it for
me.
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/june132007.htm
I WOKE UP IN
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS
The Strategy
Strategy is all important in
trackchasing. One of the best ways to
increase your track totals is to see two or more tracks in one day. This is called a “trackchasing
double.” In the past, I have
explained what the various kinds of trackchasing doubles are.
In today’s modern trackchasing
world, I am probably the leader in getting trackchasing doubles. It has not always been that way. I believe I first became aware of the
trackchaser group via Will White in 1999.
Records show that I was the third person to join the trackchaser email
group back on January 18, 2000.
Before I joined the group, I was a “one grandstand, one track” type of
trackchaser. I did not count both an
inner oval and an outer oval at one location.
I did not count one oval that changed surfaces from dirt to asphalt or
vice versa as more than one track.
Prior to becoming aware of the
trackchasers group in 1999, I had seen 367 different racetracks. I had never been to a freestanding figure 8
race in my life! I had only been to six
road courses out of my 367 lifetime tracks.
It would be easy to define my
trackchasing for the first 50 years of my life.
I went to oval tracks. I only
counted one track at each facility I went too.
I never went back to an oval track just because it changed its racing
surface from asphalt to dirt or the other way around for the purpose of adding
to my totals.
Then in 1999 and 2000, I began to
learn about how other trackchasers were adding to their career trackchasing
totals. The trackchasing rules were
developed in the late 90s. I had zero
involvement in that process. By the time
I came along the main rules were already set up.
From the start of my trackchasing
all the way through 1998, I saw just nine trackchasing doubles. That’s nine doubles out of 367 total
tracks. I believe every one of those was
a day/night double. Usually I was going
to a NASCAR race in the afternoon and I would then go to a local show at night.
As I got more and more into
trackchasing, I noticed the other trackchasers were adding to their
trackchasing totals in ways I had never even considered. They were getting “doubles”
at two different tracks in one evening.
I had never done that or even thought to do it. They were going back to see a track again,
simply because the track had changed its racing surface. These folks were going to road courses. My road course racing experience (6)
primarily included races I had been invited too or NASCAR tracks. If I was going to advance in the standings, I
was going to have to learn from my fellow trackchasers.
As I gained some experience, I began
to change my “one grandstand one track”
trackchasing mentality. I read the rules
the “old guard” trackchasers had
developed. It wasn’t long before I was
starting to gain ground at a rapid pace.
A few old-timers in trackchasing
became alarmed. Here was a new
trackchaser on the scene, using their rules and beginning to advance up through
the ranks of the worldwide trackchasing standings. I probably called the trackchaser
commissioner more than any other trackchaser seeking rulings, in advance, on
tracks I was considering attending. If I
got positive feedback from the commissioner, I went forward with my plans. If I didn’t then I went somewhere else.
Now I am a veteran of the
trackchasing process. I have long ago
put away my “one grandstand, one track”
method of counting tracks. I have
totally converted to full adherence to all rules, regulations and rulings as
outlined on www.trackchaser.net. The best outcome of everyone playing by a
common set of rules is that it makes comparing one trackchaser’s totals to
another easier to do. Everyone is
working off the same sheet of music, so to speak.
As time goes by and a trackchaser’s
totals increase, it can become more difficult to get a trackchasing
double. Tracks need to be somewhat close
together geographically in order for a double to work. The tracks have to be racing on the same
day. The weather has to cooperate. Doubles aren’t easy.
Nevertheless, one of my trackchasing
strategies is to see as many new tracks as I can. Doubles are a great way to achieve that
strategy. To date, I have seen 62 new
tracks during 45 days of trackchasing in 2007.
That means I’ve seen 17 trackchasing doubles this year. I think that’s pretty good planning. I have only my fellow trackchasers to thank
for this. If they had not established
the practice of seeing doubles to increase their track totals, I never would
have thought of the idea!
The Trip
I’m enjoyed my time traveling around
The People
I continue to believe that the
Canadian racing people I have met are some of the best. I very much enjoy my trackchasing in
RACE TRACK STATS:
CASTROL RACEWAY,
Today I
saw three tracks in
Only 12
trackchasers, including me, have ever come to
RACE TRACK NEWS:
Today’s
road course racing event was probably the most disappointing of the five tracks
I saw this weekend. The weather was
beautiful but the racing and presentation wasn’t very good.
The RCMP
is a professional looking motorsport facility.
They have a drag strip as well as a ˝-mile paved oval. And in news never before released in the
trackchasing community, they will have the return of figure 8 racing at this
facility in 2007. However, I was here to
see racing on their road course today.
As is
often the case with facilities that focus on oval track and drag strip racing,
the road racing seems to be a total afterthought. There was no announcer and therefore the P.A.
system was not being used. The regular
concession area was not open and only a few of the facility’s restroom were
open for use.
My first
impression was of being bitten when I entered the paddock area. Yes,
While
these boys, and maybe girls, were racing on the road course, there was activity
on the oval. About eight legends were
holding some form of school on the oval.
If you’ve ever seen the
The road
course used the straight portions of the drag strip and parallel return strip
for 80% of the length of the track. The
cars take the checker near the beginning of the drag strip starting point. They race down to the end of the drag strip
(which is nearly out of sight) and then do some turns that are, for the most
part out of sight, before returning on a straight path, both parallel and in
the opposite direction of where they started on the drag strip. They finish up with a big sweeping left hand
turn, again out of sight from the drag strip grandstand, before returning to
the starting line.
With no
P.A. to explain anything about the program and mosquitoes nipping at the
RANLAY, two races were all I needed to see.
I believe that all the cars in the paddock area raced in these two
races. Overall, I was glad to get this
track behind me, although pleased to have somewhere to trackchase on a Saturday
afternoon. The road course is used for
four weekends each season according to the track’s website at
http://www.racecity.com/.
From my
road course outing in
This track
is a tight little quarter-mile asphalt oval.
There were a few things I found that were out of the ordinary. First, there was a sign near the ticket booth
that read, “Distribution of complimentary tickets
on raceway grounds is strictly prohibited.” I guess they didn’t want free tickets that
the track had given away, eating into the tickets they were selling the night
of the event.
The entire
grandstand is one big wooden structure.
The announcer reminded everyone that a “no
smoking in the grandstand policy” was in effect! The track also pits their racecars inside the
oval. There were no problems with
blocking the view of the racetrack because the cars were parked there. I love it when the racing machines are pitted
in the infield. This adds to what the
spectator gets to see.
My first
stop was to the concession stand. Just
before I reached the stand, I noticed several employees spraying each other
with insect repellant. Ouch! I had left my bug spray on the floor of our
master bedroom. I had French Fries
doused in brown gravy. The gravy costs
50 cents extra. What’s wrong with eating
fat smothered in more fat? It tasted
good.
There was
one more unusual part of tonight’s competition.
They were racing motorcycles. The
bikes raced on part of the asphalt oval and part of the dirt infield. The configuration made this a mixed road
course race surface. They even had some
minor jumps. Unfortunately, for
trackchasing purposes, they didn’t race cars on this configuration.
There were
three stock car classes racing tonight.
They had 16 thunder cars, 12 late models, and about 16 claimers. There were very few yellow flags for spins on
the perfectly clear 80-degree evening.
The racing
program started at 6 p.m. There were two
heats for the Thunder cars and the claimers.
The late models ran just one set of heats, but had two feature events. It was only 7:29 p.m. when the first 40-lap late
model feature event took to the track with 10 cars taking the green flag. This race was pretty mediocre and finished at
7:43 p.m.
I looked
beyond the grandstand to the north. It
looked like rain up there. Why was I
looking north anyway? The Castrol
Raceway was racing about 30 miles from the track I was at. If they weren’t rained out, Castrol could be
the second half of a blended double with features. It was worth a try.
If I could
add the Castrol Raceway to my list, it would be my 1,200 lifetime track. I looked toward the skies. I needed a sign. Just at that point, a very colorful rainbow
appeared. I had gotten my sign. I was headed to the north.
CASTROL RACEWAY, EDOMONTON
I pulled into the parking lot of the
They were still selling tickets, so
they weren’t rained out. I parked my car
in a strategic spot and walked into what would be a trackchaser record-breaking
1,200th track.
The woman at the ticket booth told
me they had been delayed “about an hour”
with the rain. Another internet source,
told that the rain delay had been two hours and twenty minutes. Whatever, when I arrived the
From what I could tell there had
been no countable racing before the rains came.
I lingered at the track’s souvenir trailer. Even though I have more event t-shirts than I
will ever wear in my lifetime, I needed to buy something to commemorate my
1,200th lifetime track. They
had a beautiful and multi-colored heavy duty jacket for the princely some of
$150 Canadian. Of course, it was priced
in Canadian currency since I was in
The saleswoman put the heavy sell on
me. I think if she had offered to
negotiate the price even a little bit she would have had a sale. The coat was probably overpriced, but it was
nice. Nevertheless, I am simply a pensioner
living on a small fixed income, or something like that and I passed. I did end up buying an overpriced “Castrol Raceway” t-shirt for $30 (about $28
From there I went into the
grandstands. This is a high quality dirt
track oval facility with an accompanying drag strip on the property. A huge sign at the track’s entry states, “
There must have been 2,000-3,000
spectators. I always have a tough time
estimating how many people are in the stands.
They had a nice field of late models on hand as well as five stock
cars. They also offered two classes of
sprint cars.
I met the track’s announcer. He was most impressed with my trackchasing
efforts. He gave me a nice 1,200th
track mention over the P.A. He also gave
me a racing hat to help me celebrate the evening.
The winged sprint cars were
extremely fast. They were just like the
World of Outlaws. They were so fast they
couldn’t pass each other. This resulted
in follow the leader sprint car racing.
The limited sprint division provided better racing. Their reigning champion was a woman
driver. She won tonight’s feature event,
which is most unusual in this class of racing.
During the evening, the announcer
told the crowd that the
From the point I arrived at the
track, I noticed some storm clouds far off in the distance beyond turn
three. As time went by, I could see that
rain was coming from those clouds. The
clouds were getting closer. Finally, at
10:30 p.m. when the sportsman sprint feature was nearly completed, the rain
started to fall. These were big drops of
rain. The crowd began to leave the
grandstand like rats deserting a ship. I
was one of them!
The Castrol Raceway will long hold a
special place in my trackchasing heart.
It was my 1,200th track.
It was the second half of a blended double with features, my 17th
trackchasing double of 2007.
I saw three new tracks today. The last one put me into uncharted
trackchasing territory. I guess the
rainbow I saw upon leaving the
WEATHER CONDITIONS
It was warm and sunny during the day
and early evening. Then as I headed
north and the evening aged, the wet stuff came in. Nevertheless, the weather didn’t cause any
major problems.
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
I drove
this car just 791 kilometers or 494 miles. I paid an average price of $3.96 per gallon. My
I drove
this car just 32.5 miles. I paid an average price of $3.33 per
gallon. I actually added just a gallon
or so of gas, so the rental car company (Thrifty) would not try to charge me a
minimum gas fee for cars driven a small number of miles. My Chrysler Sebring, under these fueling
conditions, gave my 30.7 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at a cost of 10.9 cents per
mile. The car cost 6.2 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. Allan Brown,
7. Ed Esser,
* 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,
2. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs,
3. Allan Brown,
**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,
There are no trackchasers within 10 tracks (either above or below) of Carol’s current total.
2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
2. Ed Esser,
3. Roland Vanden Eynde,
4. Carol Lewis,
5. Mike Knappenberger,
6. Guy Smith, Effort,
7. Roger Ferrell,
7. Bing
9. Gordon Killian, Sinking
Springs,
10. Rick Young,
10. Paul Weisel,
10. Pam Smith, Effort,
10. Will White,
Tracks have been reported by 34 different worldwide trackchasers this season.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
If you’re lucky enough to live at
the beach, you’re lucky enough.
CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:
AIRPLANE
Orange County, CA – Salt Lake City, UT – 588 miles
Salt Lake City, UT – Boise, ID – 290 miles
RENTAL CAR –
AIRPLANE
Boise, ID – Salt Lake City, UT – 290 miles
Salt Lake City, UT – Calgary,
Alberta,
RENTAL CAR -
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Castrol Raceway - $15
Past trackchasing reports are available at:
Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:
Some of the data in this report comes from www.trackchaser.net
and my Garmin GPS
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
I try to adhere to my policy of sending you no more than one Trackchaser
Report per day. That is why you received
one Trackchaser Report for today, Saturday, June 2, even though three new tracks
were seen. I respect your time and don’t
want to overload your email box! I will
visit one more Alberta
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007 (** not the first time to visit this track)
1,139. Meremere Dirt Track
Club,
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
1,148.
1,149.
1,150. Grand Prix De
Lanaudiere,
1,151. Ste-Eulalie Ice Track,
1,152. St Guillaume, St
1,153.
1,154.
1,155. Northeast Pond Ice
Track,
1,156. Lee Pond Ice Track,
1,157. New Hendry Country
1,158.
1,159. Honeoye Lake Ice Track –
Road Course,
1,160.
1,161.
1,162. Dawgwood Speedway,
1,163. Toccoa Speedway,
1,164. Tazewell Speedway,
1,165.
1,166. Dacosa Speedway,
1,167. Swinging Bridge Raceway,
1,168.
1,169. Foothills Raceway,
1,170. Mileback Speedway,
1,171. Grand Prix of
1,172. Vegas Grand Prix,
1,173.
1,174. Low Country Kartway,
1,175. Dillon Motor
1,176. Valley Dirt Riders,
1,177.
1,178. Sertoma Speedway,
1,179.
1,180.
1,181. Hollywood Hills
1,182. Meridian
1,183.
1,184. Rocky Mountain Raceways
(oval),
1,185. Rocky Mountain Raceways
(figure 8),
1,186. Modoc
1,187.
1,188.
1,189. Fairplex at the
1,190. Lowes Motor
1,191. Lowes Motor
1,192.
**
1,193. Thunderbird Stadium (figure
8),
1,194. Thunderbird Stadium (oval),
1,195. Whispering
1,196.
1,197.
1,198.
1,199.
1,200. Castrol Raceway,
