TODAY’S HEADLINES

Trackchasing’s First Mother graduates!!...................more in “The People”.

 

Have you ever dined in the dark?  No, I mean eaten your meal in pitch black conditions………………..details in “Father’s Day”.

 

Always wanted to win some really big prizes for simply reading the Trackchaser Report?....................more in “Special Contest – Prizes Awarded”. 

Are you getting the ‘itch’ to become a trackchaser?  Could you hack a day like the one we had today?  If so, you could be a trackchaser....................details in “The Trip”. 

FATHER’S DAY

 

I hope that all of the fathers who subscribe to the Trackchaser Report had a special day.  Our children live in Chicago, Los Angeles and Honolulu.  Fortunately, they all have the travel bug like I do and we see each other often, but not as often as I would like.

 

The kids gave Carol and me a restaurant gift certificate for our wedding anniversary this past February.  We decided to use it over Father’s Day weekend.  This was not a “normal” restaurant.  I am going to guess there is not one single reader who has dined in this type of eatery.  That’s a pretty tall statement.  Permit me to explain what we were up too.

 

Our restaurant was located inside the Hyatt Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.  Its name is Opaque.  What makes this place so unusual?  You eat in the dark!  You’re probably saying, “Hold on, Randy.  My significant other and I have often eaten candlelight dinners in romantic out of the way places.”  Well that’s fine, I won’t tell your husband or wife.

 

I am not talking about a candlelight dinner.  I am talking about eating your entire dinner in a PITCH BLACK atmosphere.  We could not see our hand in front of our face!  Here’s the way it works.

 

We placed our order in the restaurant’s foyer.  We would be eating a three-course dinner that included salad, entrée and dessert.  All of the food servers are blind or visually impaired.  When it was time to go into the restaurant dining area, our server came out and greeted us.  Carol was instructed to place her right hand on the right shoulder of our server.  I was told to place my right hand on Carol’s right shoulder.  We then followed each other, one behind the other, into the totally blacked out dining room.

 

Soon we were seated at our table.  The server told us our tablecloth was black.  Our napkins were black.  There was recorded music playing in the background.  We could hear the conversations of other diners in the background from time to time.

 

First, we were served bread and butter.  I tried putting my knife into the butter container to butter my bread.  For some reason, I wasn’t getting much butter on my knife.  That puzzled me.  A few minutes later, I discovered why.  I put my forearm on the table for a moment directly into two large balls of butter.  That’s where my butter was!

 

Next up was the salad.  I had several forkfuls where I came up empty!  Nevertheless, I wouldn’t starve in an environment like this.  I had the salmon entrée and Carol the vegetarian Thai choice.  She told me the vegetables were much larger than she expected and they kept coming up, hitting her in the face, and getting in her hair!  Finally, we were served dessert, which was fabulous.

 

We were “dining in the dark” for two hours and fifteen minutes.  I must admit that I just about bagged the whole idea after being in the dark for less than five minutes.  I sometimes have minor bouts of claustrophobia.  It’s nothing major, but can make me feel uncomfortable.  I strongly considered leaving, but didn’t want to let Carol down or the kids who had gone to the trouble to get us here.

 

When the evening was finished and we were out in the light again, I asked the manager if people ever get up and leave because they can’t handle the feeling of being in the dark.  She told us, “on average, we have one person each night who simply can’t handle the atmosphere.  Usually, when one person wants to leave, the entire party does.”  I’m glad I stuck it out, it was quite an experience.

 

I like to say that Carol and I are “active seniors.”  She doesn’t like that phraseology.  I always say it with a grin.  Following dinner, we walked next door to the Comedy Store on Sunset.  We used to go here all the time years ago.  In fact, we’ve had Robin Williams come on stage three different times and do his act unannounced while we were there.  We stayed for nearly three hours listening to one comedian after another before returning to our downtown Los Angeles hotel in the wee hours. 

 

The next morning I took a one-hour power walk through downtown L.A.  This ain’t Orange County.  Of course, that’s why were here, right?  I don’t suspect that English is the primary language of more than 25% of the people I walked past this morning.  Carol and I capped off the Father’s Day weekend with a beautiful picnic in Griffith Park hosted by newlyweds, Kristy and James Peters.  It was a glorious weekend.  If any of my SoCal readers are interested in more information about Opaque, please let me know.  It’s an experience you should try at least once in your life.

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIAL CONTEST – PRIZES AWARDED

 

From time to time, I offer prizes for winning contests here at RANLAY Racing.  Of course, I operate on a spartan budget befitting my status “as a pensioner living on a small retirement stipend” or whatever.  Now, I am happy to report that RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report readers can win some REAL prizes.  However, you have to act quickly.

 

There’s a racetrack located in Northern Georgia within shouting distance of Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The promoters are new and their racing is good.  They need to get more fans to come to the track to enjoy the action.  They are offering these fine prizes to the very best promotional ideas they get.

 

A backpack from Trip Advisor

 

A “Hot Fuzz” T-shirt

 

A Backyard Burgers T-shirt

 

A Zaxby’s Racing T-shirt

 

An inaugural season Drag Racing T-shirt from AMS

 

A Steve Wallace mini racecar from HomeLife

 

The Lucky Dog Stuffed Animal

 

 

In order to win these prizes you need to email your ideas by no later than July 1 to ddrrtt@earthlink.net.  Put the word “Boyd” in the subject line.  Good luck!

 

I’m going to list my ideas right now.  I have my eye on that “Backyard Burgers” t-shirt.

 

Offer multiple sponsor door prizes each night in the range of 20-30.  They can be as small as caps, cups or whatever.  People like to win free stuff, no matter what the value.

 

Sell 50/50 tickets with an emphasis on quantity buys.  One ticket for one dollar, ten tickets for five dollars, as many tickets as your arm’s length for ten dollars.

 

Do what ever is necessary to keep the dust down.  “If momma don’t like it, then papa won’t get to come again.”

 

Sell “meals” at the concession stand.  One price gets you a sandwich, drink and chips.  This gives the track a bigger cash register “ring”.

 

Market to children, just like McDonalds does.  If you can get the children to want to come, they’ve got to drag their parents along.  Offer a “junior fan club” where kids get to take a lap around the track with their favorite driver.  Have bike races around the track, Easter egg hunts, and nickel drops, anything that gets the kids excited and motivates them to come back.

 

Start on time and end on time.  Once the track gets a reputation for doing that, they will get repeat customers.  It costs a lot less to RETAIN a customer than it does to get a new one.

 

Time permitting, offer autograph sessions with the drivers where fans can come down on the front stretch and meet and greet their favorites drivers before a feature event.

 

Make sure the women’s restrooms are spotless.  I mean spotless.  Then tell the fans the women’s restrooms are spotless.  If necessary, have a person on hand to offer amenities like tissues, soft soap or whatever the little lady might like.  “If momma don’t like it, then papa won’t get to come again.”

 

Play music during the break.  The track is in the entertainment business.

 

Distribute “buy one, get one free” coupons to local neighborhoods.  Color-code the coupons, so you can see where they were most effective.  Then double your marketing efforts in those areas.  If a household gets one of these coupons and they have never been to the track, the track stands the chance of getting one new paid admission.  If the two people using the coupon like the show, the tracks stands the chance of having two new customers in the future.  Have the track’s sponsors hand out these coupons to THEIR customers as well.  Make the coupons good for just one night, so regular customers can’t use them all season.

 

Market to groups.  Offer discount for groups of 20 or more people from churches, Boy Scout groups and local civic groups.  Include a free hot dog with each 20 tickets purchased at $2 off the normal price.  Rope off a special area for this group so they can celebrate their special night.

 

Have vendors walk through the stands selling food and drink.  At tonight’s track, a guy was walking through the grandstand selling corn dogs and doing land office business.  Make the prices reasonable, so it makes more sense to eat at the track.  I used to be in charge of our high school basketball game refreshments.  We bought soda for 25 cents a can and sold it for a buck.  Try to figure out how much each customer spends on concessions at the track.  Set a goal of increasing that each night.  Offer new menu items including fresh fruit, special BBQ items, etc.  The profit adds us fast here.

 

Offer a no smoking, no drinking, and no cursing section.  “If momma don’t like it, then papa won’t get to come again!”  

 

 

Offer special attractions, that don’t cost much money.  Powder puff races, figure 8 races, demo derbies, clowns.  Then advertise them.

 

Advertise your track.  Not advertising is like winking at the pretty girl across the room.  You know what you’re doing, but nobody else does.

 

Sell season tickets.  If the track runs 20 nights each season at $10 per adult, sell a season ticket for a 20% discount.  That way the track gets $160 in revenue at the beginning of the season.  Chances are the person who buys a season ticket might never make it to 16 nights of racing during the season.  On the other hand, if someone has a season ticket, they might be motivated to come to all of the races.  If they do, then you’ve got one more customer for each night at the concession stand.

 

Market to women.  The children can be the ones that positively influence the family to come to the races.  The women can be the person in the family who NEGATIVELY influences the family from going to the races with comments such as, “It’s too dirty,” “The restrooms are horrible” or “The races get over too late.”

 

Offer all top 20 trackchasers free admission.  Many of us have already been to the Boyd’s Speedway, so we won’t take you up on the offer.  If others come, they’ll only be there for one night, but they’ll probably be telling lots of others about the track.

 

Don’t be “competitor driven” at the expense of spectators.  That means don’t start the fast guys up front.  Spectators want to see cars pass each other.  They don’t want to see follow the leader racing.  Clear the wrecks fast.  Don’t let drivers stop on the track just to draw a yellow flag.  Don’t spend excess time packing the track so that the show is delayed.

 

Remember, if the promoter is in the racetrack promotion business for the long haul (and most are not), it will take some time for many of these ideas to work.  It’s unlikely any track is going to double or triple its business overnight.

 

Promoters….go to other tracks and see what they are doing right.

 

 

Carol’s ideas

Make the food prices reasonable.  Prices should be at or below what people expect.

Get the show over quickly and efficiently.

Win over the kids.  Toss t-shirts into the grandstands.

Play music during down periods.

If it’s your birthday, you get in free.

Dance contest.  Yes, Perris Auto Speedway does this every Saturday night.  It is very popular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM MEMPHIS, MISSOURI AND THEN GRAIN VALLEY, MISSOURI

 

 

 

 

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/june21252007.htm

WE WOKE UP IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA THIS MORNING.  WE WENT TO SLEEP IN FAIRFIELD, IOWA, AND THEN WENT TRACKCHASING IN GRAIN VALLEY, MISSOURI BEFORE GOING TO SLEEP IN KEARNEY, MISSOURI.   THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy     

 

I would like to reveal Carol’s trackchasing strategy but I am concerned that her fellow, well not really fellow, competitors might be listening.  You see, Carol has won the female trackchasing competition during both 2005 and 2006.  She currently leads in 2007, but I have a feeling this year’s competition will be closer than ever.  Suffice it to say, Carol is a competitive little package and will not relinquish her title without a fight.

The Trip

 

I know that some folks think the life of a flying trackchaser is one of merriment and luxury.  However, as I am often quick to point out, it is not.  I do my best to schedule trackchasing trips that are a bit more “consumer friendly” when Carol comes along.  Sometimes I succeed at this better than others.

 

This trip got off to a rougher start than planned.  First, our alarm clocks went off at 3:30 a.m.  Doggone it, I don’t care what you say that’s early.  Carol and I were out the door, along with son J.J. at 4:14 a.m.  J.J. was in visiting from his home base in Chicago and bound for Mexico today.

 

We arrived at LAX at 5:25 a.m.  We were trying to get on a Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago that was scheduled to depart at 6:30 a.m.  We missed getting on that flight by just one or two seats.

 

As long-time readers know, my sponsors allow me to fly on their planes as long as there are seats available after all paying passengers have been accommodated.  Of course, I am not the only individual to have a sponsorship agreement like this, although I am the only ranked trackchaser to have this support.  After all paying passengers get on the plane, the remaining standby passengers get on the plane based upon the seniority date of their sponsor, in this case, J.J.

 

We didn’t make the 6:30 a.m. Southwest flight to Chicago.  Our next option was a Midwest Airlines flight to Kansas City.  It left at 7:30 p.m.  There was just one problem.  Southwest and Midwest are in different terminals at LAX.  This meant we had to walk nearly one mile and go through airport security again to get to our Midwest Airlines gate.

 

We missed that flight too.  There were five seats remaining for standby passengers.  A family of six, including four children under the age of five, was ahead of us.  Many times families like this won’t or can’t split up.  If they wouldn’t split up, we would be able to get two of those five remaining seats.  They decided to split up!  The father took the four kids and the mother stayed behind.  After a tearful farewell, the father and his small children disappeared through the departure doorway.  We had been denied boarding.

 

We Lewis’ do not give up.  Fellow competitors, you’re just going to have to accept that as fact.  Carol and I then walked nearly a mile back to the Southwest terminal.  Once there, we cleared airport security for the THIRD time and it wasn’t yet 8 a.m.  We were now standing by for a Southwest flight into Chicago leaving at 8:55 a.m. 

 

Our original 6:30 a.m. flight would have gotten us into Memphis, Missouri, home to the Scotland County Speedway at 7 p.m.  This was the track’s scheduled start time.  Our new flight to Chicago would get us into tonight’s track at 9:30 p.m. or so.

 

I’m happy to report we made the flight leaving at 8:55 a.m.  Now how luxurious does getting up at 3:30 in the morning, driving an hour in the dark, then clearing airport security three times before finally getting on an airplane for a 4 hour flight.  Of course, once we land and get our rental car, it’s a six-hour drive to the track.  The last three hours of that 319-mile drive will be on two-lane highway.  I forgot to mention the track’s weather forecast calls for a 40% chance of rain tonight.  We might go through all of this travel and get rained out.  I’m not complaining, just explaining.

 

LATER IN THE EVENING

 

Because we missed our first two scheduled flights, the third flight, which we did get on, put us in to Chicago two and one-half hours late.  Then the horrendous rental car lines wasted another 30-40 minutes.  I was renting from Dollar Rental Car this time.  I’m just a normal schmuck with Dollar.  I went with them because they were $60 cheaper than National.  I could also return the car to either Chicago’s Midway or O’Hare airports without any additional drop-off charge.  I have never ever seen worse lines for rental cars in any airport ever.  Some of the lines were 20 people deep.

 

Chicago’s road systems just suck!  There I’ve said it.  I have several good friends who live in and around Chicago.  I don’t mean to offend them.  However, the road systems around here are simply archaic, pathetic and putrid.  The only city that might be in the ballpark with Chicago in this area is Boston.  Getting out of the Midway airport and far enough away from Chicago traffic to be out in the open wasted nearly another hour.

 

One of the great things about our GPS unit is that it provides a constant ETA.  “ETA” is airline talk for “estimated time of arrival.”  It’s very accurate.  The GPS was now telling us our ETA to the Scotland County Speedway was 10:02 p.m.  The track was scheduled to begin racing at 7 p.m.  It was going to be tight.  We might get there for some racing and we might not.

 

The GPS unit projects average speeds depending upon what type of highway is being used.  If we’re on an interstate, the GPS unit expects us to drive about 70 M.P.H.  On the other hand, if we’re on a state highway, we are expected to do only about 55 M.P.H.  If we drive a bit faster than those speeds, the ETA will slowly be reduced.  If we stop to eat or use the restroom, when we return to the car the time it took us to stop will now be added to our estimated time of arrival.

 

We had a three-hour drive ahead of us.  We constantly looked at the GPS ETA to see if we were gaining or losing against our 10:02 p.m. beginning ETA.  We did stop once at McDonald’s for salads.  While I was going through the drive-through, Carol was dispatched to the bathroom.  Exactly as I was pulling away with our food, Carol was ready to rejoin me.  Yes, we try to be as logistically efficient as possible.  We made one other stop at an interstate rest area to use the facilities.  Despite these two stops, we were beginning to make small gains against our ETA.

 

As we got within our hour or so of the track, the weather was starting to turn bad.  Out toward the west, the skies began to get about as dark as I’ve seen them despite the fact that the sun had not set.  The wind was still.  In the far distance toward the southwest, the skies were clear.  That was the direction of the track.  Maybe we would make it.

 

Just as we entered Keokuk, Iowa and crossed into Missouri, the winds picked up to gale force.  Then, it began to hail.  Oh my!  We don’t have weather like this in California.  Then, it began to rain.  It rained hard.  What was so entertaining about this storm was the light show.  The lightning was spectacular.  About every 20 seconds, the entire sky lit up like someone was taking a huge flash photograph of the entire area.

 

During the trip, I was in constant communication with the track.  I was talking to a woman who was in the “cook shack” at the fairgrounds.  She didn’t know much about racing, but was giving me a good account of the local weather.  Our last contact came at 8:45 p.m.  We were just an hour or so away from the track.  At that time she told me it was “getting dark overhead, but we have not had any rain.”

 

It was dark everywhere now, except for a small sliver of fair skies in the direction of the track.  Maybe, we would get lucky.  When we were within 30 minutes of the track, we began to see racecars being hauled past us.  This was not a good sign.  The eternal optimist in me made me think maybe these cars had completed their racing for the night but other classes might still be racing.  What a dreamer!

 

More and more racecars passed us.  This was now a terrible sign.  Soon we arrived in Memphis, Missouri, home to the Scotland County Fairgrounds.  It was not raining.  It looked like it had barely rained here.  We pulled into the fairgrounds.  There were no racetrack lights operating.  The neon lights of the Tilt-A-Whirl and Ferris wheel were flashing continuously, but there was no racing.

 

I stopped a local and asked how much rain they had received.  “We got just enough to keep the dust from kicking up.”  It didn’t even look like they got that much!  Nevertheless, they were rained out!  I was told they were rained out at about 8:30 p.m.  If we had made our first flight from LAX, we would have arrived at 7 p.m. and seen some racing.  The rental car lines and Chicago traffic did not prevent us from seeing the race.

 

This is only my third rainout trackchasing day inn 2007.  I’ve had 51 successful days of trackchasing.  I’ll take a 51-3 advantage.  I’ve had several tracks where I probably should have been rained out and wasn’t.  I’m way ahead of the game.

 

From the Scotland County Fairgrounds, we drove an hour or so up to Fairfield, Iowa where we would stay the night.  We saw an incredible number of small deer grazing along the sides of the two lane rural highways.  We saw at least 25 of these deer as well as numerous other species of wildlife including possums, raccoons and rabbits.

 

We were also low on gas.  It drives Carol crazy, when I drive with the gas warning light on orange.  Things were going well with the gas, until we came across a detour sign out in the middle of nowhere in rural Iowa.  It was now midnight.  There was no other vehicular traffic to be seen.  We had been driving on the orange warning light for more than 20 miles now.  We did sneak into the Super 8 in Fairfield on gas fumes. 

 

Even though we had been rained out, I considered it a successful day.  We were now geographically positioned for the balance of the weekend.  I didn’t have many trackchasing options for Thursday, our first day of trackchasing.  If the weather was bad, there was not much I could do.  We didn’t run out of gas or hit a deer.  Yes, it was a successful first day of a five-day trip.

 

THE NEXT DAY, FRIDAY

 

We awoke in Fairfield, Iowa.  When I was a youngster (aged 23), my first year sales territory was the Western half of Illinois and the Eastern half of Iowa.  I believe I have been in every grocery store in the right side of the Hawkeye state.

 

Fairfield has changed from the way I remember it.  It is now home to the “Maharishi University, School of Management”.  I doubt the school’s founder grew up anywhere near the state of Iowa.  Fairfield has a traditional county square downtown setup.  I was most surprised to see three separate Indian (Ghandi, not Sitting Bull) type restaurants.  Yep!  Times have changed.

 

We ate in the Super 8 recommended Fairfield Family Restaurant.  This was a silver-sided “diner” style restaurant.  It didn’t look very good from the outside, but the more than 50 cars in the parking lot convinced us to venture in.  They definitely catered to the local crowd.  It was an older crowd as well.

 

We were surprised to see all of the grandparents having lunch with their grandchildren.  We surmised this might be the case because generations of families have stayed in this area.  The food was O.K.  I was disappointed they were out of the baked tortellini when I ordered it.  All Italian dishes came with garlic bread and a cup of ice cream!

 

Finally, the Midwestern weather was not done with us.  First, I had to change tonight’s venue location.  We cancelled a location where the rain probability was 40-50% and replaced it with a location where there was only a 10% chance or rain.  Of course, that change added nearly 250 miles to our overall driving total.

 

As we motored down I-35, the radio station (WHO in Des Moines) told us a tornado warning was in effect.  A tornado warning is only issued AFTER a tornado has been spotted.  Does this Midwestern weather never give up?  In the winter, people freeze like popsicles for months on end.  Then in the summer the heat, humidity and rainstorms kill people.  I can make these comments because I am a native of the Midwest.

 

 

The People

 

Yes!  Trackchasing’s First Mother aka, wife Carol has graduated.  She hasn’t done that since college.  What did she graduate from?  Carol has been attending a seven-year bible study program.  Her class has met on most Wednesday evenings for the better part of a decade!

 

Last night, J.J. and I, along with friends Mary and Diane, joined Carol for the graduation dinner.  A crowd of some 200 turned out who had begun studying the bible from front to back in 1998.  The instructor, a UCLA professor, taught a very down to earth, easy to understand class.  I joined Carol on several of her class meetings over the years.  Of course, now that Carol has her Wednesdays free, her fellow trackchasing competitors had better watch out.  Congratulations to Carol for hanging in for all those years and earning her diploma.  Job well done!

 

 

 

 

 

CAROL’S COMMENTS

 

We made maximum effort (regarding our travel efforts) with minimal results (regarding our trackchasing).  At least we were positioned in a geographically correct manner.  Going through airport security three times, reminded me of Groundhog Day.  We were lucky to get here at all considering how many families with children were traveling.  The bugs that hit our windshield are the size of walnuts.  Southwest is now my favorite airline because they give out big snack boxes, extra peanuts and they came by four times offering drinks.  We got ripped on this rainout.  We went all that way and there wasn’t even a rain puddle anywhere at the fairgrounds.  I can’t remember seeing such a lightning show as we did tonight.

STATE RANKINGS

This was my 38^th lifetime track in the Show Me state.  I’m just one track behind Roger Ferrell for fourth position in Missouri.  I have displaced Andy Sivi to sixth place and ADDED one more point to Andy’s lifetime NGD totals as he now occupies sixth place.  Ed Esser leads here with 52 tracks.

 

This was Carol’s third track in Missouri.  She is now tied for 40^th place in the state with England’s Spike Rixon and Pennsylvania’s Guy Smith.

 

 

 

 

RACE REVIEW

 

We had a pretty good night of racing tonight under some very warm ambient temperatures.  This was a tight little bullring, which is my favorite type of track.  The track was good at keeping the show moving.  They had to deal with a larger than normal amount of yellow flags, mainly for spins.  They were quick at getting back to racing.

 

We sat in the fourth row of the 12-row grandstand.  At that point, we were only 12-15 feet from the track’s surface!  You cannot get this close for eight bucks at the Lakers games. 

 

After completing all of their heat races in just 63 minutes, they went to intermission.  The announcer promised they would be back to racing in just 20 minutes.  That would have been a doable thing, except they decided to regrade the track.  The grader was slow.  Its job was delayed even further when the grader’s driver stopped to accept a plaque for his services!  Suffice it to say, they did not regrade the track, water it and pack it in in 20 minutes.  It took 41 minutes to get the job done. 

 

The features were littered with yellow flags.  However, when they raced on the little quarter-mile the racing was excellent. They started, on average, about 20 cars in each feature.  They would have been better with 5-7 fewer cars.

 

Rain chances were forecasted to increase to 40% beginning at 9 p.m.  That concerned me, but other than some heat lightning, the wet stuff stayed away while we were at the track.  However, when we were just 25 minutes from the track on our way back to the hotel, it began to rain.  Actually, it poured.  Weather.com rocks!   Our trackchasing trip is now up and running.  The weather looks good for the next couple of days.

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

VALLEY SPEEDWAY – TRACK #1,210

 

Track details

 

Website:  http://www.valleyspeedway.com/

 

Weather:  It was hot!  When we arrived, it was 89 degrees.  When we left at 10:30 p.m., it was still 81 degrees.

 

Track type:  oval

 

Surface:  Clay.  It was dust free until the modified feature.  Even at that point, it was bad and did not require goggles.

 

Length:  ¼- mile

 

Grandstands:  12 row wooden bench bleacher grandstand,

 

P.A.:  Not very loud.

 

Announcer:  Didn’t provide much entertainment.

 

On time:  Started on time at 7:30 p.m. and went to intermission by 8:33 p.m.  The third of four features were completed by 10:25 p.m.

 

Pit area:  Located beyond turns one and two.

 

Classes:  B Modifieds – 19, Street stocks – 20, Modifieds – 23, late models – 16

 

Radio Frequency:  154.570 – as told to me by the track’s website.  I couldn’t get ANY frequency to work.

 

Concessions:  Bottled water $1

 

Scoreboard:  No

 

Restrooms:  Excellent

 

Extras:  Corndog man!  In a trackchasing first, a fellow frequented the stands selling “fresh dipped corn dogs”.  He even had huge bottles of catsup and mustard attached to his 20-quart plastic cooler.

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

There is only one trackchaser within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. 

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,210

 

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,110

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

30.  Dwight Bucks, Topton, Pennsylvania – 324

 

31.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 320

 

 

2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 72

 

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 47

 

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium - 35

 

4.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 26

 

5.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 25

 

6.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 20

 

7.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 18

 

8.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 17

 

9.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 16

 

10.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 15

 

 

Tracks have been reported by 37 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE

 

Chicago – Thursday-Tuesday

 

We picked up a Dodge Charger from Dollar Rental Car.  I really didn’t want one of these; I had a bad experience with one in Denver.  Carol doesn’t think the car’s six-cylinder engine has much power.  I agree.  The tach is where the speedometer should be and vice versa.  The car does not have automatic headlights.  The radio is bad and the outside car noise is worse than it should be.  The car does have a good deal of front seat legroom.  If you said we are spoiled by driving Lexus automobiles you would be correct.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

There’s an ass for every seat.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Chicago, IL (Midway) – 1,709 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR – CHICAGO

 

Midway International Airport (yes, he said Midway) – trip begins

Memphis, MO – 319 – miles (rained out L)

Grain Valley, MO – 621 miles

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Valley Speedway - $8 ($2 senior discount)

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

 

2007 (current thru 6/11/07)**

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 6.71

2. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 6.96

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Today is the first day of summer.  The very heart of the trackchasing season is upon us.  From now until Labor Day, you will see my fellow competitors trackchasing their guts out.  Keep your eye on the 2007 trackchaser standings.  Folks will be moving up and down in the standings.

 

If just a few days, I will be doing my semi-annual review of the top 10 2007 trackchasers.  Trackchasers have come to love this analysis of their achievements as well as my predictions for the remaining six months of the year.  It should be exciting.

 

 

 

 

 

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, <