Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
LINCOLN COUNTY FAIRGOURNDS (FIGURE 8), TROY, MISSOURI
When I come to St. Louis, I always eat on "The Hill". This is an Italian neighborhood with several fine ma and pa restaurants, just like "Milo's Bocci Gardens" pictured here. This is exactly where Tony Soprano would hang out!
I ate across the street at Amighetti's. This is the bakery. The restaurant is next door.
Amighetti's is mainly a sandwich shop. It came recommended to me from my ROADFOOD book.
The Amighetti special was delicious as was the chocolate and black cherry canole.
Soon I had to leave Sopranoland and head to the fair.
Before the races started, I had time to tour the fair buildings. Do people really come to a county fair to buy a spa? There is always a spa dealer at each county fair I visit.
These sheep had to come to the county fair in order to get a haircut.
This was only one-third of the crowd at the figure 8 track tonight. They also had a tractor pull going on at an even bigger venue at the opposite end of the fairgrounds. All of these folks paid $20 a head to get in!
These three cars made up 25% of the entire field as they saluted America and the National Anthem.
Twelve cars spread over four heats doesn't provide much entertainment.
The track's surface was mostly sand. The local fire department had to water after nearly every race.
The big car figure 8 feature event was run in the dust right at twilight.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Where do I eat when I come to
Why am I going to be looking for Mr.
Ed Esser in the near future?………………..details in “Race
review –
How did associate sponsor American
Airlines and my friends at the TSA work out today?……………….more in “The People”.
Click on this link or paste it in your browser to take
you to today’s Trackchaser Report via my website at www.ranlayracing.com
http://www.ranlayracing.com/july13222007.htm
GREETINGS FROM
I WOKE UP IN
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL
NEWS
The Strategy
One of my trackchasing objectives is
to write entertaining, informative and thought provoking Trackchaser
Reports. This trip will be 10 days
long. As you know, I have made a
commitment to each of my readers to never send more than one Trackchaser Report
except in the most unusual circumstances.
I may have to deviate from that plan some.
During this trip, I will be
traveling solo and driving an average of 300+ miles each day. Therefore, the Trackchaser Reports written
during this trip will likely be a little more brief than usual. I hope you don’t feel shortchanged.
The Trip
This trip like most of my journeys
to the
I have a long and storied history
with American. I have earned more than
six million miles in their frequent flyer program. I have lifetime Platinum status that provides
several perks when I am a fully paid passenger.
Today, I will fly American Airlines
for the first time ever under my airline sponsorship agreements. Although SkyWest Airlines, United Airlines
and Delta Airlines are my PRIMARY sponsors, virtually any other airline can
sign on for an associate sponsorship.
I used to fly American Airlines
nearly every week for more than twenty years.
Today’s flight is my first one on AA in nearly a year. It felt strange going to the American terminal
this morning. It was sort of like seeing
an old friend, whom you had not seen in a long time and no longer had as many
common interests as you might have had in days past.
I was not that impressed with
American’s systems compared with several other airlines I’ve been flying. Southwest has many more self-service kiosks
for fast check-in. Delta has flat screen
TV monitors that let standby passengers know where they stand with regards to
getting on the plane.
When I made my standby reservation
with American, the agent could not even tell me how many standby passengers
might be ahead of me. It would do no
good, if there were 5 open seats, but 25 standby passengers ahead of me. The at the airport check-in line was long
even for business class and platinum members.
Actually, their service was very poor.
I made my flight with just a few minutes to spare because of the time I
had to wait in line.
The People
People can be funny, and not in a
funny way. This morning I was waiting in
a long line of flyers trying to get boarding passes so we could enter the
airport’s security system. I arrived at
the airport at 5:10 a.m. and my flight departed at 6:20 a.m. At 5:42 a.m. I was the next person in line
about to be served.
At that moment, a fellow passenger
showed up and began asking nearby passengers if he could go to the head of the
line because his flight was about ready to leave. Everyone seemed to give him the go-ahead to
cut in line, except me.
I walked up to the guy and asked
what time his flight was leaving. He
said, “6:30 a.m.” I reminded him that I was in line and MY
FLIGHT left at 6:20 a.m. He seemed
surprised by the confrontation. I was
not really challenging this man physically but more on an intellectual basis. Sort of like, “why
do you think your needs are so special when your flight doesn’t even leave
until after the flights of several people in line?” The man backed off and agreed to get back in
line. I received several “attaboys” from my fellow line mates!
I use the court system to decide
when to challenge people. I ask myself, “How would a court judge rule on this person’s behavior?” If the answer comes back that the judge would
turn thumbs down on whatever is happening, then I feel fully justified to
challenge them directly if whatever they are doing affects me. If what they are doing does not affect me,
then I am likely to leave it up to the people whom the offensive behavior does
affect to stand up for themselves.
When I had received my boarding
pass, the agent told me “you’ll likely get on the
plane, if you clear security on time.”
That seemed like an odd statement.
I would soon learn what she meant.
My boarding pass had this
designator, “SSSS”. For a moment, I thought I had been singled
out as a “Super Special Swinging Senior”. I soon learned I was going to be singled out
for something else, extra airport security.
I was cutting it close on time as it was, I didn’t need this
hassle. Extra security seems to be
performed on a random basis. I guess if
I was a terrorist and saw that I was in a line to receive extra attention, I
might just get out of line and go home.
Our airport security system does not seem like it could deter people hell-bent
on causing harm.
I received a full pat down from a
male TSA agent. He spent more time
explaining to me how he was going to pat me down than he did patting me
down. I kept saying, “no problem, just go ahead”. I guess his listening skills weren’t that
great as he continued to give me more information than I wanted to know about
which of my body parts he was going to touch.
While he was doing this, a young TSA
woman, who didn’t seem that interested in her job, was rifling through my
rolling bag. After she had thoroughly
rearranged all of my previously neatly packed “stuff”
she then pushed it all back into the case and zipped the zipper back the wrong
way! Ah, for the life of a driving
trackchaser.
ROADFOOD RESTAURANT
REVIEW
You probably think I go on these
trips just to eat at all of the special places out on the trackchasing
trail. When did you figure it out? Yes, I do enjoy eating at the great restaurants
that were part of my past business career as well as new locations that come my
way.
Today, I landed in
I went with a ROADFOOD
recommendation (page 363) for lunch. My
stop was at Amighetti’s. Amighetti’s is
a sandwich shop. You stand in line like
you do at Subway. I went with the “whole” Amighetti’s special. This special treat was served on a foot long
French bread and jammed with all kinds of deli meats, lettuce, onions and a
special house dressing that is tangy-sweet.
This is the type of sandwich you don’t get at your neighborhood chain
sandwich store (Hungry Hobo excepted).
I feasted on my Italian sandwich on
the patio with several other patrons.
Dessert came in the form of an Italian canole topped with bits of
chocolate and black cherry. Overall, the
dining experience was delightful. Every
one of my ROADFOOD experiences has exceeded my expectations. Pictures from the experience are on
www.ranlayracing.com.
STATE RANKINGS
The first track of this blended
double with features on both ends gave me my 35th
RACE REVIEW –
I feel like ringing Ed Esser’s
neck! Before I headed out to the
After hearing that, I was ready to
implement a trackchasing double plan. I
figured I could easily get out of the
I arrived at the track at 3:30
p.m. I parked under a large shade tree
and grabbed some shuteye since I had only about three hours of sleep last
night. I had some time to work on the
rest of this trip’s trackchasing plan, before I decided to enter the
fairgrounds at 6 p.m.
I was greeted with a $20 admission
charge to the fair. Wow! Maybe these rural Missourians make a lot more
money that I think they do. Kids six and
under were charged a healthy six dollars.
Granted a fair ticket includes free carnival rides and admission to the
figure 8/demolition derby and the tractor pulls (separate from the figure 8
show) but this still seemed like a very high price to me. Nevertheless, the fair was absolutely
packed. I estimate there were 1,500 or
more cars parked out in the grassy lots.
This was one of the most lame of the
more than 100 figure 8 programs I have ever seen. First, they did start on time. They weren’t even close. The announcer told us, “We’re still teching some of the cars and some other
racecars are stuck in traffic. We’re
going to be starting a little late.”
Well, it’s not like I haven’t heard this before, but each time I do I
smile at my naiveté.
At 7:23 p.m., they started the
driver’s meeting. At 7:43 p.m., they
called the figure 8 cars out for “hot laps”. Never in all of my trackchasing experience
have I ever seen figure 8 hot laps! To
add insult to injury, they held ONE-CAR figure 8 hot laps. Mind you, the program was supposed to begin
at 7 p.m. (according to the track) and be finished by 7:45 p.m. (according to
Mr. Esser). They had not even started
racing yet!
After a couple of hot laps, they
discovered the track needed more water. It
did. At 7:47 p.m., they had the fire
department squirt some water on the sandy soil by hand. The firemen acted like they were personally
paying the water bill. They were very
stingy with the water, which resulted in them having to water several times
tonight rather than just giving the track a good soaking.
They had some more hot laps and then
watered again at 8:01 p.m. The announcer
told us this was the first ever figure 8 race he had seen. He then told us we would be seeing four
figure 8 heats, each with four cars racing for five laps and then a final
feature race. This didn’t sound very
exciting.
They could not even deliver on this
promise. They started heat racing at
8:05 p.m., more than one hour late. The
four heats had four, three, three and two cars racing. There were only 12 small car figure 8 cars
racing tonight. Those less than dynamic
four figure 8 heat races were finished at 8:27 p.m. just 22 minutes after they
started.
I think they figured they didn’t
have very many cars, so they were looking to drag out the program. They came up with the idea to have one big
car feature figure 8 event of 10 laps. I
believe six or seven cars started this race.
They kicked up the dust during their race. Following this feature event, I decided to
leave. I had been at the track for more
than five hours and the entertainment value was well below par.
I did spend some time talking to the
woman sitting next to me in the bleachers.
She was here with her two sons and lived locally. I could tell that she absolutely thought I
was crazy when I explained what I do with the trackchasing hobby. Her summary statement was something like
this, “I guess if you’re retired and have the
money, you can do anything you want too.” O.K., I’ll go with that.
This fair was disappointing. There was not much fair food to
consider. They did have one major
restaurant serving fair-like food but the lines were way too long. I stopped at one location that was selling
milkshakes. I chose a strawberry shake
that had real strawberries plugging up my straw. At two dollars, it was the great value the
ticket to the fair was not. Overall, a
disappointing experience. I’ll bring
this up with Mr. Esser the next time I see him.
RACE TRACK STATS:
Track
details
Website: http://www.lincolncountyfair.net/schedule.html
Weather: It was 93 degrees when I entered the
fairgrounds, but the temperature declined for a very comfortable evening.
Track
type: figure 8
Length/Surface: About 40 yards between the two concrete track
markers/ dirt
Grandstands: There was seating on two sides of the “ring”.
They had a large crowd of 1,500 people or so.
P.A.: Average.
Announcer: Although the announcer sang the National
Anthem, his crowd skills were lacking.
Not a good effort here.
On
time: Horrendous! Where is the trackchaser Bill of Rights that
says we don’t have to stand for this?
Pit
area: Located under several shade trees
behind the announcer.
Classes: Four cylinder and eight cylinder figure 8
cars.
Radio
Frequency: Didn’t use the radio.
Concessions: Deeeelicious strawberry milkshake.
Scoreboard: Not on your life
Extras: The fair was offering a tractor pull at an
arena at the opposite end of the fairgrounds.
I should have gone over there for some entertainment because there was
none where I was.
RACE REVIEW – PIKE
As bad as the figure 8 racing was at the
I knew there were 20 separate races
scheduled for tonight. I left
This track is about 1/5-mile is
distance and steeply banked. It had a
major coat of black rubber on it.
Imagine in your mind a
This was good fun racing. The cars were fast. They raced hard and they raced close. I was very surprised this track was this
good. The track normally races on
Saturday nights, so seeing it on a Friday night was a plus. I am now down to just one regularly scheduled
weekly racetrack still to see in
I do want to offer my condolences to
the man who handles the orange plastic cone on re-starts at the
Before the cars start a single file restart,
he places a plastic orange safety cone on the track near the wall on the front
stretch. When the green restart flag is
displayed, the cars are supposed to race single file between the cone and the
front stretch wall. Once they pass the
cone, the cars are free to try to pass each other.
Mr. Conehead stands about 10 feet
from the racing line. He crouches down
in sort of a 1950s basketball defensive position until each of the mini-sprints
powers by him less than 10 feet from where he stands. Yes, he will be killed soon, so therefore, I
offer my condolences to his family not for his passing but for his stupidity.
On the other hand, I watched several
of the races I saw standing at the fence at the end of turn one. This was just 10 feet from the racing surface
with a very weak looking catch fence separating the snarling mini-sprints and
my strawberry milkshake stained lips. I
can be stupid too.
It was dark when I arrived at the
The track announcer gave me a nice
mention. I was satisfied with day one of
my ten-day trip even though the figure 8 outing was a disaster. This trackchasing double will go down as a
blended double with features on both ends.
By the way, I don’t know if the “qualifiers” were “features”
or not. It really doesn’t matter. A blended double with features on both ends
does not mean I have to see a feature race.
Sometimes a track does not run a feature race. They might have a night of just heat
races. On the other hand, as road course
racing often does the races are just called “races”. A blended double with features on both ends
means I saw the featured races of the day regardless of what the track called
them. Out.
RACE TRACK STATS:
PIKE
Track
details
Website: http://www.pikespeedway.net/
Weather: At 66 degrees, it actually got a bit chilly
before the races were over at 11 p.m.
Track
type: oval
Length/Surface: 1/5 – mile dirt
Grandstands: Three sets of grandstands ranging from 4-10
rows high.
P.A.: O.K.
Announcer: The announcer did a nice job of telling the
fans where the drivers were from. There
were racers from as far away as
On
time: They ran a very efficient program
during the one hour I was at the track.
Pit
area: Located beyond the backstretch.
Classes: 600cc mini-sprints and lots of them.
Radio
Frequency: Didn’t use the radio.
Concessions: They were not selling anything by the time I
arrived. I thought that was strange.
Scoreboard: No
Extras: The cars entered the track in an unusual
manner. They drove onto the oval from
the second turn in the opposite direction that they raced in. They continued from turn two to turn one in a
clockwise direction, before making a right hand turn into the track’s
infield. They parked there for a moment
before driving onto the backstretch and resuming a counter-clockwise direction
in the oval’s turn three. Strange.
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
I’ll be
driving an XM equipped satellite radio National Rental Car Racing Chevy
Impala. It should do the job for the
3,000+ miles I have planned for this trip.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
On the plains of hesitation lie the
bleached bones of millions who, when within the grasp of victory sat and waited
and waiting died.
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – St. Louis, MO – 1,591 miles
RENTAL CAR –
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Pike
RANKINGS
LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
There are no trackchasers currently
within 100 tracks of my lifetime total.
1. Randy Lewis,
Other notables
These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.
29. Tom Schmeh,
29. Carol Lewis,
31. Dwight Bucks,
2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
2. Roland Vanden Eynde,
3. Ed Esser,
4. Mike Knappenberger,
5. Carol Lewis,
5. Paul Weisel,
7. Guy Smith, Effort,
8. Pam Smith, Effort,
9. Gordon Killian, Sinking
Springs,
10. Roger Ferrell,
Tracks have been reported by 37 different worldwide trackchasers this season.
LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS
2007 (current thru 6/29/07)**
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.
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
These are the dog days of July and
August. It’s best for me to just to keep
my head down and keep adding tracks to my list.
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,
1,201. Hidden
1,202. Boyd’s
1,203. Fayette County Fairgrounds,
1,204.
1,205.
1,206. Vinton Speedway,
1,207. Hilltop
1,208. I-70
1,209. L A Raceway, La Monte,
1,210. Valley
1,211.
1,212.
**
** Iowa
1,213.
**
1,214. Kart Kanyon Raceway, Aztec,
1,215. Aztec
1,216. Sunvalley Speedway,
1,217.
1,218.
1,219. Hunterstown Speedway,
1,220. Shippensburg Speedway,
**
1,221. Blanket Hill
1,222.
1,223.
