Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
WINDY HOLLOW SPEEDWAY (INNER FIGURE 8), OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
In the past, I've had some trouble finding this track, but not today.
This is the track's concession stand. Folks line up inside the building and select their food cafeteria style.
I have the upmost respect for concession workers who must work in some very uncomfortable and hot conditions. Those hot dogs look good!
This is a huge crowd for a Sunday night, especially in the heat of the summer.
I wasn't about to mess with these boys.
This is the track layout at the Windy Hollow Speedway. Note the sweeping turn of the inner figure 8 track. The larger figure 8 track, which is raced on nearly every week at Windy Hollow, has its straight coming in from turn #2 of the 3/8 mile oval track.
I'm with Steve Bridgmon, track announcer at the High Banks Speedway as well as the Windy Hollow Speedway. No, I cannot get rid of my ankle golf tan. I think it's permanent!
I was invited down on the track to get some closeup racing pictures. I had initially been asked to stand out by the tractor tire, but chose to give my self a bit more room so I wouldn't get run over!
The small car figure 8 racers race on an "inner" figure 8 track. Both the inner and outer figure 8 tracks share a common "X".
It's not often that I get in a position to take victory lane photos and meet the winning driver.
Just as I was leaving the track, I ran into the promoter's daughter. I promised her she would make it onto the website!
DAY 10 – MONSTER
TODAY’S HEADLINES
I have just seen the most difficult
track to see countable racing at in my entire trackchasing career. It took me three times to get there, but I
did it! It wasn’t just three regular
attempts. It was three of the most
difficult attempts to get a track that I have ever had. If this doesn’t show that I never give up,
then nothing ever will. Now I can rest
in piece....................more in “This is what
happened in 2005………”.
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
This is how it happened in 2005 at the:
WINDY HOLLOW
I could have simply ended the
However, I don’t trackchase like
that. You get the entire story, even if
the race doesn’t happen. You need to
know why it didn’t happen and make your own judgments about who should be held
responsible.
I left the Mercer
My sixth and final planned raced for
this trackchasing weekend would be the figure 8s at the Windy Hollow
What was the reward? The reward would be seeing the figure 8
track. It would be my 960th
career track. Back on October 4, 1996, I
saw
My research told me that when the
figure 8 cars raced at WHS last month, they had seven cars in the one and only
race they ran on the figure 8 track. A
figure 8 race with this amount of cars should last around 8 minutes. It would be the only race on the figure 8
track during the entire evening. Yes, I
was going to drive, and did drive, 629 extra miles to see just eight minutes of
racing.
As you might guess, I did not see
the race. Just as the help did not reach
the victims quickly enough in the Hurricane Katrina storm, I didn’t reach the
Windy Hollow
Point #1 – I had emailed the track earlier in the week and asked what time the
figure 8 race would likely begin. This
is the reply I received, “Yes, we will be running
the figure “8” this Sunday. We have to
run the race before it gets dark. It’s
usually around 7:30 or 8 when we run it.”
With this in mind, I left the Mercer
Point #2 – I was using the National
Point #3 – I headed north on Route 81. I
would later find out this was the wrong direction to drive on Route 81. After a while, it looked like I was lost. At a stop light, I pulled up along side a
brand new Chevy pickup truck. I made the
universal signal for the driver to roll down his window. Even though the driver was born after crank
windows were no longer offered on 97% of all U.S. vehicles he understood what I
wanted and lowered his window.
I told him I was trying to get to
the Windy Hollow
Point #4 – When I was convinced that the driver’s direction in point #3 was
getting me nowhere, I pulled into a convenience store. Just at that moment, one of the most
stereotypical poor southerners was getting into his car. The car was beat up, the car’s interior
headliner was drooping and the poor guy had a little boy in the passenger’s
seat without a car seat. I considered
making a 911 call and reporting him for a car seat violation.
I passed on that call and asked him
about Windy Hollow
Point #5 – The setting sun was a huge red ball of fire. It was starting to fall fast in the sky
now. It dawned on me that I may have
driven 336 miles and would have nothing to show for it. I’ve cut it close many times in the past and
I can’t remember ever being shut out. I
reached the point in the road where I should have gone south on 81 rather than
north.
I saw a sign for the Windy Hollow
Point #7 – I was now driving at a rapid rate of speed. My last speeding ticket was in
Point #8 – The first gate I saw turned out to be the pit entrance. I might need to storm the gate and pay
later. I asked the woman if the figure 8
race had run yet. She didn’t know, but
she thought so. I needed a much more
definitive answer than that. They asked
over the track radio if the race had run.
The reply was, “They just completed the figure
8 feature”. It was 7:10 p.m. The track had told me the race would run at “7:30 or 8”.
Those might have been the correct times in the middle of the summer but
it was now nearly dark at only 7:10 p.m.
Right about then I saw a figure 8 car pulling out of the pits already on
its trailer. The race must have ended at
least 15-20 minutes ago.
I calmly walked over to the Budget
Rental Car Racing Nissan Ultima and ate my McDonald’s salad in the dark. After I finished my salad, I then began my
455-mile drive back to the
You make the call! Who is responsible for
my not making it to the track on time?
Was it the track’s email contact for
not telling me the correct starting times for the figure 8 race?
Was it the National
Was it the driver of the new Chevy
pickup truck who directed me to the
Was it the poor guy in the beat up
Chevy Impala with the little boy who didn’t have a car seat, who experienced
indecision during his giving of directions?
Was it the farmer who stopped on the
rural two-lane road and spoke so slowly that I may have missed the race?
I will tell you who I think was at
fault at the bottom of this report.
Who was at fault?
I can’t fault the track. I was in the
After a detailed review, I have
decided who was at fault. Me! I made the wrong turn on route 81. It all started from there. If I make the correct turn, I make it to the
track on time. If I had gone to my computer’s
GPS system earlier than I did I would have made it. I’ll take 100% blame for missing my 960th
track.
There is good news. The figure 8 cars race on Sunday nights. I have almost no Sunday night opportunities
in the area, so I can use the Windy Hollow
In my best Californian governor
Austrian accent of
This is how it happened in 2006 at the:
WINDY HOLLOW
July 2, 2006 -
As promised, I’m back!
WINDY HOLLOW
I was coming back to the Windy Hollow
Obviously, my error of last year, was on my mind as I hustled over to
the Windy Hollow
I arrived at exactly 6:04 p.m. I
still didn’t know for sure if the figure 8 class was on tonight’s program. I pulled up to the pit shack to find out. I was smiling widely when both women working
the pit entrance confirmed the figure 8s were racing.
The grandstands were nearly full.
This is a rundown track and the people look a little worse for the
wear. My experiences tell me that people
smoke more in
The water trucks were on the track.
It was almost 100 degrees. My
plan was to stay in the car until I heard the beginning of racing. That took more than one hour! During that time, the crowd sat patiently
with the sun in their eyes and all of that heat and humidity. The track didn’t even play music to entertain
the folks.
Finally, at about 7:15 p.m., some racecars appeared for the first race. I saw four heat races on the oval and the
track was dusty from the very beginning.
What had all of those water trucks been doing?
It was starting to get dark. The
figure 8 course in located in the infield of the oval. They do not have lights for the figure 8
track. That’s one of the reasons I
missed it last year. They had to run the
figure 8s before it got too dark.
After the four oval heat races the water trucks were called to the track
again. I figured they would throw some
water on the bone dry and dusty infield so the figure 8s could slide around a
bit. Three huge water trucks came out at
the same time. They began watering the
oval. I was getting somewhat concerned
because they were not watering the figure 8 course. About that time, one of the trucks laid down
some wet stuff in the general direction of the figure 8 track. I began to feel a sigh of relief.
However, it was getting darker by the minute and most all of the water
was going onto the oval track that was getting muddier by the minute. I began to have a bad feeling. I decided to ask the flagman what was
up. “Are the
figure 8s racing tonight?” I asked.
He simply shook his head “No.” When
I asked why, he just shrugged his shoulders.
That was not a good enough answer for me after last year’s experience
and the drive I had made today.
I marched up to the announcing booth.
What was up? The announcer who
used to be the promoter told me the figure 8 cars had refused to run for a
reduced purse. Why would they have to
run for a reduced purse when the grandstand was nearly packed? “Where is the
promoter”, I asked? “He’s running one of the water trucks,” the
announcer told me. “But, you can go down to the office and talk to his
wife.” I did just that.
The promoter’s wife did not seem the least bit interested in my story
about driving 900 miles last year or even the fact that the pit shack had
confirmed the figure 8s were racing tonight.
She was a southern lady and you can’t push southerners. They will just shut you out and “play ignorant” until you go away.
She had a difficult time looking me in the eye. I asked her what reduced purse was being
offered for the figure 8 drivers. “Two hundred dollars,” she sheepishly said. I was being aced out again by a slip shod
racing organization.
Nevertheless, I was reminded that racing is like golf. If you hit a bad shot, you are likely to get
a bad lie. If I hadn’t screwed up last
year, I would be dealing with these incompetent people again this year. I was simply being punished for my own
incompetence. Nevertheless, how much
punishment must I accept before I can get the reward?
The very best thing about this near miss is that I only drove 34 miles
out of my way. Driving from the
The really sad thing about all of this, is that given the right
circumstances I will return to the Windy Hollow
This is how it happened in 2007 at the:
WINDY HOLLOW
July 23, 2007 -
As promised, I’m back!
Today I
would be trying to get the figure 8 track at the Windy Hollow
To begin
with, I stayed at the Super 8 Motel right in
A call
to the track told me “qualyfing starts at 6 p.m.” From experience I knew that the figure 8 race
would run before it got dark since the figure 8 track is not lighted. Sunset is just past 8 p.m. in
Checkout
time at the motel was 11 a.m. At exactly
11 a.m., the British Open Championship still had two holes to play before the
champion was decided. I called down and
ask for a late checkout of 12 noon. My
request was granted. As luck would have
it, the golf tournament went into a four-hole playoff. I figured I had better go down and make a
face-to-face plea for an even later checkout time. Again, my request was granted. I didn’t end up leaving my room until the
tournament was finished at 1:40 p.m.
My next
stop was for fuel. Fuel for the body
that is. I stopped at the Long John
Silver’s fast food emporium. I had not
stopped at one of these in years. The 10
fried shrimp, fried hush puppies and French fries were better than expected
although my cholesterol may have taken a hit.
It was
now 3 p.m. on a warm sunny day. I
decided to drive out to the track to confirm I knew where it was. The track is difficult to get too, but today
I had a weapon I did not have in 2005.
My portable GPS unit had a specific listing for the “
I still
had nearly three hours before anything was going to happen at the track. I had intended to spend the afternoon at the
Ellis Park horseracing facility in nearby
I
decided to go see a movie. A showing of “Sicko” by Michael Moore was showing at 3:55
p.m. It would be finished at just past 6
p.m. This would be cutting it close for
the race, but I figured it would all work out.
It would have been very embarrassing to miss the race for a third year
in a row because I went to the movies!
In order
for me to see a Michael Moore movie, I must do it on my own time. Carol would not be caught dead seeing a movie
like this. Mary and Michael Skonicki,
please see this film and give me your assessment.
I went
directly from the movie house to the racetrack.
Nothing much was happening except the water trucks were on the track
putting down some moisture. It was now
6:30 p.m. Maybe they had already
dispensed with qualifying. The
invocation went on at 6:43 p.m.
I bought
a ticket for seven bucks. Then I waited
in line for a BBQ sandwich and
After a
few heat races, there was a lull in the program. I heard this announcement over the P.A.
system, “Is Randy Lewis here?” Now, this is not something I hear at the
track on a frequent basis. However, I
knew that Steve Bridgmon, the High Banks
By the
way, Steve Bridgmon is a very experienced announcer. He does high profile
When I
heard Steve’s announcement, I packed up the car and went up to the press
box. Once inside Steve introduced me to
everyone around. I met the primary
announcer (former promoter at the
The
figure 8 race was getting ready to begin.
Steve did a short interview with me over the P.A. I told the crowd how difficult it had been
for me to see the figure 8 race at the Windy Hollow
Steve
said, “let’s go down on the track. You can get some great pictures from there”. We did.
Tonight the four-cylinder figure 8 cars were racing on the smaller of
the two figure 8 tracks at the Windy Hollow
Steve
and I walked down onto the front straight of the oval track. I was surprised by how tacky (stick and
muddy) this part of the track was. Steve
motioned me out toward the figure 8 track where the figure 8 cars were running
some practice laps at speed. We were
just 10 feet or so from where the speeding cars came sliding out of the turn.
These
guys were crazy to be standing this close to these crazy drivers. I told them, “you
guys are crazy to be standing here. I’ve
going to move back and take pictures from a safer distance”. Someone mentioned that I needed to grow a
bigger part of my existing anatomy.
That’s O.K. Sticks and stones may
break my bones, but I’m not going to let an out of control figure 8 car break
any of them.
I did
get some great pictures. You can see
them at www.ranlayracing.com. The folks at the track could not have been
nicer, most especially the track’s announcer Steve Bridgmon. Steven, thank you!
As soon
as the figure 8 race was finished I was outta there. I had a 222-mile drive to
Yes, I
could have come back to
Here is
what happened on my travel day on Monday as I tried to get home after being on
the road for ten full days. It is
stories like this that are likely to keep any current driving trackchasers from
attempting to trackchase with the ferocity I do.
1. After the Sunday night race, I
completed the 222-mile drive from the Windy Hollow
2. My alarm went off at 5:20 a.m. on
Monday. I would be trying to standby for
an Americans Airlines’ flight leaving for LAX at 7:20 p.m.
3. There was no traffic at 5:46 a.m. in
4. I hopped on the National Rental Car
shuttle bus (shuttle bus #1) for the short ride to the airport.
5. I had packed 10 days worth of
clothes and racing equipment (scanner, headset, goggles, etc.) into ONE rolling
carryon bag. When I fly standby I never
check a bag. There is just too much
danger of the bag going on one flight and me on another. However, today I had a good feeling about
getting on my 7:20 a.m. American Airlines flight and decided to check my bag. This may have been the first time I have ever
checked a bag while flying on a standby basis.
6. When I reached airline security, I
learned I had been selected for “extra security”
just like I had on the trip out to
7. I arrived at the AA gate at 6:30
a.m. only to be told the plane was full and it would be touch and go as to
whether I would get on the flight at all.
8. I grabbed my airline guide and
searched for alternatives. Southwest
Airlines had a flight leaving 20 minutes earlier than the American flight. They had seats open but the flight stopped in
9. I began walking the terminal trying
to find the Southwest gates. I came upon
a TSA worker who told me that unless I wanted to leave the secured area and
come back through the security for the Southwest terminal, I would have to make
a one-mile walk. I chose the walk over
clearing security for a second time this morning.
10.You know how some people can
exaggerate their distances? The TSA
agent was NOT exaggerating. It WAS a
one-mile walk. What made this walk even
worse was that I had checked my rolling carry-on luggage. I only had my briefcase and camera bag. Trouble is my briefcase weighs more than 30
pounds with all of the stuff I carry. One
of the benefits of never checking my rolling carry-on luggage piece is that I
can attach my briefcase to it and everything rolls. I don’t have to “carry”
anything.
11.I set off for the Southwest
terminal. All the while I was worried
about the bag I had checked. If I didn’t
take the American Airlines flight, would they still put my bag on that
flight? I had read that due to the
terrorist threat, if you don’t go on a flight then your bag doesn’t go on the
flight. It had something to do with a
terrorist not being that wild about being on a flight where he/she had checked
a bag full of explosives!
12.This bag problem was a major concern
to me. If I arrived at LAX on Southwest
and American didn’t send my bag to LAX, how would I get me bag? Standby fliers don’t have the same rights
that paying passengers do. First, I
would have to locate my bag at American and then I would likely have to pay to
have it transported from
13.I had nearly completed my walk to
Southwest with that bag problem clearly on my mind. I was now within 200 yards of my Southwest
gate. I didn’t know what to do. Should I fly on Southwest without my bag or
should I return and try to get on a sold-out American flight. I decided to flip a coin. I would let higher powers decide. Heads I go on Southwest, tails I go on
American. The coin came up heads. This was telling me to go on Southwest. However……..there is always a however, that
didn’t seem like the right call.
14.I decided to bag the Southwest
idea. I walked the MILE back to the
American Airlines gate. There was still
15 minutes to go before that flight departed.
It was going to be touch and go.
There were three of us standing by.
The two folks ahead of me got on the plane and I did not.
15.The next non-stop flight leaving for
LAX left at 9:50 a.m. Heck, I could have
slept another three hours if I had wanted to go on this flight. I had breakfast and researched my
options. There was a flight leaving
16.I made the flight to
17.When I landed in
18.When I reached the head of the line,
the agent told me the United Express flight from SAN to LAX was oversold. “But the United
hotline told me the chances of getting on were ‘very good’ the most optimistic
rating they provide.” The agent
could only look at me and shake her head.
She gave me a boarding card and told me to get in the back of the
security line.
19.The security line moved at a snail’s
pace. I was about 40th in
line. I called son J.J. and asked him to
check on-line about my renting a car and driving the 130 miles from SAN to
LAX. He came back with a quote from Fox
Rental Car for $86 (nearly a dollar a mile) for the one-way rental.
20.I thanked him and called National
Rental Car, my trackchasing associated sponsor.
They had a rate of “just” $76. However, I had an ace up my short-sleeved
golf shirt. I had some “free” days in the “bank”
with National. I decided to use one and
I would only have to pay the taxes of $2.75 plus the gas it would take to drive
130 miles.
21.I left the commuter terminal’s
security line and hopped on the National Rental Car shuttle bus (shuttle bus #3).
In less than five minutes, I had picked up my second National Rental Car
22.The funny thing about this (if there
was anything funny about it) was that my trip from SAN to LAX would take me
directly past my San Clemente home that I had not seen in 10 days. It would take me directly past Trackchasing’s
First Mother whom I had not seen in 10 days.
I decided to stop for five minutes for a kiss and a peanut butter and
jelly sandwich. I couldn’t stay
long. It was 1 p.m. By the time I finished the drive to LAX and
retrieved my bag, I would be just in time to drive back to
23.At 2:35 p.m. I reached the LAX
National Rental Car lot after refueling the car (about $19) in an area where
English is a second language.
24.I then hopped on the National Rental
Car shuttle bus (shuttle bus #4). I had
them drop me at American Airlines so I could try to find my bag.
25.Of all the jobs I would never want
to have it would be handling the lost baggage desk at airline terminals across
26.The baggage claim agent looked at my
baggage receipt tag. She told me she
knew exactly where my bag would be out of about 500 bags that seemed, to me, to
be sitting randomly about the storage area.
We arrived at the appointed spot, but my bag was nowhere to be
found! “They
must have misfiled it,” the agent told me. Oh my!
I went on a bag search of my own amongst the 500 bags. It didn’t take long but I found it.
27.It was now time to hop on the
Parking Spot shuttle bus (shuttle bus #5) to get my car that had been sitting
at LAX for the past 10 days. Do you know
how much it costs to park a car at a major airport like LAX for 10 days? If you don’t know, then I’m not going to tell
you. It’s not good value for money.
28.My car looked like it had been
sitting out in the Mohave dessert for the better part of 10 years not 10
days. I gave the windshield a good
squirt and headed off the rooftop of the Parking Spot garage. Of course, my ticket would not raise the bar
to let me off the roof. A quick call remedied
that situation.
29.It was now 3:30 p.m. and the rush
hour traffic for my 60+ mile drive back to
30.I rolled into Casa
STATE RANKINGS
The Windy
Hollow
RACE REVIEW – WINDY
HOLLOW
I’ll make this short and sweet. I finally saw four figure 8 cars race on the
inner figure 8 track. The race didn’t
last nearly as long as it took you to read this far.
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
I was pleased with the National
Rental Car Racing
I drove the
Grand Prix 2,839 miles. That distance
coupled with the mileage from my other THREE rental cars on this trip
gave me a total driving distance of 3,269 miles. I paid an average price of $3.05 per gallon. The GP gave me 25.9 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at a
cost of 11.8 cents per mile. The car
cost 13.4 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included because of the drop off
charges.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
I live in my own world. People know me here.
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – St. Louis, MO – 1,591 miles
RENTAL CAR –
Osage,
AIRPLANE
Cincinnati, OH – Grand Rapids, MI – 268 miles
RENTAL CAR –
AIRPLANE
Grand Rapids, MI – Cincinnati, OH – 268 miles
Cincinnati, OH – Harrisburg, PA - 429 miles
RENTAL CAR –
AIRPLANE
Allentown, PA – Cincinnati, OH – 503 miles
RENTAL CAR –
Bone Gap,
AIRPLANE
St. Louis, MO – San Diego, CA –
1,560 miles
RENTAL CAR –
Total Air miles – 4,619 (6 flights)
Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 7,888 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Pike
Lycoming
Van Buren County Youth Fairgrounds -
$8 (Fair-$5 & race $3)
High Banks
SOIL MX - $10
Western Kentucky
Windy Hollow
Total racetrack admissions for the
trip – $147
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,