






















DAY 4 (LAST DAY) –
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SUMMER TRACKCHASING TOUR
TODAY’S HEADLINES
SPECIAL NOTICE
The ongoing series of Trackchaser
Reports from
I frequently comment about the
tattoos that so many people are sporting these days. Want to get them
removed?...................more in “The People”.
Tonight I moved into a tie for the
worldwide figure 8 track title…………..details in “The
Objective”.
What does a trackchaser do on a day
off during a trackchasing trip? ……………….more in “The
Trip - Sunday”.
What does a trackchaser do when the
motel room is the “motel room from Hell”?
……………….more in “The Trip - Tuesday”.
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/july26302007.htm
GREETINGS FROM
WE
WOKE UP IN
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL
NEWS
The Objective
My objective for the final day of
the
Additionally, in trackchasing we
count three separate types of tracks, ovals, road courses and figure 8
circuits. I have seen 1,001 different
oval tracks. I am the leader by a wide
margin (47 tracks) in ovals seen. I am
tied for fourth place in road courses with 112.
I am just three road course tracks from tying Guy Smith for the
Tonight’s figure 8 track was my 126th
lifetime figure 8 track. Only 18 of
those have been seen in the 13 Western states.
Figure 8 racing is not big out here.
Tonight’s figure 8 track puts me into a tie for the all-time figure 8
lead with Ed Esser according to www.trackchaser.net
with my competitor’s results posted through July 26, 2007.
The
The Trip
Sunday
We had one off day from trackchasing
planned for this trip. I often smile
when I hear other trackchasers proclaiming they are taking a day off from
trackchasing in the midst of a trip.
That usually means they can’t find a racetrack to visit that day! This was the case for the Lewis twosome. However, we had a very capable substitution
planned for our off day.
Carol’s sister, Patty and Patty’s
husband Neil (the Forbes) live in southern
They live out in the country. It’s more than a five-mile drive on dirt
roads just to get into town from their ranch, where the population is only
1,500. They are 40 miles from the nearest
McDonalds! By the way, this is how I
measure ruralness. We would stay with
them one night before heading to our final track of the trip.
I have not talked about this much,
but the RANLAY does not roll well with animals.
I’m not sure why this is the case, but it is. I am not a dog person and I am not a cat
person. Of course, the Forbes, living
out in the country, have lots of animals.
They have two large black labs and three big fat stray cats. Couple these domestic animals with 10
chickens and sometimes a cow or a pig and you get the picture of rural ranch
life. This scenario cements my position
in the family as a “city slicker”.
After we arrived, we wanted to have
a nice dinner out and the best place in down was closed on Sunday. This forced us to drive 50 miles (one-way)
for a lovely steak dinner at an elevation of more than 10,000 feet in the town
of
Monday
The trip was going exactly as
planned. On Monday, Carol and I made the
slightly less than three hour drive over to
The 10-minute drive over to the
fairgrounds was easy. Once I knocked out
this track, I would be the #1 trackchaser in
When we showed up at the
fairgrounds, I could see there was no action at all in the large covered
grandstand. That worried me some, but I
figured they might be holding the figure 8 races in some other part of the
fairgrounds. We parked our car and
organized all of our racing paraphernalia.
This fair runs from July 26 – Aug
5. Tonight, July 30, was pretty much
right in the middle of those dates.
However, there seemed to be a problem.
Other than a horse show going on in one of the covered arenas, there was
nothing else going on. The carnival
rides were not being used. The food
booths were not being used. I had a bad
feeling! Ultimately, we found out the
figure 8 races were not being run tonight.
According to a fair manager, the figure 8 races were going to run TOMORROW
night!!
This was not good news. We already had a hotel room booked for
tonight in
Now, decisions had to be made. Carol needed to get back home as planned on
Tuesday. I wanted to get back home as
well, but I also wanted to get the
Carol and I discussed the situation
over a nice dinner in Little America,
This would involve the expense of an
extra hotel night. This would involve
the expense of an extra rental car day.
I would also incur a gasoline expense for nearly 400 miles of incremental
driving. These were substantial expenses
just to add one more figure 8 track.
However, I didn’t know when my next
visit to
Tuesday
When I travel with Carol, I try to
upgrade the trip whenever I can. On
Monday night, I bypassed a Super 8 Motel near the
We woke up on Tuesday morning after
one of our worst motel night experiences ever.
When we went to bed, it was 95 degrees in
When I went to get on-line I found a
“there are too many users on the system now, try
back later” message on my screen.
I have never had a problem like this in a hotel before. I was lucky enough to contact a live “help” person, who told me he would “boot off all the users who were not using the system
now” to help me out. Ya! Go ahead and boot ‘em off!
I had selected an 11:20 a.m.
departure from
I dropped Carol at the airport and
bid her farewell. I had
At noon, I went to the desk to check
out. I met a serious young man who was staffing
the front desk. As the checkout
procedure was being completed, I offered this.
“I’ve just had the worst hotel experience
ever. Our air-conditioning did not
work. The internet system told me there
were too many users on line for me to use the system. Finally, a hotel employee knocked on my door
at 8:30 a.m. asking if we were out of the room yet.”
The front desk clerk looked at me
and said, “I
don’t care about your problems. I have
problems of my own. My landlord is
raising my rent, my car’s radiator just blew up and my girlfriend has herpies”. Wow!
What do you say to that?
Fortunately, I’m just pulling your leg about the desk clerk’s
response.
What he DID say was this. “Those are three
very important issues. I’m sorry that
happened. Your stay is on us”. Wow again!
I was expecting a minor discount at most. His compassion will now allow my incremental
expenses for staying an extra night in
My drive out to
Along the way, I stopped at a
McDonalds for a grilled chicken Caesar salad.
I couldn’t keep eating 16 oz. sirloin steaks on every day of the
trip. This was the most upscale
McDonald’s I had ever seen and it was in
Anyway, it wouldn’t rain me out
after I had come out here for the second time in two days would it. The wind started to pick up. It began to sprinkle. The temperature dropped 10 degrees to
85. I was only minorly concerned. The weather didn’t look bad enough to be a major
problem. Even if it was, I suspected
they might race rain or shine since this was a once a year fair figure 8 race
with a covered grandstand.
The People
I believe the folks in
Wyomingites don’t have many tattoos
compared to most states I visit. I
suspect that as some people grow older they may regret their decision to have
their skin permanently marked. If so,
they can call 1-888-UNDO-INK to get them removed. Consider this my public service announcement
for the month.
ROADFOOD RESTAURANT
REVIEW
Just trying to find the unique
eating places listed in my ROADFOOD book can be fun. We didn’t have an exact address for the
Waldorf A’Story restaurant in
Less than a mile after we exited
I-90 between
A second drive through town put us
back in touch with the Piney Creek General Store. There were several men and women bikers
enjoying themselves outside the store while seated at picnic tables. A little more investigation told us the
Waldorf A’Story restaurant was inside the general store.
There was a short wait to get a seat
for breakfast. We nosed around the
general store that stocks all kinds of gourmet foods, most of which you would
never expect to find in a remote place like this. The restaurant has only 4-5 tables and a few
seats at the counter.
When we were seated, we discovered
the service wasn’t the fastest, but it was Sunday morning one of their business
times I’m sure. We started off our meal
with a piping hot cinnamon roll smothered in melting chocolate frosting. Ya!
I selected the “German Sausage Bake”. For
$8.99 my entrée came with sausage, noodles, mustard, beer, Swiss cheese,
caraway seeds and rye bread. This was
all mixed together and served with fresh fruit and toast. I can almost feel the saliva dripping onto
your computer.
The ROADFOOD book is fantastic. Not only is the food both unique and tasty,
it becomes an adventure to find these places.
I suggest you run right out and get your own copy of ROADFOOD.
STATE RANKINGS
Tonight’s
track was my 8th career track in
RACE REVIEW – SWEETWATER
COUNTY FAIR (FIGURE 8) – TRACK #1,240
The website (http://www.sweetwaterevents.com/calendar.asp?filter=&month=7&day=1&year=2007&x=13&y=10)
for the Sweetwater Fair continues to this day to proclaim the race is scheduled
for Monday, July 30. However, tonight is
not July 30. It is Tuesday, July
31. The races did not start at 7 p.m. as
the website told me, they began at 7:40 p.m.
No,
Tonight’s race event was nothing
compared to the figure 8 racing in
Watching a three-car, 10-lap figure
8 race is not very entertaining. By
definition there cannot be much action at the “X”. The feature event started all 10 cars. Only three finished! The announcer promised a “grudge” match race and encouraged the crowd to
stick around after the regular schedule was completed.
For a moment I thought that maybe
the “grudge” race might be some kind of oval
track. However, when the track’s heavy
equipment came out and repositioned the huge figure 8 tractor tires, I knew it
was time to hit the road.
The first race had begun at 7:40
p.m. The last of the three heat races
finished just eight minutes later. After
a brief intermission, the feature event checkered at about 8:20 p.m. I had been at the track for 40 minutes. I had driven nearly six hours round-trip to
come back after being misled by their website mistake.
I can’t have much good to say about
this promotion. Even the arena and
grandstand were located at least one-half mile from the fairgrounds and
carnival area. I didn’t have much
interest in visiting that fair with 200-miles of mountainous driving ahead of
me. I grabbed a bag of caramel “Kettle corn” and headed back to
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
My National Rental Car Racing
Chevrolet
Carol
and I drove the
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
I live in my own world. People know me here.
AIRPLANE
Orange County, CA – Salt Lake City, UT – 588 miles
RENTAL CAR –
Salt
AIRPLANE
Salt Lake City, UT – Orange County, CA – 588 miles
Total Air miles – 1,176 (2 flights)
Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 3,202 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
BMP
Total racetrack admissions for the
trip – $40
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. Carol Lewis,
30. Tom Schmeh,
31. Dwight Bucks,
2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
2. Ed Esser,
3. Roland Vanden Eynde,
4. Mike Knappenberger,
5. Paul Weisel,
6. Carol Lewis,
7. Guy Smith, Effort,
8. Pam Smith, Effort,
9. Gordon Killian, Sinking
Springs,
10. Roger Ferrell,
Tracks have been reported by 39 different worldwide trackchasers this season.
Some of the data in this report comes from www.trackchaser.net
and my Garmin GPS
I am about to embark upon my longest
trackchasing trip of the 2007 season. The
trip will involve lots of driving, lots of golf and hopefully lots of
tracks. I’ll be petal to the metal until
Labor Day wraps up. Then we’ll be
talking UCLA football.
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.
1,224. Iowa
1,225.
1,226.
1,227.
1,228. Lycoming County Fairgrounds
(figure 8),
1,229.
1,230.
1,231. Van Buren County Youth
Fairgrounds (road course),
1,232. High Banks
1,233. High Banks
1,234. SOIL MX, Bone Gap,
1,235. Western