DAYS 11 & 12 – WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMER TRACKCHASING TOUR

TODAY’S HEADLINES

 

I met two of trackchasing’s most famous individuals tonight.  They learned of my attendance from my trackchasing press release...................more in “The People”.

 

On day 11 of this trip, I did something that has never happened to me during my trackchasing career. …………..details in “This was bound to happen sometime”.

Have we trackchasers done something that will ruin the future of our hobby? …………..details in “What have we trackchasers done”?

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/august3142007.htm

 

THIS WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN SOMETIME

I thought this might happen someday if I trackchased long enough.  Tonight it did!  I returned to a track tonight thinking I had never been there before and I had.  That’s right.

 

Tonight, I pulled into the Thunderhill Speedway for a Monday night special, an All-Star Sprint Car show.  The trouble was, I had been to the Thunderhill Speedway back on July 3, 2006 as the back half of a trackchasing double.  In 2006, the Thunderhill Speedway was my 1,072^nd lifetime track.  I guess this error could be expected since I have been to 1,254 different tracks and my visit to Thunderhill was more than 175 tracks ago.

 

When did I first notice the difference?  As soon as I walked into the concession stand I had a weird feeling.  The 110-degree interior temperature and overall ambience of the place immediately came back to me.  Yep!  I had been here before.

 

It would have been easy to simply tell you I planned to re-visit this track so I could see the All-Star Sprints on a rare Monday night.  However, the folks are RANLAY Racing don’t roll that way. 

 

I made my airlines reservations about two months ago, since I was using a frequent flyer ticket.  The only dates that would work with my trip was a departure from California on August 3 and a return to California on August 15.  Once I made the airline reservation, I built my trackchasing trip around the race dates that were available.

 

I’m the type of person that rarely encounters bad luck or trouble.  Maybe my attention to detail and planning has something to do with that.  When I do encounter a setback, I try to look at the bright side.

 

I had one alternative to tonight’s race in Mayetta, Kansas that I could have taken.  I was just telling my brother Mark before he returned to Phoenix that my other option was a county fair enduro race for tonight in Turner, South Dakota.

 

There was one major drawback to the South Dakota race.  It would have been an incremental 600-mile drive from last night’s race in California, Missouri and then on to Hays, Kansas for tomorrow night’s races compared to going to Thunderhill tonight.  If I had remembered that I had already been to the track in Mayetta, Kansas, I would have driven that extra 600 miles for just one new track.  The way I look at it, I am actually lucky I went back to a track I had already been too rather than driving an extra 600 miles!

 

I’ll give you a brief overview of the All-Star show tonight.  You sprint car fans need to know this is not going to be a positive review.  I would love to hear a rebuttal to any of my comments from those of you who love sprints.

 

Frankly, tonight’s show sucked.  I won’t just say it was bad, I will provide several specifics as to why I feel that way.  I run into folks from time to time who are critical of something or someone, but when asked for specifics can’t come up with anything.

 

Tonight’s show was supposed to begin at 8 p.m.  It was a Monday night, so I figured they would try hard to move the show along so people who had to go to work on Tuesday morning could get home at a reasonable hour.  I arrived 30 minutes late.  Why?  I tried my own directions, rather than listening to my GPS unit.  Yes, I guess I was having a bad day.

 

When I arrived at 8:30 p.m., they were running hot laps.  Then they ran time trials!  The first wheel to wheel race did not start until 9:15 p.m.  There were no weather problems and the track looked good.  They did have some minor problems with the timing clock, but not 75 minutes of lateness worth.

 

The admission price was $22.  There were only 22 sprint cars and 10 factory stocks racing tonight.  Relative to just about any other show, that’s a very high price to pay.

 

The sprints ran three heat races, a dash and a 30-lap feature.  The first heat had eight cars, and the next two had seven.  The fastest six in each heat were inverted.  The top six qualifiers in each heat transferred to the “A” main.  This meant that none of the fastest 18 qualifiers had to pass a single car in their heat race in order to make the feature.  What this really meant was the heat races were essentially meaningless.

 

The six car dash was open only to drivers who were member of the All-Stars.  I believe more than half of the sprint cars here tonight were non All-Star regulars.  The dash had no affect whatsoever on a car’s position in the main; it was also meaningless in terms of being a qualifying race.  The dash was simply a revenue source for the traveling All-Stars.

 

The feature event was lined up by time trial results of the cars that transferred to the feature.  The fastest six were inverted which was about the only good thing from a fan’s point of view all night.

 

At 11 p.m., three hours after the scheduled start time, the program had run two five-car heat races for the factory stocks and their 15-lap feature event.  They had also run three sprint car heat races and a trophy dash.  This limited amount of racing was done from 8-11 p.m.  Remember, it’s Monday night and folks have to go to work tomorrow morning.

 

An intermission was thrown in before the sprint car feature event.  I thought about bolting without staying for this feature.  I can’t respect people who can’t respect my time.  The sprint car feature started off with two red flag stoppages for wrecking and flipping sprint cars.  Each red flag ate up another 15 minutes of my time.  Sprint cars need starters.  Tradition be damned.

 

Did I tell you that there was very little passing in the sprint car heat races or the feature event?  There is never any passing in winged sprint car racing.  Do you read the race stories about the World of Outlaws?  Far more often than not the story goes like this, “Joe Blow led from the green flag….”  I’ll go for a non-winged show like Ascot had and Perris does today.

 

This was a show designed to please the competitors not the fans.  In the long run, that is a recipe for disaster.  We all know there is very little passing in winged sprint car racing.  So what did these guys use for their starting procedure on yellow flag restarts?  If you said, “they started them single file” you would be right.  Of course, a single file restart is easier on equipment (better for the drivers) but not as good as a double-file restart that promotes passing (better for the fans).

 

Finally, the “A” main wrapped up.  I will say the sprinters are fast, but they just have so few passes.  The leader did get caught in traffic and was passed on the last lap.  Had the leader not encountered a very slow car there would not have been a pass for the lead.

 

So…..let’s see.  The show started an hour and 15 minutes late.  They charged $22 for a mostly no name show.  In the three hours from the scheduled start time, they ran a total of five heat races, a dash and a factory stock main event.  There was almost no passing with the sprints all night.  Finally, two red flag stoppages delayed the “A” main by more than 30 minutes.  What am I missing?  There wasn’t much good in this program at all and I have to sit through another All-Star show tomorrow night.

 

WHAT HAVE WE TRACKCHASERS DONE?

 

I fear that we trackchasers have sold out our traditional roots as racing fans.  We all grew up watching stock cars and/or open wheel cars on oval tracks.  I doubt that many U.S. based trackchasers went to watch racing at road courses and figure 8 tracks for the entertainment value when they were younger race fans.

 

I just did a review of the most recent 200 tracks that have been seen by all worldwide trackchasers according to www.trackchaser.net.  Fifteen of those tracks were seen outside of North America.  Since there is little oval or figure 8 racing outside of North America, I will factor them out of this analysis.  This leaves 185 tracks to consider.

 

Out of these 185 tracks, 59 temporary figure 8 tracks were seen.  That’s 32% of the most recently seen tracks during this period.    An additional 35 of these tracks were of the temporary inner oval/enduro variety.  These tracks would account for another 18% of the most recent tracks seen.  This totals to 50% of all of the tracks seen by North American trackchasers that were temporary, low speed, generally poor quality racing venues.

 

There were six permanent figure 8 tracks seen (3%).  There were 12 permanent road course visited (7%).  There really are not very many permanent figure 8 or road courses to be seen in North America.  These tracks are mainly frequented by veteran trackchasers looking to increase their totals in any way they can.  The trackchasers in the top 40 who might be more of the racechaser variety than the trackchaser variety have a much lower level of permanent figure 8 or road course interest than those who visit tracks to build numbers.  This should give the reader some indication about the overall general interest in these types of tracks by North American trackchasers.

 

This leaves just 74 tracks or about 40% as permanent oval tracks that were seen during this period of analysis.  The vast majority of these “recent” tracks seen were visited by the top 20 trackchasers in North America. 

 

So, what do we have here?  We again the vast majority of trackchasers visiting temporary figure 8 and temporary oval tracks.  Most of the racing speeds at these places rarely exceed 40 M.P.H.  From a racing point of view, how entertaining can this be?  Not very in my opinion.

 

I fear the genie is already out of the bottle.  Maybe it was not a good idea to add figure 8 tracks.  There has been a recent discussion amongst trackchasers wondering why that are no younger race fans entering the trackchasing hobby.

 

Some folks have guessed that the large track numbers of the leading trackchasers discourage younger people from trying to make a trackchasing name for themselves.  I would venture to guess that nearly every leading trackchaser I know was a racechaser before they were a trackchaser.  That meant they went to the same racetrack many times because they liked the racing there.  For North American trackchasers that meant they were going to permanent oval tracks.  I don’t know any trackchaser in North America that repeatedly went back to his favorite road course or figure 8 track.

 

I doubt very many younger racing fans are going out of their way to visit figure 8 tracks or road courses.  If you don’t believe this, simply look at the dates listed when our trackchasing top 10 saw their tracks.  There were very few, relatively speaking, figure 8 or road courses seen in the early days of each leading trackchaser’s career.

 

What can be done about this?  What should be done about this?  I doubt that anything can be done to prevent today’s leading trackchasers from spending most of their time in the future at these little temporary figure 8, oval and road course tracks.

 

If I were king, what would I do?  I would freeze the field of temporary tracks at the ones that have already been counted by at least one trackchaser.  This would not give an advantage to people who have already seen one of these temporary tracks.  If someone wanted to go to a temporary track that had been seen by someone previously, they could.  It would not give a disadvantage to people who have not seen one of these tracks because it would still be available as a countable track.

 

Of course, the skeptic might say, “Randy, you must be benefiting from these suggestions.  I just can’t figure out how”.  Yes, there are people who think like this.

 

I have seen more figure 8 tracks than anyone else has.  Most of these tracks are temporary.  I have already proven that I am willing to first find and then visit these off the wall tracks.  If anything, making a limitation like this would benefit the less involved trackchaser.  The very top trackchasers have already proven, over and over again, that they will go to any location that offers a countable track regardless of the entertainment value.  This type of limitation would limit the top few trackchasers who have more time to research these off the wall tracks and then go watch them just one time.

 

Unfortunately, we won’t make any changes in this area.  The trackchasing group is so splintered they couldn’t come to consensus on any thing of significant importance.

 

Therefore, I and the other leading trackchasers will continue to find and then visit these off the wall locations.  Maybe someone will even be able to top Roger Ferrell’s “Sand Hill Sewage Treatment Ground Road Course” for obscurity!

GREETINGS FROM HAYS, KANSAS.

 

 

 

 

I WOKE UP IN COLUMBIA, MISSOURI AND WENT TO SLEEP IN TOPEKA, KANSAS ON MONDAY NIGHT.  THEN I WOKE UP IN TOPEKA AND WENT TO SLEEP IN KEARNEY, NEBRASA BEFORE RETURNING HOME ON WEDNESDAY TO MY BELOVED SAN CLEMENTE.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

 

The Objective 

 

One of my season long objectives has been to win my fourth consecutive trackchasing title.  Even though it’s only mid-August that goal is pretty well wrapped up.  Tonight’s track was my 117^th of the season.  There’s a good chance no one will top that mark and I plan to see many more tracks before the year ends.

 

Tonight finishes up a 12-day, 15 new tracks trackchasing effort.  My round-trip flight into and out of Omaha, Nebraska was my 25^th trip this year where I have used an airplane to get around.  This was also my second 15 new tracks in a trip adventure of the 2007 season.

 

I think I’m going to stay home this coming Saturday night.  In all of 2007, I have only been in San Clemente for two Saturday nights.  One of those was for a college fraternity golf outing we have each year.  The location of that outing moves around every time we have it.  It just so happened it was in Orange County this year.  My other Saturday night at home in ’07 was spent with Carol at the Angels Stadium getting a trackchasing double!

The Trip

 

My driving portion of the trip wrapped up with more than 5,500 miles being put on the Avis Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix.  When I returned the car, the agent jumped in the passenger seat and turned the key to make sure I had filled the gas tank.  He saw the mileage and said, “My computer says you drove 5,500 miles.  I know that can’t be correct”.  My sheepish reply was “er, yes it can!”

 

Somehow, early in my trackchasing career I was labeled by those fiendish East coast trackchasers as a privileged jet setter who could fly to nearly every track I wanted to visit.  They liked to say that because they drove to all of their tracks, somehow their visit was more meaningful.  I even had one trackchaser tell me that because Rick Schneider stayed overnight in his car and spent less money getting to the track, he had more fun trackchasing.  Of course, these folks never let the data get in the way of their judgments.

 

Just to set the record straight, I have driven rental cars more than 31,000 miles in the first 7 ½ months of the 2007 trackchasing season.  Last year I did 42,000 miles and the year before that 44,000 miles in addition to the nearly 10,000 miles I put on my personal car while trackchasing.  I believe that only Ed Esser puts on more miles in the true pursuit of the trackchasing hobby than I do.

 

Following my race tonight, I had a 200-mile drive up route 183 in Nebraska to get to my motel in Kearney.  My drive started about 11 p.m. and lasted until almost 2 a.m.  There wasn’t much vehicular traffic on this two-lane road at this time of night on a Tuesday.

 

I’m not a big fan of driving long distances after races, but it seems like this year I’ve had to do that a lot to make things work.  I am also not a fan of two-lane roads.

 

I must say the animals were out in force tonight.  I felt like I was on a U.S. based safari.  I saw several deer grazing along the road.  I even had to “brake and dodge” for two young deer who jumped out in front of me.  They both stopped in my lane and only a swerve to the left kept my front bumper in tact. 

 

A huge coyote passed in front of me in stalk of his prey.  I had to dodge several possums who scooted across the road like big rats.  Finally, a very large owl just about scared the #$$% out of me.  He popped up and was flapping his wings for several seconds just in front of and above my windshield.  I don’t know who was scared more, him or me.

 

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

 

COZY INN, SALINA, KANSAS

 

Unfortunately, my ROADFOOD book became water damaged on this trip.  Nevertheless, it is still readable, although I plan to replace it.  If you’d like my damaged copy and are willing to pay for the shipping to you, it’s yours.  Just send me a note.

 

The Cozy Inn has been selling their little burgers since 1922.  They are similar to White Castle burgers but a little bigger.  You cannot get them with cheese for some reason.  I was told they have no cheese in the store.

 

It was 105 degrees when I walked into the Cozy Inn in downtown Salina.  The Cozy Inn is, well, cozy.  They have just six stools at their counter and no tables.  They do have a drive-thru.  If you visit, you must go inside to experience the ambience. 

 

I has some wonderful pictures of the place at www.ranlayracing.com.  Just click in “trackchaser reports” and then “#1,255” and you’ll be able to see them.  I get lots of puzzled looks when I take these photos, but if I wasn’t willing to do it, then you couldn’t enjoy the experience as well.

 

I wasn’t blown away by their little burgers, although I did buy six of them!  I prefer cheese on my burgers.  There was a lot more bread than there was meat.  However, some folks come in and have them shipped home with dry ice, so I guess it’s simply what you prefer.  As a tourist attraction, it’s more than worthwhile.  When I was leaving, I saw a Louis Skypala look-a-like getting out of his car with Virginia plates.  He looked like he wasn’t from around here.  I suspect he was visiting the Cozy Inn for the very same reason I was.

 

 

KING KONG, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

 

I was planning on visiting Johnny’s Café in Omaha for lunch.  It was a ROADFOOD recommendation.  However, a billboard some 80 miles before I reached Lincoln, Nebraska told me that the King Kong restaurant offered two-pound hamburgers.  I was intrigued.

 

In a little more than an hour, I was taking exit #403 from Interstate 80.  King Kong was within easy view.  You can’t miss the place; they have about 30 gorillas in their courtyard!

 

When I walked in, I reviewed the menu.  Yes, they do have a two-pound hamburger.  It sells for $9.99.  I went with the cheese steak.  It was absolutely excellent.  In addition, I went with a small piece of “baklava”, a very sweet pie-like dessert.  I think it was mainly just different forms of sugar welded together.

 

The King Kong restaurant earns a RANLAY Racing Money-Back Guarantee.  Try the place.  If you like this kind of food, I think you’ll like King Kong.

 

 

The People

 

Tonight I had several interesting “people” encounters.  The track announcers did a great job telling the fans about my involvement with the trackchasing hobby during a longish intermission.  They went into the details of what trackchasers do and where more information can be found.

 

It was during the course of these announcements that I began chatting with a nice young Kansas couple who were at the races with their two children.  When they learned they were talking to the “trackchaser” that the announcer had just mentioned, they were enthused to learn more.

 

They had several questions.  “What’s your favorite track?”  What’s your favorite state?”  Do they have racetracks in Hawaii?”  I regaled them with trackchasing stories that involved the KKK, Carol in a New Zealand sprint car and many more.  During my chat with these folks the announcer asked me to come up for an interview.  He said, “Just come up and bang on the door, we’ll let you in.  We’d love to talk to you about trackchasing.”  However, I was so engrossed in my conversation with my newfound friends that I didn’t want to be rude and leave for an interview.

 

It was just about at this point that a big bearded man walked up and sat in the row behind me.  No, it was not Santa Claus, it was my old nemesis, Gordon Killian.   Yes, THAT Gordon Killian.  He had been made aware of my attendance from the track announcer’s mention.

 

Again, some of those old-line East coast based trackchasers have criticized my use of the “trackchaser press release” as being some sort of self-serving devilish device designed to make them look bad.  Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Two of the primary objectives of the press release are to educate the general public about the hobby of trackchasing and to let fellow trackchasers in the audience know that I’m at the track.  Of course, the press release achieved both of those objectives in spades tonight.  Had I taken the opportunity to talk with the track announcer, I’m sure I could have done an even better job of letting tonight’s fan now about the fun and frolic that we in trackchasing have.

 

I must commend Mr. Killian for having better social skills than some of the trackchasers I encountered earlier in the trip.  My conversation with him was most pleasant.  As God is my witness, I swear this statement is true.  If it is not, I simply ask that God strike me down and let my face fall directly into my keyboard.

 

I introduced young Gordon to my friends from Kansas seated in the row in front of us.  He had a short conversation with them.  Then………Gordon told them I was his favorite trackchaser!  I never knew!

 

I was also surprised to learn that Gordon is an avid reader of the Trackchaser Report and viewer of the goings on at www.ranlayracing.com.  I never knew.  He claims he is in the pictures from my recent visit to the Iowa Speedway temporary inner oval – track #1,244.

 

Does this encounter mean that Gordon and I are now buds?  Now hold on a minute.  It’s one thing to remove him from RANLAY Racing probation so that he can be eligible to earn awards offered by RANLAY racing and another to be considered trackchasing buddies.  I will continue to monitor Gordon’s overall behavior.  I don’t think that Gordon is a bad guy; I just believe he is misdirected at times.  That’s better than being a bad person by a long shot.  I will say that it was nice of him to stop by.

 

Soon Mr. Killian left.  It wasn’t long before he was replaced by trackchaser Mike Knappenberger.  What were they doing, trying a tag team approach?  This was a special night for Mike.  He was seeing his 400^th lifetime track.  Mike got a late start in trackchasing but is making up for lost time now.

 

Mike and I had a nice discussion like we always do.  He lamented the fact that I no longer provide race dates as I have done for years.  I reminded him that I was simply following the example set my trackchasing’s top 5 trackchasers in this regard.  I believe that Mike understood where I was coming from.

 

Mike reminded me that he had driven 34,000 miles on his brand new car during the past year with his trackchasing.  He didn’t think that was too bad since he’s been able to go with other trackchasers when they use their cars for the trip.  He also mentioned that he has a difficult time getting Mrs. Knappenberger to go along on his trips.  Apparently, he has abused her (not in THAT way) on previous racing adventures and she is no longer willing to put up with the hassle of the hobby.

 

I hope that changes for Mike.  It’s a lot of fun to drag your spouse along on these trips, although I don’t think I would want to do it all the time.  I think in any good marriage, spending a little time apart is a good idea.

 

However, if the Mrs. K. is not going to go the races with Mike, I do have a recommendation for her.  If I were Mrs. K. I would grab Mike by the nap of the neck and drag him into the den.  I would then explain that it is not a good idea to use your own car on these trackchasing trips, especially the long ones.

 

What is a PT Cruiser like car going to be worth with 100,000 miles on it after three years?  You can rent a similar car for 25 bucks a day.  That figure would be reduced even further when you go trackchasing with friends.

 

Driving 100,000 miles is going to take you through a couple sets of tires.  That amount of mileage has got to be 20-30 oil changes.  Of course, your warranties are all going to be expired so any major maintenance expense is going to be your full financial responsibility.  Yes, “Mikey” (that’s what I would call him if I was Mrs. K), get your financial act together and make sure you are managing your trackchasing expenses so you can enjoy your hobby for as long as you like and not imperil our future financial and retirement living lifestyle.

 

 

 

 

ROADFOOD RESTAURANT REVIEW

 

See above Trackchasing Tourist Attraction

 

 

 

STATE RANKINGS

This was my 20^th lifetime track in the Jayhawk state.  I have a 3^rd place ranking in Kansas and trail Allan Brown’s 24 tracks for the runner-up spot.  Ed Esser leads here with 28 tracks.

RACE REVIEW – RPM SPEEDWAY, HAYS, KANSAS– TRACK #1,255

The RPM Speedway is a nice looking nearly new facility.  They have a large state of the art aluminum grandstand.  The thing must have 30-40 rows.  The P.A. system is excellent and they have two announcers that both entertain and inform.  That’s the best combination.

 

Tonight’s admission price was $25, unless you had the five-dollar coupon that was available at different local locations.  I didn’t have that coupon and was prepared to pay $25 for a program that I expected to be worth much less than a quarter of a century note.

 

I gave the woman cashier my twenty-five dollars.  She looked at me and immediately assessed that I was the type of person who might be able to use some financial assistance.  She exclaimed, “I have a coupon for you.  The price will be only $20”.  Great!

 

Then, she handed me my twenty-five dollars back and gave me my ticket with a wish that I have a good night.  I’ve had this happen a few times recently.  However, before I could appraise her of her mistake, she realized it on her own and grabbed the twenty-dollar bill out of my hand.  I was happy to get the five-dollar discount.

 

Last night the All Star sprints brought 22 cars.  Tonight, a Tuesday, they had only 16 cars.  The support class was a group of about 15 hobby/factory stocks.  They didn’t start hot laps or time trials until after 8 p.m.  Do these promoters have their heads in the sand?

 

I guess they might have been between a rock and a hard place.  Before the sun went down at about 8:15 p.m. it was about 200 (two-hundred) degrees outside.  However, people did have to go to work tomorrow morning, so a late finishing program was not very good either.

 

The sprinters ran two heats, a dash and a 30-lap feature.  The stock cars ran three heats and a feature.  The wind blew directly into the grandstand.  This was the only night of my 12-day trackchasing tour where I needed my dirt racing goggles.  You rarely need them at temporary tracks!

 

There was almost no passing in the sprint car races.  They didn’t start the sprint car feature until around 11 p.m.  Gary Wright started on the front row and won by a mile in a non-stop race.  I was so happy to see them avoid the 15-20 minute delays that come with the sprint car red flag periods.  If that had happened, we might not have gotten out of there until midnight and I had a 200-mile drive on two lane roads coming up before I hit the rack.

RENTAL CAR UPDATE

 

Omaha – Friday-Wednesday (12-day rental)

 

Other than a good-sized windshield rock ding everything worked out very well with the Avis Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix.  Of course, I would have much preferred to have a car with XM satellite radio like I normally do.

 

I drove the Grand Prix 5,521 miles.  I paid an average price of just $2.80 per gallon.  The GP gave me 29.8 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at a cost of 9.4 cents per mile.  In case math isn’t your bailiwick, you can determine my overall fuel expense by multiplying the number of miles I drove by the average per mile fuel expense.  The car cost only 5.5 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included because of the drop off charges.  I used Priceline.com to get this car.

 

 

During the past 2 ½ years (136 weeks), I have average traveling more than 3,500 miles EACH AND EVERY ONE of those weeks for trackchasing.  That’s a lot of seat time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

I live in my own world.  People know me here.

 

 

 

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Orange County, CA – Denver, CO – 845 miles

Denver, CO – Omaha, NE - 472 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR – OMAHA

 

Eppley Field – trip begins

Washington, Kansas – 154 miles

Maxville, Iowa – 475 miles

Coon Rapids, Iowa – 546 miles

Newton, Iowa – 817 miles

Springfield, Nebraska – 993 miles

Fremont, Michigan – 1,777 miles

Fremont, Michigan – 2,187 miles

Corunna, Michigan – 2,435 miles

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania – 2,980 miles

Coopersville, Michigan – 3,609 miles

Rothbury, Michigan – 3,645 miles

Jackson, Michigan – 3,948 miles

Springport, Michigan – 3,976 miles

California, Missouri – 4,632 miles

Hays, Kansas – 5,107 miles

Eppley Field – trip ends – 5,521 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Omaha, NE – Denver, CO – 472 miles

Denver, CO – Orange County, CA - 845 miles

 

 

Total Air miles – 2,634 (4 flights)

 

 

Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 8,155 miles

 

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Washington County Fairgrounds - $8

Maxville Fire Department Figure 8 - $8

Carroll County Fairgrounds - $5

Iowa Speedway - $10 (pit pass)

Sarpy County Fair & Rodeo Arena - $10

Newaygo County Fairgrounds - $9

Newaygo County Fairgrounds - $9

Shiawassee County Fairgrounds - $13 ($3 fair & $10 figure 8)

Tioga County Fairgrounds - $10 ($3 fair & $7 figure 8)

Coopersville Festival Grounds - $10

Winston Motor Speedway – Free

Jackson Speedway - $5

Springport Motor Speedway – Free

Double X Speedway - $10

Thunderhill Speedway - $22

RPM Speedway - $20

 

 

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $149

 

 

 

 

RANKINGS

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. 

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,255

 

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

 

29.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 333

 

30.  Tom Schmeh, Knoxville, Iowa – 330

 

31.  Dwight Bucks, Topton, Pennsylvania – 328

 

 

 

 

2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 117

 

2.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium - 69

 

3.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 68

 

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 53

 

5.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 43

 

6.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 41

 

6.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 41

 

8.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 39

 

9.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 24

 

9.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 24

 

Tracks have been reported by 39 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

 

2007 (current thru 6/29/07)**

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 6.65

2. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 6.86

3. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 7.57

 

**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

 

I’m going to take a few days off from trackchasing.  At this point, I expect to spend my third Saturday night in all of 2007 at home.  I hope I can stick with that plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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