DAY 2 – LET’S JUMP ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TRACKCHASING TOUR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S HEADLINES

 

I met some of the most interesting people I will likely meet during the entire 2008 trackchasing season today....................more in “The People”.

 

Carol and I saw the Atlanta 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in the spring of 1971.  Do you know what famous driver won that race?  Do you know what famous person was the honorary starter for that race?  …………..details in “Race Review”.

 

Editor’s hint:  Jeff Gordon was not the winner and I was not the honorary starter.

 

 

I rent about 40-50 cars a year with my trackchasing hobby.  I didn’t need to rent a car today.  …………..details in “Rental Car Review”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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/february132008.htm

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM HAMPTON, GEORGIA.

 

 

 

 

I WOKE UP IN SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI THIS MORNING.  I WENT TO SLEEP IN BRAINERD, MINNESOTA.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

 

 

 

The Objective 

 

Trackchasing lets me see racing, people and places that I would never come in contact with if I didn’t have such an unusual hobby.  Often race fans I meet say they wish they had my lifestyle.  Frequently when I hear this comment, I think to myself they might not say that if they knew the time, travel and expense of doing this.

 

On the other hand, if they had the opportunity to do what I did today, I can fully understand why they want my lifestyle.  Trackchasing can be fun and today was one of my best days.

 

 

     

The Trip

 

This was one of those trackchasing days where the travel required was not for the faint of heart.  My Springfield, Missouri alarm clock went off at 4:37 a.m. (2:37 a.m. San Clemente time).  It was dark out when I left my hotel.  It was dark out when my 6:25 a.m. flight headed to Atlanta.

 

Following a full afternoon of trackchasing at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, I headed back to the Atlanta airport.  From there I hopped a flight to Minneapolis and then drove more than 140 miles north into the icy cold of Northern Minnesota.   Missouri, Georgia, Minnesota, all in one day.  It's the life of a trackchaser. 

 

 

 

The People

 

There are three major elements to trackchasing.  Of course, there is the racing.  However, there are also the places to see and the people to meet.  I love the racing, but often times the places to see and the people to meet are the most enjoyable.  That was the case in Atlanta today.  Let me tell you about four of those folks I met up with today.

 

Dale Terry has become a friend of mine over the past couple of years.  He’s a media man (mostly internet writing) from Atlanta, Georgia.  Dale publishes a weekly newsletter all about Georgia racing and other high profile events in the Southeast.  He gives me heads-up on all kinds of racing events.

 

I had never seen any racing on the Atlanta Motor Speedway’s road course.  They only use it for wheel to wheel racing 3-4 times per year.  I’ve had this track on my radar screen for years when I found out the “Legends of Georgia” (www.legendsofga.com) sanctioning group runs a winter series at the track.  For one reason or another, I never made it down here.  It was looking like I would strike out again with them during the 07-08 winter season because of other trackchasing commitments.  Then, I received an email from Dale Terry.  It seems one of the AMS road course events had been canceled because of cold.  They rescheduled for Saturday, February 2.  That date fit perfectly into my schedule.

 

When Dale learned I was coming to town, he volunteered to pick me up at the airport and chauffeur me around for the day.  That was convenient especially since he had just purchased a beautiful new shiny black Dodge Ram pickup truck.  Being a “city slicker” nowadays, I can’t remember the last time I rode in a pickup truck.

 

Dale also took the liberty to let the public relations staff at the Atlanta Motor Speedway know that their road course was going to be my #1,306^th lifetime track.  It wasn’t long before I received a phone call from Trey Sanders, the Promotions and Events Coordinator at AMS.  Trey wanted the “World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser” (www.trackchaser.net) to be the guest of the Atlanta Motor Speedway.  This was an offer to good to refuse.

 

Trey sent out a press release about my visit to the track’s local media outlets.  He asked me if I would like to visit the driver’s meetings and be an honorary starter for the Legends main event.  Invitations like these don’t come along often and I happily accepted.

 

When Dale and I arrived at the speedway, we found an immaculate venue.  AMS has their own permanent condominium complex at the track that includes 46 units.  Four or five of those units are occupied by permanent residents.  That must be fun to wake up in the morning and look out over the speedway grounds.

 

I last saw a race at the super speedway back in about 1971.  Since that time, there have been tremendous changes in this facility.  They moved the start/finish line that Carol and I had seen back in the day to the backstretch side of the track.  Then they built a beautiful new grandstand on the new starting line side.  That grandstand seats 110,000 people!!

 

The folks at the credentials building had heard about my impending visit.  They couldn’t have been nicer.  A quick phone call to Trey got me set up to be introduced at the driver’s meetings.  This included first the bandoleros group and then the legends.  I was given a very nice introduction at both meetings.  Several folks came up to say hello.

 

Dale and I explored the garage area.  I’ve seen the road courses at most of the NASCAR tracks.  This is a great way to visit all of the infield facilities i.e.  garage areas, infield media and care centers, etc.  These areas are normally off limits to fans during the major race weekends.

 

As we were touring the garage area, we came across two immaculately prepared Bass Pro Shop sponsored racecars.  They were both gloss black and carried the #1.  One car would race in the thunder roadster division.  The other competed in the premier division today, the legends.

 

Dale introduced me to the driver of these two cars, Ed Clark.  Ed was a spitting image of Troy Aikman, former star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and more importantly, to me, UCLA Bruins.  We talked a little bit about my hobby and Ed’s racecars. 

 

Ed mentioned something about being employed at the track.  I didn’t quite catch what he did at AMS.  Later on in the conversation, I asked him again what he actually did for the track.  “I’m the President”, he told me.  Yep!  I’ve always said if you have to work, you might as well be the president!  Ed was a great guy and went out of his way to make me feel welcome.  I appreciated that very much.

 

My tour with Dale continued throughout the garage area.  We ran across a young man named Chase Elliott who races in the bandoleros division.  The Atlanta Motor Speedway has long been a fixture of the NASCAR circuit.  Young drivers from this legends group have made it to NASCAR cup racing.  Two recent drivers that come to mind are Reed Sorenson and David Ragan.  Maybe some day Chase will follow their example.  He certainly has the genes for it.

 

Chase has a famous father.  His father is Bill Elliott.  Yes, we’re talking about “Million Dollar Bill!”  My family relocated back to California in November, 1983 after living in several different states with my corporate transfers.  I remember sitting in my family room of our brand new house watching Bill Elliott win his very first NASCAR race at Riverside, California.  Bill later won the NASCAR Winston Cup championship in 1988 and the Daytona 500 in 1985 and 1987.

 

Two years later (August 18, 1985) I ventured up to the Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington for a NASCAR Winston West race.  A young and rising NASCAR star was a visiting driver on that day.  His name was Bill Elliott.  Bill wasn't a household name at the time, even though he was coming on strong and had won the Daytona 500 just months before our meeting.  I had my picture taken with him at the back of his hauler.  That picture has held a prominent place on my office bookshelf ever sense.

 

Editor’s note:  My picture with Bill back in 1985 as well as the one taken today can be seen at www.ranlayracing.com.  Click on “Trackchaser Reports” and then click on “#1,306”.

 

Dale introduced me to Bill and we talked very briefly about trackchasing.  Bill said, “I think I’ve been to 1,500 tracks!”  Maybe he has, but I’m going to ask for documentation!  I had my photo taken again with Bill.  I hope to send him an autographed copy.

 

By the way, there were several NASCAR style haulers in the pit area today.  That was surprising given the classes racing.  The Elliott rig was much smaller than those other big rigs.  It was about the size of what you would expect a bandoleros/legends racecar transporter to be.  Bill went about his mechanic’s duties today in a very low key manner, which is his nature.  I appreciate Bill taking a few moments of his time to say hello to me.

 

So there you have it.  It was quite a people day.  I have first Dale Terry and then Trey Sanders to thank for such a great morning and afternoon of trackchasing fun.  Thanks, guys, I will remember this day for a very long time.

 

 

 

 

STATE RANKINGS

Georgia

 

This was my 21st lifetime track to see in the “Peach” state.  This track moves me up from eighth place in the state into a tie for sixth (two more NGD points) with fellow competitors Andy Sivi and Paul Weisel.  John Moore of Knoxville, Tennessee leads in Georgia with 35 tracks.  An even 50 listed trackchasers have made one or more visits to a racetrack in Georgia.

 

 

 

RACE REVIEW

 

ATLANTA MOTORS SPEEDWAY (ROAD COURSE), HAMPTON, GEORGIA

This was my third countable track to see on the Atlanta Motor Speedway property.  Back in 1971, Carol and I (then just young college students) visited what was then called Atlanta International Raceway (unofficially track #23) for the Atlanta 500.  I remember three things from that long ago visit.  First, A.J. Foyt won the race in the Woods Brothers Purolator Mercury.  Secondly, Carol and I both walked away with one of the worst sunburns we had ever gotten!  Finally, a young Georgia governor was the honorary starter for that race.  His name was Jimmy Carter!

 

Back on July 19, 2001, I made a visit to see the legends race on the AMS quarter-mile oval track (track #495).  Most of the Bruton Smith owned tracks have such a short track situated in front of the bigger track’s main grandstand.

 

Today the third and final track at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for me to visit would be the road course.  There is not much trackchaser countable racing that takes place on this road course.  The “Legends of Georgia” group races here jut 3-4 times a year, usually in the winter months.  Groups like the Sports Car of Club of America seem to frequent the nearby Road Atlanta facility for their road racing.

 

Atlanta is right up there with Charlotte as a hot bed for young developing drivers.  NASCAR stars Reed Sorenson and David Ragan both raced with today’s group.  I did find one of the instructions doled out at the driver’s meeting today to be most interesting.

 

The gentleman running the meeting closed his comments with this, “I just got word that Robert Yates and Rick Hendrick (both famous owners on the NASCAR Nextel Cup) circuit won’t be here today.  Therefore, they won’t be picking any of you to drive in the Daytona 500 this year.  With that being said, I expect you all to drive with respect toward your fellow racers.”  I thought that was a great way to get his point across.

 

All of the races were fairly short today.  Dale and I skipped out for lunch during most of the bandeleros racing.  I figured since these races didn’t count for the trackchaser record books that would be the best time to sample the highly recommended “McGinn’s Southern Pit BBQ” restaurant just down the road from AMS.  It was definitely worth it.  We were back in plenty of time for the thunder roadster and legend racing.

 

This sanctioning group doesn’t run any heat races.  The thunder roadsters ran just a single feature race of 10 laps.  The plan for the legends was to run two 6-lap “B” mains and then a 10-lap “A” feature race. 

 

Dale and I had been invited up into the scoring tower to watch these races.  That was a real treat.  As you have heard from me many times, at ground level, it’s difficult to see most of the racing on a road course.  The scoring tower had to be 200 feet or so above the racing surface.  To get to our location we first started at the top of the front stretch grandstand.  From there we hopped on an elevator and went to the top floor.

 

The scorer’s for this race were in a glass enclosed booth in the same location that Mike Helton (NASCAR president) and the other NASCAR officials run their races from.  Right next door was the broadcast booth area that the national networks use for their TV productions.  Although the view was great, I probably didn’t need to be wearing two dark sweatshirts (it was 28 degrees when I started out this morning in Springfield, Missouri!).  The glass enclosed booth had a greenhouse effect and it got pretty toasty as the setting sun heated things up in the scoring tower.

 

Trey Sanders had a special plan for me.  He wanted me to be the starter for one of the feature events.  I’ve flagged a few races in the past, but this was the most famous venue where I had ever thrown a green flag. 

 

When I am asked to be an honorary starter, I have just two modest goals to achieve to consider my effort a success.  First, I want to be able to climb up into the flag stand and down again without breaking my neck.  Secondly, I want to remember to not drop the green flag onto the track at any point in time.  Today was a success!

 

I will say this.  Climbing up into the AMS flag stand is not for the faint of heart.  First of all, the ladder that needs to be climbed is perpendicular to the ground.  There is no slant, it points STRAIGHT up!  The starter’s stand is a good 20 feet or more above the ground.  That amounts to some 15 rungs or more of straight up climbing.  I’m not a big fan of heights anyway, so I did my best to just keep climbing.  Once I was at the top of the ladder, I again had to be careful jumping into the starter’s stand. 

 

Today’s starter, Adam, was very helpful.  His advice was pretty much “here’s the green flag, I’ll tell you when to wave it”.  That worked for me!  We didn’t have a major pileup on the start so I’m now three for three in flag stand appearances.

 

It was fun to watch the track officials run the race.  Each car has an electronic transponder.  This allows the scoring to be done by computer.  As a backup, they also score by hand, the way races have been scored since nearly day one.

 

Today’s racers also had a one-way communication from the tower.  The tower could talk to them, but the driver’s could not talk back.  The officials told me, “We like it that way!”  This direct communication with the driver really helped with getting drivers in the right position on re-starts.  The tower was also able to alert racers when they were coming up on an unexpected spin or crash.  This technology can save a good deal of equipment and potential driver injury.  I wish all tracks had this to benefit both their competitors and the paying customers with a more efficient show.

 

All in all, it was quite a day.  The Atlanta Motor Speedway is a beautiful showplace.  All of the AMS employees should be proud to be part of this team.  If you get the chance, make sure you see a NASCAR race in Atlanta.  Carol and I haven’t been there for a show on the big track in some 35 years, but we just might make it back there sometime soon.

 

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE

 

Atlanta – Saturday

 

No rental today.  Dale Terry can recognize a trackchaser who operates on a limited budget (compared to those dreaded East coast trackchasers anyway).  Not only that, but I got to ride in Dale’s brand new Dodge Ram truck.  Thanks for the ride, Dale!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

When Peter says something about Paul, it says more about Peter than it does Paul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Orange County, CA – Denver, CO – 845 miles

Denver, CO – Springfield, MO - 634 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR – SPRINGFIELD, MO

 

Springfield-Branson National Airport – trip begins

Ozark Empire Fairgrounds – 4.5 miles

Springfield-Branson National Airport – 39.9 miles

AIRPLANE

 

Springfield, MO – Atlanta, GA – 563 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR – ATLANTA, GA

 

None – private transportation

 

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – Trip begins

Atlanta Motor Speedway – 24 miles

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – 52 miles - Trip ends

 

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Ozark Empire Fairgrounds – Free

Atlanta Motor Speedway - Free

 

 

 

 

 

 

RANKINGS

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

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

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,306

 

 

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

26.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 439

 

27.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 353

 

27.  Ken Schrader, Concord, North Carolina – 353

 

28.  Max Allender, Des Moines, Iowa – 349

 

 

 

 

 

2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 8

 

2.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4

 

2.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 4

 

4.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 3

 

5.  Bruce Eckel, Easton, Pennsylvania - 2

 

5.  Pat Eckel, Easton, Pennsylvania - 2

 

5.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 2

 

5.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 2

 

Several trackchasers with one track.

 

Tracks have been reported by 16 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

With the ice racing season being so short, I had better get one more ice track before this weekend trip wraps up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2008 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

 

1,299. Barnes Lake Ice Track, Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada - January 13

 

1,300. Bira Circuit, Pattaya, Thailand - January 19

 

1,301. Cameron Lake Ice Track (oval), Erskine, Minnesota - January 26

 

1,302. Birch Lake Ice Track (oval), Hackensack, Minnesota - January 27

 

1,303. Mille Lacs Lake Ice Track (road course), Garrison, Minnesota - January 27

 

1,304. Mille Lacs Lake Ice Track (oval), Garrison, Minnesota - January 27

 

1,305. Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, Springfield, Missouri – February 1

 

1,306. Atlanta Motor Speedway (road course), Hampton, Georgia – February 2