Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
LAKE SUPERIOR'S CHEQUAMEGON BAY ICE TRACK, ASHLAND, WISCONSIN
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RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report
DAY 2 – 2008 ICE RACING FINAL WEEKEND TRACKCHASING TOUR
TODAY’S HEADLINES
So far, the 2008 season is matching up pretty well with my goals for the year...................more in “The Objective”.
Tonight I was a fly on the wall, just soaking up rural
Just when you think you have the perfect plan, you don’t. …………..details in “The Trip”.
During the first 70 days of the year, I’ve traveled more than 60,000 miles. I’m just getting started. …………..details in “Rental Car Update”.
AND THE READERS RESPOND
From time to time interested readers write me about one thing or another. Many times, I feel that my other readers would be interested, informed and/or amused by the comments I get. Here’s what an
“I'm thinking it might be time for an INTERnational Geographic Diversity standings! Thanks.”
From a new reader in
“I ENJOYED YOUR WEB SITE. IT WOULD BE GREAT TO TRAVEL THE WORLD TO TAKE IN RACING EVENTS I ENJOYED THE PHOTOS ALSO
SEEING CARS ON THE TRACK,THAT WE DON'T EVEN SEE OR THINK OF AS RACE CARS HERE. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. THE SITE IS GREAT.
THANKS AGAIN.”
Click on this link or paste it in your browser to take you to today’s Trackchaser Report via my website at
http://www.ranlayracing.com/march892008.htm
GREETINGS FROM
I WOKE UP IN
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS
The Objective
At the end of the 2007 ice racing season I vowed to put a major focus on ice racing venues in 2008. I have done that. Of my first twenty new tracks that I have seen this year, 15 of them have been ice-racing tracks.
Without my airline sponsors, I never would have been able to go ice racing as much as I did this year. Ice tracks are famous for canceling at the very last minute due to lack of ice. The Northeast had a terrible ice-racing season this year. Some tracks in this area only raced once or twice all season.
One group in
I was able to afford to go ice racing this year only because I can hop on planes at the very last minute. The nearest ice racing location is usually more than 1,500 miles from my home in sunny
Another plus for ice racing is that most of it is done in January and February. There is virtually no other racing going on in
My goal is to see at least 100 tracks this year. This averages out to two tracks per week for 50 weeks of the year. To date, ten full weeks of 2008 have passed. During this time, I have seen 20 new tracks. Considering there is so little racing to choose from during January and February, seeing twenty new tracks puts me ahead of the curve.
When we reach the month of May through August, I should be able to average more than two tracks per week. This will help build up a buffer for the months of September through December when I may have difficulty seeing a couple of tracks each week.
The Trip
Last night I left the ice track in
I was initially attracted by their billboard advertising pizza. When I walked into the dimly lit place I noticed that the UCLA-Cal basketball game was on one of the bar TVs. Although I was recording the game for future viewing, I couldn’t pass up watching it on TV. There was only five seconds remaining and UCLA was behind by one point. In one of the most incredible shots I’ve ever seen, especially under the circumstances, the UCLA player shot the ball from the deep baseline while he was standing BEHIND the backboard. The ball went high into the air, came over the backboard from behind and swished through the net!! UCLA wins 81-80. This was the first time they had led in the game since being up 2-0. Although the
As I ate my pizza from a small table near the bar, I observed the people. One foursome was playing cards. They swore like sailors and kidded each other relentlessly. Although I was in a small rural Midwestern tavern this wasn’t much different than having lunch at the Pacific Golf Club back home after a round of golf.
At one point a member of the card-playing foursome had to leave. I think he got a call from his wife! The remaining threesome convinced the bartender who was headed out the door to become their fourth. He didn’t want to stay. He told them he already had his truck running out in the parking lot, which I can verify as being true.
He begged them to let him go home to take care of his dogs. He told them his wife was at work and he would be in big trouble if he didn’t let the dogs out before she got home. His buddies would hear none of this. Their logic was simple. It went like this, “If you get home before your wife, you can let the dogs out and she will never know how long you left them alone. If she gets home before you do, she’ll let the dogs out.” I wondered to myself how many divorces this threesome had behind them to validate their marital advice.
Finally, the bartender was talked into playing cards “just for 10 minutes”. Some 30 minutes later when I left the bar, the bartender was still playing cards and his truck was still idling in the parking lot!
I have never been much for the bar scene. I never went to them when I was in college and haven’t been in many since. Nevertheless, I was impressed with the neighborhood feel to this place. It was sort of like the TV show, “Cheers”. Everyone knew everybody else and no one seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. The pizza was good too.
Just when you think the plan is working really well, a glitch can occur. Today’s “glitch” came in the form of how and when I was going to get home. When I’m on the road trackchasing, I don’t want to spend any more overnight’s away from
Ice racing creates a special challenge when the objective is to reduce nights spent away from home. Almost all (this is trackchaser CYA speak) ice racing runs during the daylight hours. Since “almost all” ice racing is East of me, it means I must leave
I happen to think I’m the best planner in trackchasing. Dizzy Dean said, “It’s not bragging if it’s true or you can do it”. Of course, this is just my humble opinion. You, the reader, can judge for yourself. Regardless of the plan’s quality or the quality of the planer, not everything works out perfectly every time. That’s when the trip gets to be really fun. Let me explain how my best-laid plan took a turn for the worst.
When I left the racetrack this afternoon, I had a four-hour drive down to the
Option 1 – Preferred. – Take a non-stop MSP-LAX flight on Northwest Airlines. This option would get me home and in bed by just 12 a.m. Central time (10 p.m.
Option 2 – I could fly to
Option 3 – If I didn’t get on the flight to
Option 4 – If I didn’t get on the flight to
Option 5 – This option did not exist until I landed in
It was now just past 9 p.m. Mountain time (8 a.m.
Option 6 – Just as I was about to give up, I noticed a flight going to
The
Option 7 – Just across the hallway was a flight going to the
The plane had already boarded all of its passengers, but I still had time to make it. I gave my boarding card to the agent. With so little time remaining before the plane was leaving, he said, “Just go on the plane and sit in the emergency exit row, I’ll handle your paperwork later”. That’s what I did. By the way, is it clear why I don’t check luggage when I fly?
The dedicated and loyal reader who had read this far should be commended. Heck, for the first two readers, I’m going to reward you with those valuable $5 Wal-Mart gift certificates. Of course, for those readers who respond just after the first two people do, I don’t want you to be disappointed. Remember, we live in a competitive world and not everyone can get a trophy.
I can just hear the amazed Trackchaser Report reader thinking to themselves, “Boy, Randy, you sure are lucky. You have all of these options and you end up with the airport closest to your house.” Heck, I can even hear those dreaded East Coast trackchasers saying. “Huuummpppttth, seven options. That’s nothing. I drove all the way back home from
It was nice to be getting on a flight to
However……….my car was parked at the
How would I get to LAX from the
Of course, “shared ride” vans, get their name because you have to well…..share. You hop on and then stop at everyone else’s house before you get to where you’re going. As luck would have it, my stop was the last one. At least I got to scope out where everyone who was riding the van lives, in case I want to rob their place in the future.
I arrived at LAX at 2:15 a.m.
I was then faced with a 65-mile drive home. I was tired. I needed a 12-minute power nap. It is easy to get such a nap in
I pulled into my driveway at 3:30 a.m.
Anyway…..this is the life of the flying trackchaser. Maybe there’s a reason no one else does it this way.
The People
The people in
STATE RANKINGS
Today I saw my 55th lifetime track in the Badger state home of the most serious beer drinkers in the country. I’m just five tracks out of fourth place, which is currently held by Dale O’Brien. He has seen 60
Now you can see the entire up to date trackchaser rankings for
http://trackchaser.net/statregion.asp?country=USA®ion=WI
By the way, whenever I quote trackchasing stats (most of the time anyway) I will be using the trackchaser’s on line Bible, www.trackchaser.net. I will get my fellow competitors’ totals from there unless they have provided me a more current update. I will use whatever information source of information that is most current at the time I write each Trackchaser Report. I don’t think I can make the statistical information any more accurate than that.
TRACK TYPE
In the world of trackchasing, we have three types of tracks that are considered countable. These include ovals, road courses (circuits) and figure 8 tracks. Generally, a road course includes both left and right turns. Figure 8 tracks cross over themselves.
This afternoon I saw racing on an ice-racing oval track. This was my 1,048th lifetime oval track (rank #1). Today’s ice track was my 23rd lifetime track in this category (rank #5). I’ve really put a push on ice racing this year. Today was my 15th ice racing track in 2008.
RACE REVIEW
Today was a low-key event held on Lake Superior’s
I had talked with the promoter Ray Stuart several times on the phone. He called me back each time he said he would. He even called me on the morning of their first ever cancellation (when ice was not the problem) to apologize for the fact they would not be running.
Today I was able to meet Ray personally for the first time. I think he was a little befuddled by the fact that anyone, especially someone from as far away from
Sometimes I will say that I just charge everything on my credit card and hope that Carol pays the bill. Other times I might say that I am required by contract to go to all of these tracks in order to get my trust fund check. In still other conversations, I might say I earned it, I saved it and now I’m spending it. Of course, I always answer the question with a twinkle in my eye that lets the listener know that I might be pulling their leg a bit.
Ray, who is the flagman at ABC Raceway in Ashland, in the summer, told me the car count was bigger than usual. They had 13 cars over the two classes racing today. This was one of the smaller ice-racing car counts I’ve seen this year.
The lake had 3-4 feet of ice according to the promoter. There might have been an inch of snow on the frozen surface. The track was simple. It was about one-half mile in length. It looked like they had taken a snowplow to move the small amount of snow on the lake to create the oval. Yesterday, the outer “wall” of the track was 3-4 feet high. Today the outer “wall” was nearly non-existent.
Today’s temperature was a balmy 25 degrees. However, when the wind blew, it was still cold. Based upon the warmer than normal temperatures, I went without my toe warmers. I felt the difference. I guess that proves they work.
This was the last race of the year for this group. I don’t know what the sanctioning body calls itself. I first found out about these people when I came across a website operated by the
Despite having so few cars, they still raced 5-6 cars in each event. I was surprised to see them starting three abreast. Almost nobody does that anymore. I grew up with exclusively three abreast standing starts at the
With a four-hour drive ahead of me and then six hours of flying, I left after being at the track for two hours and 15 minutes. I was able to get pictures from every angle and moved my car around to all points around the oval. It was nice to get my 15th ice track of the young 2008 season. It was also nice to meet another friendly
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
I’ve got a snow white National Rental Car Racing
I’ve already traveled more than 60,000 miles in the first 70 days of the year. Heck, that’s almost 1,000 miles each day! This total includes more than 5,000 miles in rental cars. With the amount of foreign travel I expect to do this year, I might break my all-time annual travel record of 208,314 miles.
I drove the National Rental Car 487 miles in the two full days that I had it. I paid an average price of $3.16 per gallon. The
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
Arguing with some of the people I know is like wrestling in the mud with a pig. We both get dirty but they seem to enjoy it. TRAVEL DETAILS
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – Denver, CO – 861 miles
Denver, CO – Minneapolis, MN - 679 miles
RENTAL CAR
AIRPLANE
Minneapolis, MN – Denver, CO – 679 miles
Denver, CO – Orange County, CA – 861 miles
Total Air miles – 3,080 miles (4 flights)
Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 3,567 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Rice
Total racetrack admissions for the trip – Free is good!
RANKINGS
LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total.
1. Randy Lewis,
Full Lifetime World Rankings
http://trackchaser.net/trackchasers.asp
Other notables
These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.
26. Mike Knappenberger,
27. Carol Lewis,
28. Ken Schrader,
29. Max Allender,
2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis,
2. Mike Knappenberger,
3. Guy Smith, Effort,
4. Carol Lewis,
4. Paul Weisel,
Tracks have been reported by 24 different worldwide trackchasers this season.
Complete 2008 Trackchasing Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statyear.asp?year=2008
LIFETIME COUPLES TRACKCHASING STANDINGS
1. Randy & Carol Lewis,
2. Allan & Nancy Brown,
3. Guy & Pam Smith, Effort,
LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS
2007 NGD results are posted at www.ranlayracing.com
COMPLETE TRACK TYPE CATEGORY RANKINGS OF NOTE:
Dirt Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Dirt
Paved Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Paved
Ice Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Ice
Mixed Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Mixed
Oval Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statoval.asp
Circuit (road course) Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statcircuit.asp
Figure 8 Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statf8.asp
Indoor Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statindoor.asp
Official Trackchaser Rules
http://trackchaser.net/rules.asp
Past trackchasing reports are available at:
Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:
Some of the data in this report comes from www.trackchaser.net and my Garmin GPS aka “Dusty”
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
That’s it for my ice-racing season. Fifteen ice tracks in 2008. I’ll take it! I had a lot of fun and the weather was never really terrible, although Alberta
My goal for the year is to see more than 100 tracks and finish in the top three for the 2008 trackchasing season. Right now, I’m on target to achieve those goals.
It might be time to visit another foreign country track, but it will likely not be in a new trackchasing country for me.
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2008 (** not the first time to visit this track)
1,299.
1,300. Bira Circuit, Pattaya (road course),
1,301.
1,302.
1,303.
1,304.
1,305. Ozark Empire Fairgrounds (oval),
1,306.
1,307. Brainerd International Raceway Ice Track (road course),
1,308.
1,309.
1,310. Shawano Lake Ice Track –
1,311.
1,312. Mototown USA (oval) –
1,313. Moosehead Lake Ice Track (oval) –
1,314.
1,315.
1,316.
1,317.
1,318. Lake Superior’s
