Randy Lewis

DAY 1 – IT’S SOUTH OF THE BORDER TIME (AGAIN) TRACKCHASING TOUR

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE

 

 

 

This weekend’s trip brought us to Mexico for just 36 hours.  However, this Trackchaser Report, if printed, will come to about 45 pages.  I try to keep things down to just one page per hour of the visit, but sometimes I can’t meet my own objectives!

 

 

That being said, if you’re pressed for time, I recommend you visit www.ranlayracing.com and click on “Trackchaser Reports”.  Then simply click on “#1,319” and you’ll be sent to the pictures of our trackchasing effort in Mexico.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  I have a number of very unusual photos for your viewing pleasure.  Whichever format you chose, words or pictures or both, thanks for having an interest in the hobby of trackchasing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S HEADLINES

 

I have just done something I have never ever done before in trackchasing.  I have completed the PERFECT trackchasing logistical trip!..................more “Throughout this report”.

 

The month of March is the most important planning month of each trackchasing season.  Find out why…………..details in “The Objective”.

 

What do you think Carol was thinking when I asked her if she wanted to go out Saturday night and get some Mexican food? …………..details in “The Trip”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS!

 

 

From time to time, I feel like rewarding and recognizing those readers who spend the time to read the Trackchaser Report both quickly and completely.  Here is what I wrote in my very last report:

 

“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 am always amazed when readers respond to such a statement within only minutes.  Wal-Mart gift certificates are winging their way to THREE diligent readers.  There was a tie for second place.  I couldn’t figure out who actually got second because both emails came in about the same time, and with both readers living in different time zones it was impossible to differentiate the time stamps.  Also, thanks to the other readers who just missed out.

 

1.     Russ Ingram – Texas

2.     Brian Tredway – Ohio

2.    Pryce Boeye – Illinois

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM MEXICO CITY, MEXICO.

 

 

 

 

WE WOKE UP IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA THIS MORNING.  WE WENT TO SLEEP IN MEXICO CITY, MEXICO.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

 

 

 

The Objective 

 

The month of March may be the most interesting and important month of the year.  January and February are reserved almost exclusively for ice racing and some international visits.  However, it is March when all of the preparation for the heart of the season begins. 

 

Most racetracks and sanctioning bodies do not post their annual schedules until March or so.  If I were to check for schedules much sooner, they wouldn’t be complete and I would risk missing keys dates.

 

During the month of March, the staff at RANLAY Racing will begin to comb through the schedules of more than 600 sanctioning bodies in search of potential dates to visit new tracks.  As an example, NASCAR Sprint Cup would be just ONE sanctioning group from the more than 600 that I know about that have a website.

 

I am also trying to aggressively eliminate inactive tracks from my “future tracks” database that are no longer active.  The management at many short tracks sometimes falls short in the area of organization and communication.  It is common for a large number of tracks to change ownership each year because of this problem.  It is also common for these poorly run tracks to go out of business and sometimes return to active operation.

 

Currently, I have identified 1,150 tracks in North America that I have not seen.  In reality, that number may be closer to 1,000 if I could accurately identify which tracks are no longer in operation or do not offer countable racing of any kind.  Slightly more than 77% of those tracks have websites.

 

This amounts to some 1,500 or so track and sanctioning body websites that need to be reviewed in order to come up with my trackchasing schedule for the year.  I will scan each website and enter each and every unique date from a racetrack I have never visited.  This year I will visit more than 100 new tracks.  However, I will enter more than 50 times that number of race dates.  That means that for very 50 dates I find and enter into my database, I will get only one new track from all of that work.

 

That’s O.K.  This is one of the most fun parts of trackchasing for me.  I don’t mind putting in long hours now, because it will make things run much smoother and more productively over the next several months.

 

In a way, trackchasing research is a lot like golf practice.  You can practice and practice for an upcoming match or tournament.  You never really reach perfection.  You just work on your weaknesses to improve them and practice on your strengths.  After a while, you stop practicing and just “go do it”.

 

I’ll see a few new tracks in March.  I’ll glad Easter weekend comes in March this year.  There isn’t much racing over Easter, so I’m glad to have the holiday happening in March when the weather is less good than it is in April.

 

I understand that I will never know about every race date that could add a new track to my portfolio.  I’ll just keep working until it’s time to get on the next airplane.  Despite not being able to research all of the potential dates, there should be plenty of trackchasing action to keep me busy in 2008.

 

 

 

     

The Trip

 

Oh my!  I don’t think Carol had any idea what I meant when I said, “do you want to go out for Mexican food on Saturday night?”  Little did she know that I was not talking about “Pedro’s” or “Los Patios” in San Clemente.  I wanted to take her down to Mexico City for the evening.  Yep!  We’d just fly down Saturday afternoon, get some Mexican food, maybe catch a road race on Sunday afternoon and be back on our Tempurpedic mattress at home on Sunday night.

 

I know traveling all over the world on a moment’s notice seems like the lifestyle of the rich and famous.  From your computer screen, it may even look easy.  However, from the feedback I get from some fellow competitors, you would think I was Bill Gates who never had to lift a finger for anything.

 

I doubt they realize the pressure I’m under.  Let me tell you about it from my point of view.  Then, if the doubter opens his mind he might better understand the situation more accurately.

 

First of all, there are 1,150 or so tracks I have not seen in North America.  North America for me is primarily made up of the 50 United States, Canada and Mexico.  Each weekend I must decide where to visit in this wide expanse of geography.  Now that the rest of the world has been added to my trackchasing radar screen the choices are approaching infinity.

 

Once I’ve picked a location, then I have to figure out how to get there.  I know you’re saying, “But, Randy, you have all of those airline sponsorships.  You can go anywhere you want anytime you want.  No wonder you have seen more tracks than anybody else.  How could your fellow competitors ever expect to keep up?  You get to travel for free”.

 

Of course, not all such feelings are accurate or even close, no matter how passionately my fellow competitors may hold to a belief.  I’ll already get that “Sure, you’ve seen all those tracks because you get to fly for free”.  I must remind anyone who might hold any part of this view that in 2005, I went to 182 new tracks.  I doubt very much if that record will ever by surpassed.  I did not have any airline sponsors during the 2005 season or at anytime before September, 2006.

 

Just to be clear, I do not fly for free.  O.K., sometimes I fly for free, but often times I do not.  Actually, with the exotic foreign trips I have already taken this year (Thailand and South Africa) it is unlikely that I will be able to come in on budget for the 2008 calendar year.  That doesn’t bother me too much, because as this stage in my life those types of budgets are merely guidelines.

 

I am now spending as much time planning the logistical parts of the trip as I do planning the “whens” and “wheres” of the racing part of the trip.  I must admit, I put a good deal of planning time into both travel logistics and race planning.  I love doing that.

 

I don’t know how many vacations you take each year.  I don’t know how many vacations you take each year that require the use of airplanes.  I suspect that many people might take 3-4 vacations each year of different durations.  Maybe 1-2 of those would require the use of an airplane.  Some folks may do much more traveling than this and some may do less.

 

Regardless of how much traveling you do, have any of you ever flown on a “stand-by” basis?  How would you feel if you had your condo in Hawaii booked for a week in paradise and knew you would be flying standby?  How about if you had promised the kids that special trip to Disneyworld and knew you would be flying standby?  I suspect that even the most hard core would say, “Randy, I’m not flying standby, the “Mrs.” or the “Mr.” wouldn’t hear of it.  What if we missed our flight?  What if we got out on the trip and couldn’t get home?”

 

Let me explain for a moment what “flying standby” really means.  On any airplane, you have folks who have actually purchased tickets to fly (those unlucky souls!).  You have other people who have a confirmed seat because they are using frequent flyer miles. 

 

Since “9/11”, many airlines have consolidated the numbers of flights they fly.  They finally figured out it’s better to fly one plane that is 100% full rather than two planes that are 50% full.  Of course, this makes flying for the “standby flier” all the more difficult or challenging……..or exciting depending upon your point of view.

 

The “standby flier” gets on the plane if there are seats available after all of the paying passengers and frequent flyer passengers have boarded.  Often there are a large number of “standby fliers” who want to fly for free or at a steeply discounted rate.  In that case, that particular airlines’ employees have first priority.  Within an individual airline, employees with the best seniority date get on the plane first.  I read an article recently that said there are about one million people who work for the airlines directly and have access to flight benefits.  There are an additional three million folks who are related in some way to the airline employee and have “dependent” airline flying benefits.

 

“Trackchasing’s First Mother” and I fall into the “dependents” category.  Our seniority date isn’t very stout and often we fly on airlines where our son is not employed.  This puts us at the very bottom of the standby list.  We get on the plane if there is space after all paying passengers, all frequent flier miles passengers and all airline employees and dependents who want to fly on that flight.  How would you say it?  We’re last!

 

I don’t mind this situation at all.  Some would say that I have an unfair advantage over my fellow trackchasers.  Actually the folks most likely to feel that way are some of my fellow trackchasers!  Therefore, I am more than willing to travel with a “handicap” if you will.  I figure this evens things out a little.

 

Of course, being the “World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser” brings with it certain expectations and pressures.  Some of those “pressures” come from “Trackchasing’s First Mother”.  I don’t know if you’re married or not, but if you are you might know what I’m talking about.

 

I feel the pressure to take Carol on a fun and interesting trackchasing adventure somewhere across North America or the world.  She can come on every trip.  Well, she COULD come on every trip but she doesn’t want too.  If left to her own devices, Carol might never travel.  However, I am the little “Devil” sitting on her shoulder that is constantly saying, “You can do that housework later, let’s go to Toronto!”

 

Not only is there subtle pressure to take her somewhere nice, but she expects to get there on time and return on the date that is promised.  I can understand that.  She does all the work around the house.  If she’s not home, who’s going to do the chores?

 

All of this brings us to today’s trip.  I had already taken her away from San Clemente for two days to the Pac-10 basketball tournament.  Somehow I was able to connive, I mean convince her into accepting my invitation for Mexican food in Mexico City.

 

However, she made me promise that I would get her back from this foreign outing by Sunday night or at least by sometime on Monday.  She had a dental appointment on Tuesday.  She made some noise about having to cancel her last appointment because of a last minute Canadian trackchasing trip.

 

So…….I promised her!  Have you ever promised someone something when you didn’t have full control over the outcome of what you were promising?  Me too!  You see, we are into the heart of “spring break” now.  People are flying with their young children to vacation destinations.  College kids have time off.  Seniors are taking last minute spring flings to avoid the summer crush.  In a word, the airports are “packed.”  This is not a good time to be flying standby.

 

However, my fellow competitors don’t care about my problems.  If it’s too busy for me to fly standby, it’s all the better for them.  Couple the flying season with the fact that this was the Pac-10 tournament basketball weekend and most wouldn’t expect me to see ANY new tracks.  However, that is not the way I look at it.  If there’s a “window of opportunity” I’m going to crawl through that window.

 

I checked all week for flights from L.A. to Mexican City.  Each one was full or nearly full.  What could I do?  I kept checking.  I suspect I spent 1-2 hours or more each day trying to figure out how I could make this plan work.

 

The primary idea was to fly on United on Saturday afternoon.  I booked a www.priceline.com hotel reservation (non-cancelable) just to put some additional focus (pressure?) on the plan so that I wouldn’t back out at the last minute.  We also had Aero Mexico and Mexicana Airlines as backups although their flights were full.

 

United had 8-10 open seats on a 160-seat airplane just a few days before our departure date.  That amount of seating can go away in an afternoon.  At the very last minute I discovered an Alaska Airlines flight to Mexico City.  They had just one flight per day from LAX to MEX.  It seemed odd to me that Alaska Airlines would fly to Mexico.  I checked them out.  They might have a few seats.

 

We showed up at the airport and stood in long lines with our fellow “spring break” travelers.  We cleared security with not much more than the clothes on our back.  We were only going to be in Mexico for one night if the plan worked.  If the plan didn’t work I would be a “dead man” as Carol is so frequently fond of putting it.

 

We waited until the very last minute until our name was called by the Alaska Airlines gate agent.  “Would you like to sit in first class, Mr. Lewis?”  She didn’t have to ask twice.  Yes, we would!

 

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The trip logistics while we were in Mexico City went smoothly.  Clearing Mexican passport control was a breeze.  Signs directed us into one of two lines labeled “foreigners” and “Mexicans”.  I guess when you think about it that pretty well sums up most people’s choices.

 

Next up was getting transportation into Mexico City.  We would not be renting a car.  The population of greater Mexico City is about 19.2 million residents.  It’s among the top two or three most populated cities in the world.  Our downtown hotel was less than 10 miles from the airport.  The racetrack was less than five miles from the hotel.  The airport was less than five miles from the airport.  Taxis and private cars would do the trick for the entire trip.

 

As mentioned I used Priceline.com to secure our hotel.  We won a night at the Sheraton Centro Historico.  This hotel was 27 stories tall and very modern and upscale.  Our room on the 24^th  floor offered a commanding view of the city.  The elevators were noiseless and even had flat screen TVs in them.  I’ve never seen that before!

 

The hotel’s concierge was an integral partner in helping plan the Mexico City part of our trip.  He helped with restaurant recommendations, transportation and language translation.  I’ll tell you more about Armando in the “People” section.

 

 

The most concerning part of our logistics plan, once we got to Mexico, would be getting home in a timely manner.  Communicating with Mexican Airlines over the phone regarding “space availability” is nearly impossible.  Information is king.  I’m paid to interpret information.  Without good data, I can’t do my job.

 

Fortunately, the A1 Grand Prix races start at the advertised time.  An A1 Grand Prix runs for 70 minutes.  As far as I know, the race organizer’s buy 90 minutes of TV time.  A 70-minute race allows time for an intro, a race and a wrap-up.

 

When the race was finished, we ran for our lives.  We needed to meet Ivan (see “The People” section) our driver immediately in order to have a shot at a United non-stop flight back to LAX.  If we missed that flight there were three more flights on Mexican airlines that I had absolutely no idea what the availability might be.  If we didn’t get on any of those flights we would have to search for a hotel and start over all again tomorrow.

 

Ivan had promised to meet us at a Pemex petrol station across the street from the track.  However, the Autodromo Hernando Rodriquez track is located in a very urban section of Mexico City.  Its location is similar to the in city location of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Ivan had dropped Carol and me in the midst of eight lanes of bumper-to-bumper race traffic.

 

After the race we found a Pemex petrol station bit sensed it wasn’t the correct one.  We were right about that.  After spending a few moments trying to bridge the Spanish/English language barrier with the young girls who washed the windshields at the station, we headed off to where we thought Ivan might be.

 

After walking some ten blocks we spotted him!  We had wasted a few valuable minutes.  Now, we might not even have a chance at the earlier United flight.  Fortunately, the airport is very near the racetrack.  Most of the Mexican fans were local.  They were not headed to the airport.

 

Carol and I sat in the back seat of the brand new Chevrolet Suburban SUV, while Ivan drove.  I pulled out a 50-peso bill as a tip for Ivan.  I handed it to Carol while I organized my stuff.  At the airport it was a little crazy finding our airline and getting our bags out of the SUV.  As Ivan drove off, I asked Carol if she had given him his tip.  No, she had not.  In the confusion, she had given the 50 pesos back to me.  I looked down at my hand, I was holding the 50 pesos bill.  Ivan was driving away.

 

I began to scream and yell for Ivan to stop.  He couldn’t hear me.  However, several skycaps saw what was happening and heard me yelling.  They ran out into the street and somehow got Ivan to stop albeit some 100 yards down the road.  I raced down to give Ivan his tip.  If I could read his mind, I suspect he thinks a lot of good things about Americans right now.

 

“But, Randy”, the concerned yet empathetic Trackchaser Report reader might ask.  “You are always trying to get a good deal.  Why didn’t you just let Ivan go and save yourself 50 pesos?”  The RANLAY does not roll that way.

 

Getting a good deal on a hotel at Priceline is one thing.  That hotel has given Priceline the O.K to sell their rooms for a song.  I have a personal code of honor that says I will never take advantage of a family member or a friend under any circumstances.  Ivan was now a friend.  He had fulfilled his contract with me.  Now, I had to fulfill my end of the bargain.

 

Carol and I pulled up to the United counter just 45 minutes before flight time.  That’s hardly enough time to make a domestic flight let alone an international one.  Fortunately, there was nobody in line.  This was United’s only flight of the day to Los Angeles.  All of their passengers were already at the gate!

 

We were fortunate to get a ticket agent who had his head on straight.  He told us there were three passengers who had not checked in yet.  If they didn’t come we could get their seats.  Most airlines have dress codes for their standby fliers.  Carol was wearing shorts.  I was wearing a Steve Williams racing t-shirt.  Neither of those wardrobes would pass airline muster.

 

While I did the passport paperwork, Carol went off to change clothes.  By the time she had finished I had enough paper to get us past security.  Passengers don’t have to take off their shoes and remove their gels and liquids when clearing Mexican airport security.  I don’t know what to say about that.

 

At least two of those three late arriving passengers didn’t make the flight, because we did.  We got the last two seats on that airplane.  This was the final element in my first ever PERFECT logistical trackchasing weekend.  The pressure was off……for at least one more week.








The People

 

Everyone we met in Mexico was wonderful.  Mexico City sometimes gets a bad rap, but we found the city to be beautiful, friendly and safe.  Sometimes if you have low expectations of a certain place, it can far exceed your projections.  This was the case with Mexico City.

 

 

Armando

 

Even though the people were nice, we still had a problem.  We didn’t have tickets to the race.  I joined up with Armando, the concierge at our hotel, the Sheraton Centro Historico.  I introduced myself to Armando and explained our purpose in visiting Mexico City.  I handed him my trackchasing business card.  Yes, I gave this same card to fellow trackchaser Mike Knappenberger recently.  Armando promised to check with his “contacts” about tickets while we went off to dinner.  I felt good about having tickets upon our return, even though Armando told us we might have to pay a premium.

 

When we returned from dinner, I checked back with the concierge.  Armando had followed up as promised.  However, he had no tickets.  His contacts told him the event was sold out.  There were no tickets to be had.

 

There were no tickets.  I guess Carol and I would just head home on the first flight in the morning without seeing the race.  We had already had a nice time touring Mexico City and enjoyed a fine meal.  There really wasn’t much else to do.  It was time to head back to San Clemente.

 

Wrong!  The RANLAY doesn’t roll that way either.  I don’t know where I learned this trait, but for some reason I have it.  I will never ever give-up until the clock runs out, until the checkered flag falls or until the fat man sings.  That’s just the way I do things.  You may consider that a positive or a negative.  If I’m on your team, you might like that approach.  If I’m not on your team, I suspect you will not care for this attitude.

 

How was I going to get tickets?  I gave this a good deal of thought over the evening hours.  I had a few ideas.  I would ask Armando to help me create a sign that read, “Need 2 Tix”. 

 

Of course, the sign would need to read “Necesitamos dos entradas”.  I would also ask Armando to write a short note for me that read, “We’re from the United States.  We don’t have tickets.  Can you help”?  I got the idea from the guys who stand on Southern California street corners!  Of course, this note would need to be written in Spanish.  It might look something like this, “Lo de los Estados Unidos. No tenemos boletos. ¿Puedes ayudar a”  You might recall we had the same problem getting tickets at the NASCAR race in Guadalajara.  I guess it’s a Mexico thing.

 

In the meantime, Armando arranged to have a taxi transport us for the day.  Our driver would take us from the hotel to the racetrack at noon.  At 5 p.m., the driver would be there to take us from the track to the airport.  The fee would be 550 pesos (about $55 U.S.).  That didn’t seem too bad for the service we would be getting.  Of course, we didn’t have any confirmed airline seats for our Sunday night flight home.  There were three flights we might be able to get on.  If we didn’t make it, we would grab a hotel and try again on Monday.

 

By the way, I feel strongly that you have to spend money to make money.  Most people who don’t have much money don’t feel this way.  It’s possible that may be the reason they don’t have much money.  Spending just $55 for a private car allowed us to make our plane tonight saving a potential extra hotel night expense.  We also saved on parking at the hotel and at the racetrack.  We didn’t have to buy any gas.  We didn’t have to rent a car.  We didn’t have to battle Mexico City traffic.  Heck, after paying the $55 I felt like they were giving ME money.  Remember, you are receiving pearls here.  You just have to open the clamshell.

 

Armando had done his best.  He just couldn’t come up with any tickets.  I asked him if he had seen anyone in the hotel who was going to the race.  No, he had not.  I was thinking that someone already going to the race might have some ideas about how to get tickets.  We both looked around the lobby.  There were no likely suspects.

 

It was now time to go back upstairs to our room.  Carol counts on me to “hunt and gather”.  I would be returning without the prize.  I hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed.

 

 

Sergio

 

As I was standing by the elevator, I noticed a young man in a Ferrari t-shirt walking past.  I had nothing to lose.  I stopped him.  “Are you going to the race today?” I asked.  He was.  I explained our situation.  I told him about trackchasing.  I handed him my trackchasing business card.  Yes, the same card I gave Mike.  He seemed intrigued and impressed.  This was a good combination.

 

Then as if by divine intervention from our creator or whatever you might like to call it, my new Ferrari friend came up with this comment.  “I have two extra tickets.  They’re not near the pit area.  The tickets are at the end of the main straight,” he explained.  For some reason, I have a large amount of good luck.  Why is that?

 

I offered to pay for the tickets.  My friend who I would come to know as “Sergio” would hear nothing of it.  He told me he had gotten the tickets from “his work”.  His wife was holding the tickets in another part of the hotel. 

 

Sergio and I walked over to where his wife was standing.  She was a beautiful young woman.  Sergio explained to her in Spanish the details of our transaction.  I don’t know exactly what he told her.  It might have gone like this, “This is Randy Lewis.  He’s the ‘World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser’.  He’s in an epic battle with some fellow competitors from the United States East Coast.  We can save him.  Let’s give him our tickets”.

 

Alternatively, he might have said, “Hey this guy is bugging me for tickets.  I’d like to sell them to him for big bucks but I might get in trouble at work.  Let’s just give him the tickets and get out of here”.

 

I don’t really know what he told his wife.  I might have understood better if I had paid more attention during my two years of high school Spanish at a high school in the rural Midwest.  However, when I was taking Spanish I didn’t know anyone else who spoke Spanish, didn’t expect to ever travel to a place where they really spoke Spanish and didn’t give much of a hoot about the language.  Who knew?

 

Sergio and his wife were more than willing to have their picture taken for viewing at www.ranlayracing.com.  They were really nice people.  I wish them all the happiness and good luck in the world.

 

When I returned to our hotel room, I took a good deal of time explaining to Carol how Armando, our concierge, could not get us any tickets.  I told her the event was sold out.  I explained that I had done the best that I could.  We didn’t have any tickets and we didn’t have any good prospects.  I just wanted to see her reaction.

 

She wasn’t disappointed in me.  She never is.  She understood what we were up against.  We were in a foreign land.  Things are different here.  We wouldn’t give up until the checkered flag flew on the A1 Grand Prix feature event without us being at the track.

 

Then……..I gave here the latest news……..the greatest news.  I told her all about meeting Sergio…..about Sergio’s desire to help us in our trackchasing quest.  Now Carol was happy……and so was I.  Our “people” experiences in Mexico have been great at every turn. 

 

 

Ivan

 

I go over my trackchasing plans in my head pretty much 24/7.  I am usually practicing the conversations that will be needed and considering my backup plans if the primary plan runs into a problem.

 

My plan for race day had always been to get a cab from the hotel to the track, watch the race and then get a cab from the track to the airport.  I knew getting a cab from the hotel to the track would be easy.  I wasn’t sure how easy it might be to get a cab from the racetrack to the airport.  I knew that if I was at the Eldora Speedway, getting a cab to the Dayton airport would be difficult.

 

I explained my dilemma to Armando our hotel concierge.  He had a wonderful solution.  I had temporarily forgotten that Armando’s main job is to solve problems for the hotel’s guests.  Armando told me he could arrange for a private car to transport us.  He would check on the details and get back to me when we returned from dinner.

 

We had another logistical problem that needed to be solved.  We were checking out of the hotel at noon on Sunday.  We expected to be getting on a Sunday night flight.  What would we do with our luggage in the interim?  Leaving our stuff at the hotel was not a good choice.  There would not be enough time after the race to return to the hotel to get our bags. 

 

I didn’t want to have any rolling carryon bags with me at the racetrack.  First, I didn’t think they would let us into the track with bags like that.  Secondly, I knew there was a good chance we would be walking on non-paved surfaces.  Our rolling bags wouldn’t like that.

 

Therefore, I instructed “Trackchasing’s First Mother” to pack light.  Sometimes my instruction and/or advice regardless of how well meaning it is, is not followed in the manner I would prefer.  That’s a courteous way of my saying that Carol sometimes “blows me off” and rejects my advice.  That’s O.K. she makes her own decisions.  Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to carry her stuff at the track!

 

When I tell myself to travel light, I follow my own advice.  In addition to the clothes on my back, my camera bag and my computer bag I carried only these items:  one Steve Williams racing t-shirt, one pair of Calvin Klein underwear, one pair of Nike low-cut (better to get an unusual golf tan) white golf socks and one Old Spice stick deodorant.  That’s it!  It all fit snugly in my computer bag.

 

I didn’t much relish the idea of carrying my computer bag all over the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez road course, but I didn’t think I would have any choice.  I carried my computer bag for six hours in 90 degree temps at the Bira Circuit in Thailand earlier this year and I could do it again.

 

Precisely at 12 noon, we met our driver, Ivan, in front of the Sheridan.  I had no idea what type of car, our “private car” might be.  I was hoping it wouldn’t be one of the VW “beetles” that are used as taxis all over Mexico City.  We were in for a most pleasant surprise.  Ivan was driving a brand new Chevy Suburban SUV.  This was perfect.

 

Ivan spoke English very well.  He told us he would drive us to the track and then meet us at whatever time we wanted to be picked up.  As we rode along, I engaged Ivan in conversation.  I was feeling him out for additional responsibilities.  My business training was all about this.  Whether I was hiring someone or doing business with them, I had to quickly determine if the person was honest and worth investing my time in a personal relationship.  After doing this for 30 years in business, I got to be pretty good at it.

 

After several minutes of conversation, I figured Ivan was a good risk.  I “hired” him.  What did that mean?  I hired him to protect my most precious non-people possession, my laptop.  You need to understand one very important thing.  My laptop is rarely more than 15 feet from me at any point……ever.  Except when I’m playing golf or at a racetrack, I can normally look directly at my laptop.  Of course, I back up my data about once a week just in case the unthinkable ever happens to it.

 

I didn’t want to lug my computer bag at the racetrack today.  If I had a rental car, I would put the bag in the car’s trunk.  If I were in a bad area, I would use my computer security cable to attach the laptop to one of the car trunk hinges.  Today, I would be leaving my computer with Ivan.

 

Carol made an interesting comment.  “You never let your computer out of your sight.  Now, you are leaving it with a Mexican cab driver that you just met 20 minutes ago”.  Of course, Carol was factually correct in her assessment.

 

I had asked Ivan who he drove for most of the time.  He told me the Sheraton Hotel was his biggest client.  I figured he would have to treat his Sheraton guests with the most care in the world in order not to jeopardize his future business. 

 

Although I was trained to spot “ner-do’ wells” not everyone I hired turned out to be the best.  I think I hated firing people more than the people being fired hated it.  Just in case I was making a mistake with Ivan, I used my security cable to latch it securely to the interior of the car.  That would at least make it more difficult for the computer to disappear.

 

When the race was over, we found Ivan.  He was sitting in the backseat of his Chevy Suburban reading the newspaper.  My computer was exactly where I had left it.  Ivan was a good guy.  It was a pleasure having him as our driver for the day.  Everyone we met in Mexico City was great!

 

 

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

 

I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips.  However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home.

 

I do a good deal of traveling.  I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit.  There are almost always unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale.  I want to see those places.  I want to touch them and feel them.  When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions.  I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day.

 

 

Staples Center, Los Angeles, California – Pac-10 Basketball Tournament

In addition to our (my?) hobby of trackchasing, Carol and I are big UCLA Bruins basketball and football fans.  Do you know which school has won exactly 100 NCAA championships in all sports?  If you said, “UCLA” you are not only an intelligent and astute sports fan, but also you are correct!

 

In order for an event to be considered a “Trackchasing Tourist Attraction”, we must see the activity after we have left the house to begin a trackchasing trip and before we have returned home from that trip.  This proviso allows certain “local” events to be considered Trackchasing Tourist Attractions.  Yes, you’ve got to have some basic guidelines.

 

The Staples Center is a great sports venue.  It’s home to the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and the NHL Kings.  It is also home to the Pac-10 college basketball tournament each March.  The Pac-10 is, arguably, the best basketball conference in the country this year.

 

I have a number of sources for tickets to the Pac-10 tournament.  This year I tried a place, www.seatexchange.com that I had never used before.  They came through perfectly.  Seatexchange.com is similar to www.stubhub.com or even Ebay.  They offer sports tickets to high profile events.  The seller can set any price he/she wants for the tickets they have.  Buyers are charged a 10% “handling” fee in addition to whatever the seller is charging for the tickets.  The seller is charged a 15% handling fee based upon the price of the tickets.

 

Most tickets at www.seatexchange.com are offered at a fixed price.  However, a few offerings are listed on a bidding basis, similar to Ebay.  I’m hoping that specific information on ticket companies like www.seatexchange.com adds value to your Trackchaser Report reading experience.  If you end up with a better seat location at your next sporting event, then I will be happy about that.

 

I would rather spend more money for good seats at one game or event than spend an equivalent amount of money for bad seats at two games or events.  If I’m going to go, I want to have good seats.  On the other hand, I am perfectly content to fly in coach twice for the same price as it might cost to fly in first class just once.  That’s just my preference.

 

The UCLA basketball Bruins are a high profile team.  We’ve been attending most all of their home games for nearly 15 years.  Today we came up with tickets in the “PR” section at Staples Center.  These seats were center court.  We even had our own private server who took our food and drink orders and delivered the refreshments to our seats.  No, I can never treat “Trackchasing’s First Mother” too nicely.

 

UCLA easily trounced the Cal Bears.  Carol and I were joined by son, J.J. for the game.  Following the game, we walked over to the U.S. Bank building, the tallest building in Los Angeles to meet daughter Kristy for dinner.

 

If you ever travel to Los Angeles, I can give a hardy RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee to the Yang Chow located in L.A.’s Chinatown.  Yang Chow is home to the “Slippery shrimp” a dish I wouldn’t want you to pass up.  Long-time Trackchaser Report readers should be building up a healthy database of finely recommended restaurants by now.  If you get to Yang Chow, don’t forget to say hello to Robert when you visit. 

 

We finished off our Chinatown evening with a stop for “Boba” tea.  You need to know that I despise tea of any kind.  I also pride myself in knowing in advance, what I will and will not like.  I was firmly convinced that I would not like Boba tea.  Kristy, Carol and J.J. all assured me in various ways that it really “wouldn’t taste like tea” and “you’ll like it”  I’ve heard all of these soothing remarks in the past.  I didn’t believe them.

 

However, as God is my witness, I have to tell you that the advice given to me by Kristy, Carol and J.J. about Boba tea was right on!  I had the strawberry version.  Think “Strawberry Nesquick” and you’ve got it.  It was very tasty and the small “tapioca balls” that surfaced in the super wide straw was a special treat.  As a boy growing up in rural central Illinois, I never could have imagined eating and drinking the things I’ve eaten and drunk.

 

Although our seats for day two of the tournament weren’t as good as the first, they were still fine seats.  UCLA hung on to beat our arch rival, those ‘ner-do-wells of the lowest form, the usc trojans (You will never see “usc” capitalized from this information source).

 

Day three would provide the championship game between UCLA and the Stanford Cardinal.  We’ve already seen four college basketball games in the last 36 hours.  We did not plan to attend the championship game.  Mexican trackchasing officials were calling.

 

Editor’s note:  I have a very diverse group of people who are registered readers of the Trackchaser Report.  There are many family members who read these words.  There are golfing friends, business friends, neighbors, college buddies, people I’ve met at racetracks all over the world, fellow trackchasers and many, many others.  With more than 1,000 people reading the Trackchaser Report with each addition, the interests of my readers run the gamut.  Like a newspaper, I will try to provide a little bit of something for everyone.  Also, like a newspaper I try to divide the Trackchaser Report into “sections”  If you don’t have time to read the entire thing, then maybe you can go to the sections you most enjoy reading.

 

I understand that with such a diverse readership that different people prefer different things.  Our family members may most want to read about members of our family and what they are doing.  Many folks will get something from the travel experiences that may enhance their own traveling experiences when they hit the highways and skyways.  Others may pick up a financial or technology tip or two.  My racing friends may be most interested in knowing how many modifieds started in the “A” feature.  Still others may have misplaced their sleeping pills and simply need a few paragraphs to get them off to sleep.  As the author of these pages, I hope there is at least a little something for everyone.

 

 

Mexico City, Mexico City Tour

We arrived in downtown Mexico City at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.  The trip from the airport took only 20 minutes.  While we were at the airport we pre-paid 127 pesos (current exchange rate is 1 U.S. dollar to 10.7 Mexican pesos), for an “authorized” taxi.  We did this at a taxi booth.  The attendant gave us a pass that we then gave to the driver.  The taxi was a newer clean Nissan with a neatly attired taxi driver who spoke very little English.

 

The weather was perfect.  Temperatures were in the 70s in the city with an elevation of 7,349 feet.  We had heard one of the best ways to tour Mexico City is via the open-air double-decker buses similar to those used to tour London.  After checking into the Sheraton Centro Historico, we walked one block and waited for our bus.

 

The “Turibus” (www.turibus.com.mx) stopped at 24 specific locations around town.  It can also be hailed at just about any point.  Carol paid our 115 peso per person admission fee.  The tour runs in a circle of sorts before returning some three hours and 30 minutes to whatever point the ride was begun.  One of the reasons it takes so long is that the bus must meander through heavy downtown traffic.

 

Carol and I selected a front row position on the top deck of the bus.  If you ever take the Turibus, you won’t want to sit down below.  You won’t be able to see a thing.  The bus offers headsets (no extra charge) that can be used to here the tour guide narrative in any of six languages.  The information is pre-recorded and, as if by magic, begins when the bus gets in front of some important Mexico City highlight.

 

I love riding tour buses at slow speeds.  We’ve done this in Vietnam and other places.  At slow speeds, you can really get a good view of the people and what they’re doing in their daily activities.  Tourists can also get off the bus anytime they want to further explore the area.  Another Turibus will come along shortly, and your wristband will get you on that bus.  If there was a highlight in Mexico City, we saw it.

 

There were a few things that were especially noteworthy.  First, the city was as clean as a pin.  We didn’t see the beggars and other folks who try to hassle you like one might see in border towns such as Tijuana.  The streets are wide.  Most downtown streets are 3-4 lanes wide in each direction.  The streets are divided by large tree-filled medians.  We have never seen a city anywhere with more trees in the downtown area.  In some ways, this reminded us of either Paris or New Orleans.

 

Mexico City has a reputation for being a dangerous place.  We did not experience or feel any danger at all.  The streets were well populated with families and well lit.  We walked 6-8 blocks to our restaurants.  The streets featured vendors selling souvenirs as well as food and drink. 

 

We did notice an extreme police presence.  There were police on EVERY street corner, sometimes two or more.  Many of these police were there to direct traffic.  During our Turibus tour, we came across a huge contingent of police.  There were easily 300 or more police here.  Some were riding in jeep vehicles with automatic weapons permanently attached.  I have no idea what they were us too, but I had never seen such a sight.

 

The sun went down at about 6 p.m.  We still had another hour or more of the bus tour to complete.  It was fun seeing the sun set over Mexico City and the city’s lights come on after dark.  Eating in foreign places is one of my greatest enjoyments on trips like this.  Armando, our concierge gave us a great recommendation for dinner on Saturday night and breakfast on Sunday morning.  If you go to Mexico City, you won’t go wrong in visiting these two Mexican restaurants, both of which earn a RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee.

 

 

Los Girasoles, Mexico City

(http://www.restaurantelosgirasoles.com/)

 

This restaurant is located in the Historical Center of Mexico City.  We ate on the second floor overlooking an evening of dance and beating drums very similar to what we saw in Guadalajara a few months ago.  The cuisine was gourmet.  The prices were more than reasonable.  We had drinks, appetizer, entrees as well as coffee and dessert for about $60.

 

We had the Jamaica flower enchiladas as our appetizer.  This was a group of rolled wheat tortillas embracing the tropical Jamaican flower in a green sauce and topped with gratinated Manchego cheese.  There were other even more exotic dishes on this section of the menu that we did not choose including:

 

“Our famous worms”, Maguey worms fried golden in butter with Guajillo chili and beer.

 

Ant eggs in butter or green sauce.  Served with guacamole and different colored tortillas.

 

For my entrée, I chose the beef fillet topped with grilled nopal paddle and served on a bed of pasilla and pobland pepper sauce.  This was one of the most beautiful dishes I have ever seen.  Don’t miss its picture at www.ranlayracing.com.

 

Of course, no gourmet dining experience like this is complete without coffee and dessert.  Carol had the Mexican coffee and we both enjoyed the creamy guava custard.  Most yummy.

 

 

Café De Tacuba

 

Read the Fodor’s review by clicking or pasting the link below:

http://www.fodors.com/world/mexico%20and%20central%20america/mexico/mexico%20city/entity_37339.html

 

Or……in a Trackchaser Report first, click on this “You Tube” visit to the restaurant.  You’ll get more out of it if you speak Spanish!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIWyL9_G9Ss

 

Here we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in a restaurant that has been in business since 1912.  We waited less than five minutes to be seated although the wait was much longer when it was time for us to leave.

 

First, we were offered a tray full of Mexican pastries.  Soon Carol’s coffee latte was served.  Our server dressed in a prim and proper starch white nurse’s outfit poured and inch or two of black coffee in the cup and then filled the rest from a pitcher of steaming white milk.  She poured the milk from THREE FEET above the coffee cup.

 

Carol had eggs and refried beans.  I went with the machaca con huevos, one of my favorite Mexican dishes from the more than authentic eateries that populate San Clemente.  Towards the end of our meal, the obligatory Mariachi singers came out to play.  It was a lovely meal on a beautiful Sunday morning.

 

Following our breakfast, we took a leisurely stroll some eight blocks back to the hotel.  We passed by the historical post office that still operates as such.  With its gold ornamentation, it looks like a palace.

 

On Sunday mornings, Mexico City closes off several major city streets to vehicular traffic.  Then local citizens can ride their bikes down these four lane (one direction) thoroughfares without fear of being run over.  I’ve never seen such a thing, but it’s a great idea and a beautiful sight.

 

If you’re getting the impression everything went our way on this trip, you are correct.  I have never had any trip have where everything fell into place as neatly as this one did.  I kept telling Carol that sooner or later something wasn’t going to work out, but everything did.

 STATE RANKINGS

 

Federal District

 

Today Carol and I each saw our 2nd lifetime track in the country of Mexico.  This gives us undisputed leadership in the country even though our total would appear to be low.  As it turns out, just a few trackchasers have ever ventured down here.  None of them has seen more than one track in Mexico.  I hope that my international visits and those of the others in what is becoming the “international big three”  will encourage trackchasers from all over the world to branch out a bit.

 

By the way, I make up the smallest angle of trackchasing’s “international big three” triangle.  Trackchasers Roland Vanden Eynde (Belgium) and Will White (United States) have blazed the trails for all other trackchasers on the foreign travel front.  It never hurts to get out of one’s comfort zone from time to time.

 

 

Now you can see the entire up to date trackchaser rankings for Mexico.  With so few entries, it won’t take you much time to scan the list.  Just click on this link or paste it in your browser:

 

http://trackchaser.net/statcountry.asp?country=MEX

 

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, circuits (road courses) and figure 8 tracks.  Generally, a road course includes both left and right turns.  Figure 8 tracks cross over themselves.