Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
VIRGINIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY, JAMAICA, VIRGINIA
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RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report
DAY 1 – IT’S A LONG WALK FOR A SHORT SLIDE TRACKCHASING TOUR
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The Virginia Motor Speedway was both great and terrible all on the same night...................more in “Race Review – Virginia Motor Speedway”.
Tonight Fox TV analyst Mike Joy learned a little bit about trackchasing …………..details in “The People”.
When was the last time you went to a baby shower? I’ve never been too one…………..details in “The Objective”.
Today approached being a 24-hour day without sleep. It’s not easy doing this trackchasing thing or everyone would do it. …………..details in “The Trip”.
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 the President of the Western Washington Racing Association had to say about my Trackchaser Report from last week’s visit to the Evergreen Speedway:
“You brought tears to my eyes with your review, I am truly proud to be a part of WWRA. Thanks for crossing us off your list - so to speak.”
Click on this link or paste it in your browser to take you to today’s Trackchaser Report via my website at
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GREETINGS FROM JAMAICA, VIRGINIA.
I WOKE UP THIS MORNING IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA. I WENT TO SLEEP IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS
The Objective
I am in trackchasing to see as many tracks as I can. Unless, I have a family commitment, if there are new tracks racing that I have never seen, I go. I go because I can. Some people take offense to that comment. I believe that several people believe that if they could go whenever they wanted they would. I’m not so sure about that.
This week I only had time to go trackchasing on Thursday and Friday nights. Our Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball season ticket program has begun. We’ll be going to nine of their games this year. I’ve selected mid-week games (mostly Tuesday and Wednesday) so as not to interfere with weekend trackchasing. Even by picking mid-week games, the baseball dates are likely to conflict with my longer track trips in the middle of the summer. I go to the games to have dinner. Carol goes to the games to watch baseball.
Carol will not leave a baseball game early. It doesn’t matter if the Angels are winning or losing 15-0. I’ve tried to point out that 97% of all baseball teams leading after the seventh inning win the game (this is a true baseball stat). Fortunately, she does not have a problem leaving a track before the final event is run when that makes the most sense.
Baseball was what limited me from beginning this trip any earlier. A more unique activity would require my attendance back in California by Saturday at noon. I had to attend a baby shower! Of course, after the baby shower wraps up I will have less than 24 hours at home before Carol and I hop on an airplane and fly to our next international trackchasing adventure.
Yes, this will be my first ever baby shower. Nowadays, this activity is not just limited to ladies only. How many men reading this Trackchaser Report have been to a bridal shower or baby shower?
I’m happy to report that James and Kristy’s babies (she’s expecting twins) are growing just fine. The due date is sometime in July, although with twins they could come at any time.
I suspect that the birth of our grandchildren (the doctor says it’s a girl and a boy) will change our lives. This will probably affect Carol some more than me. That’s too bad. She has 358 lifetime tracks. She needs 400 in order to become a voting member in the hobby of trackchasing. With her grandmotherly commitments, her travel is likely to be more limited than originally planned. That’s too bad. Once Carol becomes a voting member, I expect to totally revamp the world of trackchasing rules. That plan will now be delayed until at least 2009.
The Trip
Normally, I enjoy the travel of trackchasing. However, there are a few times when it really does seem like “a long walk for a short slide”. Maybe that is why no one has ever traveled to the extent that I do in the history of the hobby.
Today was a challenging day trip from coast to coast. I do my best to travel efficiently even when the distances are great. Here’s how the day went.
3:15 a.m. - Wake-up. This was one of my earliest wake-up calls ever. I told Carol I would stop trackchasing when the need ever arises to set the alarm in the “2s”. I had to be ready for a 6 a.m. flight from Los Angeles International Airport. It’s a 65-mile drive from my home to the airport.
3:25 a.m. - In just 10 minutes from waking up, I was backing out of the driveway. During those ten minutes, I was able to take a shower and toss on all of my traveling clothes that were laid out the night before. With a brief good-bye to Trackchasing’s First Mother, who had the presence of mind to remind me to check the refrigerator for her nicely prepared travel snacks, I made one last check of my office. My bags were already packed from the night before. Yep! Ten minutes from sleep to backing out of the driveway!
4:25 a.m. - I arrive at my long-term parking destination, The Parking Spot. The Parking Spot is one of my trackchasing corporate sponsors. They provide a discount of 25% each time I use their services.
At this time of the morning, even on a weekday, there is no traffic on the notorious L.A. freeways. Actually, except during the worst rush hour periods, Los Angeles has an outstanding freeway system that rarely results in delays. Of course, you have to know when and where to go.
4:40 p.m. - The yellow and black Parking Spot shuttle bus takes me and a few other crazies to their airline of choice for an early morning departure.
4:45 p.m. – I had printed my airline boarding pass the night before. This meant I could go directly to airport security without waiting in any check-in lines or using any of the self-serve airline kiosks. I rarely check bags on these trips. That saves time on both ends of the airport process. I also never lose any luggage this way.
4:58 p.m. – Clearing airport security was a breeze. I waited behind only about five people.
5:03 a.m. – Gate 68A. I’ve been up for an hour and a half. Now, I have reached the “tipping point” for this trip. I am flying standby on one of my trackchasing sponsor airlines. My information sources told me the night before there were 19 open seats with eight people (like me) standing by to get one of those seats.
Sometimes at the last minute, things change. Sometimes the flight the night before an early morning flight might cancel. In cases like this, the passengers on the canceled flight can instantly take up any “open” seats that might have existed. However, this morning it all works. I don’t get a first class seat, but I do get an aisle seat in coach.
6:10 a.m. – We’re off, almost. The pilot tells the passengers that we will be delayed due to a “mechanical” issue. Sometimes that means five minutes and sometimes that means the flight won’t go at all. Today, it means we are delayed just twenty minutes.
6:30 a.m. – Our pilot explains we will cover the 2,285 flight miles in four hours and forty minutes. That’s about as long as one can fly within the continental United States from west to east. On the way back, we will typically face head winds and the flight will take more than five hours.
1:40 p.m. – We land in Washington, D.C. When I fly from the west coast to the east coast, I lose three hours in time zone changes. Somehow, it seems like a long time from getting up at 3:15 a.m. to landing at nearly 2 p.m. The trip isn’t finished. Now, I have to do the driving from Washington, D.C. in what is rapidly approaching their evening rush hour to the racetrack.
3:15 p.m. - Even though I had no checked luggage to retrieve, it was 3:15 p.m. by the time I was driving out of the Avis Rental Car parking lot. Yes, I can sometimes save money by not renting from the National Rental Car Company, but I give up the perks of picking any car I want and getting in and out of the lot quickly.
6:01 p.m. – The evening rush hour had already kicked in by the time I began the 132-mile drive down to Jamaica, Virginia from the Washington Dulles Airport. Couple the normal rush hour traffic with the crazy who decided to flip his SUV and the ride took an hour longer than normal.
12:45 a.m. Although I arrived at the track at 6:01 p.m., the racing did not conclude until almost 1 a.m. I wasn’t too happy about that. I’ll tell you more about how this happened below. Note I will be both explaining and complaining.
2:09 a.m. I reached my hotel room at the Sheridan in Richmond, Virginia. Yes, it had been a long day.
By the way, I had temporarily forgotten that the NASCAR Sprint Cup race was in Richmond this weekend. Whenever NASCAR comes to race, the hotel rates normally skyrocket and they even impose a multi-day minimum stay.
My Sheridan hotel was very nice. I paid $66 including taxes for my one-night stay. The nightly rate for non-Priceline guests, including taxes, was $202! I’m not certain if a multi-night stay was required or not. One of the reasons I can afford to do this is I don’t pay what the uninformed, the uneducated and/or dare I say the lazy traveler might fork over.
The People
I had one of the best “people” nights I’ve had in a long time. Let me tell you about the folks I ran into tonight.
First, just like the general populace living on the East coast, eastern racing fans are a little “long in the tooth”. Don’t get me wrong, these folks know their racing. They along with the Midwestern USAC fans and Perris Auto Speedway fans (from Ascot) know their racing better than anybody else.
I sat down to a fellow who I found out was a regular at the Bridgeport Speedway up in New Jersey. I have an easygoing way about me and can slip into a conversation smoothly. My sales career helped with that. My Bridgeport buddy was a fountain of information. I sat by him for several minutes before getting up to spend time in the track’s infield.
When I returned to the pit grandstand, I noticed that Mike Joy had walked in with a couple of buddies. Most of you know Mike as the “anchorman”, if you will, in the Fox Sports booth for each NASCAR race. I’m a big fan of Mike Joy. I like his somewhat serious approach to broadcasting the race while he is supported by jokesters on all sides.
During a break in the action, I noticed Mike standing by himself looking over a modified racecar in the pit area. I went up and introduced myself. I reminded Mike of his comments recently about Kenny Schrader (who was also here tonight) wanting to race in Rhode Island and going racing in all 50 states.
Mike and I had a nice chat for maybe five minutes. He could not have been more cordial. I told him a little about the trackchasing hobby and handed him my business card. Maybe trackchasing will get a mention on the next Fox broadcast.
The pit area where all of the racecars park is outside of the track’s infield. When it’s time for the cars to race, they move them from the pit area to the track infield. The infield is huge. It could probably hold 4-5 football fields. While I was in the infield, I noticed Tom Deery walking around. Tom is now the headman for the D.I.R.T. racing organization. I used to see him when he worked for his dad, Hugh Derry at the Rockford Speedway.
Tom appeared to be very serious as he listened in on the track radio. Most of the time, he had no one around him. That’s funny. It’s very common for the boss to be by him/herself. That’s where the phrase, “it’s lonely at the top came from”. I really wanted to go up to Tom and ask, “Why is this show taking so long to complete? Don’t you know it’s a Thursday night and people might have to go to work tomorrow morning”? Although I was itching to ask this question, I had not seen any countable racing yet. I didn’t want to get kicked out before I did!
When I went back to my pit grandstand seat, I ran into a plethora of interesting people. Brett (the corporate jet) Hearn, arguably the best D.I.R.T. modified driver of today or maybe all time, sat down beside me. Although I did not speak directly with him, I will say he’s the youngest looking 51 years old I’ve ever seen. I spent most of my time looking at his much younger blonde girlfriend who busied herself writing down race line-ups.
On the other side of me was a sales manager for a leading consumer products company that sponsors a NASCAR driver who attended tonight. I won’t be able to tell you the company name for confidentiality reasons. Since we both had the same type of corporate job and were race fans, we had a lot in common.
My friend works for a company that is run by Seventh Day Adventists. When he started working for the company, he was required to sign a document that says he can do no work of any kind from Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown. He smiled and told me he did have any problem signing that agreement.
He also told me that when his company’s race team misses a NASCAR race, the sponsor gets 2/3 of their money for that race back. We had a great time talking corporate sales stuff and racing. He was able to keep me informed on who was driving each car, especially in the late model division.
He was most impressed with my commitment to trackchasing. He is one of the few people who have had to travel in business and knows what effort that takes. On the other hand, he knows the racing world as well so we had a good time chatting. He was telling me all about Jason Covert the late model driver who was leading and would go on to win the feature event over some of the best drivers in the east and southeast.
Just at that moment the woman sitting in front of us with her young daughter turned around and said, “That’s my husband in the #43”. She gave us some more background on her husband/driver. With the race only half completed this now gave us a driver to root for. Several yellow flag periods ate into Covert’s lead. However, after each restart, he pulled away. Jason ended up winning the feature race. Everyone in our section went away happy.
I don’t normally have this much contact with such high profile and entertaining to talk too race fans. It was an excellent “people” night.
RACE REVIEW
VIRGINIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY, JAMICA, VIRGINIA
First of all, the Virginia Motor Speedway is one of the finest dirt racing facilities in the world. It was built and is operated by the Sawyer family. They owned the Richmond International Raceway for years until selling out some time ago. I always wondered why there would want to do that to simply “run a short track”. Now I know where they put some of the boatloads of money they got for selling RIR.
Everything at VMS is much bigger than at most places. Tonight they had more than 40 super late models and more than 40 D.I.R.T. big block modifieds. Their crushed stone pit area could have handled twice as many competitors with ease.
The modern aluminum spectator grandstand seating area is huge. I’m guessing it can seat up to 10,000 people. The smallish crowd on that side of the fence numbered about 1,000 by my unofficial count. The crowd looked smaller than it was in that large grandstand. I don’t suspect the track’s relatively rural location and the Thursday night schedule helped build the crowd.
The track’s infield is also huge. With my purchased pit pass, ($30 provided a glitzy gold wristband) I had the run of the pit area, track infield and a good seat in a modern aluminum pit area grandstand. I’m not sure if my wristband would have gotten me into the spectator grandstand or not. I suspect it would have.
The track was smooth and dust-free from my vantage point. The drawback to the pit area grandstand was that it did not have a speaker. The pit area has a wonderful sound system. The spectator P.A. was so strong we could hear it from time to time over in our grandstand.
Overall, this is one fine facility. The cars racing tonight are probably my two most favorite (super dirt late models and D.I.R.T. big block modifieds) along with the NASCAR Sprint Cup group. With four cars inverted in each modified heat race and a draw for the top 10 in the feature the actual racing was excellent. I have rarely seen a bad D.I.R.T. modified race.
The late models were even better. Although the winner led most of the race, the cars racing for second and third as well as fourth and fifth ran side by side for nearly the entire 40-lap race. They also were able to close up on the leader with each caution flag stop.
The facility was great. The racing was great……………..but the show left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth. Why? I’ll tell you why.
I arrived at 6 p.m. The announced driver’s meetings (2) started closed to the advertised time of 6:30 p.m. From there things went downhill. The weather was perfect. The track was perfect at the time I arrived. They just hot lapped the cars too much. Hot laps are practice laps. These guys are all professionals; they don’t need so much stinkin’ practice. The fans are not professionals. They normally have to be somewhere on Friday morning after a Thursday race. They call it work!
With the driver’s meeting over by about 6:45 p.m., they proceeded to hot lap the cars for two more hours! They practiced until 8:45 p.m. Then (as God is my witness) they went to time trials for the modifieds. I haven’t seen the mods race in a couple of years. I don’t remember them time trialing. They did a very efficient job of timing more than 40 modifieds. Time trials finished at 9:10 p.m.
The late models ran their heats first and then the mods. The late model feature was first as well. The first modified heat race did not hit the track until 10 p.m.!! Now let’s think about this. We have the Sawyer family running this track. They are arguably one of the best racing families in the business. We have Tom Deery, who comes from one of the foremost race promoter families in the Midwest if not in the entire country. How could they let the program get away from them like this?
Remember there were no weather problems and no track problems. There were very few on track racing delays. They just spent too much time practicing. I intend to send a copy of this Trackchaser Report to the Sawyer family and Mr. Deery. If they provide a comment, I will share it with you.
The feature racing was great. However, the final feature event of the night did not finish until fifteen minutes before 1 a.m. This was a Thursday night. This is totally unacceptable. Fortunately, for the track, tonight’s crowd looked like a Florida Speedweeks crowd. You know the type. It was almost all male. These are the kinds of guys who will drive 1,000 miles or more to see a race. Maybe they didn’t notice it was almost 1 a.m. when the final checkered flew. I do know there were very few woman in attendance. My wife would not have enjoyed this show even though the racing was well above average.
I was only staying about 65 miles from the track. I didn’t get to my hotel room until 2:09 a.m. I would guess that most people came from much farther away. I am certain that the East coast had some very weary workers on Friday morning for no real good reason.
STATE RANKINGS
Virginia
Tonight I saw my 14th different track in the state for lovers. This puts me into a tie for 17th place here with Pam Smith of Pennsylvania. Pam’s husband, Guy, leads in Virginia with 43 tracks.
In order to break into the top 10 (and avoid the National Geographic Diversity penalty for underperformance) in the state, I would need to see seven more Virginia tracks. I have only 14 currently operating tracks in the state to choose from. This will make it difficult gaining a 10th place finish or better. A rather large number of 46 different trackchasers has seen tracks in Virginia.
Now you can see the entire up to date trackchaser rankings for Virginia. Just click on this link or paste it in your browser:
http://trackchaser.net/statregion.asp?country=USA®ion=VA
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
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
Washington-Dulles Airport – Thursday/Friday/Saturday
I will be driving the Avis Rental Car Racing Chrysler 300 on this trip. It’s a little underpowered but overall a good-sized comfortable car.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser
It’s O.K. if you have to feel bad to make yourself feel good….just don’t blame it on me.
TRAVEL DETAILS
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – Washington, D.C. – 2,285 miles
RENTAL CAR
Washington-Dulles International Airport – trip begins
Jamaica, VA – 132 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Virginia Motor Speedway – $30 (pit pass)
RANKINGS
LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. I’m telling you, it’s not my fault!
1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,333
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. Kevin Eckert, Indianapolis, Indiana – 450
27. Ken Schrader, Concord, North Carolina – 365
28. Carol Lewis,
29. Max Allender,
2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 35
2. Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 32
3. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 23
4. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 11
5. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 9
5. Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania - 9
Tracks have been reported by 25 different worldwide trackchasers this season.
Complete 2008 Trackchasing Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statyear.asp?year=2008
LIFETIME COUPLES TRACKCHASING STANDINGS
1. Randy & Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,691
2. Allan & Nancy Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,675
3. Guy & Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,669
LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS
2007 NGD results are posted at www.ranlayracing.com
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
One more track in Virginia, a flight back to California and then a very long international flight to go trackchasing in my 15th and 16th foreign countries.
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.
1,319. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez (road course), Mexico City, Mexico – March 16
1,320. Hartwell Motor Speedway (oval), Hartwell, Georgia – March 22
1,321. Lavonia Speedway, Lavonia (oval), Georgia – March 22
1,322. Dover Raceway (road course), Brown’s Town, St. Ann, Jamaica – March 24
1,323. Lake Country Speedway (oval), Ardmore, Oklahoma – March 29
1,324. Swainsboro Raceway (oval), Swainsboro, Georgia – April 3
1,325. Screven Motor (oval), Sylvania, Georgia – April 4
1,326. Centerville Super Speedway (oval), Centerville, Arkansas – April 5
1,327. Central Arkansas Speedway (oval), Plumerville, Arkansas – April 5
1,328. Clinton Country Speedway (oval), Alpha, Kentucky – April 6
1,329. Pleasant Valley Raceway (oval), Boise, Idaho – April 20
1,330. Bremerton Raceway (road course), Bremerton, Washington – April 26
1,331. Port Angeles Speedway (oval), Port Angeles, Washington – April 26
1,332. Evergreen Speedway (1/5-mile oval), Monroe, Washington – April 27
1,333. Virginia Motor Speedway (oval), Jamaica, Virginia – May 1
