Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
PROWERS COUNTY MOTORSPORTS PARK - LAMAR, COLORADO
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RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report
ASTRID ELISABETH PETERS
Born 8:58 p.m. – Saturday, June 14, 2008
MITCHELL FREDERICK PETERS
Born 9:00 p.m. – Saturday, June 14, 2008
MOST SPECIAL NOTICE OF THE SEASON
I am more than elated to announce that Carol and I have become grandparents for the first time on June 14, 2008. Our daughter Kristy gave birth to twins on Saturday evening. Both she and James as well as the babies are doing well. This capped off a wonderful week of activities for the Lewis household.
The birth date came on the 24th Saturday of 2008. You might ask, “But, Randy, you’re not home very often on Saturday night are you?” That’s a legitimate question. For the first TWENTY-THREE Saturday nights of 2008, I have been out of town for 22 of them. On the one and only Saturday night before the births that I was home, I had flown in that Saturday morning from a race in Virginia so I could be back in time for Carol and I to fly away the next day, Sunday, for our trip to Europe.
“So, Randy, what possessed you to home on THIS Saturday night,” the curious and loyal Trackchaser Report reader might ask. Maybe it was just divine intervention. That’s about the only way I can explain it. We certainly didn’t know when the births were going to happen. I received a phone call while sitting at my office desk at 6 p.m. on Saturday night. It was Kristy. She told me the Cesarean birth was scheduled for 8 p.m. just two hours from the time of her call. Of course, Carol was at church praying for my rain-free trackchasing record to continue. To top it all off we had houseguests! Our guests, the Moodys were away for a few hours attending a local wedding. When they came back to our house, we were already headed to the hospital!
Once Carol came home, we hopped in the Carol Lewis owned and Life of Virginia sponsored Lexus LS 430 and hightailed it to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Our GPS unit, “Tonto” directed us easily up to the hospital. We arrived at the corner of Gracie Allen Drive and George Burns Road at just past 8 p.m. Yes, we were in Hollywood. The Gracie Allen parking lot had several spaces and we grabbed one.
Cedars-Sinai is the largest private hospital in California and the western United States with more than 2,000 doctors and 900 beds. According to U.S. News & World Reports, Cedars-Sinai ranks as the 17th best hospital out of 5,462 medical centers in the United States.
The hospital is known as the “hospital of the stars” and has had famous patients such as Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Madonna and Julia Roberts. Heck, Steven Spielberg is on the hospital’s board of directors.
Tonight Kristy was the star attraction. She and James had been anticipating this event for nearly nine months. They may be the most prepared parents ever to accept a set of twins. The nursery at home is all decked out with the latest, the greatest and the donated.
Carol and I arrived at the hospital at just past 8 p.m. There we met J.J. who happened to be in town because of a few off-days from his piloting job. Son, Jim, eagerly awaited news from his compound in Honolulu. This was a perfect time to be coming to the hospital. Although the emergency room area of the building was buzzing with ner’do’wells and police cars, the maternity ward was relatively quiet. We waited, but we didn’t have to wait long.
Shortly after we arrived, we learned that Kristy’s good friend Krista was in the hospital. Krista was part of Kristy’s bridesmaid group back in May, 2007. Krista was with child as well. In an alignment of the stars, Krista gave birth to a baby today in the very same hospital as Kristy. How strange in that!
James gave us the details of the process for Kristy’s new adventure. There were exactly 20 people (doctors, nurses and staff) in the delivery room handling tonight’s birthing process. One of the doctors had delivered Madonna’s latest baby. Yes, when you’re this close to Hollywood, name-dropping is a national pastime. However, tonight those celebrity doctors were stepping up a notch. They were delivering the Peters’ babies.
The babies were born one right after another at 9 p.m. At 11 p.m., we were viewing them in their respective nurseries. It was a quick birth. We were able to talk to Kristy shortly after delivery. She was in remarkably good spirits considering what she had just done.
Congratulations to the new (and larger) Peters’ family. It’s all fun from here on out.
P.S. I’m hoping to get the twins out on the trackchasing trail as soon as possible. If they play their cards right they can get the record for “youngest trackchaser” from that “little Ritter girl”.
DAY 1 – ANOTHER PINPOINT
AIRSTRIKE TRACKCHASING TOUR
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Just one headline today!....................more at “The top of the page!”.
Click on or paste this link in your browser to see the photos from this trip.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ranlay8/080613ProwersCountyMtrsprtsPark
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.
Randy,
We Texans are very pleased to have you visit our state, as we're proud of what we have to offer here.
But please! Refer to Texas's nickname correctly: it is The Lone Star State, not the Long Horn state.
How would you feel if I visited California and commented "I really enjoyed my visit to the Trojan state". That's what I thought. Not so good, because I know you are a UCLA man, not a usc person. Since I am a Texas Tech Red Raider man, I feel much the same way about the u of texas long horns as you feel about usc.
Thank you for your attention to this important manner in your future writing about the Lone Star State!
Please accept my apologies for this oversight.
GREETINGS FROM LAMAR, COLORADO.
I WOKE UP THIS MORNING IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA. I WENT TO SLEEP OVERNIGHT IN THE FRONT SEAT OF THE NATIONAL RENTAL CAR RACING CHEVY MAILIBU IN THE NATIONAL RENTAL CAR PARKING LOT AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS MUNICIPAL AIRPORT. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.
PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS
The Objective
My objective with trackchasing is to have fun. I’m lucky in one way. Even though I go trackchasing 2-3 days each week for several months, I’m retired. This means that I have 4-5 days each week at home to do whatever I please.
As you know, I am lucky enough to have some major backing from several U.S. based airlines. Although this is a blessing, it can have some minor drawbacks. This means I can pretty much go trackchasing anywhere I want, anytime I want. I like trackchasing. That’s why I go as often as I do. However, I recognize there are other things to do in life as well. Maybe the “time management” gods were helping with the decisions I made this week.
A friend of mine told me he had tickets to this week’s U.S. Open golf tournament at the Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California. As you may or may not know, the U.S. Open is one of professional golf’s four “majors”. I am always trying to add to my “major moments in sports” personal resume. The U.S. Open would give me another jewel in that particular crown.
My friend had two ticket buying choices. I could buy one ticket to a practice round on Wednesday for $60. If I chose this option, I could easily go trackchasing over the weekend.
His second ticket option was for Sunday. On the final day of the tournament, he had TWO tickets for $150 each. Although the tickets were more expensive, this meant two things to me. First, I could take Carol along to the golf tournament. Secondly, if I had a commitment on Sunday, then I would not be doing any trackchasing this weekend. When there’s a good reason to stay home, and the U.S. Open was an excellent reason, then trackchasing can take a back seat.
As I mentioned, I am retired. I have orchestrated a lifestyle that does not require any chores at home. Mind you, I am not criticizing anyone who likes to do household chores. Many of my friends enjoy puttering around the house. I don’t. I like to look out the window and watch the surfers surf. I used to do work, but that’s why I retired. I don’t like work, I like to play. Again, I must repeat, this is just me. Everybody should do what they like to do.
I’ll give you an example of what my itinerary looked like this week. When I can, I like to have an entertainment activity each and every day.
Monday – dinner and a movie with Carol (Young @ Heart – excellent)
Tuesday – golf (my game is terrible but it does take up the better part of a day)
Wednesday – afternoon Angels games against the Tampa Bay Rays (used to be DEVIL Rays?) and dinner with Carol
Thursday – golf (my game is still terrible)
Friday – Our friends the Moody’s arrive from Northern California
Saturday – spend time with the Moodys
Sunday – U.S. Open golf tournament
“But, Randy, how did you get to the Prowers County Motorsports Park all the way out in Colorado with such a full schedule”, somebody might conceivably ask. During the week, our friends the Moody’s called to say they couldn’t get to San Clemente until Saturday morning not Friday night. Ah hah! This freed up Friday!
I had time to fly out to Colorado Springs on Friday morning. Then with just four hours sleep in my rental car after the races, I was back at LAX by 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. A hasty drive had me in my San Clemente shower before the Moody’s showed up for lunch at the San Clemente Pier at noon. It’s hectic jet set lifestyle in many ways, but that’s how I like to do it.
The Trip
My flight this morning from Los Angeles had eight open seats the night before departure. On a 50-passenger airplane, that’s normally a pretty safe play. However, a family of six missed their earlier Friday morning flight to Denver. Since they were paying passengers, the airline put them on MY plane to Colorado Springs ahead of me.
This family’s poor planning nearly cost me the opportunity to see the Prowers County Motorsports Park. It’s bad enough when my planning errors affect my results, but I don’t need to have to pay for other people’s mistakes!
The People
I arrived early at the speedway. Races were scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. At 5 p.m., there wasn’t much activity at the track. I drove into town to visit a Sonic Drive-in. While I was having a cherry crème slush, I worked on-line with my Lenovo Laptop. I was using my Radio Shack 150v inverter with the rental car’s power adapter (aka cigarette lighter) to make sure I didn’t run out of computer battery.
The inverter is supposed to power down when it senses the car battery is running low from supporting the computer. Apparently, that didn’t work. When I finished my computer work and my slush, I tried to start the car. It wouldn’t crank! To make a long story short, I called the National Rental Car service line (no answer) and then AAA. Since Lamar, Colorado is out in the boonies, AAA’s 30-minute service is not guaranteed. They told me they would get to me within 90 minutes. It was 6:50 p.m. The races were scheduled to start in just 10 minutes and I was seven miles from the track.
I certainly didn’t want to get up at 4 a.m., fly 1,000 miles or so, then drive nearly 200 miles and miss the race! However, I frequently overstate the organizational capabilities of those in the short track racing industry. Apparently, I occasionally overstate my own capabilities with inverters, laptops and rental car batteries as well! After I called AAA, I tried to start the car again. It gave me a small glitter of hope, but then didn’t fire. I sensed if I waited about 10 minutes, the battery might recover enough for me to start the car. It did! I arrived at the track at 7:20 p.m. No, they had not started racing yet, despite being twenty minutes past the scheduled start time. They were only packing the track.
I was surprised to be admitted for the four-dollar senior admission price. There was no indicator saying they even offered a senior discount. When that happens, I simply say, “One senior” and see what happens. Later, as I was paging through my free race program I noticed that seniors were defined as 65+. The ticket price for them was $8. Maybe I got the “trackchaser special”. At least I was comfortable knowing I had not misrepresented myself in any way. The adult female ticket taker had even called me back to the booth to remind me that I had a dollar in change coming from the five-dollar bill I had given her.
RACE REVIEW
PROWERS COUNTY MOTORSPORTS PARK, LAMAR, COLORADO
Lamar is a small country down in southeastern Colorado. It’s not far from Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. This is the typical “Far West” oval track. Tracks “out here” are normally rustic and the car counts are normally small. Tracks in areas like this usually run one or two times per month. The PCMP races two times per month.
The facility itself wasn’t too bad considering its rural location. The grandstand seating area consisted of a huge concrete slab grandstand that ran the length of the front straight. The concession stand was rustic but served me an outstanding bowl of chili. The sound system was good, although the announcer did not say too much. He did give me a nice trackchaser welcome.
The pit area is located beyond the backstretch. The pit P.A. system could be heard on the grandstand side of the ¼-mile banked dirt oval. The woman in charge of getting the cars lined up spent a good deal of time admonishing the drivers for not being ready to race. This is a common theme amongst short track racers, especially at dirt tracks.
There were seven classes of racing machines at the track tonight. Here’s what that looked like: Econo stocks (8), Hobby stocks (2), Cruiser (1), Hobby trucks (6), mini stocks (4), IMCA stocks (3) and IMCA modifieds (7). These car counts might not sound very exciting, because for the most part they weren’t.
The Econo stocks and Hobby stocks were combined. This group ran two heat races, every other class ran just one heat race. Most classes ran a trophy dash and a feature race.
During intermission, they brought out the one and only cruiser car in attendance tonight. The car was being driven by two women. These women were the type that looked like you wouldn’t want to mess with them in a bar fight. In a cruiser car, the driver drives and has control of the accelerator. However, the person sitting in the passenger’s seat operates the brakes. Yes, it can be like driving with your spouse! Anyway, they drove their cruiser car backwards for two laps and were rewarded with a trophy. This didn’t seem like the right reward for this effort, but whatever.
I stayed for the feature races of four different classes. Although there were only seven modifieds, they put on a good race. I would rather see seven cars race in a tight pack than 24 cars start a feature race and have a caution flag every lap UNTIL there are only seven cars remaining.
It was about 9:45 p.m. when I left the track. I had nearly 200 miles to cover over two-lane roads in the Colorado dark. I came across several small deer but none of them elected to jump out in front of me. I arrived into the rental car parking lot at just past 1 a.m. at the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. Since I had to be up at 5:30 a.m. for my 6:39 a.m. flight back home, I chose to sleep in the car for a little more than four hours. It wasn’t too bad although I only had a golf shirt to sleep in (with a t-shirt for a blanket) as the temperature dipped to 48 degrees for the overnight low.
STATE RANKINGS
Colorado
This evening I saw my 14th lifetime track in Colorado. This moves me into first place in the Centennial state just one track ahead of Wisconsin’s Ed Esser. This gives me a first place ranking in eleven of the 13 Far West states. I still have Hawaii in the Far West where I have a realistic chance of reaching first place. Additional details regarding my “Far West – Chase to be #1” at the bottom of this report.
Now you can see the entire up to date trackchaser rankings for the state. Just click on this link or paste it in your browser:
http://trackchaser.net/statregion.asp?country=USA®ion=CO
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
Colorado Springs, Colorado – Friday/Saturday
I will be driving the National Rental Car Racing Chevy Malibu on this trip. Although the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport does not have the “Emerald Aisle” option, I was able to secure a car with XM satellite radio.
I drove the National Rental Car Racing Chevy Malibu 351 miles in the 11 hours I had it away from the airport. I paid an average price of $3.90 per gallon. The Malibu gave me 26.4 miles per gallon in fuel mileage at a cost of 14.8 cents (U.S.) per mile. The car cost a miniscule 6.7 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser
I am we Todd it.
TRAVEL DETAILS
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – Colorado Springs, CO – 833 miles
RENTAL CAR
Colorado Springs International Airport – trip begins
May Valley, CO – 182 miles
Colorado Springs International Airport – 351 miles
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – Colorado Springs, CO - 833 miles
Total Air miles – 1,666 miles (2 flights)
Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 2,017 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Prowers County Motorsports Park – $4 (senior)
Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $4
RANKINGS
LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total.
1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,354
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. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 366
28. Ken Schrader, Concord, North Carolina – 365
2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 56
2. Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 55
3. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 37
4. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 19
5. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 17
5. Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium - 17
Tracks have been reported by 32 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 – 1,718
2. Guy & Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,684
3. Allan & Nancy Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,679
LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS
After the most recent updates (June 7, 2008), I have a comfortable 21 state position lead. As long as I can keep a 10 state position lead, things will be under control.
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 “Tonto”
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
With the birth of our grandchildren, my trackchasing plans are a little up in the air.
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
1,334. Natural Bridge Speedway (oval), Natural Bridge, Virginia – May 2
1,335. Sturup Raceway, Malmo (road course), Sweden – May 10
1,336. Ring Djursland, Tirstrup (road course), Denmark – May 11
1,337. Nisseringen, Naestved (road course), Denmark – May 12
1,338. Valentine Speedway (oval), Glenrock, Wyoming – May 17
1,339. Gillette Thunder Speedway (oval), Gillette, Wyoming – May 17
1,340. Phillips County Speedway (oval), Holyoke, Colorado – May 18
1,341. North Pole Speedway (oval), North Pole, Alaska, – May 22
1,342. Tanacross Airport (road course), Tok, Alaska, – May 24
1,343. Mitchell Raceway (oval), Fairbanks, Alaska, – May 24
1,344. North Star Speedway (oval), Wasilla, Alaska, – May 25
1,345. Capitol Speedway (oval), Willow, Alaska, – May 25
1,346. Elk City Speedway (inner oval), Elk City, Oklahoma, – May 30
1,347. Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex (oval), Sweet Springs, Missouri – May 31
1,348. Central Missouri Speedway (oval), Warrensburg, Missouri – May 31
1,349. Lucas Oil Speedway (road course), Wheatland, Missouri – June 1
1,350. Ark-La-Tex Speedway (oval), Vivian, Louisiana – June 5
1,351. Monticello Speedway (oval), Monticello, Arkansas – June 6
1,352. Paris Motor Speedway (oval), Paris, Texas – June 7
1,353. Grayson County Speedway (oval), Bells, Texas – June 7
1,354. Prowers County Motorsports Park (oval), Lamar, Colorado – June 13
Far West “Chase to be #1”
In the business world, the
The far west probably has the most beautiful scenery per square mile anywhere in the
Below is a listing of these thirteen Far Western states. The state’s name is followed by my current rank and how many tracks I need to see to gain at least a tie for 1st place. As an example, I’m currently in ninth place in
Alaska – 1st by 2
Arizona – 1st by 8
California – 2nd - trail by 46
Colorado – 1st by 1
Hawaii – 3rd – trail by 1
Idaho – 1st by 3
Montana – 1st by 1
Nevada – 1st - tie
New Mexico – 1st by 4
Oregon – 1st - tie
Utah – 1st by 2
Washington – 1st by 3
Wyoming – 1st by 2
