Randy Lewis

DAYS 3-5 – JUST A LONG WEEEKEND IN EUROPE TRACKCHASING TOUR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REVISION

 

 

My two petrol fill-ups in the Czech Republic averaged $7.52 U.S. per gallon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE

 

 

You are about to read about my European trackchasing adventures.  As with all RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Reports everything presented as fact is, well, a fact.  On the other hand, everything presented as an opinion is in fact MY opinion.  As you know opinions are like elbows, almost everyone has one.

 

 

If you feel that the graphic and straight talk presented below might be so realistic as to take the luster off of a future European visit for yourself…….do not read any further. 

 

 

However, if you feel comfortable regarding the warnings issued above, sit back and come along on a journey through the “old country”.  You may pick up an idea or two for a future journey of your own.  At the very least, you will see how one fellow runs all over the world and you will not have to spend a dime of your own money “experiencing” Europe.

 

 

If, on the other hand, you don’t have time to read some 6,000 words right now, you can see the photos taken during Part 2 of the 2008 “Just a long weekend in Europe Trackchasing Tour”.  Simply click on or paste the following link into your web browser:

 

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ranlay8/080914AustriaTrackchasing#

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S HEADLINES

 

 

Don’t forget to check out the “uniques” list...................more in “International Big 3 Unique Country List”.

 

I met some very interesting people on the way home from my trip.  The meetings were life changing …………..details in “Day 5 – Monday, September 15, 2008”.

 

What were some of my “takeaways” from my 5-day European trackchasing trip?…………..details in “Conclusion”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM LAMBRECHEN, AUSTRIA AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

 

 

 

 

I WOKE UP THIS MORNING IN BRNO, CZECH  REPUBLIC. THE NEXT NIGHT I SLEPT IN SHARDING, AUSTRIA AND THEN I WENT TO SLEEP THE FOLLOWING EVENING IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY BEFORE RETURNING HOME TO SAN CLEMENTE LATE ON MONDAY EVENING.  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED DURING DAYS 3-5 OF THIS 5-DAY EUROPEAN TRIP.

 

 

 

 

International ‘Big 3’ unique country list

 

In addition to the fun of international travel that involves sightseeing, observing other cultures and just plain fun, I came to the Czech Republic and Austria for a trackchasing specific reason.  I’m competing against two trackchasers who have seen races in more countries than I have.  Roland Vanden Eynde of Vilvoorde, Belgium has seen racing in 38 countries.  Will White of Quakertown, Pennsylvania has seen racing in 20 countries.  I’m now up to eighteen and gaining rapidly. 

 

I thought you might be interested in seeing a list of countries that each of us has seen racing in where the other two have not.  Roland’s list is long.  Will and I have a much smaller “unique” list, but at least we have one.  These are the countries that each of us has trackchased in where the others have not.

 

 

Roland Vanden Eynde (21)

 

Andorra

Argentina

Croatia

Czechoslovakia

East Germany

Estonia

Finland

Greece

Hungary

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Malaysia

Monaco

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Tunisia

 

 

Will White (6)

 

Bahrain

Costa Rica

Dominican Republic

Guatemala

Guyana

Malta

 

 

Randy Lewis (3)

 

Barbados

South Africa

Thailand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3 – Saturday, September 13, 2008

 

 

Following the afternoon road racing at the Automotodrom in Brno, Czech Republic I had a pleasant drive over to neighboring Austria.  I was still feeling under the weather.  Therefore, I took a short nap every 50 miles or so in the highway rest areas.

 

 

I came across an unusual circumstance just as I was leaving the Czech Republic (CZ).  About two miles from the border with Austria, I noticed a young woman in her 20s hitchhiking.  At first I didn’t think much of it.  Then, about a quarter mile down the road, I noticed another woman standing along the road in something similar to a cheerleading outfit.  She waved at me.  Still further down the road was another woman in a similar outfit smiling and waving.  I wondered if maybe the local school was having a fund-raising car wash or something.

 

 

I continued on.  I passed another 4-5 woman dressed somewhat provocatively along side of the road.  Hey, I was born at night but not last night.  I think these woman might have been “ladies of the night”.

 

 

When  you leave one European Union country and enter another one you simply drive across the border.  You don’t have to stop.  You don’t have to show your passport.  It’s as simple as crossing from Illinois into Kansas.  The former border checkpoint buildings are deserted as if a nuclear bomb has evaporated everyone.

 

 

Weather.com had predicted a 60% chance of rain hourly from now through the end of tomorrow afternoon when I was supposed to see my race in Lambrechten, Austria.  Right now the skies looked good.  I had an uncomfortable feeling, because www.weather.com is right 98% of the time that I was going to be rained out.  I had been led to believe by my Austrian on the ground contact that they might cancel the program if it rained.

 

 

Lambrechten is a small town in Austrian farm country.  It’s only a few miles from the German border.  Imagine farm country out in the middle of the American Midwest.  Then brighten up your mental picture for scenery that is far more interesting, diverse and beautiful than anything you’re likely to see in the U.S.

 

 

The sun was setting but I had time to try to find the track.  My GPS took me to the town of Lambrechten.  From there I followed the numerous “stock car” signposts to a local gravel pit.  The track was back in there.

 

 

It was now getting dark.  I was out in the country.  I needed a hotel.  I didn’t have a reservation anywhere.  I didn’t have a cell phone and wasn’t using any paper maps.  There was no billboard advertising in the area.  How was I going to find a place to stay?

 

 

I simply punched the “lodging” button on my GPS.  Soon I was headed to a place less than ten miles away.  They had a very nice room that included breakfast for the reasonable price, by European standards, of 66 Euros (about 100 bucks U.S.).  I took it.

 

 

The room was large and had two twin beds.  Twin beds are much more popular than the double, queen or king-sized bed you would likely find in a U.S. hotel.  Frankly, you would have a hard time even finding a twin bed in a major U.S. hotel.

 

 

I was still reeling from my food poisoning episode (my diagnosis).  I went to sleep at 8 p.m.  I had been lucky to even get through today without filling my rental car with large quantities of smelly undigested food. 

 

 

Nevertheless, don’t miss photos of the beautiful Austrian countryside that appear at www.ranlayracing.com.  Just click on the “Foreign Countries Visited” tab and then the “Austrian” tab.  Just an advance tip for any dirty old men reading this TR.  I did not get any photos of the lovely Czech woman near the border!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 – Sunday, September 14, 2008

 

 

Sunday morning, my race day in Austria, dawned minorly cloudy but it wasn’t raining.  Was I going to beat a 60% chance of rain all day?  I had my first real meal in nearly two days with a fried eggs and ham breakfast that came with my purchase of a hotel room.  Hence, the name bed and breakfast.

 

 

The Austria farm landscape is right out of a picture book.  The farmhouses are large.  Unlike American farms, the farmhouse does not sit by itself with the farm barn and other buildings “out back”.  In Austria the farm houses are very large and colorfully painted.  Other buildings such as the barn are next to the farmhouse as they form sort of a square.  Inside the square is a courtyard where vehicles are parked.  I couldn’t see inside these courtyards all that well but Austrian farms are beautiful.  Checkout www.ranlayracing.com for photos. 

 

 

I never understand why certain words are printed in English in some countries where there is almost nothing else written in English.  At intersections signs read “Stop”.  Don’t the Germans (language spoken in Austria) have a word for “stop”?  Same thing with “for sale” and “look before you cross” in Japan.

 

 

Following the race, I had a four-hour drive back to Frankfurt.  As noted elsewhere, Tonto moved me around a major highway traffic jam.  I am rarely in heavy traffic either at home or on these trips.  I discovered a new Tonto capability to avoid these problems.

 

 

Although I was still too sick to eat anything at the track today, I was improving.  I was improving so much that I wanted to stop at a German McDonalds.  Normally, when I travel internationally I will stop at a Mickey Ds just to see what unusual menu item they might have.  I’ll also try to pick up an international McDonald’s toy for Miss Lillian’s collection at the golf club.

 

 

However, tonight I was stopping there for the food.  Although McDonalds are everywhere in Europe, it can be hard to find one when you want one.  In seconds, Tonto had me on the trail.  Some chicken McNuggets and a fish sandwich tasted good to someone who had eaten very little in the past 48 hours.

 

 

I was within 5 miles of where I needed to drop my rental car tomorrow morning.  I consulted Tonto and he found me a very nice hotel, the Landhotel Johanneshof (www.landhotel-johanneshof.de) within a block of the McDonalds I had used.  They offered a modern and large room (similar to a Sheraton hotel) with breakfast for 61 Euros.  The desk clerk turned up her nose at my request for a senior discount.  If you don’t ask, you don’t get.  I always ask.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5 – Monday, September 15, 2008

 

 

Today is the final day of my brief five-day trip to Europe.  After breakfast at the hotel, I made my final petrol stop.  My car’s tank is small and the petrol prices are high.  I only wish I had the opportunity to bring the Carol Lewis owned and Life of Virginia sponsored Lexus LS430 over here to compete with those big German cars.  However, the Lexus is destined to drive me around sunny Southern California and won’t ever set foot on European soil with Carol as the owner.

 

 

When I arrived at the Frankfurt airport, I learned my flight to Cincinnati had been canceled.  That meant I would not be trackchasing in Ohio on Monday night as originally planned.  That was probably a good thing as pulling that off after a flight back from Europe would have been  masochistic. 

 

 

With the help of my airline partners I simply took a tram to terminal two and hopped on a flight to San Francisco (business class) and then a flight to Los Angeles (first class).  The Frankfurt airport is a little spartan and rundown, most notably in terminal two.

 

 

I enjoyed meeting the non-revving Pfeiffers, Pam and John from the Bay area.  They were a fun-loving couple to talk too.  They convinced me to take a “bird in the hand” (San Francisco) rather than wait for a flight to Los Angeles a few hours later.  I didn’t know it at the time but their recommendation was solid gold.

 

 

Little did I know it, but I met a woman on the plane ride home, Bea, who was the most caring and insightful person I have ever met.  Of course, I’m not putting Carol into this category or comparison.

 

 

Bea and I talked for several hours about subjects very important to me.  I hope I can put her knowledge, wisdom and  advice to good use.  God willing she and I will meet up again to share success stories.  Bea, thank you!!

 

 

I arrived home a day early to find Carol washing dishes at the kitchen sink.  It was great to see her.  It’s probably a good idea she doesn’t make every one of these trips with me (she might have as many tracks as I do).  On the other hand, I feel badly for those folks who don’t have any of their family members to travel with along the trackchasing trail.

 

 

Just 12 hours later I headed to the golf course.  When I arrived I discovered that I had left my golf clubs in the garage.  They were in the garage and not in my car trunk as part of my long-term parking at the airport preparation.  I beat a hasty retreat back home (it’s a 10-minute one-way drive) to get them while calling the club to tell them I would be late.  Of course, my golf guys were more than willing to accommodate my organizational shortcomings.  They let me play in the last group of the day.  To my surprise, I ended up shooting my low round of the year, a 73.  Although it’s always best to focus on the positive aspects of a golf round, most people don’t.  I ended up making bogey on holes 15, 16 and 17 and then missing a 6-foot birdie putt for an even par round of 72.  My golf instructor and the RANLAY Golf Academy practice range are the reasons for my success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

Prices were not as expensive as I remembered or as expensive as I expected.  I think our Denmark trip scarred me for life!

 

 

My hotels were very nice and cost an average of less than  $100 U.S. per night.  Each hotel included a sumptuous breakfast I thought I got good value for money.

 

 

During my entire 1,100-mile drive I never encountered a toll road even once.

 

 

My rental car expense at just over $100 dollars, all-inclusive, was a fantastic bargain for four days.

 

 

Tonto (my faithful GPS partner) did his job perfectly.  Not only did he provide expert road directions but he told me where to find gas stations, restaurants and  hotels.  One of the best features of all was when I got the idea to have him help me avoid a traffic jam.  Tonto took me out into the German countryside for a few minutes.  The scenery was right out of a Disney movie.  It made me feel bad I had spent so much time on the autobahn.  Thanks very much to the Peters clan for lending me their European mapping software.

 

 

What in the world is up with European showers and bathrooms in general?  Are the architects some demented demons or were they simply trying to win the “most unusual” design award in architectural school.  Although the operation of European bathroom showers has gotten minorly easier to operate over the years, they still normally take a masters in engineering to figure out.  I ran into some of the most unusual and complicated contraptions that defy description and are difficult to photograph.  You’ll just have to trust me on this one.

 

 

The people were nice everywhere I went.  They always are.  They love Americans on an individual basis.  It’s sort of like congress.  Everyone dislikes the ENTIRE congress but they like THEIR congressperson. 

 

 

About half of my 18 trackchasing countries speak English as their primary language.  For the countries that don’t speak English as their primary language I have always needed lots of help from friends of my trackchasing.  For that aid I am eternally grateful.  However, it was even more fun to take on a trip to the Czech Republic and Austria with zero aid from anyone associated with the trackchasing community.  It proved I can successfully trackchase just about anywhere in the world on my own.

 

 

I was surprised at how little English was spoken during my trip.  I almost never heard English once I left the airport and surrounding area.  When I checked into a hotel or bought gas, speaking English was doable but not easy with the folks I met.

 

 

Traffic was as heavy or more so when I passed through cities than it is in the United States.  With Europeans paying more than $8 per gallon for gas, this surprised me.

 

 

I can’t wait to have more weekend events where I can see racing in two foreign countries.  I have several future combos identified.

 

 

It’s nice to be a legitimate member of trackchasing “International Big 3”.

 

 

Lots of things made this trip easier than expected not the least of which was having my airline sponsors provide round-trip business class seats to Europe.

 

 

On this trip I went over 177,000 miles of travel for my 2008 trackchasing season.  That would be more than TWICE as many miles as any other trackchaser has covered this year.  However, I’m still short of my all-time annual record of 208,000 miles.  Will I travel another 31,000 miles during the final three months of the year to break that record?  I just might!  Trackchasing’s First Mother is busily packing not only my bags but hers in preparation for this eventuality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RACE REVIEW

LAMBRECHTEN STOCK CAR TRACK, LAMBRECHTEN, AUSTRIA

 

 

I arrived at today’s track a full two hours before the 1 p.m. start time.  It was cool with temps in the low 50s.  It was overcast but there had been  no rain.  The ticket taking operation was located on the entrance road to the track’s location.  A man and a woman were collecting the admission money.  For a fee of 5 Euros I was admitted to the proceedings and given a small program that identified the drivers.

 

However, I was surprised when the woman taking my ticket money said, “Are you Randy”?  I  looked down at my shirt.  No, I was not wearing a nametag.  My Thrifty Rental Car Racing Chevrolet Kalos did not identify me as “Randy”.  What was going on here? 

 

It turns out I was being addressed by Dani (Danieli), a woman who had become aware of my attendance through some advance email correspondence.  I didn’t know what Dani’s responsibilities were at the races until today.  She was most pleased that an American had come this far to see their rural stock car racing program.  I was as well.

 

There were about 100, mainly homemade, stock cars in the pit area today.  I would learn there were nine classes racing today.  Most of the classes had 6-10 competitors.  There was one very unique thing about the cars and the classes.  Various stock car “teams” had an entry in each class.  All of the cars from one team were painted in the same color scheme only with different car numbers.  I’m sure there were points, trophies