GREETINGS FROM JASPER, FLORIDA

 

 

SPECIAL NOTICE

 

Today was my 999^th  lifetime track.  You won’t want to miss my next Trackchaser Report commemorating my 1,000^th lifetime track and explaining the “Curse of 1,000 tracks.”

 

You can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos from this weekend’s new track visits in Florida.

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

One of the questions I get quite frequently about trackchasing is, “Do you have rules?  Who decides what the rules are?”  Of course the answer is, “Yes, we have rules.”  Here is what our trackchaser rules say about who is eligible to vote on trackchasers rules.

 

“Amendments may be officially proposed at any time during the year, by any eligible voter, by mailing a ballot to all eligible voters, with the following exception: only one proposed change may be actively on the table at any given time. Eligible voters will be defined as any TrackChaser meeting the following two criteria: 1) has attended races at least 400 different countable tracks; and 2) has submitted their complete track listing (complete at least through the end of the previous year) to the group's designated statistician.”

 

Our group is sort of like the U.S. government at this stage.  There’s not a lot of significant (key word is significant) legislation that would be accepted by a majority of the eligible voters.

 

If I thought I could get enough votes to pass a rule I might propose any or all of the following:

 

-        Allow all go-kart classes to be countable

-        Remove any age restrictions currently in effect for drivers being countable

-        Cost containment – limit number of tracks that can be seen during the winter months or during mid-week in the summer months

-        Establish an annual membership fee to help offset the costs of trackchaser administration

-        Eliminate track retroactivity when a new rule is approved. 

-        Establish a procedure to handle succession rules in case the Trackchaser Commissioner becomes unavailable

-        Forbid trackchaser driving from 1 a.m. – 7 a.m.

-        Require seat belt usage for all active trackchasers

 

 

The People

 

The track offered a nice touch at today’s event.  They had a Sunday morning worship service that was offered to anyone and everyone at the track.  It was held under a large white catering tent.  The Reverend Todd Shaw was at the controls and his message offered a racing theme.

 

He recalled growing up on a tobacco farm in South Carolina.  The family tradition was to attend the Southern 500 stock car race in Darlington, South Carolina each Labor Day Monday.  He told of sneaking into the driver’s lounge and hiding in the lockers until the drivers came in to change clothes.  He and his friend would then pop out and get driver autographs.

 

Reverend Shaw’s message center around four points.

 

1.     Acknowledge that the year is full of possibilities and problems.  “Intelligent people are always open to new ideas.  In fact, they look for them.”  Proverbs 18:15

2.     Loosen up your grip in 2006.  “We can gather our thoughts, but the LORD gives the right answer.”  Proverbs 16:1.

3.     Make God the “12:2” reference point in your life.  “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.  He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward.  Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in Heaven.”  Hebrews 12:2

4.     Try a new course this year.  “I said, plow new ground for yourselves, plant righteousness and reap the blessings that your devotion to me will produce.  It is time to turn to me, your LORD, and I will come and pour out blessings upon you.”  Hosea 10:12

 

He did make one other good point.  He told those in the audience that, “You’re either just coming into a problem in life, in the middle of a problem in life or just coming out of a problem in life.”  Not many can argue with that.  It was a nice service, I am glad I attended.

 

 The trip

 

How’s this for a day trip?  First, I drove 75 miles from my motel Gainesville, Florida to the track.  I arrived at the track at 11:30 a.m.  The first and only countable race took to the track at 6:06 p.m.  The 20-lap race was finished just six minutes later at 6:12 p.m. After my six-minute race, I drove 192 miles that evening back to the Orlando Airport area and grabbed a motel for the evening.  I then arose at 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning (2:30 a.m. California time – 4 ½ hours earlier than I normally get up in the morning) for a non-stop flight back to Los Angeles.

 

Now it’s time to rest up.  I don’t have to go back to Florida and trackchasing for another three days on Thursday morning.  Now, ask yourself, do you want to become a trackchaser?

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

CROSS ROADS MOTORPLEX (DIRT OVAL), JASPER, FLORIDA #999 – 2/5/06

 

This is my 42nd Florida track.  I have now moved into second place in the important Sunshine state standings. Ed Esser leads everyone in Florida with 46 tracks. 

 

This was my 108th consecutive trackchasing day without a rainout and my 159^th track seen during this incredible streak.  Today’s weather conditions brought me a perfectly blue sky under very breezy conditions.  The temperature was a brisk 51 degrees at 12:30 p.m.  Hey, what’s up with wind chills in the 40s?  This is supposed to be Florida!

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

CROSS ROADS MOTORPLEX (DIRT OVAL), JASPER, FLORIDA

 

What’s that I’m hearing in my noise-canceling headset?  “Clear!”, “Clear!”  Yes, that’s the sound of my spotter telling me I have cleared the #6 ranked trackchaser by 10 track lengths and can set my sights on the chasers up ahead.

 

Today’s kart racing is sanctioned by the American Kart Racing Association.  The AKRA has 13 different classes of racing machines.  Eight of the 13 classes meet the trackchaser rules regarding driver ages.  They require ages of 15 and up in these classes.  Here’s what the trackchaser rules have to say about this important countability issue.

 

“Any car or truck type class that allows adult drivers is countable. There needn't necessarily be adults racing in each particular race in order to count the track.”

 

Even though eight of the 13 classes racing today are countable in regards to driver age limits, only one of these eight classes is countable based upon our rules on car countability.  Yes, I know these rules sound a little like the IRS rules required for doing your Federal income taxes!  Here’s the rule regarding car classes count in the go-kart or “Little car” world.

 

“Little cars such as micro stocks, mini cup cars, champ karts and half midgets count but in general all other go-karts do not count.”

 

This rules makes only the “Senior Champ Karts” countable at today’s racing event.  There are 275 competitors in attendance today.  Only eleven of those are Senior Champ Karts.  When I was here just 21 days ago for the racing on the Cross Roads Motorplex ASPHALT oval, there were just two Senior Champ Karts racing.  That is the absolute bare minimum for track countability.

 

One of the major drawbacks about going “Champ Kart” trackchasing is that you are never guaranteed that even two will show up.  You might come to a major go-kart event with 200 or 300 competitors and not have any of the karts be countable.  If that happens, you might enjoy some go-kart racing, but you won’t be increasing your trackchasing total.

 

Today’s program begins with a couple of rounds of practice for each class.  They don’t seem to be in much hurry to keep the program moving.  That’s O.K. with me, as I don’t have to be anywhere for the rest of the day.  I can just sit in my car under the shade of a Florida pine forest and explain trackchasing rules to you!

 

After today’s practice, there are two rounds of qualifying.  Each round includes five timed laps.  Unlike time trials in most other forms of racing we trackchasers see, the karts allow 5-6 machines on the track at one time.  They can do this because each kart has an electronic transponder, which records the time.  Also, the karts really don’t get in the way of each other during qualifications.  This is the method of qualifying used by the World Formula 1 group.

 

The top 20 from the first qualifying round advance to the second.  The top 10 from the second qualifying round advance to that classes’ 20-lap feature.  For all of the practice, qualifying and feature racing done by 275 competitors the only countable racing allowed by trackchaser rules will be the one 20-lap Senior Champ Kart feature event. 

 

It only takes me about 15 minutes to scope out the track facilities.  I went to the Sunday morning church services and the driver’s meeting.  At the driver’s meeting, two of us were given a free racing hat for having traveled more than 1,000 miles to today’s races.  My next job was to wait.  Yes, I did have to wait for more than six hours for a six-minute race.  Nevertheless, I got the track!

 

I’ve now see 10-15 tracks where champ karts were the most countable class.  I have enjoyed their programs because they seem to be unique compared to the more traditional forms of racing I normally see.

 

Three weeks ago I visited this same location for their asphalt oval and the two-car champ kart feature race.  That race finished at about 2:30 p.m.  I was able to make my 6:30 p.m. Jacksonville departing flight.  I didn’t book my trip through Jacksonville today because airline availability and prices wouldn’t work.

 

That was lucky for me.  Today, I arrived at the track at 11:30 a.m.  I saw one session of Senior Champ Karts practice at about noon.  I did not see the first round of Senior Champ qualifying until 3 p.m.  The second round of kart qualifying was cancelled for reasons unknown to me.  Finally, the Senior Champ feature race began at 6:06 p.m. 

 

Following the race, I had a 192-mile drive down to my Sunday night hotel in Orlando.  Microsoft Streets & Trips estimated that drive would take me 3 hours and 44 minutes.  I have a 7:10 a.m. flight back to Los Angeles on Monday morning.  Sure glad I’m retired and don’t have to worry about going to work on Monday.

 

Normally, at traditional short track events, there is no option to relax in the car during lulls in the program.  Since only one class is countable I spent much of the time catching up on my paper work, reading and trackchaser research.

 

At the driver’s meeting, they did mention that Saturday morning’s rainfall almost caused them to cancel the weekend program.  Nevertheless, they stuck with it and started Saturday’s racing eight hours behind schedule.  They were still racing late into the night.  I guess I was lucky with the weather gods one more time.

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

Here are the stats on the National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix.  My driving distance was 779 miles covered in about 57 hours.  I stopped for gas twice and paid an average price of $2.40 per gallon.  The Pontiac gave us 25.2 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 9.5 cents per mile. 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.

 

1.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,038 (+39)

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (+22)

3.  Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (+8)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (+8)

5.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 999

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 989 (-10)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

41.  Andy Ritter, Mansfield, Pennsylvania - 233 (+1)

42.  Colin Casserly, Stevenage, England 232 (+/-0)

42.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 232

44.  Bernie Harlen, Goshen, Indiana - 229 (-3)

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 8

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 5

2.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 5

4.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 3

5.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2

5.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 2

5.  Will White, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 2

5.  Rick Young, Maxville, Ontario, Canada - 2

9.  Several trackchasers – 1

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21^st century

 

Trackchasing doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Orlando, FL – 2,210 miles

 

RENTAL CAR

 

Orlando International Airport – trip begins

Jupiter, Florida – 182 miles

Ocala, Florida – 483 miles

Jasper, Florida – 563 miles

Orlando International Airport – 779 miles – trip ends

 

AIRPLANE

 

Orlando, FL – Los Angeles, CA  - 2,210 miles

Total air miles – 4,420 miles

Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 5,199 miles

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Morosso Motorsports Park - Free

Thunderbowl Speedway of Ocala - Free

Cross Roads Motorplex (dirt) - $10

 

Total race admissions for the trip – about $10

 

 

 

Past trackchasing stories are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

 

Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:

www.trackchaser.com  

 

Some of my standings data comes from trackchaser.com

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

 

Auburndale Kartway, Auburndale, Florida – February 10

 

 

 

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2006 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

992.  Watermelon Capital Speedway, Cordele, Georgia - January 14

 

993.  Cross Roads Motorplex (asphalt oval), Jasper, Florida - January 15

 

994.  Norfolk Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia - January 20

 

995.  Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California - January 21

 

996.  Oregon State Fair & Expo Center, Forster Livestock Arena, Salem, Oregon - January 28

 

997.  Morosso Motorsports Park, Jupiter, Florida – February 4

 

998.  Thunderbowl Speedway of Ocala, Ocala, Florida - February 4

 

999.  Cross Roads Motorplex (dirt oval), Jasper, Florida - February 5