GREETINGS FROM JEFFERSON, SOUTH DAKOTA

 

 

I WOKE UP IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORINA THIS MORNING. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.

 

 

VERY, VERY SPECIAL NOTICE

 

I would like to offer a very special thank you to all the people who took the time to congratulate me on becoming the World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser.  Your notes meant a lot and I hope I was able to get back to everyone so I could thank you personally.  Thanks for reading the Trackchaser Report and staying up to date with this crazy hobby.

 

Actually, my becoming #1 was WAY behind schedule.  Some of you have only been reading the Trackchaser Report for a short time.  For those folks, I thought you might enjoy reading a message I sent to everyone all the way back in 2000.  At that time, I had a plan to erase a 347-track deficit to the first place trackchaser in just one year.  Of course, that plan required some special financing.  I was asking for a little help from my readers to the tune of $90,000.  I am happy to say that a few Trackchaser Report readers came through and this allowed me to stay on the road.  Although I missed my original timetable, I finally made it, but not without the help of my sponsors.

 

From a September, 2000 report to all Trackchaser Report subscribers…….

 

Trackchasers, greetings from San Clemente, California,

 

As many of you know, I have just seen my 463^rd different racetrack in Omaha, Nebraska.  I have been adding 40-60 new tracks each year for the past several years.  Despite the fact I’ve been busting my butt to increase my track total I’m making little progress toward the top of the trackchasing list.  As a matter of fact, I’ve seen 56 new tracks this year and I’ve only passed one trackchaser all year and that guy doesn’t even own a car!

 

After giving the entire trackchasing concept considerable thought I’ve decided to change my trackchasing objective.  My new goal is to become the #1 track chaser worldwide just one year from today!  I know Rick Schneider from Long Island, New York is currently in first place.  Officially, he has 801 tracks as of a few weeks ago.  Let’s assume Rick is now up to 810 tracks.  That would make me just 347 tracks shy of his total. 

 

Here’s the plan….I will see on average one track each day for the next year allowing for 12 national holidays and 6 rainouts.  This should be an achievable plan.  God willing and the creek don’t rise I will take over the number one position by middle to late September of 2001. 

 

Additionally, we are going to be building a new house over the next year.  This plan will allow me to be on the road for most of its construction.  When I return to California in September 2000 the house should be nearly in move in condition. 

 

Of course, financing a new home and a yearlong racing trip could get to be expensive.  That’s where you readers come in!  Here is my planned racing budget for your review.  All expenses are amortized on a daily basis.  They are computed based upon my current year 2000 experiences.

       

                       Daily

Air fare           $100      (typical airfare from California is $300-400 for a 3-4 day race trip)

Hotel                  60       (even the flea bag motels are getting expensive)

Rental Car          25       (usually have a one free weekend day coupon)

Gasoline             20       (more if traveling in Europe)

Food                   25       (a mans gotta eat even if it’s in cheap eateries)

Race Tickets       9.63    (this is median ticket price for all shows seen in 2000)

Souvenirs            15       (includes race program and other unnecessary stuff)

Miscellaneous     10       (you always need a budget for miscellaneous items)

 

Total                 $264.63

 

Yep, that’s about right.  If you’re going to track chase from California it will cost about $265 a day.  That means I will need $91,955 to make this idea fly.  I can sell my daughter’s 1992 Ford Crown Victoria for $1,995.  I just won’t tell the prospective buyer the odometer broke a while ago and it really has 135,000 miles on it rather than 52,657 miles.

 

Nevertheless, even after the sale of the Crown Vic I will still need $90,000 from you folks, my beloved sponsors.  Now I know there are enough people reading this who could easily spare $5,000 or so.  Have you ever heard a driver try to rattle off the names of 18 sponsors?  Well, I know you have and it wouldn’t sound any better coming from a trackchaser.  In addition, the administrative costs of cashing 18 separate $5,000 checks would be a hassle.

 

Therefore, I’m asking that three people come forward with $30,000 each and that should cover it.  Of course these donors would get full recognition.  I’ve often interviewed by the media and track officials as many of my fellow track chasers can attest.  When interviewed I could easily tell them the Rick Young Racing Rental Car handled well over the Midwestern interstates and cornered well over and around the hills of the Grandview parking lot.  You get the idea.  Of course, there will be a RANLAY track chasing interview highlights video coming out toward the end of this season. 

 

I believe most of you have my address. The first three people to come forward will be given free t-shirts and decals in exchange for their checks.  It’s important that we keep this to ourselves.  First, I don’t want Rick Schneider to know.  If he does he might step up his track chasing activities and make it even more expensive for my sponsors to keep me on the road.  In addition, I don’t want my wife too know.  Of course, she may suspect something when I’m only home for the 12 national holidays, possibly not.  She may also want me to help with the details of the new home construction and then again maybe she won’t. 

 

That’s about it.  I’ll be standing by the mailbox with eager anticipation.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Randy N. Lewis

RANLAY Racing Inc.

 

 

 

You can click on www.ranlayracing.com to see photos from my five-day Upper Midwest tour (May 25-29).  After you receive the Trackchaser Report for each track, I’ll have photos posted on the website for that track for you to see.  This will allow you to put pictures with the words.

 

 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy

 

I worked longer and harder on this trip than anything else I’ve planned this season.  For the days I will be trackchasing, I had more than 30 tracks plugged into my electronic mapping software.  I had to figure out what the best combination of these 30+ tracks would work best for the five days.

 

The overriding trip requirement was getting the most countable tracks possible.  When two tracks race on the same day, I try to visit the track that races LEAST often.  Let’s say one track races every Sunday night and the other races every other Sunday night.  If all else was equal (driving distance, weather forecast, etc) then I would pick the track that races every other Sunday night.  The theory being here is that on a subsequent return visit, I will have a better chance of fitting a track into the plan that runs every week rather than every other week.

 

This same line of thinking applies to tracks that run as infrequently as once a year.  I’m guessing that 200 or more of my remaining 1,200+ tracks race just one time per year.  Many of these tracks are tied into an annual county fair.

 

This selection process is critical to my long-term enjoyment of the trackchasing hobby.  If I simply take the easiest, closest, track running every Saturday night program, then I will run out of combinable trackchasing trips in a much shorter time.  Combinable trips (meaning seeing 3-4 tracks on each trip) are a requirement for a trackchaser who flies to most of his tracks like me.  It wouldn’t make much since to use my time and money to fly back to the Midwest or East for just one track.  I hope to be doing this for many years to come, so it’s important to not overwork the land to use a farming analogy. 

 

 

The trip

 

Today’s plan called for a 4:30 a.m. wakeup call and out the door at 4:45 a.m.  All the bags were packed, the computer backed up and my teeth brushed the night before.  I must admit to being a little absent minded at times.  When I set the time for my alarm last night for 4:30 a.m., I didn’t turn the alarm on.  For some odd reason, I work up at 4:25 a.m.  I never do that.  That’s when I noticed the alarm wasn’t set.  I guess higher powers were looking over me to make sure I made it to South Dakota tonight.

 

The devil wasn’t through with me yet, though.  I was flying Frontier Airlines from Orange County to Denver and then changing planes onto Omaha.  After our plane to Omaha was fully boarded, the gate agent came over the public address system with a special request.  It seemed the plane was overbooked and they needed to people to give up their seats voluntarily.

 

To make it easier for people to “Volunteer”, they were offering a $300 voucher good for travel on Frontier Airlines.  There were no takers.  $400.  No takers.  $500.  Still no takers.  Anyone who accepted the airline’s offer would also get a night’s hotel in Denver, meal vouchers and a 7 a.m. flight tomorrow morning.  Was it worth missing a special Thursday night show at the Park Jefferson Speedway for $500?  I thought about it, but I’m a trackchaser.  My plan is to no longer work for money.  I turned down the offer.  When the offer was raised to $600 two people finally accepted. 

 

 

The People

 

Of course, today’s race is dedicated to all of the readers of the Trackchaser Report who took time to congratulate Carol and me on our recent trackchasing achievements.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

PARK JEFFERSON SPEEDWAY, JEFFERSON, SOUTH DAKOTA - TRACK #1,041 – 5/25/06

 

This was my 8th track to see in South Dakota.  I broke a tie for eighth place with Max Allender (whom I have net met) and P.J. Hollebrand.  I now have sole possession of eighth place and am just one track out of a fifth place tie.  Ed Esser leads in the state with 15 tracks.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

PARK JEFFERSON SPEEDWAY

 

I’ve wanted to go to this track for a very long time.  I’ve been rained out in the past at least two times trying get to the Park Jefferson Speedway.  Park Jefferson is a former horseracing track.  They last ran horses here in the late 80s.  Surprisingly, I was told the horses raced on a track even smaller than the current half-mile auto-racing oval.

 

The main class of racecars tonight was the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS).  This is one of my favorite classes that run anywhere, for several reasons.  They always bring a lot of cars.  Tonight, they had about 50.  They start their feature events based upon “Passing” points.  This is great for the fans, since the drivers can’t lie back in their heat races.  Finally, they seem to run two and three abreast all night, which makes for an entertaining race.

 

I sat in the enclosed Park Jefferson Paddock area.  It was a $3 upgrade over the outdoor grandstand seating.  This was a very clean and comfortable area.  We could hear the announcers well and see the races without the dirt and dust that could come on such a windy day.  The two track announcers were great.  They remembered me from last year’s races at the Sioux Speedway and gave me a robust trackchaser mention tonight.

 

I was surprised at how strongly the fans in the Paddock area cheered for the local drivers as they battled the traveling modified stars.  They really got into it.  It was just like fans rooting for their horse as it races toward the finish line.  There were also 21 “B” modifieds and about 18 hobby class stock cars racing tonight.

 

Considering that weather.com called for a 60% chance of rain, I was more than pleased to get this show in.  It was also fun to finally get the Park Jefferson track in the books as #1,042.  The weather is looking relatively rain free until at least Monday.

 

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

The weather forecast for the first day of my six day/five night upper Midwestern trackchasing trip was the worst.  Weather.com called for a 60% chance of rain today.  Fortunately, they said it would be raining up until about noon.  Then it would clear off for the evening.

 

That’s a very good forecast for a trackchaser as long as they didn’t get TOO much rain in the morning.  I reached the track parking lot just before 5 p.m.  There were rain puddles at the track, but the remaining clouds and forecast wouldn’t provide any more rain for the area tonight.  However, it was windy.  I estimate the winds were 20-25 M.P.H.  Fortunately, they blew into the back of the stands, so the dust shouldn’t be a problem.  It was 75 degrees, so no more cold temperatures, except maybe tomorrow night in Superior, Wisconsin.  Actually, the forecasted highs where I’m going later in the trip are 90-95 degrees.  That’s hot for Memorial Day weekend up here.

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

The National Rental Car Company has signed on as an associate sponsor to my trackchasing.  I’ll be going with another Chevy Impala.  I was able to choose between it and my favorite National car the Pontiac Grand Prix.  I chose the Chevy because it had only 2,400 miles on it.

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

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

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,041

2.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,039 (-2)

3.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-20)

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,015 (-26)

5.  Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,007 (-34)

6.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 999 (-42)

 

 

 

Other notables

 

These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.

 

37.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 257 (+9)

38.  Spike Rixon, Watford, England - 252 (+4)

39.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 248

39.  Virginia Schuler, Allentown, Pennsylvania - 248 (+/- 0)

41.  Steve Kinser, Bloomington, Indiana – 246 (-2)

 

 

 

 

2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 50

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 32

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 27

4.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 22

5.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 18

5.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 18

7.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 17

8.  Linda Thomas, Watford, England - 13

8.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 13

10.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 10

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

The World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser

 

Eat all your sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Santa Ana, CA – Denver, CO – 844 miles

Denver, CO – Omaha, NE - 470 miles

 

RENTAL CAR

 

Omaha Airport – trip begins

Jefferson, South Dakota – 115 miles

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Park Jefferson Speedway – $18

 

 

 

 

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

 

I plan to be trackchasing in five different states over this five-day trackchasing trip.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

1,000.  Auburndale Kartway, Auburndale, Florida - February 10

 

1,001.  Ocala Speedway (asphalt oval), Ocala, Florida - February 12

 

1,002. Speedworld Speedway, Surprise, Arizona - February 19

 

1,003. Lowe’s Motor Speedway (1/5 mile asphalt oval), Concord, North Carolina - February 25

 

1,004. Concord Raceway, Concord, North Carolina - February 25

 

1,005. Antioch Speedway, Antioch, North Carolina - February 25

 

1,006. Green Valley Speedway, Gadsden, Alabama - February 26

 

1,007. East Bay Raceway (inner oval), Gibsonton, Florida – March 17

 

1,008. Volusia Speedway Park West (1/6M oval), Barberville, Florida – March 18

 

1,009. Speedway Park, Fruitland Park, Florida – March 18

 

1,010. Sand Mountain Speedway (road course), Fort Meade, Florida – March 19

 

1,011. Anderson Motor Speedway, Anderson, South Carolina – March 31

 

1,012. Westminster Speedway, Westminster, South Carolina – March 31

 

1,013. East Lincoln Motor Speedway, Stanley, North Carolina – April 1

 

1,014. Margarettsville Speedway, Margarettsville, North Carolina – April 2

 

1,015. Sunny South Raceway, Grand Bay, Alabama – April 7

 

1,016. Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama – April 8

 

1,017. Coldwater Raceway, Coldwater, Alabama – April 8

 

1,018. Talladega Short Track, Talladega, Alabama – April 8

 

1,019. Ballymena Raceway, Ballymena, Northern Ireland - April 14

 

1,020. Oulton Park, Little Budworth, England - April 15

 

1,021. Somerset Rebels Banger Raceway, Rooks Bridge, England - April 16

 

1,022. Mendips Raceway, Shipham, England - April 16

 

1,023. Oval Raceway, Angmering, England - April 17

 

1,024. Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne, England - April 17

 

1,025. Southside Speedway, Midlothian, Virginia - April 28

 

1,026. Motor Mile Speedway, Radford, Virginia - April 29

 

1,027. Wythe Speedway, Wytheville, Virginia - April 29

 

1,028. Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point Circuit, Summit Point, West Virginia - April 30

 

1,029. Old Dominion Speedway – inner inner oval, Manassas, Virginia - April 30

 

1,030. Shenandoah Speedway, Shenandoah, Virginia – May 4

 

1,031. Bridgeport Speedway (inner oval – front), Bridgeport, New Jersey - May 5

 

1,032. Empty Jug, Hawley, Pennsylvania - May 6

 

1,033. Oakland Valley Race Park, Cuddebackville, New York - May 6

 

1,034. Thunder Mountain Speedway, Center Isle, New York - May 6

 

1,035. Motocross 338, Southwick, Massachusetts - May 7

 

1,036. Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, Fultonville, New York - May 7

 

1,037. Calumet County Speedway, Chilton, Wisconsin - May 19

 

1,038. Grant County Speedway, Lancaster, Wisconsin - May 20

 

1,039. Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Rockton, Illinois - May 21

 

1,040. The Milwaukee Mile (Road course), West Allis, Wisconsin - May 21

 

** Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – May 21 (new track Carol only)

 

1,041. Park Jefferson Speedway, Jefferson, South Dakota - May 25