GREETINGS FROM HONEOYE, NEW YORK AND THEN WARREN, MAINE

IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO READ THIS TRACKCHASER REPORT DIRECTLY FROM WWW.RANLAYRACING.COM AND SEE THE PICTURES FROM THIS TRACK SIMPLY CLICK ON THIS LINK:

www.ranlayracing.com/mar10112007.htm

I WOKE UP IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA AND WENT TO SLEEP IN ROCHESTER, NEW YORK (FRI).  THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY.  THEN I WENT TO SLEEP IN BRUNSWICK, MAINE (SAT), GOT RAINED OUT (SUN) AND FLEW HOME TO SLEEP IN SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORINA.

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

L.L. BEAN – FREEPORT, MAINE

There are certain retail stores across our country that are tourist attractions in themselves.  One of those stores is L.L. Bean (www.llbean.com) in Freeport, Maine.  This store opened in 1917 and now gets 3 million visitors each year.

 

It seems like no matter where we are going in Maine, we pass by Freeport.  I think Carol and I have stopped at L.L. Bean every time we’ve been near the place.  In addition to the flagship store, they also have a Hunting and Fishing as well as a Bike, Boat & Ski store in Freeport.  For some reason I am enamored by these big “outfitter” stores even though I’m not an outdoorsman in the L.L. Bean sense of the word.

 

However, I was in need of some L.L. Bean merchandise.  Even though the ice-racing season has wound down, I needed to upgrade my winter trackchasing clothing package.  I made a couple of strategic purchases at spring sale prices, which should maintain my fashion plate trackchasing image and keep me warm at the same time.  If you get to the Freeport, Maine area, don’t miss this place as well as a large number of factory store outlets nearby.

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

 

The Strategy                                                                                    

 

A couple of days ago, I was discussing the subject of retirement with a friend at our golf course.  He made the comment during our conversation that “I sure don’t want to be spending my time in airports and going to dirt tracks like you do.”  I suspect my friend might have been missing the real point of trackchasing as a retirement hobby or just as a hobby in general.

 

The REAL point is getting yourself in a position to be able to do whatever it is you want to do in retirement.  When you no longer have to “bow to the man” wouldn’t you just love doing whatever it is that strikes your fancy?

 

You’ll need at least three things to make this idea hunt.  First, you’ll need good health.  Secondly, when you are retired and no longer working, you should have plenty of time available to pursue your dreams.   Finally, you’ll need a couple of francs to pay for it all.

 

Let me let you in on a little secret.  Here’s the cool thing about retirement.  Once you have good health, some time and money and no longer have to work, you have options.  Options are what life is all about.  Of course, more options are better than fewer options.

 

In retirement, when you get up in the morning you can do anything your health, time and money will allow.  You can play bridge, you can go for a walk in the park, you can travel, you can stay home, you can………….well, you get the point.

 

If you aren’t retired now, then you better get working on your plan.  Regardless of your age, it will be here sooner than you think.  Health, time and money, the more you have of each the better.

 

I know that several of you have been introduced to the hobby of trackchasing through these reports.  The very last thing I want any of you to do is become a trackchaser.  It’s hard enough dealing with my East coast fellow competitors now.  I don’t need any more competition.  Playing bridge can be fun (although I have never played it), walking the dog can be fun (although I don’t have a dog), or doing home chores can be fun (although I’ve never really done any).  The point is get yourself a good hobby or two or three and just let me concentrate on defeating those nasty East coast fellow competitors.

 

 

 

 

 

The Trip

 

This was not supposed to be a trackchasing weekend.  Carol and I had reserved this weekend for the Pac-10 conference basketball tournament held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.  Our team, the UCLA Bruins could play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday if they advanced by winning each of their games.  There would be no time for trackchasing this weekend.  I was happy to have a break. 

 

Until……………………………

 

1.     Carol got a call from Kristy asking her to drive up to the upcoming wedding site (San Luis Obispo, California) on Saturday for some wedding planning stuff.  I wasn’t invited.  O.K., we wouldn’t go to the Saturday game, but we’d still go on Thursday and Friday.  With Saturday now free, I figured I could fly out to Minnesota on Saturday, watch an ice race on Sunday, and still get back to SoCal by Sunday night.

2.     Then….we found out that our beloved San Clemente High School Girls basketball team was having a state playoff game at home on Thursday night.  We had seen them come from behind on Tuesday to advance to Thursday’s second round game.  O.K., we’ll miss UCLA’s Thursday game, go to the girl’s game on Thursday night and still make it to the Staples Center for the Friday night UCLA game.  My Minnesota ice-racing plan could still take place.

3.     We went to the San Clemente girl’s game on Thursday night and they kicked butt (can you say that about a girls basketball game?).  Then we went home and I watched the Thursday night UCLA-Cal game on TIVO.  UCLA lost!!  That meant that we would NOT be seeing them play on Friday night.  Now both Friday and Saturday were free!  The weekend weather forecast for Minnesota was starting to warm up for Sunday.  Probably no ice racing in the Gopher state then.  I needed another plan.

4.     I found a race in Texas on Saturday.  I’m only two tracks behind the state leader there.  That would be a good place to go.  Flights looked good into San Antonio on Saturday, but the Sunday morning, 6:20 a.m. departure back to California was three seats oversold.  There were no other good flight choices.  It didn’t seem very appealing to get up for a 6:20 a.m. (4:20 a.m. San Clemente time) flight on Sunday morning and then not get on the airplane.

5.     I searched and searched.  The second weekend of March is one of the toughest weekends of the year to find tracks.  The ice tracks have all but shut down and the dirt and asphalt tracks haven’t started their seasons yet.  Finally, I found a plan.  I was going to the Southeast.  The weather forecast was good, the airplane seat availability was excellent and I could pick up two or three new tracks.

6.     I went to bed on Thursday night with the excitement of our girl’s win and the disappointment of our UCLA loss.  Carol would be meeting Kristy on Friday night and not returning home until Sunday morning.  We had a plan.

7.     On Friday morning, Carol left for aerobics like she always does and I checked my computer one last time.  I was nearly ready to depart for those unnamed tracks in the Southeast.  But wait!  There were two special messages from my underground trackchasing friends.  At some later point in time, I’ll explain what “underground” trackchasing friends are unless someone asks me to do that sooner.  Two different groups were organizing a last ice-racing fling.  One was in the Rochester, New York area on Saturday and the other was on Sunday in Warren, Maine, about three hours north of Boston.  Of course, it WAS a 500-mile drive between the two locations, but that’s the fun of it, right?

8.     I pride myself on being flexible.  I’m willing to bag my original plan as soon as something better comes along.  Of course, if I had committed to meet someone at the original location, I wouldn’t change plans and leave them stranded.  I had no such commitments.  I was going ice racing!

9.     It was 7 a.m. on Friday morning.  I would need to fly into the New York area today, because the Rochester race was being held at 10 a.m. on Saturday.  They said they wanted to start early in the morning before the sun came out and started to melt the ice.  That didn’t sound good! 

 

I found a flight that would depart LAX at 11 a.m.  That’s just four hours from now!  That gave me about 1 ½ hours to shower, shave and repack my bag with ice racing gear and get those tropical southeastern shorts and aloha shirts out of the bag.   

 

I also had to book a rental car (more difficult and pricey because I was dropping it somewhere other than where I would pick it up), get my electronics gear organized on short notice, eat the breakfast Carol had prepared for me (she always makes me a hot breakfast!) and make final arrangements with Carol to handle my two weekend responsibilities (meet the lumber deliveryman today for our garage cabinets) and meet the treadmill repairman on Sunday afternoon.  Then…..I was off to battle morning rush hour traffic on the way to LAX.

 

Yep!  That’s the evolution of a trackchasing trip.  I hope the weather holds and these two ice tracks get their races in before the rain and sun (both forecasted) do anything to stop the races before they start.  There are no guarantees in trackchasing.

 

 

 

 

The People

 

The racing people I ran into in both New York and Maine were wonderful.  I’ll tell you more about some outstanding people I met along the way.  There were several of them.

 

 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK STATS:

 

HONEOYE LAKE ICE TRACK – ROAD COURSE - TRACK #1,159

 

This was my 47th lifetime track to see in the Empire state, home of the Blue Bird state bird.  It seems like 47 tracks in one state would be a lot.  In fact I have seen more than 47 tracks in only seven other states.  So what’s my New York state ranking?  19^th!!  I trail 10^th place (Andy Sivi) by some 27 tracks.  There is no National Geographic Diversity light at the end of this tunnel.  There are six trackchasers with more than 100 tracks seen in New York.

 

 

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

HONEOYE LAKE ICE TRACK – ROAD COURSE

 

The day started off a little shaky but ended with a bang.  My Rochester, New York hotel was just 20 miles or so from the ice-racing track in Honeoye.  I figured I could handle the directions myself without using “Dusty,” my Garmin GPS unit.  Wrong!

 

First, I ended up at Conesus Lake.  It’s one of the 11 Finger Lakes in this region, but it wasn’t the lake where the Central New York Ice Racing Association was supposed to race today.  I had missed the lake I needed to be at by about 10 miles.  Surprising, to me anyway, was they both feature an East Lake Road, which as you might imagine runs on the east side of the lake.  I didn’t want to waste anymore time so I turned to Dusty.  In no time, I was flying over gravel back roads and ended up at Honeoye Lake.

 

I had some directions that took me to the access point of the lake where the racecars were supposed to enter the frozen lake.  I thought that’s where they were racing but they weren’t.  There were no racecars in sight.  I must admit the thought that they had cancelled at the last minute went through my head.  How would I have explained a 6,000-mile round-trip without seeing a race to you?

 

As I was scratching my head, a man drove up pulling a streetcar that looked like it my double as an ice-racing machine.  He politely pointed out that I was in the wrong place.  I needed to be three miles north at the Trident Marina.  While I left he pondered whether or not the access area had strong enough ice to handle his racing rig.  That didn’t sound good.

 

Today’s event was not going to be an official ice-racing event for the Central New York Ice Racing Association.  That really didn’t matter to me.  Any kind of competitive wheel-to-wheel racing would still count for trackchasing purposes.

 

The reason it was not an official sanctioned event was because of insurance.  Because of warmer than expected weather this winter, the CNYIRA only ran their first event last week.  That event ended up being cancelled early because of a snow whiteout!  Therefore, they had not “started” their insurance for the season.  They didn’t want to start it now for what would most likely be the last ice race of the season.  Net, this is why it was an unsanctioned event.

 

This is how they described their “un” event to the members of their ice racing email group.

 

MESSAGE #1

 

Hi Folks,

 

The un-track will be plowed today for tomorrow’s Un-Event.

 

Those who said they would come to race this weekend for a real event should show up anyway for the Un-event.

 

I can promise much automotive fun and merriment.

 

Now, since this is an un-sanctioned un-event, there will be no entrance fees charged. Most likely someone will pass the hat to collect for plowing, but that’s about it. Not only is there no entrance fee, there will also be no membership requirement because this un-event is not related to any known organization, or any unknown organization for that matter.

 

10:00 start time is the time to be un-there for this un-event of ice un-racing. There will be food at the Honeoye Inn as far as I know. I would advise to get there early so that we can start what we will not be doing so that we can beat the warm weather as much as possible.

 

Please do remember that whatever you do or don’t do there, will be completely at your own risk, not only of possible bodily harm or automotive carnage, but of domestic un-tranquility also.

 

Even though this will be an un-event we will all exercise the utmost caution in regards to safeguarding the street legal car’s body parts. In other words this will definitely NOT turn into anything that could be called ugly. It may be an un-event, but it will NOT be un-civilized.

 

See you all there.

 

 

 

MESSAGE #2

 

 

Everything is shaping up fine for our ice un-racing un-event.

 

The un-access at the Honeyoye Inn/Trident Marine was so un, we have found new access at the public boat launch still on East Lake road about 3 miles south of Trident Marine or about 5 miles down East Lake Road.

 

Otherwise there is no un-change in plans. The Honeoye Inn will be open and we will still have our un-track near there, but you just get on the lake at the boat launch and drive north.

 

Even though this is just an un-event, if anyone happens to bring some cones or flags, we just might find some sort of use for them,

 

Casey

 

That last statement about “bringing the flags” was all I needed to hear.  This would not just be a “test and tune,” they would be having “competitive racing” a requirement for trackchasing countability.

 

I have to tell you I’ve never met a nicer bunch of men and women than the folks who are part of the Central New York Ice Racing Association.  I had phoned the group’s contact the day before I left to get details about the un-event.  He was most helpful.

 

Today, several people took the time to explain how they do ice racing around here to a fella that obviously wasn’t “from around here.”

 

I learned that a “prepared” car is essentially one with a safety roll cage and studded tires.  Cars racing with Menard studded tires were called “Menards.”  Cars racing on standard non-studded tires were in the “rubber to ice” class.  I think there were 4-5 Menards and 6-8 rubber to ice racers.

 

The “rubber to ice” class was as stock as you’re going to see.  They really were just streetcars.  They had no roll cage and often did not even have a racing number.  I talked with “Bill” for a good long time.  He was racing a Saturn in this class.  I asked him if he drove the car to the track today.  His answer was a classic, “Yes.  My wife wrecked our other car last week.  Right now, this is the only car (the ice-racing Saturn!) we have now.”

 

They were supposed to start racing at 10 a.m.  Because I got lost I didn’t arrive until 10:30 a.m.  When I walked onto the slightly slushy ice (it was 49 degrees by the time I left), they were practicing on the slightly less than one mile long road course.

 

Soon all the cars came into the paddock area.  I was introduced to the crowd of about 30 ice-racing members as a trackchaser.  They seemed impressed that someone would come all the way from California to see them race.  As I say, the club’s welcome was more than I could have expected.

 

The first race of the day was for the “rubber to ice” group.  They started about eight cars from a standing start.  They raced for 10 laps.  I guess no one did bring any flags, but they found a paisley red jacket that would suffice.  I believe that’s a first for me.

 

While they were racing, I talked to several of the members.  The group seemed interested in giving me a first time ever experience.  They wanted me to get in a car for the next race as a passenger.  That sounded like fun.  Soon I was be given a shiny black helmet for my ride along with Jim Phillips. 

 

I highly recommend a trip to www.ranlayracing.com to see what this all looked like.  They probably don’t have many ice-racers who go out onto the track in a pair of Dockers and a Pacific Golf Club windbreaker.  I did.

 

Jim’s wife Mary Ann helped me with the five-part safety harness.  As she adjusted the belts, she told me she wasn’t trying to “get fresh.”  I figured that must be true since here husband was already buckled up in the driver’s seat just a foot from me.  With one last push of my helmeted head underneath the car’s roll bars my tall frame was in.

 

Jim and I would be starting in the outside position of the second row in this 12-car, 10-lap race.  Like the first race, we started from a standing start, just as they used to do at my hometown track in Peoria, Illinois.

 

You all know I did a ride long in a three-car sprint car race in New Zealand on New Year’s Day.  That was an absolute blast.  This was just as much fun.  With more cars and a longer race, there was a good deal of passing.  A couple of cars passed us and we passed several cars as well.  Toward the end of the race, we started to lap the “rubber to ice” racers.

 

If you ever get the chance to ride “shotgun” in a real short track race I hope you take it.  You won’t regret it.  I took several still photos and had my video camera running the entire race.  I’m working hard to get some of my videos, including this one, up on www.youtube.com.  I’ll let you know as soon as I do.  As promised to my driver Jim, I will send a DVD of what I filmed soon.

 

It took some time to wipe the smile off my face when we finally pulled back into the pits.  They were all set to put me in a “rubber to ice” car again as a passenger.  More than one person offered their car for me to drive as well.  I would have loved to have done that.  However, I wouldn’t have wanted to wreck anybody else’s car so that held me back.  I got the feeling that in ice racing like this, it is very safe.  If you do hit another car, everyone just slides.  There are no walls or fixed safety barriers to hit.

 

It was now 12 noon.  I had more than 500 miles to drive to be properly positioned for my Sunday ice-racing event in Maine.  I had to get going.  I bade farewell to all of my new friends from the CNYIRA.  I’ll be back to see them again when they race at a different New York Finger Lake…..maybe as a competitor.

 

 

 

 

 

SOUTH POND, WARREN, MAINE – RAINED OUT

 

Yes, I was rained out at an ice track.  Hard to believe but it happens.  I had made the 513-mile drive from central New York to upstate Maine on Saturday afternoon and evening.  It was a pleasant drive except for the nearly $20 I spent in road tolls.

 

My concern about Sunday’s ice races in Maine were more to do with warm temperatures than rain.  The temperature was in the low 40s when I arrived at the Traveler’s Inn in Brunswick, ME on Saturday evening.  By the way, this is a family run motel with good rates and very nice rooms.  I recommend it.

 

I noticed it beginning to rain just before I went to bed.  When I awoke, it looked like it had rained a good deal.  I called the New Meadows Ice Racing Association hot line at 8 a.m.  They said they were racing.  That was a relief.

 

I was staying some 45 minutes south of Warren, ME where the ice racing would be held.  My northbound morning drive took me through Waldoboro, ME.  Waldoboro is home to Moody’s Dinner (www.moodysdiner.com).  You won’t want to miss this place.  They serve a good breakfast at more than reasonable prices.  They also sell Moody souvenirs and memorabilia.  You won’t want to miss that either.

 

I figured that once I got into Warren I would either seen signs for ice racing or a sign directing me to the South Pond.  Nope!  That meant I would need to stop at a convenience store.  A high school/college aged girl was manning (womaning?) the counter.  Did she know how to get to the South Pond I asked her?  Yes, she told me she knew where it was, but didn’t know how to tell me to get there.

 

Editor’s note:  I would later find out the turn taking me to the South Pond was only a block from her store.

 

Alas, this is an all too common problem with girls/women.  I contend this outage occurs because men do most of the driving and women don’t NEED to know where they’re going or how they got there.  In an attempt to fend off the offended feminists (both woman and men), I say this does not happen all the time, just more often than is statistically probable.  Of course, boys/men have their problems as well but explaining directions isn’t one of them.  Anyway, my female direction giver picked up the phone to ask for directions.  A young man answered on the other end of this phone call.

 

How do I know it was a young man?  Because I could hear his voice clearly, without benefit of the telephone line, from the store’s backroom.  Miss counter person continued to talk to the guy on the phone while I listened in by simply standing there.  Yes, it was strange.  They got the directions straight and I was on my way.

 

I pulled into the parking area of the South Pond.  There were racecars on the pond and racecars in the paddock area.  Even though it was a bit foggy, things were looking bright for me at this moment.

 

I lowered my driver’s side window and asked, “You guys racin?”  The leader of the group shook his head no and said, “Nope.”  “Dang, I came all the way from California to see you race today,” I told him.  “With Massachusetts plates?” the Mainester questioned.  No, you cannot put anything past these New Englanders.  “Rental car,” I offered.  “You should have been here yesterday,” one of the others chimed in. 

 

I parked my car and got out to talk to the boys.  It didn’t take them long for them to recognize that I wasn’t “from around here.”  They were nice fellows.  The president of the club took several minutes to tell me about their past ice racing club exploits.  He showed me his ice racing studded tires and explained it took three hours to put the studs into each tire.  He gave me his card, offered to include me in future club communications and gave me a local newspaper, The Times, out of Rockland, Maine.  The club was featured in a full-color spread detailing a recent ice race the club organized.

 

They weren’t racing today not because they did not have enough ice.  I was told they had 18-25” of the stuff.  Apparently, there was up to six inches of water sitting on the ice.  There were a couple of cars out on the ice just having fun.  They were really kicking up the water.

 

I am reasonably certain I could have cajoled my new friends into holding a “race.”  It was true I had driven more than 500 miles from Saturday’s track up here just to see them race.  However, I feel strongly that a trackchaser should not in anyway try to get a promoter to run a race for the sole purpose of getting an additional track.  That has been done in the past by other trackchasers.  I feel this is unethical trackchasing behavior and would never count such a track myself.

 

On the other hand, if a trackchaser is sitting in the stands and the announcer asks the crowd if they would like to see a race, I feel it’s perfectly acceptable to cheer and yell in the affirmative as much as you want.  It just doesn’t make sense to me to offer an economic incentive (yes, I talking about a bribe!) or any other means to influence a promoter or organizer to run a race on a track that wasn’t part of the plan.

 

I was disappointed they were not going to run, but not overly so.  More than 50% of the trackchasing experience (many times nearly 100% of the experience) is really about the non-racing part of the trip.  The Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont tri-state area is my least visited part of the continental United States.  Whenever I come up here, I really enjoy the trip.

 

I loved my hotel, the Moody’s Diner and my trip to L.L. Bean following today’s rainout.  With my extra free time, I even caught a movie near the Logan Airport.  I saw “Wild hogs” starring John Travolta and Tim Allen.  It was better than I expected. 

 

The track cancellation also allowed me to get back to the Boston airport without any stress for a Sunday evening flight.  This was the same flight I took two weeks ago where mayhem was the order of the day.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have seen today’s race.  However, you can’t get them all.  As our great California governor is famous for saying, “I’ll be back!”

 

 

 

 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

 

It was 49 degrees at 12 noon today at Honeoye Lake.  I was concerned that this might be too warm to race on ice.  I was told there was 10 inches of ice.  I was also told the water was 30 feet deep!  The ice was just thick enough and the temperature just right for the last weekend of ice racing in the 2006-7 season.

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

The National Rental Car Racing Chevy Malibu will take me from it’s pickup point, Rochester, New York to its drop off point, Boston, Massachusetts.  In the middle, the plan is to cover about 800 miles.

 

Friday total driving miles - 8

 

Saturday total driving miles - 569

 

Sunday total driving miles – 228

 

I covered 805 miles during this weekend’s trip.  Since all of that mileage must be spread over just one track, that’s not going to help my miles/track average.  I paid an average fuel price of $2.51 giving me a 9.0 cent per mile fuel charge.  The Chevy Malibu provided fuel mileage of 28.0 M.P.G.  The car cost 14.3 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 – 1,159

 

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,106 (-53)*

 

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,089 (-70)*

 

4.  Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York - 1,067 (-91)*

 

7.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 977 (-181)**

 

 

* Warning, you are within 50 tracks of being removed from this list. 

 

** Special exemption.

 

 

 

 

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

 

2007 (current thru 2/18/07)**

 

With gains in Idaho, New Mexico and Wisconsin, I have now erased a .08 deficit (four positions) and have a .06 lead (three positions.) 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 7.04

2. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 7.10

3. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 7.55

 

**Until the end of the year, NGD rankings are unofficial.  Rankings are affected not only by the leader’s activities but by other trackchasers impact on the leader’s position. 

  

 

 

Other notables

 

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

 

31.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 304

 

32.  Chris Economaki, Ridgewood, New Jersey – 302 (-2)

 

33.  Gary Jacob, Turlock, California – 301 (-3)

 

34.  Ron Rodda, Lincoln, California – 297 (-7)

 

 

 

 

 

2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 21

 

2.  Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania - 14

 

3.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 12

 

4.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 12

 

5.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 10

 

6.  Rick Young, Maxville, Ontario, Canada - 8

 

7.  Will White, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 5

 

7.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 5

 

8.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 4

 

10.  Several with three

 

Tracks have been reported by 27 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

#1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi

 

God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked, the good fortune to run into the ones that I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA – Chicago, IL – 1,743 miles

Chicago, IL – Rochester, NY - 526 miles

 

RENTAL CAR

 

Rochester International Airport – trip begins

Honeoye, NY – 67 miles*

 

* This is not always the direct mileage from the airport to the first stop as detours along the way may add to the stated mileage.

 

Logan International Airport (Boston) – 805 miles - trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Boston, MA – Los Angeles, CA – 2,608 miles

 

 

 

 

Total Air miles – 4,877 miles

 

 

Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 5,682 miles

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

Honeoye Lake Ice Track – Road Course – Free

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – ZERO!

 

 

 

 

 

Past trackchasing reports are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

 

 

Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:

www.trackchaser.net

 

 

Some of the data in this report comes: www.trackchaser.net

Garmin GPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

 

It looks like Trackchasing’s First Mother is about ready to take a break from wedding planning and return to the trackchaser wars.

 

 

 

 

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

 

1,139.  Meremere Dirt Track Club, Meremere, New Zealand - January 1

 

1,140.  Meeanee Speedway, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand - January 1

 

1,141.  Top of the South Speedway, Richmond, New Zealand - January 2

 

1,142.  Woodford Glen Speedway, Christchurch, New Zealand - January 3

 

1,143.  Robertson Holden International Speedway, Palmerston North, New Zealand - January 5

 

1,144.  Taupo Motorsports Park, Taupo, North, New Zealand - January 6

 

1,145.  Waikaraka Park International Speedway, Auckland, New Zealand - January 6

 

1,146.  Angels Stadium of Anaheim (inner oval), Anaheim, California - January 6

 

1,147.  Angels Stadium of Anaheim (outer oval), Anaheim, California - January 6

 

1,148.  West Valley Speedway, Surprise, Arizona - January 14

 

1,149. Sandia Motorsports Park (road course), Albuquerque, New Mexico - January 28

 

1,150. Grand Prix De Lanaudiere, Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada – February 3

 

1,151. Ste-Eulalie Ice Track, Eulalie, Quebec, Canada – February 4

 

1,152. St Guillaume, St Guillaume, Quebec, Canada – February 4

 

1,153. Caldwell Rodeo Arena, Caldwell, Idaho – February 10

 

1,154. Balsam Lake Ice Track, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin – February 18

 

1,155. Northeast Pond Ice Track, Milton, New Hampshire – February 24

 

1,156. Lee Pond Ice Track, Moultonborough, New Hampshire – February 25

 

1,157. New Hendry Country Speedway, Clewiston, Florida – March 3

 

1,158. Florida Sports Park, Naples, Florida – March 4

 

1,159. Honeoye Lake Ice Track – Road Course, Honeoye, New York – March 10