MOTORLAND ARAGON - ALCANIZ, SPAIN

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RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report

DAYS 1-3 – “COULD IT BE 30 THIS WEEKEND?” TRACKCHASING TOUR

Michael Bloch – Get well soon!!

EDITOR’S NOTE

Only 17 months ago, my trackchasing “country” total was just nine. During the past 17 months, I have added 20 new trackchasing countries to my totals. I have Will White to thank for this on two counts. First, his friendly challenge motivated me to “get going” on the international trail. Secondly, his website at www.autoracingrecords.com provided much of the needed information for me to make such a run. Thank you, Will.

GREETINGS FROM ALCANIZ, SPAIN

MY TRIP STARTED AT 3:45 A.M. ON THURSDAY AT MY HOME IN SAN CLEMENTE. I LANDED IN MADRID, SPAIN LATE FRIDAY MORNING SOME 22 HOURS LATER. A SHORT 3-HOUR DRIVE TOOK ME TO ALCANIZ, SPAIN WHERE I WOULD SPEND THE DAY ON SATURDAY. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED DURING DAYS 1-3 OF THIS PLANNED FIVE-DAY TRIP.

SEE THE PHOTOS; ENJOY THE PHOTOS

If you would like to see photos from today’s trackchasing adventure go to www.ranlayracing.com, click on the “Foreign Countries Visited” tab and then click on “Spain” for the Alcaniz, Spain pictures and story. Don’t miss them. As with each of my international trips, you will view some unusual sights never before seen at www.ranlayracing.com.

THE COUNTRY LIST

#29

RANLAY Racing Lifetime Trackchasing Countries

# 1 – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Peoria Speedway (Mt. Hawley, oval) – Track #1, Peoria, Illinois – circa 1954 (age 5)

# 2 – CANADA - Cayuga Speedway (oval) – Track #174, Nelles Corner, Ontario, Canada – July 31, 1988 (Dick Trickle winner)

# 3 – AUSTRALIA – Parramatta City Raceway (oval) – Track #180, Granville, New South Wales, Australia – November 17, 1989 (accompanied by Carol)

# 4 – UNITED KINGDOM – Northhampton International Raceway (oval) – Track #378, Northhampton – June 26, 1999 (accompanied by Carol, Kristy, Jim)

# 5 – NETHERLANDS – Driesum Racetrack (oval) – Track #839, Driesum – May 5, 2005 (accompanied by Roland Vanden Eynde)

# 6 – BELGIUM – Bellekouter oval (oval) - Track #841, Affligem – May 8, 2005 (accompanied by Roland Vanden Eynde)

# 7 – FRANCE – Circuit de Croix en Ternois (road course) – Track #843, Saint-Pol sur-Ternoise - May 8, 2005 (accompanied by Roland Vanden Eynde – 2^nd new country in one day!)

# 8 – GERMANY – Nurburgring (road course) – Track #844, Nurburg – May 13, 2005 (accompanied by Carol, Roland Vanden Eynde)

# 9 – NEW ZEALAND – Western Springs Speedway (oval) – Track #1,134, Western Springs – December 26, 2006 (accompanied by Carol)

# 10 – MEXICO – Triovalo Bernardo Obregon (oval) – Track #1,281, Tiajamulco de Zuniga, Jalisco – October 14, 2007 (accompanied by Carol, J.J., Roger Ward)

# 11 – BARBADOS – Bushy Park Racing Circuit (road course) – Track #1,296, Bushy Park – December 9, 2007

# 12 – THAILAND – Bira Circuit (road course) – Track #1,300, Pattaya – January 19, 2008

# 13 – SOUTH AFRICA – Durban Grand Prix (road course) – Track #1,315, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – February 24, 2008 (accompanied by J.J. and Will Van Horne)

# 14 – JAMAICA – Dover Raceway (road course) – Track #1,322, Brown’s Town St. Ann – March 24, 2008

# 15 – SWEDEN – Sturup Raceway (road course) – Track #1,335, Malmo – May 10, 2008 (accompanied by Carol)

# 16 – DENMARK – Ring Djursland (road course) – Track #1,336, Tirstrup – May 11, 2008 (accompanied by Carol)

# 17 – CZECH REPUBLIC – Automotodrome BRNO (road course) – Track #1,381, Brno – September 13, 2008

# 18 – AUSTRIA – Lambrechten Stock Car Track (road course) – Track #1,382, Lambrechten – September 14, 2008

# 19 – IRELAND – Tipperary International Raceway (oval) – Track #1,388, Rosegreen – October 26, 2008 (Carol and I visited this track earlier in the year)

# 20 – GUYANA – South Dakota Circuit (road course) – Track #1,390, Timehri – November 2, 2008 (accompanied by Carol)

# 21 – CHINA – The Guia Circuit (road course) – Track #1,392, Macau – November 16, 2008 (accompanied by Carol)

# 22 – COSTA RICA – Autodromo La Guacima (road course) – Track #1,398, La Guacima – November 30, 2008

# 23 – ANDORRA – Grandvalira Circuit (road course) – Track #1,404, Port d’Envalira, Andorra – January 17, 2009

# 24 – ARGENTINA – Circuito Efren Chemolli (oval) – Track #1,406, Buenos Aires, Argentina – January 31, 2009

# 25 – QATAR – Losail International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,408, Doha, Qatar – February 13, 2009

# 26 – BAHRAIN – Bahrain International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,410, Sakhir, Bahrain – February 27, 2009

# 27 – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Dubai Autodrome (road course) – Track #1,411, Dubai, United Arab Emirates – February 28, 2009

# 28 – COLOMBIA – Autodromo de Tocancipa (road course) – Track #1,415, Tocancipa, Colombia – March 22, 2009

# 29 – SPAIN – Motorland Aragon (road course) – Track #1,416, Alcaniz, Spain – March 28, 2009

PART 1of 1 - ESPANA

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED HAD YOU BEEN PAYING MORE ATTENTION IN SCHOOL

I will maintain my policy of affording anonymity to readers who send in interesting bits of information or who provide cutting edge analysis.

From Philly

“Another great report (Columbia – Part 3). I love your documentation in pictures. I just love meeting new people in new cultures. Colombia is certainly a place I would visit as a result of your reports.”

I also received a phone call from a reader in Arizona this past week. He was very pleased with the “slideshow” photos posted with each report. I think that in the future I will put even more focus on the pictures as a supplement to the written word of the Trackchaser Report.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

I had seen “Sleeping Beauty” but I couldn’t take her to Spain with me...................more in “The Trip – Thursday/Friday, March 26/27, 2009”.

Some use paper, but I count on electronics to get me from point A to point B.…………..details in “The Trip – Thursday/Friday, March 26/27, 2009”.

When is the toll road not the best idea? ………..details in “The Trip – Thursday/Friday, March 26/27, 2009”.

What you are about to read is based upon a true story. Heck, I’m seeing some of this stuff for the first time myself!

THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP AND THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE

The Objective

I love setting goals and then achieving them.

During the first half of this trip, I went trackchasing in my 29^th different country…….could #30 be far behind? This is also my 7^th new country of the year and it’s only March.

This weekend marks my sixth trackchasing trip to take me overseas in the first three months of the year. Could trackchasing’s forefathers have possibly imagined such a scenario? If they had, they likely would have banned the practice!

The Trip

THURSDAY/FRIDAY, MARCH 26/27, 2009

My international trips start early in the day.

My alarm clock went off at 3:45 a.m. I was already packed and ready to go. I simply jumped in the shower and was backing out of the driveway at precisely 3:59 a.m. I don’t waste time on unnecessary actions. Everything was going according to play.

I had not said good-bye to Trackchasing’s First Mother. She was still in a state of slumber just as Sleeping Beauty would be when it was time to leave. I didn’t want to wake her. Her mother had been visiting this week from Las Cruces, New Mexico. The three of us went out to see “Slumdog Millionaire” (second time for Carol and me) last evening along with dinner. Carol had taken her 79-year old mom for a spa treatment earlier in the day. It was her mother’s first such experience. They’ll be visiting their grandkids and great grandkids, respectively, this weekend. I figured this might be a good time to slip away for a quick international travel long weekend.

This weekend’s destination changed during the last two days.

Some people might plan an international vacation two years in advance. I plan a trip two days in advance, and sometimes not that far. I told the entire country of Colombia last Sunday that this weekend I would be in Italy. I told the “man who resides behind the purple curtain of international intrigue” that I would be in Italy this weekend. However, if a better offer comes up you have to take it, right?

I had been trying to come up with another country to tie Italy in with this weekend. However, it’s still cold in most parts of Europe. There isn’t much racing planned just quite yet. Nevertheless, I could begin in Spain and then see a race in……sorry can’t reveal that second country location just yet. I will say this. Carol and I had a trip scheduled later this spring to Europe. We still do. However, our destinations are likely to change because of this weekend’s activities.

Although the planning is last minute, a good deal of planning goes into each effort.

I wish you could see how I plan one of these trips. Virtually the entire thing is done electronically. I often use Will White’s website at www.autoracingrecords.com to learn about international tracks. I have not found a better sight for my purposes. From there I will normally do some Google searches to add to my information base.

From there I switch over to Google Earth. GE tells me how far a racetrack location is from my international airport arrival point. Google Earth even estimates my driving time from the airport to the track. If the driving time, notice I didn’t say anything about driving distance, is doable my trip planning continues. By the way, I never really care how far I have to travel. If I have enough time to make the trip, I go.

Google Earth will let me see the town or village I will be visiting from outer space. Often I can even see the racetrack with GE. The program gives me longitude/latitude coordinates in hours, minutes and seconds. I take that information to a “conversion” program to get the longitude/latitude info in a decimal number. That decimal number is then put into an Excel based Garmin Point of Interest (POI) file. That file is then downloaded into my Garmin 340 GPS unit aka “Tonto”.

One of my sponsors is the Peters family. They have provided European Garmin compatible maps to me for a long-time. With all of the above, I will easily be guided all over the continent of Europe and never miss a beat.

I know that some fellow competitors still use paper based planning tools including maps. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve just moved onto the next generation of logistical aids. When they make the move to where I’m at, I hope to have moved on myself, to the next generation, whatever that is, of planning tools.

Next, all I have to do is find an airplane that will take me where I need to be.

This is sometimes easier said than done. Right now, it’s a good thing that Americans are holding onto their money as if the stock market will never gain another penny. These means folks are not flying. This also means that several planes are wide open for opportunists like me.

However, it is not a complete cakewalk getting on each plane. We are in the midst of spring break, a period that covers some six weeks. Yes, adults may be hoarding their money. However, in America, parents will do without so their kids can do. That’s why America’s airports are filled with young people spending their parent’s money this spring.

I had to connect to Madrid, Spain via New York City. I had eight flights to New York in a queue. If I didn’t get on the first one, I would try for the second one and so on. As luck would have it and with me being 17^th and last on the standby list, I got a seat on the first plane out. I would be in business class on the way to New York and again on the way to Madrid. I can fly coach, but business class is a heck of a lot better.

I was delayed getting into Madrid. That was a good thing.

Since I got on the first flight out of Los Angeles, I had a six-hour layover in New York. My flight from New York to Madrid was scheduled to leave at 9 p.m. However, it was delayed and did not leave until 11 p.m. That was a good thing. This meant I would land in Madrid at 11 a.m. rather than 9 a.m.

If you have ever flown to Europe you know, the first day can be difficult because of the time change. Los Angeles is eight hours behind Madrid. I had just returned from Bogota, Colombia two days ago. I wasn’t really sure what time zone I was on! Nevertheless, 9 a.m. in Madrid was 1 a.m. in Los Angeles. Normally when I land in Europe in the morning, my body feels as if it should have just gone to bed in California. My main objective was to stay up until past dinnertime. I would then go to bed at an early hour in Spain, get a good night’s sleep and be almost fully acclimated to the European time zone on day two in Europe.

Landing in Spain and getting out of the airport was easy.

Clearing Spanish passport control was easy and quick. I’m beginning to wonder when I will need my NEXT 24 passport pages added. I had a rental car reservation with the Alamo Rental Car group. I had reserved the most basic car. This was the cheapest way to go and I figured they might upgrade me.

I asked the agent if I had any choice of cars. He told me I did not. I didn’t complain, I just smiled and thanked him for checking. Of course, that made him felt guilty and then he upgraded me. I can’t explain other people’s action, I can only describe them!

I ended up with a four-door Citroen 3. It had a five-speed transmission. I love driving standard shift cars during my international travels. The car will likely get very good mileage and gas is only about five bucks a gallon. To me, that seems like a steal after paying more than ten dollars a gallon in Denmark during the past year.

I plugged in my GPS unit and was off to downtown Madrid. Trips like this have become very easy for me logistically. Of course, using GPS makes it a no-brainer. All of the other electronical support is just icing on the cake.

I had planned to spend the afternoon in Madrid.

Earlier this year, I spent the day in Barcelona, Spain. I was anxious to compare Barcelona with Madrid. Luckily, I caught a beautiful 75-degree early spring day. The weather forecast for the balance of the weekend would not be so charitable.

I didn’t have anything specific planned for Madrid. I would just park, do some sightseeing, have lunch and get the heck out of Dodge…..I mean Madrid. The part of Madrid I was visiting reminded me of walking along New York’s upper East side. It was clean, very cosmopolitan and comfortable. The green leaves were just beginning to come out after the finish of winter. Most of the signage in stores as well as informational signs were in Spanish……..just like in Los Angeles!

Soon I felt the need for a banos, no not the pre-historic dinosaur kind but the kind of banos that a McDonalds might offer. I scanned their “one Euro” menu and decided upon a “fruit and yogurt” cup as my price of admission for a banos visit. It seemed like a fair trade to me.

It was time for lunch.

I surveyed my options. I found a local Chinese restaurant. I love Chinese food. However, I didn’t think it would be culturally relevant to eat such food while I was in Spain. I decided on a local “cervasaria and tapas” joint. Here I had filleted grilled chicken and tamale entrée. It was excellent, although expensive at 11.7 Euros. That’s about 15 bucks U.S. That same meal would have cost less than five dollars U.S. in Colombia last week.

I had not been in Madrid long but it was time to hit the road.

My destination of Alcaniz, Spain was just three hours of driving time away. I took my time and when a small town along the way looked interesting, I stopped to look around and take pictures.

I pulled into Alcaniz at about 8 p.m. It had just gotten dark. I needed to find a hotel and a restaurante. I stumbled across the Hotel Calpe. It was somewhat modern and somewhat plain. However, the price was only 45 Euros plus a 7% tax. That came to about $70 U.S. It was higher than a similar property would command in the U.S. but this is Europe and Europe is always expensive for Americans.

By the way, checking into many European hotels is much easier than doing the same thing in the states. Tonight I simply showed my passport. She wouldn’t even take an imprint of my credit card. “Manana” was all she said regarding my payment. I’ve had “B&Bs” in Europe where they didn’t ask for payment or even any form of I.D. upon check-in. Everything was handled at checkout.

It was getting late. There was a cafeteria next door to the hotel. I really didn’t want to eat there but I did. There were two men working behind the counter and two male customers. That should have told me something.

I selected, from a very limited selection to begin with three prawns, a serving of tamales (potatoes and eggs) and a Pepsi Light. The prawns had not been “deveined”. I don’t even want to tell you what was still in those prawns! I ate half of one and tossed the rest. No, my first dining experience in Alcaniz was not positive.

Night had now fallen in Alcaniz. I took a short drive around the town. It looked interesting and much of it was very old. It would make a good tourist target for me tomorrow.

SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2009

I had to find some breakfast.

Since breakfast was not included in my room rate, I decided to venture downtown to see what I could find. I saw a parking garage attached to a supermarket. No, whatever you have in your mind based upon the previous statement is not what I was seeing. However, you CAN see what I saw by going to www.ranlayracing.com and clicking on “Foreign Country Visits” and then on “Spain”.

The supermarket was packed with Saturday morning shoppers. I joined them and ended up buying some sliced turkey and an entire loaf of “multicereals” bread. Yes, I’m sure it had all the fiber of a full bottle of Metamucil. I also bought several long and narrow sticks of some type of sausage. I’ll use them for gifts since they are unique and won’t take up much room in my travel case.

From there I wandered about town. The weather had turned for the worst. It was now just about 50 degrees with a strong wind and some light raindrops. My choice of shorts didn’t see like a good one at this point.

It was time to go to the racetrack.

When I drove into Alcaniz last night, I saw a couple of racecars being towed through town. That was a good sign. I had also seen a sign reading “Motorland Aragon” on the way into town. That was a good sign as well.

I had printed out the racing schedule for today’s autocross racing event. It was in Spanish and therefore not perfectly clear to me. However, the best I could make of it told me the racers would check-in Saturday morning, practice early Saturday afternoon with the first race scheduled for Saturday at 4:45 p.m. They would also be racing on Sunday.

This was not a perfect schedule for me. I would have a nine-hour drive following today’s racing in order to get to……you almost got me to say it didn’t you…..my race tomorrow.

By the way, my advance planning had me considering three European cities as my arrival point. Google Earth told me my round-trip driving time from Madrid would be 18 hours. Flying into Barcelona, Spain would take 22 hours of driving. Finally, flying into Lyon, France would require 32 hours of driving. Which flight was the widest open for standby passengers? Lyon! The easiest way (for flying standby) to get somewhere is not always the best (driving time).

Motorland Aragon.

There were plusses and minuses with today’s event. Yes, it was country #29. Yes, it was free to see today’s races. However, that’s about where the plusses ended.

The weather had turned downright crummy. If we were in the U.S., they would have canceled the race. I thought it was a bit more than 50 degrees and windy. Then it began to rain. I’ve spent more than my share of Illinois days in weather like this and don’t like it a bit.

I also did not have any accreditation or pull with anyone at this track. Yes, I had become spoiled. I was a peon at today’s venue. It might not have been so bad had I been able to watch the races from the comfort of my Citroen on such a bad weather day. However, I had to park some ½-mile from the one and only spectator sight. In this weather, that was a bummer.

At 1 p.m., I walked over to see some practice. The course had a dirt surface. It also had about ten turns making it a road course. Today is my 16^th new track of the season, and only one has been an outdoor oval, the kind of track I grew up on. Another item of note, is that I have taken over second place in the career road course totals. I’ll tell you more about that in a future report.

Since I had no accreditation, I could not get into the paddock area. About all I could do was stand on a hill with another fifty or so sorry souls in foul weather. Since this was only practice, I headed back to the car to enjoy my multi-cereal bread and turkey along with a Coke Light. I would wait until 4:45 p.m. when the first race was scheduled to begin.

As the afternoon progress, the weather got much worse. The car’s thermometer said it was now 6 degrees Celsius. That’s about 43 degrees Fahrenheit. Add in a healthy dose of wind and rain and no shelter whatsoever and it was a bad deal.

It was race time. Country #29 was in the books!

I had already been at the track for four hours. During that time, the weather kept getting worse and worse. Heck, I could catch pneumonia just walking from my car to the one spectator viewing point…..it was that far.

This weather wasn’t good for my camera equipment either. Nevertheless, I have a responsibility to my readers to provide a visual experience as well as a verbal one. I did drop my video camera once and it amazed me how many crevices soaked up the liquid mud with just one minor impact.

There were no concession stands to be found. The P.A. was weak and in Spanish. The bathrooms consisted of three port potties. Spectators had a good view of the track and the racing from high on a hill. Unfortunately, the walking surfaces were all soaked and rapidly turning too mud. This significantly reduced the life span of my New Balance running shoes in just one afternoon.

The biggest class of cars came from the cross cars. They look like dune buggies. I stayed for three races. The cars were all covered in mud after the first 100 yards of racing on what I estimate to be a one-mile road course. There was a good deal of slipping and sliding. To better understand the racing and racing surface your best bet is to look at the photos at www.ranlayracing.com.

In weather conditions like this, it was best to head on down the road.

I had a nine-hour drive from Alcaniz, Spain to tomorrow’s track. If I could complete the drive in the allotted nine hours, I would have just seven hours left over for sleep and whatever relaxation I could fit in. No, trackchasing is not always pleasant.

I often use Tonto, my faithful GPS unit, as a working analytical tool. Today, I asked him to tell me how long my drive would take if I used toll roads or avoided toll roads. He told me I could save nearly an hour by using toll roads. At that point, I figured any driving time saving could be invested in sleeping time. I mean how much could the tolls be, anyway?

That was probably a poor choice on my part. I was smiling at how nice the toll road was and how long I had been on it. However, when it came time to pay a 27 Euro toll (about $40 U.S.) I was less than thrilled with my one-hour time savings.

During my drive, I stopped for gas twice. European cars have small gas tanks. The only radio stations available were in Spanish. That wasn’t good for me. To pass the time, I listened to my past trackchasing radio interviews on my iPhone.

It was time to get a hotel.

I know that some people wouldn’t come to Europe without having their hotels booked far in advance. I don’t roll that way. I had hoped to drive until at least 10 p.m. if not later. Spain doesn’t seem to offer near the plethora of “B&Bs” that the United Kingdom does. I saw places to stay highlighted by neon signs as I moved on down the highway. I just wanted to keep driving a bit further along so that my drive would be as short as possible in the morning.

However, time was passing me by. It was now midnight and the number of hotel signs had vanished. Where would I stay the night? The thought crossed my mind to sleep in my Citroen. However, the low temperature was going to be at about freezing tonight. Sleeping in the car was not going to work unless it was an emergency.

I was no longer driving through major cities or towns. Who was going to help me? I looked at Tonto. He looked at me. Tonto would help me. I was coming up on a very small town. Tonto told me there was a hotel in this town. I exited. This was a small hamlet of some 50-60 houses. Each house was made of stone and looked as if it was constructed some 100 or more years ago.

I followed Tonto’s instructions. It took me to what looked like a bar. The lights were on and I wandered in. It was now 12:30 a.m. There were six men in the bar drinking and one woman working the bar. I asked if they had rooms. It was then that I learned that no one spoke English!

Now I was reduced to hand gestures and pointing. One of the locals came up to the bar to try to help out. He conversed in Spanish. I told him “no comprendo”. That didn’t deter him. He kept speaking to me in Spanish…..only a little louder after each “no comprendo” that I offered.

Soon my gestures were understood to some degree. Yes, they had rooms. What was the price, I asked. A room would be just 30 Euros (about $42 U.S.). That was cheap. I hesitated to think what kind of room I would get for that price. Nevertheless, it was now almost 1 a.m. I didn’t have much choice.

I was led to the hotel’s elevator by the man who had been tried to communicate with me. He was acting as my unofficial Spanish ambassador. I was amazed by how nice the room was. It even had crown molding all along the ceiling. The wall heater would be a great place to dry out all of my wet clothing from this afternoon’s drencher in Alcaniz.

I didn’t have much time for anything but sleep. I set my alarm for 7:45 a.m. and hit the sack. I would get almost seven hours of sleep. It had been an unusual day, but a productive one. Tomorrow would be the big day. I was going trackchasing in my 30^th country!

The People

I didn’t have much people contact in Spain.

I had not been able to establish any advance contact with anyone at today’s racetrack in Spain. My only contact with locals was at my hotel, grocery store and gas stops. This was so much different than my previous international visits this year. It reminded me that I valued those international folks that had made my traveling life so enjoyable on my previous trips.

Coming soon!

How do fellow P&G retirees really think?

I have some really big news that will break in my first Trackchaser Report after April 25, 2009. Despite frequent questions, I can’t tell you what this is about until the appointed date. I will say I am receiving some most unusual questions and comments on this topic.

Why I fear Ed Esser.

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

I’m happy as an American knowing I only have to speak one language, although I know I could handle more if I had too.

TRAVEL DETAILS

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA – New York, NY – 2,467 miles

New York, NY – Madrid, Spain – 3,604 miles

RENTAL CAR

Madrid International Airport – trip begins

Alcaniz, Spain – 437 kilometers

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

Motorland Aragon – No charge

COMPARISONS

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS UPDATE:

There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,416

Full Lifetime World Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/trackchasers.php

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 – 455

27. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 377

28. Ken Schrader, Concord, North Carolina – 373

2009 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

1. Bing Metz, Tatamy, Pennsylvania – 23

2. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 16

3. Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 15

Tracks have been reported by 26 different worldwide trackchasers this season.

Complete 2009 Trackchasing Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statyear.php?year=2009

LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS

Final 2008 National Geographic Diversity results have been posted.

COMPLETE TRACK TYPE CATEGORY COMPARISONS OF NOTE:

Dirt Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statdirt.php

Paved Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statpaved.php

Ice Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statice.php

Mixed Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statmixed.php

Oval Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statoval.php

Circuit (road course) Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statcircuit.php

Figure 8 Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statf8.php

Indoor Track Comparisons

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/statindoor.php

Official Trackchaser Rules

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/rules.php

Past trackchasing reports are available at:

www.ranlayracing.com

Official trackchaser comparisons can be viewed at:

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/index.php

Some of the data in this report comes from

http://autoracingrecords.com/tc/index.php

and my Garmin GPS aka “Tonto”

UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

With any luck, trackchasing country #30 should come my way shortly.

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2009

1,401. Death Valley Raceway (oval), Armargosa Valley, Nevada - January 3

1,402. Lake Weyauwega Ice Track (oval), Weyauwega, Wisconsin - January 11

1,403. Marion Pond Ice Track (oval), Marion, Wisconsin - January 11

1,404. Grandvalira Circuit (road course), Port d’Envalira, Andorra - January 17

1,405. Kuna International Raceway (oval), Kuna, Idaho - January 25

1,406. Circuito Efren Chemolli (oval), Buenos Aires, Argentina - January 31

Ozark Empire Fairgrounds (oval), Springfield, Missouri – February 6 (new track for Carol only)

Lake Speed Ice Track (oval), Tilleda, Wisconsin – February 7 (new track for Carol only)

1,407. DeltaPlex (oval), Grand Rapids, Michigan – February 8

1,408. Losail International Circuit (road course), Doha, Qatar – February 13

1,409. Lake Washington Ice Track (road course), Mankato, Minnesota – February 15

1,410. Bahrain International Circuit (road course), Sakhir, Bahrain – February 27

1,411. Dubai Autodrome (road course), Dubai, United Arab Emirates – February 28

1,412. Dunkin Donuts Center (oval), Providence, Rhode Island – March 6

1,413. Fur Rondy Grand Prix (road course), Anchorage, Alaska – March 8

1,414. Perris Auto Speedway (road course), Perris, California – March 14

1,415. Autodromo de Tocancipa (road course), Tocancipa, Colombia – March 22

1,416. Motorland Aragon (road course), Alcaniz, Spain – March 28

Randy Lewis

World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser

Past trackchasing reports are available at:

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UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS

With any luck, trackchasing country #30 should come my way shortly.

RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2009