Ephrata Raceway Park

 

THE EVENT

Editor’s note:  Often times I will visit two or more tracks in a single day.  That’s called a “trackchasing double”.  Because the trips are linked so strongly sometimes I will tell you about the tracks in a single Trackchaser Report.  That is the case today.  You can click on the appropriate links to see what things were like at each track.  I hope you enjoy everything you read and see.  As always don’t miss the videos and photos.  As they say “A picture is worth more than 900 words”.

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

Put yourself in our shoes.

Carol and I have taken some unusual trackchasing trips in the past. This would be another one of those in a long series of adventuresome trips.

 

I think the best way for you to fully appreciate what we’re doing is to try to put yourself in our shoes. Imagine that you and your spouse or significant other were to embark upon a trip like the one that we did this morning.

 

Carol’s alarm clock was activated at 2:25 a.m. Mine was set for 30 minutes later. What’s the difference?  No, the answer is not “thirty minutes”.  Here’s the correct answer:  I practice the corporate philosophy of “Elimination, mechanization and simplification”. Of course since Carol is an enabler of mine she cannot practice those things.

 

 

Everyone needs a wife.

Carol would dispute the above characterization. She feels she has more responsibilities and she’s probably right. She’ll commonly tell me that “everyone needs a wife”. I concur a “wife” certainly is a valuable commodity.

 

 

Just trying to live up to our reputation.

Why are we getting up so early? We had a busy day ahead. I often tell you we are “active seniors”. We’re just trying to live up to that reputation.

 

 

Maintaining the stranglehold.

Today’s trackchasing plan was for each of us to see two tracks in the state of Washington. This would allow us to maintain the stranglehold we hold on the title of “World’s #1 trackchasing couple”. We lead our nearest fellow competitors my nearly triple digits if not more.

 

 

At the fork in the road we would go in opposite directions.

Carol and I would not be following the same travel itinerary. Some parts were identical. When our day was finished in Washington we would both overnight in Seattle. However tomorrow morning Carol would head back to our home in San Clemente. I, On the other hand, was going to make my way to St. Louis, Missouri for a Sunday afternoon race in Illinois.

 

What would the neighbors think?

In order to make this happen we decided the most efficient transportation method would be for each of us to drive our own car to the Los Angeles international airport. That seemed to make the most sense.

 

I can’t imagine what our neighbors might have thought when we were both backing our Lexus SUVs out of the driveway at the same time at 3:18 a.m. They have probably come to expect this type of behavior from us.

 

In the dark of the early-morning we would each be driving 65 miles one way to LAX. Once at the airport we would park Carol’s car in the long term lot. Then I dropped Carol and my golf clubs at the terminal. While she checked the golf clubs I parked my car. Don’t worry, this is a carefully crafted planned that’s been improved upon frequently over the years.

 

 

One of many efficiency programs.

We both use the TSA pre-check program to simplify our lives with airport security. Anybody who flies at least a few times a year or more should have this. This is all part of my overall plan of buying good things cheap.

 

Our plan worked to perfection. We were soon getting off on a 6 a.m. departure from Los Angeles to Seattle, Washington. Once on the plane we enjoyed a documentary movie about Branson, Missouri titled “We Always Lie to Strangers”. After our recent trip to Branson we are enthused about this destination.

THE RACING

 

Straddleline ORV Park – McCleary, Washington

 

 

Sacrifice is often required in the trackchasing hobby.

I will tell you this. It was a significant sacrifice on our parts, with such an early morning wake-up call, given the quality and amount of racing we would see this afternoon. The plan was to see UTV aka SXS racing. Yes, UTVs are often called side-by-sides. Take a look at the picture above to see what I’m talking about.

 

A couple of years ago I discovered UTV racing as a countable form of racing class within the hobby of trackchasing. UTV racing has been a gold mine for me and will continue to be for the future.

 

Quads rule in this world.

However UTV racing is not nearly as popular as “quad” racing. Quads are also known by the name of ATVs. As you can see from the photo above these racers have handlebars rather than a steering wheel. That’s probably the main element keeps quad racing from being a countable class within trackchasing.

 

There must have been well over 100 quads racing today. There were only five side-by-side machines. Nevertheless that was plenty to make this a countable track.

 

This woman had all the info about today’s venue we would ever need.

We had an interesting encounter with the woman who sold us our tickets today. By the way general admission tickets for each of us were $10 US.

 

The woman was a most enthusiastic ambassador for the Straddleline ORV Park. She took several minutes to explain to us the details of the entire year’s racing schedule.

 

 

The tracks at Straddleline.

They have a dirt oval course used for kart racing. However, up to know, they have not had racing for anything that counts for trackchasing.

 

Today’s UTV race course was a fairly flat (except for the jumps) dirt road course. I’m guessing it was a mile or so in length. A big plus was that spectators could see the racing over the entire course. I like that.

 

It was a cool and cloudy day. The greater Northwest around Seattle can certainly get its share of cloudy and gloomy weather. When it’s sunny in Seattle it’s beautiful. It just isn’t that sunny much.

 

 

I recommend the video from today’s racing.

Most of the racing was for the ATV classes. I’ll recommend you look at the video and photos to see what today’s SXS racing looked like. Having just five of them racing over a mile long course was somewhat less than captivating.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

Up and over the mountain.

When we left Straddleline we were looking at a 231-mile drive over to Ephrata, Washington. The weather in western Washington is often wet. However, after crossing the mountains into eastern Washington the climate becomes semi-arid.

 

When you see the photos you will appreciate the dramatic differences between these two climates. It is rather amazing.  Above is what things looked like AFTER we crossed the mountains.

 

Finally.

We were headed to the Ephrata Raceway Park. I have been wanting to come here for years. That can be said about just every weekly/semi-weekly oval track in the U.S. If I haven’t seen one of those tracks up to now you can bet I’ve thought about seeing it many times up to this point.

 

 

Ephrata, Washington here we come.

We were early into the smallish town of Ephrata. The town’s population is just 7,664 although it looks bigger than that.

 

Being early we headed out to the track just to make sure we could find it. The racers were busy practicing on the asphalt oval. Frankly, I could not even have told you in advance whether the racing would be on dirt or asphalt. That doesn’t really matter to me. I would come here no matter what they raced on.

 

 

My personal life strategy for keeping track of things.

I don’t pay much attention in life to things that don’t mean much to me. I guess that’s the case with lots of folks. I practice that theory so as not to clutter my brain with stuff that doesn’t effect me or that I can’t do anything about.

 

Yelp! recommended supper.

Being early to the track we decided to head back into town for some supper. Yelp! recommended the Taqueria RKA Mexican restaurant. In SoCal we eat at a lot of very authentic Mexican places. The Taqueria RKA was authentic but not all that fantastic. Nevertheless some 22 reviewers had given the place an overall racing of 4.5. However, I’m suspecting many of these reviewers might not be Mexican eatery aficionados.

 

 

I love these places.

On the way to the track we came upon a Dollar Tree store. This is another in a long list of outlets where everything, or mostly everything, sells for a dollar. I love those places!

 

 

The grand plan.

I came upon the idea of buying about a dozen toys, puzzles and games that six year olds might like. Those twin grandbabies of ours are visiting in a couple of weeks.

 

The Dollar Tree plan was to send the kids via mail a couple of these small gifts every few days in advance of their trip to San Clemente. This would “wet” their appetite for their upcoming trip. I included letters telling them to keep watching for the postman to see what might come next before the really BIG surprises that awaited them in San Clemente. After the first mailing was received they “face timed” us and excitement was in the air.

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

Ephrata Raceway Park – Ephrata, Washington

 

 

If life all about the expectation?

Last week I had made a visit to the Madras Speedway in Oregon. I wasn’t expecting much. Their dirt racing was great.

 

This week I might have been expecting more from the Ephrata Raceway Park “tar” track. It wasn’t that great. Car counts were small. The weather was nice and the crowd was good. However, I thought the racing was rather bland. You can be the judge when you watch the video.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

This was going to be tiring.

After the races we had a nearly three-hour drive back over the mountains to Seattle. Priceline.com had given us a reservation at the Red Lion Inn, a northwest based hotel chain.

 

We would not arrive until after midnight. That wasn’t great. I would have to get up at 4 a.m. to try for a flight from Seattle to St. Louis. Carol could sleep in. She was flying to Los Angels today.

 

Track with me for a moment please. I could have very easily called it a weekend after seeing two tracks in the Northwest. However, I don’t roll that way. If there is time to get to the next track and I can get to the next track transportation wise I go. It’s just the way I roll. The next track was about 2,000 miles away!

 

I want Carol to be comfortable.

When Carol comes along on the trip I try to make sure she is not inconvenienced too much. I’d like her to keep coming on future trackchasing trips.

 

However, I have noticed after seeing more than 2,000 tracks the remaining trips are not nearly as “logistically straightforward” as they used to be. I don’t ask Carol to come on trips that might involve sleeping in the car or overnight in an airport. Yes, you could call me a most loving husband just don’t call me late for dinner.

 

 

Carol’s trip was simple….sort of.

For Carol this trip was simple. She would fly up to Seattle on Saturday morning, albeit early, and then fly back to Los Angeles on Sunday morning. That’s about as easy as I can make it for her. Of course she did have to drive 130-miles round-trip up to the airport and back. Yes, she had to get up at 2:30 a.m. so we could make a 6 a.m. flight. However, in “my” world that’s about as simple as I can make one of her adventures.

 

 

Ouch.

On the other hand my trip was a bit more challenging. I started the trip with Carol from LAX-SEA. However, on Sunday morning I had a “zero dark thirty” wakeup call for a flight to St. Louis, Missouri. That’s nearly a 2,000-mile flight. I know what you are thinking. No other trackchaser does that!

 

Lugging golf clubs on standby flights is really only for the mentally challenged.

I was also lugging around my golf clubs on these standby flights. That’s never a good thing. I won’t know most of the time if I’m getting on the flight until about five minutes before it takes off. If I get on the flight do the golf clubs too? If I don’t get on the flight do the golf clubs?

 

I made it to St. Louis but not without some concern. In my next Trackchaser Report I’ll tell you have that part of the trip went.

 

 

 

Washington

 

 

The Evergreen state

This afternoon and evening I was seeing my 28^th and 29^th lifetime tracks in the Evergreen state, yes the Evergreen state. That puts me about ten tracks ahead of my nearest Washington state fellow trackchasing competitor.

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member 

Washington sayings: Keep calm and cougar on

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Seattle, WA (SEA) – 959 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #1

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – trip begins

McCleary, WA

Ephrata, WA

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Straddleline OVR Park – $10

Ephrata Raceway Park – $7 – $1 senior discount

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS 

The three most important trackchasing comparisons to me are:

Total lifetime tracks seen

Total “trackchasing countries” seen

Lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

Total Lifetime Tracks

There are no trackchasers currently within 450 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,083

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 70

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.88

That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

Side by side racing from the Straddleline ORV Park:

 

 

Short track oval racing from the Ephrata Raceway Park

Click on the links below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day: 

 

 

The Straddleline ORV Park photo album

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Ephrata Raceway Park….the photo album