Ruapuna Speedway

 

Saturday – Day 7 – Ashburton and then Templeton, New Zealand.

 

Track #5 – 2013 New Zealand trip

 

 

Ruapuna Speedway – Templeton, New Zealand (South Island)

 

 

Time to boogie.

Toward the end of the afternoon it was time to boogie. The Ruapuna Speedway was racing this evening. The track, located just 52 minutes from the Asburton Speedway made for a great “day/night” trackchasing double.

 

 

The Ruapuna track would be a well manicured dirt oval. They had a huge crowd on hand. Of course when it’s winter in the U.S. it’s summer in NZ. That made the warm weather seem like an unusual place to see Santa Claus hawking track souvenirs!

 

 

No Ruapuna “same location” double today.

Just beyond the Ruapuna oval track where we were watching racing on the dirt oval sat the Ruapuna Grand Prix Circuit asphalt road course. Unfortunately, there was no racing there. This was one of those rare situations where a fan could see racing at BOTH tracks had they been competing at the same time.

 

 

Ruapuna was one of the more “Americanized” tracks that I saw on this trip to NZ. The dirt oval was wide and slightly banked. I’m going to say it was a quarter-mile in distance. The pit area was located behind the backstretch and for the most part out of sight. One of the negative aspects of this “Americanizing” was that we were not allowed into the pit area. I never like that.

 

 

There was a large crowd on hand but not very many concession stands. Fans were chowing down on corn dogs aka hot dogs. Just to be different I went with a bacon, egg and onion sandwich. The speedway had a very nice “V.I.P.” area for their fans that fit into that category. We didn’t. There was grandstand seating in the turns. Along the front stretch fans brought lawn chairs and blankets. You will be hard-pressed to find an American oval without full grandstands along the front stretch of the track. Later in the evening I tried an order of fish and chips (French fries).

 

 

Tonight we were seeing winged sprint cars and TQ midgets. At intermission Santa Claus rode past the grandstands in the local fire truck. The main event racing was good. Don’t miss the photos and YouTube video.

 

 

We had a bit of a hard time finding the John.

Following the racing we made the very short drive up toward the Christchurch airport. There at nearly midnight we checked into “John’s Motel & Holiday Park”. Places like this cater to both campers and travelers looking for a “hotel” room of sorts. We had some difficulty finding our room in the dark. We would not have long to stay at John’s.

 

 

2013 – NEW ZEALAND TRIP PLANNING

 

 

I made this trip at the invitation of trackchaser and friend Paul Weisel. We met lots of nice people, saw some great scenery and very good racing. In reality it came close to being a perfectly planned and executed trip.

 

 

As you read along please don’t miss the photos and videos. They will make the stories come alive. If you get the chance to visit New Zealand….do it!

 

 

 

PRE-TRIP

 

 

ADVANCE PREPARATION

 

THE RACE

 

 

 

New Zealand was not part of my original 2013 trackchasing plan.

 

I had no intention of traveling to New Zealand this year…..until I received an invitation to travel down under with fellow trackchaser Paul Weisel. Paul had done a good deal of research and come up with a two-week plan that would involve eight days of trackchasing. “Would I like to go?” he asked.

 

 

Carol and I had been to New Zealand two times previously. Our first visit was simply to tour the country, no racing involved. Our second visit to NZ came over the 2006/2007 Christmas holiday. On that trip we ended up seeing 12 New Zealand racetracks, mostly on the North Island.

 

Maybe it was time to go back to New Zealand.

Maybe it was time to return to NZ. However, I didn’t have two weeks to spare. During the 2013 trackchasing season I will end up traveling overnight nearly 190 nights away from home. I didn’t want to make it MORE than 190 nights. Additionally, I only had one trackchasing weekend left for the year if I wanted to make my goal of taking at least 23 weekends (Fri/Sat/Sun) away from trackchasing. Finally, during the first week of Paul’s trip, he would see three tracks. I had already seen one of those tracks (Woodford Glen) and another one would end up being rained out. Of course I didn’t know that when I was considering the trip.  One week of racing (5 trackchasing days), which would be Paul’s second week in NZ, would be just fine for me.

 

 

THE VISA

 

Visas…they get you one way of the other.

Visas can definitely be a hassle and at expense to the trip. As far as I could tell I wouldn’t need any travel visas for this adventure. However, sometimes “transit” visas are required.

 

 

Let’s say you are traveling to New Zealand. Your plan is to first fly into Australia and connect to a flight taking you to New Zealand. O.K. this is a real life example! Australia allows travelers just eight hours to layover in Aussieland. As luck would have it my flight schedule called for a 9.5-hour layover in Australia. I figured they might let me “slide” on this one. Wrong!

 

 

When I showed up at LAX at the Qantas Airline ticket counter my boarding pass wouldn’t print. The problem? I needed a “transit” visa because my stay in Australia was 1.5 hours longer than the maximum of eight hours allowed. Rules is rules right?

 

 

The transit visa would be good for one year. The cost? $50 U.S. Then I had a bright idea. I had been to Australia recently. I had visited the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland on a whirlwind trip where I left home on Thursday night and returned home Monday morning. How recently was that? I thumbed through my passport. My last entry into Australia was December 1, 2013. Today was December 8, 2014. I had missed being able to use my old visa (and save 50 bucks) by seven days! The funny thing is that when I got my Australian visa last year the cost was only $20 U.S. O.K., I guess it wasn’t that funny.

 

 

 

TIME ZONES

 

 

I could work with the NZ time zone.

During the past two months I’ve made separate trips to both India and Georgia (the country!). Those locations are 12 and 12.5 hours off our Pacific time zone in California. That’s just about as bad as it can get. As an example when it’s noon at home it’s about midnight, or it IS midnight in these two places.

 

 

New Zealand would be 21 hours AHEAD of California’s time zone. When it was “today” in California it would be “tomorrow” in New Zealand. However, is one sense that would not really be such a bad thing. When it was noon in California it would be 9 a.m. in NZ. So, even though NZ was a day ahead it was really only three hours off my body time in California. I could work with that.

 

 

 

BOOTS ON THE GROUND

 

 

I didn’t have to do much to make this trip a good one.

Paul Weisel was my main “boots on the ground” contact for this trip. I didn’t do any of the track planning. That is most unusual for me. Ever since my international trip with Belgium’s Roland Vanden Eynde (trackchasing countries #5, 6, 7, 8) I’ve done all of my own race plans. Considering that I’ve now seen racing in 67 countries that’s a lot of international race preparation.

 

 

I also utilized the resources of “New Zealand’s #1 Sportsman” Steve Williams. I met Steve during our trip to NZ in 2006/2007. I always tell people that Steve is the #1 saloon (stock car) driver in New Zealand. He drives the famous #21H Valvoline sponsored Ford Mustangs all over his country and in Australia as well. However, I first “knew of” Steve before I ever learned he was a racecar driver. Steve’s “day job” is as a professional caddie of some note. He had caddied for several of the top PGA touring professionals including Greg Norman and Ray Floyd. The most famous golfer for Steve to work with when I first met him was Tiger Woods. Steve, aka “Stevie” as he is known in golf circles was on Tiger’s bag for more than ten years. Now Steve caddies for Adam Scott an Australian golf pro. Only recently Adam Scott became the #1 golfer in the world. Prior to having Steve on the bag Adam didn’t seem as if he had reached his full potential. However, since Adam hired Steve they’ve won the 2013 Masters golf tournament in Augusta. As this goes to press Adam is currently the #1 ranked golfer in the world.

 

 

For this trip I asked Steve, who would be racing at most the tracks we would visit during this trip, where the best places to stay would be. He came back to me with a very complete list of hotels in each of the cities we would visit. Thanks to Paul (race plan) and Steve (hotel plan) all I had to do was get on an airplane and ride. I wouldn’t normally handle an international trip like this but for me it felt like I was taking a “busman’s holiday”. I would just sit back and enjoy it.

 

 

 

THE TRANSPORTATION

 

 

Los Angeles to Brisbane, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand to Queenstown, New Zealand to Christchurch, New Zealand to Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles.

 

I haven’t used my main airline sponsor for any of my international trips this quarter. That meant “scraping together” a plan to get to India, Georgia and now New Zealand on my own dime so to speak. Remember I’ve been retired for going on 12 years. Can you imagine where the guy who lives next door to you would be if he hadn’t worked in that time period? Would he be going to these faraway places every month? Of course, since I don’t live next door to you my situation might be different.

 

 

For this trip I would be flying round-trip from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand with Qantas Airlines. Because I spent the better part of my working life riding on an American Airlines plane I had enough frequent flyer miles to make this trip. Then I bought a couple of cheap tickets on Tiger Airways to get to and from Auckland (North Island) to first Queenstown and then Christchurch (South Island). I was in good shape.

 

 

 

CURRENCY

 

 

Do you know the official currency of New Zealand?

It’s the New Zealand dollar (NZ$). As we speak my iPhone currency app tells me I can get about 1.14 NZ$ for each U.S. dollar. Another way to look at it is when I see something priced in NZ$ I will know that it costs about 85-90% of that price in U.S. dollars.

 

I love America.

In the hobby of trackchasing personal financial reports have never been required or submitted by any trackchaser. Despite that being the case I have consistently been accused of being some “rich guy”. Top ten trackchaser, Allan Brown, even contended that I would never “stick with it” in the world of trackchasing. Allan missed that guesstimate by a yard or two.

 

 

There’s one thing that for the life of me that I don’t understand. Do you know what “class envy” is? The simplified definition is “poor people feeling resentful toward rich people”. For the life of me I can’t understand that feeling. I grew up poor but never resented rich people. Who buys the most lottery tickets? Poor people. Poor people WANT to become rich but they don’t like rich people? Wow. I need some more explanation around that one.

 

 

Since financial reports are not required of trackchasers I can’t prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that my fellow competitors, and even those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers” are rich. This is what I can tell you. During the time that I’ve been the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” (beginning in 2006) I’ve never had a job. Zero income. On the other hand all of my fellow competitors have worked, or are working, during most of this time period. Most of them even have spouses working full-time to help add to the coffers for their trackchasing funding programs. Maybe as an “unemployed” trackchaser I should resent these well-heeled trackchasers. However, I don’t roll like that. I believe in America. I believe in the American capitalist system. If someone is smart enough to make himself or herself financially secure I say “bravo”. If they’re lucky enough to be living off their spouse’s inheritance I say…..they’re lucky enough.

 

We pay our bills on time.

I’m not going to try to tell you that Carol and I don’t have enough money. We’ve been able to pay our bills on time. Heck, when I was going to college I would get a check from my parents for $15 U.S. at least 2-3 times per year. I worked in a Caterpillar Tractor Company factory, along with a host of other jobs, to pay for the rest of my college education. Then I got a great job, worked there for 30 years while Carol and I saved our money and invested it wisely.

 

Carol’s got all the money.

Yes, we have enough money to pay our bills. However, we really have even more money that I thought we did. Whenever I re-visit a country or group of countries (European Union) that I’ve already visited I ask Carol if she has any leftover currency from our last visit. When I asked her about New Zealand I was in for a great surprise!

 

 

I have no idea where Carol keeps all of this “leftover” money. However, for this trip she dug out some 98NZ$ for me to take on this trip. Maybe we aren’t poor. At least Carol seems to have some money. I’ve trackchased in 67 different countries. What if she has the equivalent of 98NZ$ for every one of those countries? That would be enough to just about cover the retail value of this trip!

 

 

 

WEATHER

 

The rain worried me.

The weather forecast was of some concern. Normally, when I trackchase in foreign countries I’m seeing racing on asphalt road courses. Those folks race in the rain.

 

 

However, in New Zealand all of the racing will be contested on ¼-mile dirt ovals. If it rains in those places the races will be cancelled. During our last trip to NZ we had one event cancelled by rain and two others shortened by the wet stuff. This past weekend Paul Weisel had one of his three planned days of trackchasing rained out.

 

 

My plan is to go trackchasing on five separate days in NZ. I hope to see six tracks race during that time. The weather forecast calls for a 30-40% chance of rain nearly every day. Back home, if I had any other alternative, I would not visit any track with a 30-40% change of rain. That’s why I’ve only been rained out once in the past 250 tracks (or so) that I have visited. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are rained out on one or two nights during this trip. I hope it isn’t any worse than that.

 

 

 

OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS

 

 

We would have a place to stay every night.

I’ll be traveling overnight away from home for eight nights on this trip. Due to the magic of international datelines and other things that I do not understand so much I will only need a hotel for five nights.

 

 

Paul, understanding my skill set in this area, asked that I book the hotels for the nights we would be traveling together. I tried to use Steve Williams’s recommendations but by the time I asked him for his thoughts most of those hotels were booked. Traveling at this time of year in NZ requires advanced booking.

 

 

Nevertheless, I was able to use both booking.com and hotels.com to get highly recommended lodging choices. I really like using these sites. I can balance off user recommendations with location and price to come up with a solid lodging plan.

 

 

 

THE RENTAL CAR

 

And off we went…on the wrong side of the road.

These folks in New Zealand will be driving on the left side of the road. That always makes for a fun trip. Did you know that 42% of the world’s population does that? Paul will rent the car while we’re on the South Island. I’ll go with Ace Rental Cars for our short time on the North Island.

 

 

 

NAVIGATION

 

We wouldn’t get lost.

Navigation will be provided via Google Maps! and made available via my iPhone. Since I’ll be in the navigator’s seat for much of the trip it should make finding places pretty easy. By the way, I purchased a “data plan” to enable us to have the benefits of Google Maps! while we are so far from home.

 

 

 

THE TRAVELING COMPANION

 

I guess you could call us international jet-setters.

Carol won’t be making this trip. It IS her birthday month and she doesn’t like to travel around Christmas. She’s already traveled overnight some 98 times this year. She would finish the year with 103 overnights. How many folks, who travel, wish they could get their spouse to do that?

 

 

 

THE SUMMARY

 

My “world map” is filling up fast.

I’ve seen racing in 67 different countries. Nobody can match that number. When I first went trackchasing in NZ it was my 9^th different country. That was a long time ago. I’ve been able to re-visit nearly half of the countries where I have trackchased. I was very much looking forward to another trip to NZ.

 

 

 

Pre-New Zealand

 

One of my goals was to NOT go trackchasing.

This being Carol’s birthday month I had lots of things to do before I could jet off to New Zealand for a week just in advance of the holidays. Recall I have a major entertainment diversification goal of NOT trackchasing for 23 full weekends this year. Folks, that’s almost half the year that I won’t be trackchasing. The goal was established to remind me to keep my trackchasing time in perspective. Setting goals like this works very well for me.

 

 

Entering the week of the New Zealand trip I stand at 21 weekends away from trackchasing. With no racing after I return from New Zealand I will exactly meet my goal in this important area. As we used to say back in the corporate world you “get what you measure”. That’s very true!

 

 

However, I have done a good deal of traveling during my last four weeks of non-trackchasing activity. I flew up and returned the same day from Portland, Oregon just to buy a new computer. Why do that? I wanted to do a dry run with my brand new airline sponsor….and save paying any sales tax.

 

 

I joined Paul Weisel and John Carroll for a night of midget racing at the Perris Auto Speedway on Thanksgiving night. Remember, racechasing is not trackchasing. I found the program somewhat disappointing. They charged $40 general admission for what is at best a $25 show and eight bucks for parking. I can go to virtually any NASCAR Sprint Cup show for $20 and park for free. There wasn’t much passing and there seemed to be a yellow flag delay every 2-3 laps. Add on cold temps and it wasn’t a very entertaining show.

 

 

The week before I left for New Zealand was busy. We did two Christmas cruises with our kids and grandkids. These types of cruises are popular in SoCal. They go up and down the famous Newport harbor (Newport Beach) after sunset. Homes in this area start at about $4 million. Normally the boat in front of the house goes for another million…or more! One home we passed was on the market for $24 million! It’s fun to see the Christmas decorations on these cruises from these mega homes.

 

 

During the pre-New Zealand week I also ventured up to the World Golf Challenge golf tournament at the Sherwood Country Club. My good buddy George Robertson did the driving. With just 18 golf professionals and a fairly small gallery it was easy to get close to the game’s top players including Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy. We finished off our day by stopping at an L.A. based restaurant that served khinkali aka khinkali. I first started eating this in Georgia during my trip their last month.

 

I’ve got a pretty busy schedule.

 

As if, in the seven days preceding this trip all of the above wasn’t enough I flew nearly 4,000 miles round-trip and drove another ten hours to see my alma mater Northern Illinois University play in the Mid-American championship football game. Frat brother Mike Skonicki picked me up at the Chicago airport and we motored over to Detroit, Michigan for the big game.

 

 

Unfortunately, the NIU Huskies couldn’t close the deal against Bowling Green University. Actually, they were blown out 47-27 in a game that might not have been that close. Had Northern won they were headed to a major BCS bowl game just like the Orange Bowl where they played last year. A silver lining to this cloud is that Northern Illinois ended up in the Poinsettia Bowl game played in San Diego. Schedule permitting you’ll find me at that game.

 

Just 40 more hours and I would be there.

On the day of my departure Carol and I grabbed a movie and dinner in San Clemente. Then the “work” started. I was looking at 40 hours of travel to meet up with trackchaser Paul Weisel. I would depart San Clemente at 8 p.m. Sunday night (5 p.m. Monday in NZ). I wouldn’t arrive until 12 noon or Tuesday (9 a.m. Wednesday in NZ).

 

 

What can I conclude from all of the above? I’ll take the high road and simply say that I am passionate. Doing the cruises was a great way to spend time with family over the Christmas holidays. Making such as effort to see my college play football was something I loved doing. Finally, traveling for nearly two days to get the chance to watch racing with a friend in such a faraway place would be fun. Life, when properly planned for, should nearly always be fun.

 

 

 

Sunday – Day 1 – (San Clemente to Los Angeles to Brisbane, Australia)

 

With a kiss and a hug I was soon backing out of the driveway.

Carol was giving me a kiss just before I backed out of the driveway at 8 p.m. (I can start off “day 1” with the preceding sentence on every trip when Carol doesn’t tag along….and I do.

 

 

I would begin with a 65-mile drive up to the Los Angeles International Airport. LAX is my airport of choice because it offers so much service to so many places. As described above I would end up needing a transit visa for my short layover in Australia. I wasn’t too wild about that idea but you have to learn to go with the flow.

 

 

I did have the opportunity to use the American Airlines Admirals private club at LAX. I had a quick drink and was soon boarding my Qantas Airlines flight to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. My flight would be nearly 14 hours long. I would fly in coach on a virtually full flight.

 

 

Service on Qantas was very good. Most of the flight attendants were male which is a bit unusual compared to most flights I take. In anticipation of the trip’s length I had downloaded two movies on my iPhone and two on my new MacBook Pro. I’ll be flying about 37 hours before I return in eight days. I should have more than enough time to see those four movies!

 

 

By the way you might like to know that when you download a movie in this situation you will have 30 days to watch it. However, once you begin watching the movie you must finish watching it without 24 hours. During that 24 hours the movie can be viewed as often as desired.

 

 

 

Monday – Day 2 – (In the skies!)

 

This trip was all about getting from point A to point B to point C.

 

ITNERNATIONAL DATE LINE

I can’t really tell you much about Monday. It’s not that I forgot what happened on Monday. It’s just that when I left California on Sunday night it was already 8:30 p.m. on Monday in NZ. By the time we landed 14 hours later in Brisbane it was Tuesday! You might want to give this phenomenon some thought.

 

 

Tuesday – Day 3 – (Brisbane, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand)

 

AUSTRALIA

 

I would have nine hours in Australia….at the airport.

I landed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia at 8:30 a.m. My next flight would not be leaving Brisbane bound for Auckland until 5:25 p.m. That meant I was facing a nine-hour layover. In international flying parlance I was a “transit” passenger. That meant I didn’t have to clear Australian customs, which made my having to get an Australian transit visa a little tougher to accept.

 

 

I did entertain the option of storing my carryon luggage at the Brisbane airport. With such a long layover I could probably have 4-5 hours to bum around the city. Recall that just 12 months ago I was in the area for some outstanding racing at the Archerfield Speedway. However, after flying for 14 hours I didn’t relish the idea of going into Brisbane for such a short stay.

 

 

So what did I do? I headed straight to the private Qantas Airlines business club lounge. When I retired from Procter & Gamble American Airlines gave me lifetime status as a platinum AAdvantage member. It was the least they could do considering I had earned more than 6 million miles in their frequent flyer program. My platinum elite membership also gave me “Sapphire” status with their airline partner clubs including Qantas Airlines. If you are a road warrior now or were in the past you know how important having “status” is. Once in the Qantas club I relaxed with food and drink for the next several hours.

 

 

While in the Qantas Club I took full advantage of the complimentary food and drink. They changed their buffet style food selection about every two hours. They even had soup! Premium liquors were included in my “package” as well. There wasn’t all that much to do in the club for nearly 9 hours but at least I didn’t go hungry or thirsty.

 

 

I did notice a few most unusual items while staying in the Qantas Club. When I arrived in the morning the place was packed with well over 50 guests. However, after the earlier flights departed I was the only person in the club for much of the day.

 

 

There were several TVs in the club as there always are. I was surprised to see the Ellen DeGeneres Show playing in Australia. She had a guest on from Mission Viejo, California a town where our family used to live. What followed the Ellen show was even harder to believe. This was a dramatic show with dialog that included the “F-bomb” being spoken about every ten seconds. In such an upscale location this was beyond unusual! The club also had showers. I would have availed myself to this amenity but all of my other clothing was in my checked bag and not available to me.

 

Landing in Auckland….where did I sleep?

I finally did get on my flight departing Brisbane at 5:25 p.m. I landed in Auckland at nearly midnight. That’s a result of the 3-hour flight time and a three-hour time zone change. My window seat had zero legroom. It was definitely an uncomfortable flight. I passed the time listening to a movie (Starbuck) on my iPhone.

 

 

Clearing NZ customs took longer than normal about 30 minutes. By the time my slightly delayed flight and slightly tardy customs clearance activities were completed it was after 1 a.m. The Auckland airport is much more rural and somewhat dated compared to the terminals in both Brisbane and Sydney.

 

 

Nevertheless, based upon my online research this afternoon I knew exactly where I would be sleeping in the Auckland. I would sleep in the airport! I was headed to the “Viewing Point” area of the international terminal. This is a space at the very top of the airport building. If you ever need to go there you’ll find it easily by following the signs. On my way to this special spot I passed well over 50 people who had already camped out. Checking the Auckland website told me the airport welcomed folks who might need a place to sleep for a few hours before they continued their journey.

 

What do I have to do to prove I am an indigent trackchaser?

The viewing point area was a rectangular room at the top of three flights of stairs. It might have been 20’ wide and maybe 50-60 feet long. I was one of only four people sleeping overnight here. There were ZERO airport announcements to disturb my slumber. Airport announcements can be a real drag for overnight sleepers in some airports.

 

 

Remember, I wasn’t really doing this to save money although that was a positive outcome of this experience. It was really a decision based upon convenience. Who wants to leave the airport after 1 a.m., travel to a hotel and return to the airport by 5:30 a.m.? That doesn’t sound like fun does it. Actually sleeping on the floor of an airport is not my idea of fun either. However, it was “more” fun than trying to do the hotel thing. I did check out the Novatel Hotel at the Auckland airport. However, their $236NZ rate seemed a bit impractical for 3-4 hours of sleep.

 

 

I carry a five-foot long security cable whenever I travel with my laptop, which is 100% of the time. I was able to use this cable to secure both of my bags and my brand new MacBook Pro. I laid out my jacket, my Tempurpedic pillow, my airline neck pillow and a few clean t-shirts for bedding.

 

 

Last night I slept overnight in an airplane. Tonight I was sleeping on the carpeted floor of an airport terminal. Yes, I would very much be looking forward to tonight’s hotel room in Invercargill on the South Island of New Zealand.

 

 

To make certain I didn’t miss my early morning flight I set two alarms. Tomorrow’s flight leaves from Auckland (North Island) at 7 a.m. I’m bound for Queenstown. That’s on the south island of NZ.  I’ll land at 9 a.m. In Queenstown I’ll meet Paul Weisel. Our five-day trackchasing adventure will begin there. If you have the time plot your own timeline of what it takes to make this trip happen. Give it a shot. Then put your pencil down and try to imagine this trip unfolding. When you have finished doing that put down your coffee and get back to work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ruapuna Speedway trip in pictorial delight