Greetings from Clovis, New Mexico
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
High Plains Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #1,418 Reprinted with permission from my Sunday, April 19, 2009, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) this trackchasing adventure didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. This was during the 2000 trackchasing season. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis. I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org I hope you will take the time to imagine in your mind what it took to make this trip from SoCal and understand the fun I had doing it. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link: If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! FOREWORD Sunday, April 19, 2009. “THE RACE THAT BROKE OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GOLF OUTING” TRACKCHASING TOUR EDITOR’S NOTE #1 You may or may not know that you are protected by strict bylaws as a subscriber to the RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report. One of those bylaws states that I cannot go into detail about my personal activities that are not directly associated with a trackchasing trip. “Directly associated” means the activities you read about occurred after I left the house on the way to the track and before I returned to the barn at the completion of the trackchasing trip. By the way, the official Trackchaser Report ends with the list of tracks I have seen in the current year at the bottom of each report. However……the readership base is so diverse that some people may have a passing interest is some of these non-trackchasing activities. Therefore, and since I have been gone for more than three weeks, I will post some information regarding the vacation timesharing industry and the state of Hawaii. If you are interested, simply go to the very bottom of the report (where it officially ends!) and you might pick up a tip or two for your next trip to Hawaii. You might even want to buy a timeshare unit. EDITOR’S NOTE #2 Remember there is a contest going on. You have about one more week to get your guess in as to what my “big announcement” will be following my Trackchaser Report for the track I visited on April 25, 2009. There will be three guaranteed winners regardless of the quality of the guesses. Carol will be the judge as to which entries came closest to actually predicting this announcement. Therefore, don’t delay get your entry in this very day. What could this announcement be? Greetings from Clovis, New Mexico TODAY’S HEADLINES High on my list of “to do” action plans is to achieve “recreational diversity”…………..details in “The Objective”. What was the most noteworthy travel accomplishment with this trackchasing trip?………………more in “The Trip”. Why did the “piper have to be paid”…………..details in “The People”. What were the spectators expected to throw at the drivers in today’s races?…………..details in “Race Review”. Things you might have noticed had you been paying 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 THE BEST READERS IN RACING From an avid reader in the Midwest “The reason I like to read over the track chasing reports is for the local color, especially. But also for the useful information about how to survive unplanned events in the nomadic life of a dedicated traveler, which of course is (a) constant process of having to deal with newly encountered circumstances in unfamiliar territory. (Maybe this is why some people love to travel – they like the new – and others don’t move around, because they like to be where life is more predictable.” From my guardian angel in Portugal I received this nice note from the woman who helped make my trackchasing trip to Portugal success after she and her group read my recent Trackchaser Report about my visit to their track. “Hi Randy, Very nice, with a lot of humor. We sent the link to all the guys, they love it. Just to point out, The first “lunch team” was the Valter Cardoso Team. The other team was: Luis Caseiro Team. Please take a look at my website: www.offroadportugal.org.” Editor’s note: Nena provides a nice story and photo about my visit. At least I THINK it’s a nice story, since the text is in Portuguese. “It seems that you have a nice time, it will be great that you could come again for European Rallycross (it’s 02/03 of May). Please let us know. Kiss Nena” From a friend and fellow trackchasing competitor from the East Hi Randy, I spent about two hours this morning with your NGD data from 2008. The NGD is really a travel chess game – it’s an exercise in how many balls (states) can you keep in the air (top ten) at a time without running out of time, money or sanity. Only a truly demented individual could have devised it. Nice job! From a reader in the United Kingdom Hi Randy, I have been an avid follower of your exploits for a number of years, and I’m always fascinated in the places you visit. I particularly like the travelogue style you use on your slide shows………..if you decide to come over to the UK again, be sure to look me up, and we can fix a visit to our local track Arena Essex, where we run the Rolling Thunder shows on Saturdays every two weeks. RANDY FAST FACTS TV INTRODUCTION Don’t miss my first ever bilingual trackchasing radio interview. It comes from the leading radio station in Bogotá. I did the English and they translated the interview live time into Spanish for their listeners. You can listen by going to www.ranlayracing.com. The interview is at the top of the home page. While you’re there be sure to take a look at my South American Speed Channel TV intro that I recorded for producer Ricardo Soler. It’s short but I do speak in both Spanish and English. My Spanish teacher might not be proud but she would be amazed. RADIO INTERVIEW If you would like to hear my first ever Spanish language radio interview directly from the “W Radio” website in Bogota, Colombia with host Julio Sanchez Cristo click on this link or paste it in your browser: http://www.wradio.com.co/nota.aspx?id=782281 TAXES If you’ve been reading my Trackchaser Reports for very long you know that I operate on a skeleton like budget compared to my well-funded Eastern based fellow trackchasing competitors. I am the only leading trackchaser I know of that is both retired and does not receive a retirement pension of any kind or any support from the U.S. government. I know that some think this is the same economic profile of a drug dealer. I say that is just a coincidence. Nevertheless, I must report to you that “Trackchasing’s First Mother” and I just paid our federal and state income taxes a few days ago. Of course this statement proves I am not a drug dealer. Despite being retired and without a paycheck of any kind, we paid the second highest amount of income taxes (Federal and California) of any year ever, including my 30 working years at Procter & Gamble. No, I cannot figure it out either. NOTE FROM THE COMMISSIONER Normally, I’m in trouble with the trackchasing political hierarchy. Not this time! Thanks to our unofficial Trackchasing Commissioner for his nice note regarding my 30th trackchasing country achievement. I GET BUSY At any one time, I have about 500 email messages in my inbox. Recently I stood out in the rain at a track in Spain all day. It was cold, muddy and generally miserable. I didn’t have any accreditation from the track so I could not even get into the paddock area. While trying to clean out my inbox I came across this message that was sent to me several days before I left for Spain. The message was from the marketing manager at the Motorland Aragon track that I visited. Oh well! “Dear Randy, Thanks for your email. Good to hear that you are coming (to our track)….Please find attached some pictures. If you are coming call me, I’ll be in the media centre. Go to the Accreditations Centre and saying your name you can get a parking pass to go directly to the media centre.” NOW THE TRIP BEGINS! I left San Clemente on Thursday morning to begin a three-day golf outing in SoCal. I continued on from there to Clovis, New Mexico for a Sunday afternoon race. By lunchtime on Monday I was back in San Clemente. This what transpired on day 1-5 of my first trackchasing effort in more than three weeks. 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 Is “recreational diversification” a winning idea? Although I spend a good deal of time trackchasing, I try to balance out my life’s recreational interests as much as I can. However, in the “dog eat dog” world of trackchasing there are no rewards for having a diversified lifestyle. I am concerned about some of my fellow trackchasing competitors. While I seek such recreational diversification, they simply go trackchasing each weekend. How in the world can I keep my current ranking if I’m off doing something a little bit different as often as I can and they keep pushing and pushing? It’s a dilemma that does not currently have a solution. I have several ways to evaluate the effectiveness of my RD (recreational diversification). One of those ways is to compare the number of days I have been trackchasing with the number of overnight stays away from home that I have had. With the completion of this trackchasing trip, I have been trackchasing on 17 days in 2009. Up to this point, 110 days of the year have been completed. If my overnight stay total were somewhere around 17 nights, then I would attribute almost all of my traveling to trackchasing. However, I have stayed overnight (away from home!) some 56 nights in the first 110 days of the year. That’s slightly over 50% of the days I have chosen to stay away from our modest little casa on the shores of the blue Pacific in San Clemente. Probably the most amazing statistic is that I have convinced Carol to join me on 34 of those nights and she only has six trackchasing days! The Trip Was this a simple day trip to Clovis, New Mexico? On the surface this might seem like a simple trip to nearby Clovis, New Mexico. However, even if this were a simple trip to Clovis (and it wasn’t), your electronic mapping software would tell you that Clovis, New Mexico is 1,025 miles from RANLAY Racing’s world headquarters in San Clemente, California. My overnight travel is beginning to add up. Up to this point in my trackchasing year I have seen 18 new tracks and had 56 overnights. Is anyone interested in renting my home while I’m gone? As I look at the immediate future I don’t expect this trend to lesson. Regardless of this amount of travel, my goal is still to decrease my “vacation and entertainment” budget by 40% versus year ago. Of course, hotel expenses are part of the “V&E” budget. I’m not quite there but do expect to meet the goal by the end of the year. Sometimes the travel might be the most interesting part of the trip. Today I would end of seeing a 12-car, 200-lap enduro race for very low budget stock cars. My “race fan” readers know what that means. My “non-race fan” readers may not. That’s probably a good thing. Some folks might think someone would have to be “certified mental” to be willing to fly more than 1,300 miles and then drive almost 500 miles and then stay overnight in a Motel 6 for the simple purpose of counting one more track. What makes this most noteworthy is it came after a big night of drinking more Mai Tais with my fraternity brothers, the night before, than I ever have. Yes, that is the most noteworthy aspect of this travel achievement. However, with my “pinpoint airstrike capability” anything is possible these days. These were two of the tacos I ordered. They were the best, but eating them in the darkened cockpit of the RANLAY Racing National Rental Car Racing Kia was a challenge. The highlight of my visit to Clovis was eating some outstanding Mexican food after the races. I used my “Yelp” iPhone application. Yelp provides real person evaluations of the local eateries just about anywhere. The Taqueria Jalisco earns a RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee. I did drive through because I was short on time. Next time, if there is a next time, I’ll go inside to eat. The food was fantastic! The People College seems like a long time ago…..because it was. I began my college studies at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois in September, 1967. I had been a poor student in a lower middle class high school primarily because I didn’t take it seriously and only wanted to play sports and chase girls. I figured once I got to college I could take my academic studies more seriously. With the Vietnam War raging in 1967, a student deferment was essential. That made me study hard! It’s fun to stay in touch with friends that were made more than 40 years ago. During the beginning of my junior year, I pledged a fraternity called Delta Sigma Pi. It was during this time that I met several “brothers” that would become my lifelong friends. The profile of our group was “serious about future business success, but a group that liked to have fun”. I was president of my pledge class and remember winning at least one beer chugging qualifier. As the years passed, I did a good deal of business travel. This allowed me to stay in touch with people. By the way, “back in the day”, “staying in touch” meant actually seeing people and not emailing or texting them. Many years ago, a few of us decided that an annual golf outing would be a great way to stay in touch. If you’re from the Midwest, you’ve probably heard of “NIU”. However, if you’re not, you may never have heard about the school. When I went there people were motivated to go to college to avoid being drafted. When I went there, there was a curfew for the girls. Yes, we called the women “girls” back then. These folks had to be in their dorm rooms for “bed check” by 11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Proving that NIU was politically incorrect, the boys had no “hours”. The thinking was that when the girls went home, the boys would shortly follow. If you do know of Northern and didn’t go to school there, you probably know the school by its sports record. We have had some decent football teams in the recent past. Not too many years ago, we beat Alabama and Maryland on their home fields and Iowa State at home, all in the same season. Northern was and is a good academic school. With my high school grades, I’m not sure how I got in. It must have been my test scores. I do know this. Virtually every one of my fraternity brothers has been a strong success in business. At the beginning of this trackchasing trip I was joined by five of the finest “Men of DSP”. This year’s golf outing would include six players, including me. The event moves around geographically each year. This year it would be in SoCal. That meant I didn’t have to travel. I liked that idea. I was joined by Mike S., Phil T., Bobby V., Russ H. and Jim H. These are some successful people. In this group we have two people who own their own firms. Another is a sales executive for a multi-billion dollar company. Still another is a CPA and controller for an international electronics firm. Our fifth member was able to retire at age 45 from a major railroad company at the executive level and went on to become a professor at NIU. These guys are from Las Vegas and Chicago but own vacation homes in Sarasota, Florida, Scottsdale, Arizona and Newport Beach, California. It kinds of makes my cottage in San Clemente and one-week Maui timeshare seem insignificant! I always say I’m going to prepare for this golf outing. Before we get together each year, I always say I’m going to get my golf game in great shape. However, trackchasing does not keep my golf game sharp. For some reason, I am always coming off weeks of hard trackchasing travel and my golf game sucks. It sucked this year as well. Oh well, we had a good time anyway. Our accommodations were deluxe. Sometimes we stay in hotels on these trips and sometimes we stay at the aforementioned vacation homes. This time we did some of both. Because Jim H.’s oceanfront home in Newport Beach “only” had four bedrooms, we rented one hotel room for two of our brothers. I was able to impress my brothers with my Priceline.com hotel negotiating skills. We saved more than $300 off the rate at the upscale Hyatt Regency in Newport Beach for the room we needed to rent. The rest of us stayed at the beach house. We dined in luxurious spots each night for dinner and told stories and laughed and laughed. The last night was just like in college. After three rounds of golf on consecutive days (something I rarely do in my old age) it was time for our farewell dinner. We had gotten our share of sun and fresh air during the past three days of perfect SoCal weather. We decided to visit a waterfront Newport Beach eatery for some much needed refreshment. This is when the Mai Tais starting flowing. After the first, I knew that I would not be driving home and immediately gave the keys to the Carol Lewis owned and Life of Virginia sponsored Lexus LS 430 to Bobby V., a non-drinker. From there we began to down one expensive Mai Tai after another. Phil T, a CPA back home, is always the group’s accountant. He sends us a bill after the trip is finished detailing how much we spent and what everyone’s share is. I have never drunk more Mai Tais in my life. By the way, this cocktail has multiple shots of liquor in each drink. Just like in college the “piper must be paid”. Not only would Phil T. have to be paid but the piper would as well. The dinner and drinking wrapped up on Saturday night. The drinking continued back at the house. On Sunday everyone would be returning to their homes. However, I would not. I would be leaving at 5 a.m. for a trackchasing trip to New Mexico. My fraternity brothers cannot understand my devotion to trackchasing. However, they tolerate it and listen quietly to my stories of “being on the road”. When it was time to hit the sack for the evening, I did just that. I simply walked into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. I will say this. This is a very efficient way of retiring for the evening. There is no brushing of the teeth. There is no time wasted on clothing removal. You simply walk up to the bed and fall in. My wakeup call at 5 a.m. after a very hard night of drinking came early. I breathed hard on the bathroom mirror to test my blood alcohol level. I had not drunk anything for 6-8 hours, but I wasn’t sure what my real condition was. However, in the world of trackchasing, you go and ask questions later. Like any person who has been drinking you try to drive slow and straight. You figure the cops wouldn’t possibly pick you out of a crowd. I doubt very much that I was legally intoxicated at this point. However, I wasn’t feeling all that great either. My drive to LAX took nearly an hour. From there I did my flying thing and then had to drive more than 200 miles in the New Mexico sun. This was a tough trip. I can’t wait til next year. Our fraternity golf outing was great. I, like the others, can’t wait for next year. Time is flying at this stage in life, so it won’t be long before we are all together again. See you guys next year! TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home. I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day. Delta Sigma Pi Annual Golf Outing – Various courses in Southern California The matches were played at three upscale courses including: Pacific Golf Club, San Clemente, California Judged to be the best of these three courses by all brothers. Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club, Mission Viejo, California The Crossings at Carlsbad, Carlsbad, California T Billy the Kid……his real grave – Ft. Sumner, New Mexico Billy the Kid was killed in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in 1881. If you’re out in the middle of this part of New Mexico, you won’t have much else to do than stop where the REAL Billy the Kid gravesite is located. It’s just three miles off the highway….and when would you expect to come this way again. The entertainment value is just of marginal, so don’t expect much. RACE REVIEW HIGH PLAINS SPEEDWAY – CLOVIS, NEW MEXICO Today’s race was not very entertaining. If I were a racechaser it is unlikely that I would ever come here. However, as a trackchaser, it fit the bill perfectly. I had just one day this weekend to go trackchasing. It was a simple 1,352 mile round-trip plane ride along with 490-mile rental car trip. Heck, my Parking Spot receipt from LAX tells me I was only gone from SoCal for 27 hours. The best thing about trackchasing is that when a track does not warrant a return, it doesn’t get one. Mind you my contacts at the track had been very helpful and informative. They took the time to explain the track’s history and the state of the current racing at the High Plains Speedway. There used to be weekly racing at the High Plains Speedway. I was told the track began operation at this location in 1997 or 1998. Clovis, New Mexico is located out in the middle of nowhere along the New Mexico/Texas border. It’s an hour and a half west of Amarillo, Texas and about three and one-half hours east of Albuquerque. Folks, that’s about as close to be out in the middle of nowhere as you are going to find. Today’s event was going to be an enduro. I really like enduro racing. It is very laid back. Enduro racing is contested by drivers of very low dollar stock cars, just a step or so up from a demolition derby car. I was told not to expect a large car count, maybe between eight and twenty. There were 12 competitors that showed up today. Two of the cars were DRIVEN to the track. Just eleven cars started the 200-lap or two hours race. Today’s race was scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. I paced my drive over with a stop for grandkid souvenirs (always a must) and a brief visit to “Billy the Kid’s” gravesite (more on that in the Trackchasing Tourist Attraction section). I was hoping they would start on time since I had a nearly four-hour drive back to Albuquerque following the race. I was in time for the driver’s meeting. The driver’s meeting did begin at 4:30 p.m. I was told that all of the workers, promoters and such are volunteers. Often times “volunteers” is code for “we can’t be held accountable for our results”. I guess volunteers can’t make people do the right thing since nobody has any power over anybody else in the volunteer manager/worker relationship. A young blonde woman sang a memorable rendition of the national anthem. I have heard some good singers of the anthem but this was not one of them. I’m not critiquing her singing style or ability. She tried; I have to give her credit for that. However, she might benefit from some more practice in the shower. She stopped three times during the song when she forgot the words. This was exacerbated by her laughter at her shortcomings and words back and forth with the announcer who was encouraging her to keep going. Toward the end of the song, several words were repeated. Maybe she was singing the national anthem with repeating lyrics. The High Plains Speedway is part of the New Houk Motor Sports Complex. The track itself is part of the Ned Houk Motorsports Park. The park houses a motocross and go-kart track in addition to some sort of road course for motorcycles. The park’s car racing dirt oval is very high-banked and about 3/8-mile in length. Today’s weather brought a bright blue sunny sky with a constant wind and temps of 65 degrees that would drop to about 55 by the race’s end. The water came but it did not come quickly. It took them a full hour to lay down about five laps of the wet stuff. The race started about 30 minutes late. They ran 12 laps under some very dusty conditions. At this point they stopped the race to water the track. At many places this chore would have been completed in 5-10 minutes. For some unknown reason, it took them a full hour to get the water truck on the track. It took only a few laps to water the dried out surface. It was now 6 p.m. They decided to hold another driver’s meeting. The promoter asked the racers if they wanted to shorten the race from 200 laps to 100 laps. I looked at my watch. I’ve always been pretty good with numbers. It did not take my entire math acumen to figure out I was going to get back to the Motel 6 much later than expected. In my mind, I kept repeating “pick 100 laps, pick 100 laps”. However, I don’t suspect any of the drivers came from as far away as I had. I don’t suspect they had as many things to do when they got home as I did. I did suspect they came here to race 200 laps and that was what they were going to do. No one voted for shortening the race to 100 laps. We would be going the full distance but starting an hour and a half later than expected. The promoter even told the drivers he might have to water the track again if the dusty conditions returned. Why didn’t they just shoot me? And then they fired! Soon (not really that soon) the race was restarted. There is a very unusual tradition at these enduro races in Clovis. The fans are not only allowed but ENCOURAGED to throw raw eggs at the drivers as the race progresses. Maybe the fans are in training to become Dale Earnhardt Sr. fans. I don’t know. They throw eggs at the drivers!! I don’t know how much a dozen eggs costs in the supermarket. I do know we are living in hard times. The guys sitting next to me in the grandstands didn’t seem like they were in any position to be wasting two dozen farm fresh eggs. However, who was I to rain on their parade? My granddad always told me to be careful around folks who are holding eggs in their throwing hand. It is very difficult to hit a moving target from some 50 yards away. However, several eggs came close and this added to the fan’s excitement. Soon all of the eggs from the grandstand had been thrown. At that point, I thought we would get down to some serious enduro racing. Look closely. The passenger on the right has an egg in his left hand. My camera catches everything. Most of the cars carried more than just the driver. Several had another person in the front passenger’s seat. One car had two passengers riding (with helmets) in the rear seat. They faced out the back of the car. I was most surprised to see these various passengers begin to throw raw eggs at their competitors while the race was progressing. Maybe raw eggs would be a solution to the various trackchaser conflicts that are always rearing their heads. There were about 50-75 people in the grandstands. They all seemed to be having a good time. With the late start, the sun began to set, the temperatures began to fall and the track lights were turned on. Most of the 200 laps featured about six cars racing. At many tracks it is difficult to get good track reporting and actionable information from the track announcer. That was the case today. Here is one of the gems he passed along to the huddled masses. When this statement was made there were six cars on the track. The announcer told us, “Here are the top five drivers in the race up to this point in NO PARTICULAR ORDER”. With that, he mentioned five of the six drivers currently on the track. The sixth driver that was not mentioned was the announcer’s daughter, a 16-year old who spun on nearly every lap. Now I ask you what could I possibly do with such imprecise information. The drivers had been told that “rotten eggs” were forbidden in today’s race. Apparently, rotten egg smell does not go away and can ruin driver’s uniforms and even crash helmets. I didn’t really catch the full meaning of this until the race was underway. Some fans appeared to be impatient. I watched every lap of this race. I don’t know why. I guess I was morbidly curious as to what the outcome might be. A driver of a front-wheel drive car was kicking butt up to the 150-lap mark. Then his car blew up. Several other front runners went up in smoke. I think only four cars were on the track at the checkered flag. I’m not trying to compare today’s racing with the Daytona 500 or even a good short track racing event. However, the promoter did tell me he was trying to build up the racing population (both drivers and fans) so the track could race on a regular basis in the future. They’ve got a long way to go to get from a 12-car once a month enduro to something more. I wish them luck but don’t have much confidence they are going to reach that object anytime soon. STATE COMPARISONS New Mexico This afternoon I saw my 10th lifetime track in the home where the Road Runner calls itself the state bird. No other trackchaser has seen more than half the number of tracks I have visited here. As a matter of fact, no other trackchaser has ever seen any racing at the High Plains Speedway or any other track in Clovis, New Mexico. For a track that’s been in business for more than ten years this is very unusual. RENTAL CAR UPDATE Albuquerque, New Mexico – Sunday/Monday For the first time that I can remember I rented a Kia automobile. I would be driving the National Rental Car Racing Kia Amanti. This car seemed to have a lot in common with a Lincoln Town Car. I like it, but it did have some strange things about it. First, it was a challenge finding the switch to open the gas tank cover. That’s always a needed piece of information. The warning bell sounded whenever ANY of the four doors were open and the keys were in the ignition. Nevertheless, I would rent one again. I drove the car 490 miles. I paid an average price of $2.07 per gallon. The car gave me 27.35 miles per gallon fuel mileage at a cost of 7.6 cents per mile. The car cost 6.7 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. Coming soon (but I guess not THAT soon)! How do fellow P&G retirees really think? I have some really big news that will break in my first Trackchaser Report for the race completed on 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 If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans. AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – Albuquerque, NM – 676 miles RENTAL CAR Albuquerque International Airport – trip begins Clovis, New Mexico – 246 miles Albuquerque International Airport – 490 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE Albuquerque, NM – Los Angeles, CA –676 miles Total Air miles – 1,352 (2 flights) Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 1,842 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: High Plains Speedway – $6 (pit passes were $25 proving it is the racer who pays for this stuff) Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $6 COMPARISONS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2009 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Lifetime track totals in ( ). Tracks have been reported by 28 different worldwide trackchasers this season. LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS Final 2008 National Geographic Diversity results have been posted. Just when you thought it might not be possible I have some very exotic trackchasing plans coming up in the near term. Stay tuned. 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 1,417. Circuto de Murca (road course), Murca, Portugal – March 29 1,418. High Plains Speedway (oval), Clovis, New Mexico – April 19 Official end of RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report TIMESHARES AND THINGS TO DO IN HAWAII We live in just about the best climate in the world. San Clemente, if you believe the license plate frames, does have the “World’s Best Climate”. That makes it difficult for us to travel anywhere else for better weather. However, we have come to appreciate Hawaii’s climate as one of the best in the world. I travel all over the world. There is only one place in all of my travels that I am willing to go back again and again for a stay of one week or longer. That is Hawaii. We treat Hawaii as sort of a second residence. If it’s going to be a “residence” it is more comfortable to stay in something that resembles a house more than a hotel room. This is where “timesharing” comes in. Timeshares have a bad reputation to some, but not to me. We have owned a timeshare on the island of Maui in Hawaii for nearly 15 years. In case you didn’t know owning a “timeshare” gives you the right to own a luxurious property for just a short time each year. Most timeshares are sold in increments of one week. Our Maui week comes in the very late summer. There are two primary expenses of a timeshare property. First, you purchase your “week”. This is similar to actually buying any other real estate piece. You get a deed and can occupy the property for the amount of time that you purchased. Some timeshares offer fixed dates and some allow you to use your timeshare during any period the property is available. The second timeshare expense is called the “maintenance fee”. Maintenance includes expenses like real estate taxes, repairs and upkeep to the unit, maid service and the like. Most timeshares sell their units 50 weeks out of the year and leave the other two weeks for repair, cleaning and upkeep. If that is the case all of the above maintenance expenses are divided by 50 and that becomes the annual maintenance expense for one week of timeshare ownership. You may have attended a timeshare presentation during one of your vacations. It is almost never a good idea to buy a timeshare at such a location. These timeshares are heavily laden with sales commissions for the person selling the timeshare. It is much better to buy timeshares on the resale market. Resale prices are sometimes as little at 20-50% of the price sold for a new unit at a timeshare presentation. One of the beauties of timesharing is that you don’t have to use the unit at the location where it sits. You can trade it! We have traded our Maui unit for locations in England, Spain, Italy as well as in the United States. Hawaii properties are so popular around the world that ONE WEEK of Hawaii timeshare ownership can be traded for TWO WEEKS of timesharing just about anywhere else in the world. We love our timesharing so much in Maui that we have purchased a second week in early spring. This gives us a place to hang our hats for two weeks each year in Maui or for four weeks anywhere else in the world. Our Maui timeshares are strategically spaced about six months apart, which is the perfect spacing for our frequent visits to the islands. By the way, each of our units is two bedrooms with gorgeous views of the Pacific ocean. One of the units has two balconies located just 30-40 yards from the water. They all have full kitchens, TVs, phones, washer/driers. It’s just like living at home. If you’re interested in Maui timeshares, let me know and I will hook you up with the right people. Our timeshare for this trip ran from Saturday to Saturday. However, with Easter weekend falling at the end of our stay, we headed out to Hawaii early courtesy of my trackchasing airline sponsorships. We left two days early on Thursday. We were willing to go to any Hawaii island that would take our standby butts. It was tight but a plane coming into Los Angeles with 25 connecting Hawaii passengers was late. Those folks missed out on getting to their Hawaii vacations on time and we got two of their seats. We were not headed to Maui though; we were going to Hawaii, also known as the “Big Island”. You’ve heard me talk about Priceline.com. The Lewis’ are frugal people who like to buy good things cheap. We landed on the Big Island at 4:30 p.m. Hotels can only be booked online at www.priceline.com until 11 p.m. Eastern time. Hawaii is six hours behind the east coast clocks. That meant that when we landed on the Big Island I had just 30 minutes to get a Priceline hotel. This is where my technology advantage came to the rescue big time. After quickly checking www.biddingfortravel.com, I learned what price would likely be successful. I bid $88 for a 4 star resort hotel. We won! We got the Hapuna Prince hotel for this princely sum. The hotel’s website offered a price of $350 per night, taxes included. We would be saving about $500 off the very best price anyone else could get for this gorgeous property for our two-night stay. Our National Rental Car Chrysler Sebring convertible took us all around the island. The highlight was driving to the top of Mauna Kea (14,000 feet) and getting our pictures taken in the snow while vacationing in Hawaii!! It was 36 degrees on the mountain’s top. We did most of our dining at the Hapuna Prince. Dining here is expensive but the quality and setting are out of sight. We also used our Hawaii Entertainment book for eating out. Whenever we come to Hawaii for a week or more, we buy an Entertainment book. They cost about $50 but our savings are always more than twice the cost of the book….and it encourages us to try new places. Breakfast on the last of our three days on the Big Island was at the Mauna Kea hotel, sister property to the Hapuna Prince. Does $82 sound expensive for breakfast for two people? It did to me too! However, it was delicious and “Trackchasing’s First Mother” seemed comfortable so “it was all good”. I used my laptop to search for good inter-island airline rates. I couldn’t do what I do without state of the art, up to the minute travel information. It saves us money and gives us the products needed to sustain our meager lifestyle. We ended up on a 9-seat plane from Mokulele Airlines. Soon we were landing on the island of Maui. Maui is our favorite of the Hawaiian island chain. This would be our first ever stay at our new timeshare location at the Papakea Resort. Our unit has one bedroom downstairs and a second bedroom with two twin beds in an upstairs loft. The unit has just recently been “redone”. Now it looks as nice as any Hyatt or Marriott hotel I have stayed at. It has granite kitchen countertops, upgraded refrigerator, dishwasher and air-conditioning. You can see the unit and everything else I’m talking about at www.ranlayracing.com. Just click on “Trackchaser Reports” and then on “Hawaii – Trackchasing break”. Our first stop after getting over to the west side of Maui was at Star Markets. We’ll be in our Maui timeshare unit for seven days. We’ll probably eat 1-2 meals per day in our condo. I always love our Hawaii grocery shopping experience. It’s often the only time all year I set foot in a grocery store. Hawaii grocery prices are expensive. However, they are not as expensive as eating out in Hawaii. Hawaii offers “activities”. Activities are fun things for tourists to do during their stay on the islands. They include such things as dinner cruises, helicopter tours, parasailing, snorkeling, horseback riding, kayak tours and much much more. We’ve done everything ever offered on Maui, with one exception. We had never been “ziplining” before. Long-time Trackchaser Report readers Mike and Bev Herrin did this on their recent trip to Hawaii. During the trip, Mike ran a marathon in his 50thstate! The Herrin’s liked their ziplining experience and we couldn’t wait to try it. If you don’t know much about ziplining go to www.zipline.com. When you’re in Maui give them a call at 808-878-8414. In a nutshell ziplining is a wild ride out in the Hawaii rainforest. A strong cable is attached from one big tree to another big tree. Each rider gets hooked up with a cable and pulley system and goes for the ride all by their lonesome. Our zipline tour location was near the top of Mount Haleakala. By the way, one of the top tourist attractions in Maui is going to Haleakala to watch the sunrise. However, if you go there dress warmly. Hawaii’s 20-degree temperatures feel just about the same as the 20-degrees does wherever you are from. Our zipline location was the first ever zipline spot in the United States. Now there are nearly 1,000 places you can do this. Our tour gave us five different rides. The final one was 750 feet long and we reached more than 50 M.P.H. There is an individual weight limit of 260 pounds. The trees are only so big! This was a blast and we thank the Herrins for giving us the idea. On the way down the mountain from our zipline adventure we stopped for lunch at the Kula Lodge. This place more than earns a RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee. It is great. It is gourmet. It is somewhat expensive, but what are you saving your money for anyway? They cook pizzas on a wood burning stove outdoors. The pineapple upside down cake was the best, by a wide margin, that I have ever had. While in Maui, we tried to pace ourselves. We only did a major activity every other day. On our non-activity days we simply had a quiet restaurant meal and went into Lahaina to catch up on our movies. This was also a tough week to be gone from home for TV viewing. The NCAA championship basketball game was on, along with a NASCAR race from Texas and the first two days of the Masters golf tournament. Fortunately, our unit had a VCR (do people still use these things?). I was able to watch these important programs live or on tape. I also have the capability of watching all of my at home recorded programs on my laptop from anywhere in the world. I’ll tell you more about that in a future report. Soon we were off to the island of Lana’i. Lana’i is sometimes called the “pineapple” island. It is also where Bill Gates of Microsoft fame was married. Lana’i is home to the Challenge at Manele Golf Course built by Jack Nicklaus. Lana’i is reached by riding the Maui-Lanai Ferry (http://www.go-lanai.com/). Lana’i is the sixth largest island in Hawaii and has just 2,800 residents. You may have noticed that I don’t always pay what the “public” pays when I tour. I will provide prices that are offered to the general public. However, in all likelihood I did not pay these prices. They are given only as a planning guideline. I could not maintain my reputation as the “little trackchaser who could get by on a little bit less” if I told you what I actually paid for these and other activities. The Challenge at Manele has the most beautiful golf course views of any place I have played including Pebble Beach. Greens fees are $235 per round. Carol rode along on my golf round and we were joined by a local resident for the round. He had moved here from California and told us there are very few permanent non-working residents on the island. Following our round of golf, we lunched poolside at the Four Seasons Resort. We had a good four hours to relax before taking the last ferry of the day back to Maui. The least expensive room at the Four Seasons is $445 per night. This may give you an idea of the quality of this property. As we drank Mai Tais by the pool, the servers were there for our every wish. We wrapped up our fabulous day-trip to Lana’i with the 45 minute ride ($30 p/p one-way) back to Maui. Whale season runs from about November to April. This ferry ride is a great way to see the big fish without going on an official “whale watch”. Our next day of relaxing from the rigors of world-class trackchasing had us simply lounging about the pool at the Papakea. We barbequed steaks on the gas grills and just chilled. We were resting up for our drive on the “road to Hana”. Hana might not mean much to you if you’ve never done this. Click on this link and you will see what I’m talking about (http://www.mauiinformationguide.com/road-to-hana.php). Driving to and from Hana is an all-day adventure. The road is winding along the mountainside. It takes you mainly through a rainforest and you will likely be driving in light rain a good deal of the way. We chose to drive on the road forbidden for rental cars. Why would we do that? Mainly because rental cars are forbidden. We did this years ago, with our kids. We’ve been to Hawaii more than 25 times. Back then the road truly was almost too tough to take a regular passenger rental car. Now the road is simply “rough” and I do mean rough but nearly as bad as it used to be. Sticking with our plan, the next day I called for golf tee time at the Kaanapali Golf Resort. This is another ocean front course that is way overpriced ($225 per round) for the tourist. I’m just glad I’m not your normal tourist. Carol and I capped off the last evening of our stay with a sunset cocktail cruise run by the Pacific Whale Foundation. We used these folks before. The cruise offered the aforementioned cocktails, heavy Pupus (food) and great views of whales. I took some very good pictures of the big fish that you won’t want to miss at www.ranlayracing.com. Our nine-day trip was coming to an end….or was it. We were headed backed to the island of Oahu, home to Honolulu. We had vacationed on four of the Hawaiian islands, Hawaii, Lana’i, Maui and now Oahu. Our youngest son, Jim lives and teaches in Honolulu. We would have time to see him for breakfast before heading back to Los Angeles. However, the flights back to LAX were extremely tight with folks wrapping up their Easter vacation plans. Carol and I have taken more than 380 flights with our airline sponsorship partners. I’ve only missed my destination two times up until today. Now that number is three! There are very few things in life that really bug me. I try to take whatever change in plans that comes my way in stride. I usually have multiple backup plans in place to accommodate the unexpected. That was the case when we did not get on the flight. It wasn’t much of a surprise. It did remind me that traveling around Easter time and, especially spring break is tricky. I simply popped open my laptop and used Priceline.com to get a gorgeous hotel in downtown Honolulu. We got the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki for less than $100 when the going rate was around twice that. We missed our flight the next day as well. I got our same hotel for a second night using Priceline.com at the same price. We spent the day hiking the Manoa Falls Trail near Honolulu with Jim. This was following an outstanding breakfast at the Original Pancake House on Kapiolani Blvd. in Honolulu. Yes, it earns a RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee. I had Spam a favorite in Hawaii. The pancakes were so delicious that I am currently salivating all over the keyboard of my laptop. Carol and I are both 60 years old. I doubt she would want me to tell you that, but she never reads my reports so I think I’m safe. What makes me proud of our ages is that we don’t see very many people our age doing the things we do. We didn’t see anybody our age ziplining and we didn’t’ see anyone out on the hiking trail our age this morning either. The trail was extremely steep, muddy, wet and slippery. When we got to the top our reward was a beautiful waterfall. I highly recommend this hike but don’t wear your Sunday meetin’ shoes. Well folks, I hope you enjoyed my “word tour” through Hawaii. I think you’ll really like the “photo tour” if you venture over to www.ranlayracing.com. I love trackchasing, but from time to time we need a break from it. If you have any questions about Hawaii vacationing I would be glad to help out wherever I can. Aloha! You might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. 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 That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. I wasn’t making YouTube video productions back in 2009. Nevertheless, I did find this video of the racing action at High Plains Speedway. Trust me the racing I saw was nothing like what is featured in this video.
Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure. The trip to Clovis with a stop to see Billy the KId’s grave site 
What does Northern Illinois University mean to you?
TRAVEL DETAILS
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2009