A trackchasing adventure to Pennsylvania, Maryland
and Virginia
Greetings from Walnutport, Pennsylvania
Then Upperco, Maryland
And finally, Suffolk, Virginia
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Blue Mountain Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,750 Arcadia Carnival Grounds Dirt figure 8 Lifetime Track #2,751 Suffolk Executive Airport Arena Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,752 THE EVENT Editor’s note: When was the last time you visited a fish hatchery, a rose garden and saw a division 1 college football game on your way to the races? Never? Then I might recommend you read about the adventure that was created by someone who did all of the above. Just keep this in mind. I travel this way so you don’t have to. How does that work? I tell you how I travel and then you get to decide if that’s a good idea for you. Fair enough? Now get out there and go somewhere. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with Dickie – Vermont ice track promoter and nice guy). I live in San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Trackchasing for me is all about three things. First, I enjoy auto racing. Secondly, my hobby requires a good deal of overnight travel. When I venture out to see a race at a track I’ve never seen before I do not want my trip limited to racing only. The very last thing I want when I’m done trackchasing is to have memories of only racing. I want to take some time to see the local attractions of wherever I might be visiting. Those visits in many cases will provide more long-lasting memories than whatever I saw on the track. Finally, I want to create a logistical plan that allows me to accomplish the two points mentioned above without depleting my retirement account. That’s trackchasing for me. I’ve been able to see the world doing this. If you’re interested in exactly what I’ve been able to experience all around the U.S. and the world I recommend you click on this link. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions After each and every event that I attend I post a YouTube video, a SmugMug photo album and a very detailed Trackchaser Report about the experience on my website at www.randylewis.org. My trackchasing contributions generate a good deal of interest in what I am doing. My YouTube channel (ranlay) has more than 1.3 million views. My website gets more than 20,000 views every month. Because I have seen racing in 85 countries at this point I am considered the World’s #1 Trackchaser. That’s good enough for me. Now I encourage you to drop down a few spaces and read about today’s trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on at this track just think about the idea that I’ve done this more than 2,700 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. It’s just fun! If you’re interested in looking back and seeing where I’ve been the following link is for you. 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 Thursday/Monday, October 7-11 (a lucky combination), 2021. My trackchasing season is winding down. Of course, as the weather turns cooler in the fall and cold in the winter most traditional tracks and certainly county fairs are no longer be racing. Additionally in the fall Carol and I are committed to UCLA football and during the winter to UCLA basketball. We are season-ticket holders for both sports. When I overlay the idea that cold weather will be limiting the tracks that are running and UCLA sports will be limiting the number of trips, I can take away from California there will be many fewer weekend cross-country trips for the rest of the year. Nevertheless, the people at Randy Lewis Racing research department have come up with a decent trip this weekend. They have me going to Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The weather is iffy in Virginia. I wouldn’t be surprised if that show gets rained out on Sunday. Because Friday night’s track in Pennsylvania operates in the eastern time zone, I needed to leave California on Thursday. Whenever that situation happens, I want to leave as late as I possibly can to be able to spend more time at home. My plan was to take an overnight flight to the East Coast. I didn’t know for sure which city I would be flying into but I knew that I would be flying into the eastern time zone. Like most folks, I had a few daily activities to wrap up before I could leave on my trip. I stopped by our local tire dealer, Holly Tires in San Clemente to have them adjust my tire inflation levels on my Tesla Model X. I have owned my Tesla for about 22 months. I’ve driven it 22,000 miles during that time. It’s unusual that the front tires on my car are a little bit smaller than the rear tires. This means that I can’t get a traditional tire rotation or pretty much a tire rotation of any kind. The front tires seem to be wearing out a little bit quicker than the rears. I’m estimating I’ve got maybe 5,000 miles of driving left on the front tires and possibly 10,000 on the backs. Tesla doesn’t have the traditional maintenance expenses like gas-powered cars. There are no oil changes or timing belts or fuel pumps and all of that rigmarole like a gas car needs. Pretty much the only maintenance item for a Tesla is the tires. Teslas are not known for getting a lot of miles out of the tires. The reason for that is the car is so heavy. The battery pack makes these cars heavy. My Tesla Model X is the biggest SUV model Tesla sells. It’s heavy. It’s a tank. My car weighs 5,500 pounds. If I want to replace my original tires with the same brand that came with the car when I bought it, the tires will be expensive. Replacement tires are going to cost me about $375 per tire. I have never paid that much for a tire. But I guess I’m going to… in about 5,000 miles. Blue Mountain Speedway – Walnutport, Pennsylvania – Lifetime track #2,750. FRIDAY I would be less than genuine if I didn’t tell you that flying overnight in the middle seat on Spirit Airlines was one of the more uncomfortable experiences that I have experienced in recent memory. However, for a whole host of reasons this was the best choice which is why I did it that way. When I landed in the Philadelphia airport at 5 a.m., I quickly found a space where I could lie down and sleep for a couple of hours. I did this for two weeks. First, I hadn’t slept at all on the overnight flight from Los Angeles. I listened to a mini-series titled “MAID” from Netflix. I got through five episodes. I’ll knock out the other five when I fly back home in a couple of days. Hanging out at the airport for 3-4 hours meant I wouldn’t pick up my rental car until 9 a.m. this morning, Friday. My pick-up time will determine the latest time that I could drop off the car when I return it on Monday. Picking the car up later on Friday morning meant I could pick it up drop it off later on Monday morning. Strategy! Trackchasing is full of strategies. Then I headed over to my favorite Philly cheesesteak location. That would be Leo’s steaks in Folcroft, Pennsylvania. I’m a regular there! I know that Pat’s and Geno’s are more famous for cheesesteaks but if you take a look at Yelp, Leo’s ratings dwarf their competitors. I was the first customer in line at 10 a.m. I had a nice conversation with a “local”. This gal had a lot of questions to ask me! I’ve met local folks during nearly every one of my visits to Leo’s. Tonight’s racing in Walnutport, Pennsylvania was only about an hour and a half drive from Philadelphia. Their racing program was expected to begin at 6 p.m. The race I was hoping to see was not expected to take the green flag until 9 p.m. I figured a good option would be to show up at 7 p.m. and see some of the racing for the quarter midgets with their normal drivers aged 5-16. Then I would catch the adult racing a little bit later. This meant I had five or six hours to “entertain myself”. I’ve been to Philadelphia many times. I’ve seen quite a few of the city’s highlights already. What could I do today? My first stop would be at a Regal United Artists theater. I have a Regal Unlimited pass. This pass allows me to see as many movies as I want in a given month for 21 bucks. My thinking is that after I see two movies every movie after that is pretty much free. There was only one film that fit my time requirements. This was the James Bond movie “No Time to Die”. Honestly, I’ve never been a big James Bond fan but figured for no cost I might as well check it out. I have to tell you that in the dark and cool theater I slept through most of the film. Flying overnight and not sleeping on the plane will do that to you. Every time I woke up, they were either having a gunfight or a car chase. Neither one of those are at the top of my entertainment list. I would not recommend this film to anyone else but of course, others may love the James Bond series. I still had some extra time so I did a quick search on “things to do in Allentown”. Allentown? Yes, Allentown. Allentown was on the way to the races in Walnutport. I hadn’t really done much touring in the Allentown area. The first thing I came up with was the Allentown Lil’ Le-Hi Trout Hatchery. There was no charge to see the hatchery. It took just 10-15 minutes of my time to check it out. My visit was interesting. I enjoyed it. They were still more time to tour so I checked out the Malcolm Cross Rose Garden in Cedar Creek Park in Allentown. During the past couple of years, I’ve really gotten into these botanical experiences. I figured I could enjoy the beauty and also get my steps in. I did a couple of miles of walking while checking out the area. This enabled me to get my four miles of walking in which is my aerobic requirement for each day. Now it was time to drive up to the Blue Mountain Speedway. They race quarter midgets at this track. During the past week or so I had been able to contact the president of the club, Scott Meckes. Scott was a nice guy. He gave me all the information I needed so that I could attend tonight’s event where they would be having their once-a-year “handlers” race. Talking with promoters is kind of funny actually. Most promoters that I get in contact with are extremely cooperative. They are willing to answer every question I ask about when they start and what kind of racing, they have, etc., etc. They seem proud to show off their racing operation. I will say that on a couple of occasions the people I have contacted who are associated with quarter midget racing have not been cooperative at all. I don’t know if they think my questions are a form of “stalking” their children who are racing or what. They just seem to be very close-mouthed about when they might have a handlers race and whether or not I am authorized to even come and watch it. Of course, these are only two instances. I do think of it as weird though. I was very impressed with the people who race and run the Blue Mountain Speedway. Blue Mountain is really just a miniature version of whatever full-sized weekly racing show that you find to be above average. Quarter midget racing machines are very similar in appearance to sprint cars only obviously much smaller. Quarter midgets are pretty much exclusively driven by drivers aged 5-16. QMA and USAC are the primary sanctioning bodies for quarter midget racing. Blue Mountain is an independent track. Because the drivers of quarter midget racers are youngsters racing with these drivers and cars is not considered to be a “countable racing event” by the rules of trackchasing. Before you stomp your foot and yell to the top of your lungs that this isn’t fair, I might remind you that I had nothing to do with making these rules. I was not a member of trackchasing when these rules were made. I have not been a member of trackchasing for a decade or so because of some of these rules and of course because of the poor management of his group. I first saw Jeff Gordon race an All-Star sprint car at the East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton, Florida. He was 13 years of age. Of course, if Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne were all racing sprint cars at age 13 in a class limited to 13-year-olds at the East Bay Raceway I could never have counted that racing experience. In today’s world drivers aged 12, 13 and 14 and so forth are as competitive as anybody on the race track in adult divisions at full-sized tracks. Not counting racing with divisions that include only young drivers is simply an example of an antiquated trackchasing rule of which there are several. Tonight, at Blue Mountain I arrived at about 7 p.m. They were in the midst of their heat racing. This track and facility are so cool. They even have a scoreboard that has a lap counter and designates the lead drivers. I would guess there are only about 10% of race tracks in the country that has a scoreboard to match the quality of what Blue Mountain has. The announcer, over a very decent public address system, limited her comments to simply telling the crowd who had finished in the first, second and third positions. She congratulated all drivers for completing their races. I would love to have heard a little bit more about the drivers including their age, their interests and possibly their grade in school or whatever. Later I will get a chance to actually meet Scott Meckes (above) the president of the club. I believe he told me that this track has been racing for some 32 years. They normally get about 100 cars on each race night. Tonight’s show was being held after the season points championship had wrapped up for the year. This racing was just for fun. The car count was a little bit smaller but not much. I was happy to hear that each race had a time limit. There were quite a few spins in most of the races. Luckily when a quarter midget stops on the track one of the fathers or mothers jumps out and gives their youngster a push to get them back in the race. Despite having a large number of yellows, the yellow flag delays didn’t take very long to fix. Nevertheless, some races were checkered before the official number of laps was completed. I know that some of the parents didn’t like that but, as a spectator, I thought it was a good idea. When all the kid’s racing was finished, they had a short intermission. Then they finished the race program with three different races all featuring adult drivers sitting in the small quarter midgets normally operated by their kids. The first race was for moms. They did a really good job and got around the track very well. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t fit into any of these cars! The Mom’s race (above) was followed by a “retired drivers” race. This was exactly what the headline seemed to say. These retired drivers were aged 16 or so through about their mid-20s. The final race of the night with about nine cars in it was a race for dads and other adults. This was a very competitive race with good speed and very few yellows. You all know that I go to county fairs quite a bit with my trackchasing. Almost every race I see at a county fair is scheduled for just one night during the entire year. This is the case with trying to see “handler’s races” at quarter midget tracks. They have just one night of the year where adults race the quarter midgets. You might imagine trying to live in California and schedule a series of race track visits when the race track only races one time of year. No doubt about it. That is logistically challenging. This is actually one of the reasons I enjoy trackchasing so much. It makes me put on my thinking cap. Other Trackchasers have been to the Blue Mountain Speedway. The track is in Pennsylvania for gosh sakes! Trackchasing was born in Pennsylvania. To this day most of the leading trackchasers, but not the LEADING trackchaser, either lives in Pennsylvania or nearby. Tonight, I was seeing my 79th track of the 2021 trackchasing season. This has actually been a very good year. I’ve done a lot of trackchasing and supplemented that with a lot of touring and now during the fall season with a lot of UCLA football. Tomorrow I needed to drive just a short distance down to Upperco, Maryland to see some afternoon Figure 8 racing. I had a major touring opportunity to join up with that race which I’ll tell you about in Saturday’s report. Arcadia Carnival Grounds – Upperco, Maryland – Lifetime track #2,751. SATURDAY In the trackchasing hobby three different racetrack configurations are counted. These are ovals, road courses and figure 8 tracks. Often times I will come to a facility and see racing on one of these three configurations. Then I will return at a later date to see racing on yet another configuration. That was what I was doing today in Upperco, Maryland. Back in 2018, I went to the Arcadia Carnival Grounds in Upperco to see racing on their dirt road course. They have now changed much of their racing to a figure 8 configuration. I came back today to see figure 8 racing. It was rainy during both of my visits. On the drive down to Maryland from last night’s new track visit in Walnutport, Pennsylvania I listened to the Dale Jr. Download podcast. He was interviewing former NASCAR driver Lyndon Amick (above). I didn’t know much about Lyndon. When I first read the title of the podcast, I wasn’t too enthused. Nevertheless, by the end of the show, I was more than impressed with Lyndon Amick. If you haven’t listened to The Dale Jr. Download – Dirty Mo Media podcast and you’re a racing fan or just a people fan you might want to tune in. If you do tune in, I can highly recommend the Lyndon Amick episode. The local fire department promotes the races at the Arcadia Carnival Grounds. They run three events each year. Those events are very well attended. This has to be a huge moneymaker for the fire department. Good on them! I paid my general admission fee of $15 and found a parking spot. I was early for the 1 p.m. start time. I just relaxed in my car and did a little bit of electronic paperwork as I always do. The start of the race at this facility is one of the most unusual, maybe the most unusual, that I’ve ever seen for a figure 8 race. They start high up on the hill and race straight down that hill until they get onto the main part of the flat dirt portion of today’s figure 8 course. It’s pretty wild. I’d recommend you take a look at my video to check things out. All of the fans bring their lawn chairs and make sort of a picnic-style event out of watching the all-day figure 8 and demolition derby event in Upperco. Maryland and the surrounding states are much more rural than one might think. Folks, except in the big cities, are “down-home”. Nothing wrong with that. Downhome folks are almost always nice. I passed on the funnel cake but did go for a four-dollar piece of pepperoni pizza. It was hot and tasty. Just what I needed at that point of the day. One of the things I like about watching the racing at the Arcadia Carnival Grounds is that you can get your “steps in”. I did just that observing the people and being amazed at the size of the crowd even though I don’t think it was as big as when I came here three years ago. The weather wasn’t the best and threatened rain all day. The fire department still did pretty well. I figured with an early afternoon start there might be a good possibility for me to see some college football later in the day. That worked out just fine. In the late afternoon, I made my way down to Towson University in Towson, Maryland to see the Towson Tigers play the Stony Brook Seawolves football team. These teams play in the American East NCAA Division 1 conference. By the way, Stony Brook University is located in Stony Brook, New York. Still doesn’t help you on their location? Stony Brook is out on Long Island about 60 miles northeast of New York City. I didn’t have a ticket. I knew the game wouldn’t be sold out. Nevertheless, I had absolutely no interest in buying a ticket at the ticket booth. If I did that, I would have to pay full price. Randy rarely pays full price. When I arrived, I parked for free in one of the university parking garages. I made a long walk mainly straight uphill to Johnny Unitas Stadium. That’s right the Johnny Unitas Stadium! Although Johnny Unitas was not a graduate of Towson University, he was a lead fundraiser. Johnny Unitas was one of the main characters when I was watching the National Football League as a youngster. I walked around the grounds, which seemed to be dominated by a large number of students imbibing on their favorite beverages. I had my “need one” sign. One student asked me what exactly did I need one of? I think he was just having fun with me. He did offer me a beer if I would stay with his gang but I had a mission to accomplish and that was to get a ticket. I had one older woman flag me down. She asked if I needed a ticket and I told her that I did. She told me to follow her and for the next 150 yards I did. When I arrived, her son came out to do the “negotiating”. He told me he wanted $20 for the ticket. I offered $10. He said “my mom paid $24 for the ticket and would not accept $10. Too bad. Most of the time the seller doesn’t have much leverage in a situation like this. Rather than take ten bucks that ticket would sit in their pocket for the rest of the day. I didn’t see a single buyer walking the grounds other than me. I thanked the young man and went on my way. A moment later I ran into a student who wanted to sell me a student ticket. Normally it’s not a good idea for a 72-year-old man to try to get into a college football game on a student ticket. This young man was persistent. He assured me that I could get in with his electronic ticket. The ticket would cost me only five bucks. I told him that if he walked up to the admission gate with me and I did truly get in with his electronic student ticket I would pay him the five bucks. We did exactly that as we chatted along the way. His ticket worked and I passed him a bill. I didn’t pay him five bucks. I paid him ten. I didn’t have to do that but he was a nice guy and he was a student and he was going to spend the money on beer. How could I fault his strategy? Later while I was inside watching the game, he and I texted back-and-forth and both agreed that we were “the men”. Johnny Unitas Stadium has been recently rehabilitated and looks great. The game wasn’t super interesting. Towson ended up winning 21 to 14. Nevertheless, it’s exactly this type of touring experience that I love to take advantage of when I’m in an area a long way from home. I spent the rest of the day battling Interstate 95 traffic on my way down to Petersburg, Virginia. Those drivers are truly crazy. It’s not unusual for a driver to be in the fast lane and make a STRAIGHT diagonal turn from that outer lane directly to the exit! You would never see that in California. I was both shocked and amazed at how high hotel prices were in the area. I finally settled for a rundown Days Inn in Petersburg for a little bit more than $100 from Priceline. In Georgia along Interstate 75 that hotel would’ve been 50 bucks. Nevertheless, I was well-positioned for tomorrow’s 43rd Annual Peanut Fest. They would be contesting their first annual stock car race at the Suffolk Executive Airport Arena. I was looking forward to that. Suffolk Executive Airport Arena – Suffolk, Virginia – Lifetime track #2,752. SUNDAY Oh my! I had issues flying in all directions that wanted to prevent me from seeing the Peanut Cup stock car race in Suffolk, Virginia. Like I always do I fought myself through the issues the best I could. Fortunately, I had a really good contact who was running this event. I gave Scott Wiggins a call a couple of days ago. We talked about their first-ever Peanut Cup stock car race happening today. From that point, Scott and I texted back-and-forth, primarily about the weather. The weather wasn’t good. Suffolk, Virginia got an inch of rain yesterday morning. When I contacted Scott yesterday, he told me that today’s event was pretty much touch and go. They would wait as long as they could before deciding if they were going to race. That news was going to seriously affect my logistics plan. Because they hadn’t made a decision for sure I was going to have to drive south from Upperco, Maryland down to Suffolk, Virginia. That would be a 253-mile drive. If the race in Virginia rained out that would be well over 500 miles round-trip of wasted miles. Last night after attending the Towson – Stony Brook football game in Towson, Maryland I started driving south. I made it as far as Petersburg, Virginia. Lately, hotel prices have been out of sight on the high side. Even my old standby Priceline.com couldn’t get me great deals. When I woke up this morning, I was afraid to look at my phone. I was kind of expecting to get the news from Scott that they had canceled the race. Luckily, that message did not come my way. Today’s racing at the 43rd annual Suffolk Peanut Fest was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. For a Sunday fair race that was an unusual starting time. Normally this kind of racing will start at 1 o’clock or so. At the beginning of this trip, I picked up my rental car in Philadelphia. I was expected to return the car there as well. However, the nonstop flights from Philadelphia to Los Angeles tomorrow didn’t seem to have very many standby seats. I figured it might be better if I paid a little extra to return my rental car somewhere else in the hopes that I could guarantee myself getting an airplane ride home. The first thought that came to me was to return my car to the Raleigh Durham, North Carolina airport (RDU). National Rental Car would charge me an extra $124 to leave my car there. There was one flight leaving RDU tonight that I might be able to make. That flight had five open seats with two standby passengers. This wasn’t a great choice but it might work. Later I checked and they were out of standby seats so I moved off of the Raleigh plan. My next choice for an airport where I could fly home from would be either the Ronald Reagan National Airport (above) in Washington D.C. or the Dulles International Airport which serves Washington D.C. as well. I could return my car there for only a $102 extra charge saving a couple of bucks compared to Raleigh. With that in mind, I began the 75-minute drive from where I had stayed in Petersburg over to the races in Suffolk, Virginia. Suffolk wasn’t supposed to get any rain today. However, just 20 miles from my destination a rain cell popped up. It poured down rain. I checked my weather radar. Somewhat unbelievably a large yellow and red colored storm on radar was moving to the Southwest. I couldn’t ever remember weather moving in that direction. Nevertheless, even though it was close to Suffolk the bad weather looked like it would miss Suffolk. I would be the first trackchaser ever to see any racing in Suffolk, Virginia. That was because today was the first time they had ever held wheel the wheel racing at the Suffolk Executive Airport Arena. I showed up and paid $10 to get into the Peanut Fest. I could’ve saved five bucks for being “former military” but that required a walk to my car and I didn’t want to take that walk. The first person I tracked down was Scott Wiggins. Scott was in charge of today’s racing. As I mentioned this was their first-ever racing event. Scott had a lot of responsibilities but he was nice enough to take the time to say hello and make sure that I had a complimentary pit pass. Thank you, Scott. There were about a dozen junk cars in the pit area. They would be racing on a very muddy and rough flat dirt track. The track had an oval shape with a huge tractor tire located in turn three. The drivers would have to navigate around this large tire in a circular fashion before continuing into turn four of the oval track. Lots of places call this a “flag pole” race track. I would have to figure out later if I would call this a road course or a figure 8 or an oval track. None of that really mattered to me. I was simply content with adding another track to my lifetime list. With the weather problems seemingly behind us, I walked over to attend the drivers’ meeting. I can tell you this. There are lots of obstacles to trackchasing. I was about to encounter another one. Listening in on the drivers’ meeting told me that today’s event was being monitored closely by the insurance company. It was mentioned that according to the insurance company this type of racing was more dangerous than a demolition derby. I found that a little hard to believe. Then it dawned on me that might be the insurance salesman looking for a bigger premium. To satisfy the insurance folks dirt speed bumps had been built in the middle of both the front and back straights. Then someone at the meeting strongly pointed out these were not your traditional speed bumps. They were “deceleration zones”. OK. Whatever. What I was about to hear next would send chills up the spine of even the most seasoned trackchaser. Today’s racing was going to be a series of two-car match race events. If you have followed my trackchasing exploits for very long, then you know that racing that is limited to two cars per event does not count in the world of trackchasing. This rule was put into place to outlaw drag racing. Why was there a need to outlaw drag racing? You would have to ask one of the founding fathers about that. When the drivers’ meeting was finished, I asked Scott if every one of the races was going to be for two cars only. He told me that each race would have just two cars in it with the exception of the final. Four cars would compete for the win in the feature race. That was good news. However, trackchasers sitting in the grandstand, and there was at least one trackchaser sitting in the grandstand, had to be spitting gold bricks not knowing that only the last race would be trackchasing countable! I stood with the announcer over in turn three and watched most of the racing today. He was an interesting fellow to talk to. From time to time I walked back over to the pits just to keep my ear to the ground on what seemed like a potentially changing racing landscape. Despite a weather forecast that predicted there would be no rain, brief rain showers came and went. Finally, after about an hour of a series of two-car races the feature event was ready to hit the track. When those four cars did take the green flag that meant that the first-ever race at the Suffolk Executive Airport Arena was officially going to be my lifetime track number 2,752. Yes! I love it when a plan comes together. It had been somewhat of a struggle to get here. The rain made the race an iffy proposition. Then the two-car race format nearly torpedoed the entire idea. Now when all of this was finished it was going to be Russian roulette trying to get home. The drivers in the pit area were so enthused with the four-car race that they got together and decided they would have a “losers” race as well. This would be the last race of the day and feature seven competitors. You won’t want to miss my video on this one. I’m not sure the reader can truly appreciate the commitment it takes to be a trackchaser with such uncertain conditions. There’s a good deal of time and expense that accompanies traveling these distances. In a situation like today, I was doing this for one simple reason. I wanted to add a single solitary track to my lifetime totals. However, when mother nature nearly intervened and then when the oftentimes goofy trackchasing rules reared their ugly head the entire idea of adding a new track in Virginia had been put in serious jeopardy. When the very last race took the checkered flag, it was time for me to head home. I would drive about four hours up to the Ronald Reagan National Airport general area. I would need to pick up a hotel and then return my rental car in the morning in hopes of catching a plane back to Los Angeles from “DCA”. The flight I wanted was sold out but maybe somebody who had bought a ticket wouldn’t show up. If everyone did show I would find some transportation (probably a train and then a bus) over to the Dulles International Airport and catch a relatively wide-open flight back to Los Angeles albeit a flight that would have me landing at a little past midnight Eastern time. I can only think how easy the eastern-based trackchasers have had it for decades. I know they wouldn’t even be part of the hobby if they lived in a faraway place like Southern California. For the first two nights of this trip (Friday/Saturday) hotel prices on Priceline and elsewhere had been sky-high. I wasn’t looking forward to what I would have to pay for a hotel in a big city like Washington, D.C. I was in for a surprise! Last night I paid more than $100 for a rundown Days Inn in Petersburg, Virginia. You wouldn’t even want your mother-in-law to stay there! That’s why I was shocked that I got a full-scale Marriott hotel in a Virginia suburb just outside of D.C. for the paltry sum of $83 U.S. using Priceline. Wow! Then things got even better. I “mentioned” that I was a “Titanium Elite” member of the Marriott frequent stay program. That usually carries a little “juice” even though I had purchased my room using a “third-party” vendor, i.e., Priceline. The more than cooperative clerk gave me a ten-dollar credit to use in their marketplace. I grabbed some chips, Oreos and a bag of M&Ms. The clerk told me I was good to go and close enough to the $10 voucher for government work. Then he waived the $15.99 daily enhanced Wi-Fi charge. What came next was special. I was now being given the keys to the concierge lounge. This is a large private space used for the most important guests. There I could have and did have, a late-night dinner of sandwiches and German chocolate cake. I relaxed with a drink and did some electronic paperwork. The next morning, I used the lounge for breakfast. With all the free items they gave me they almost erased the eighty-three dollars I spent buying my room! MONDAY My wake-up alarm came at 6 a.m. Eastern time. That was 3 a.m. Pacific Time, the time zone I would be in when I went to sleep tonight. I have always absolutely hated traveling to the east coast because of the time zone difference compared to California. I also hated having to leave my Marriott hotel in Falls Church, Virginia. I had a beautiful room upgrade to a suite. I had full complimentary use for breakfast and dinner (free drinks!) in the huge concierge lounge. I can tell you this. If I were single, I would never be rushing home after these trips. I would never be flying overnight to begin a trip just to have more time at home. I guess I like being home the best of all. I had picked up my rental car in Philadelphia (PHL). When the flight back to SoCal from PHL looked like it would be too full for flying standby I changed my rental car return plan. First, I called National and convinced them, for an additional fee, to let me return the car to Raleigh (RDU), North Carolina. A flight looked good to get home from there. Then that changed. Now I was returning my car to the Ronald Reagan (DCA) National Airport. That’s why I stayed in Falls Church, Virginia last night. The flight from DCA to LAX had just one open seat but I was the only standby passenger…last night. This morning there was still one open seat but I was not fourth and last on the standby list. This was going to be tight. I really needed to get home today, Monday. Carol and I had big plans to celebrate J.J.’s birthday with him and Dustin on Tuesday night. I had a backup plan. If I didn’t make the 9 a.m. flight from DCA I could fly from Washington, D.C.’s other airport, Dulles International. The flight from Dulles left much later, 5 p.m. but had quite a few open seats available for standby passengers like me. I patiently waited to see if I would make the morning flight. I am happy to report that I got the very LAST seat on the plane. Carol and I have non-revved on more than 2,000 flights. I’ll bet I’ve gotten the last seat on the plane 25 times or more! I was seated in a middle seat in the very last row, that didn’t recline, for the five-hour, fifteen-minute flight back to LAX. I listened to the Netflix series, MAID, all the way. Love that show. When I landed, I still had some “steps” to take so I could meet my daily goal of walking four miles. I took the “horseshoe” at LAX which is the long way back to my parking garage. Along the walk, I ran into a couple of foreign travelers. LAX gets a lot of foreign travel, especially from Asian and Hispanic countries. These guys, possibly an adult son and his father were lost. They needed some help. I knew exactly how they felt. I’ve been in their shoes many times during my foreign country travels. I walked them nearly a mile to where they needed to be and bid them farewell on their flight to Portland. When I arrived home, after a Tesla recharging stop, Carol and I went to Yogurtland for dinner. We had a five-dollar coupon which somehow turned into a nine-dollar savings. We are both Midwesterners and enjoy getting a bargain and enjoy going to Yogurtland. This trackchasing trip was not officially closed! Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,752 tracks. Pennsylvania The Keystone State This evening I saw racing at my 110th-lifetime track in the Keystone, yes, the Keystone State. I’m knocking on the door of a top ten trackchasing ranking in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania ranks #6, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Pennsylvania state trackchasing list. I have made 68 separate trips to Pennsylvania to see these tracks. Maryland The Old Line State This afternoon I saw racing at my 7th-lifetime track in the Old Line, yes, the Old Line State. I have now jumped up into a #9 trackchasing ranking in Maryland. Maryland ranks a lowly #7, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Maryland state trackchasing list. I have made just 7 separate trips to Maryland seeing these tracks. Virginia The Old Dominion State This morning I saw racing at my 32nd-lifetime track in the Old Dominion, yes, the Old Dominion State. I hold the #6 trackchasing ranking in Virginia. Virginia ranked #24, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Virginia state trackchasing list. I have made 25 separate trips to Virginia to see these tracks. 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 Pennsylvania sayings: Gum bands Gum bands is another term used for rubber bands in Pennsylvania. No, don’t chew them… Maryland sayings: You from Bawlmer? For some Marylanders, the word Baltimore only requires two syllables. Virginia sayings: “NOVA” It may sound vaguely supernatural, but here in Virginia “NOVA” refers to Northern Virginia, or any suburb of Washington D.C. located in Virginia. JUST THE FACTS 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 855 tracks of my lifetime total. That’s a fact, Jack. Total Trackchasing Countries My nearest trackchasing competitor, a native of Belgium, has seen racing in more than 30 fewer countries compared to my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results 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. This is quarter midget racing from way out in Pennsylvania…Blue Mountain Speedway Figure 8 racing with the most unusual start ever…Arcadia Carnival Grounds – Upperco, Maryland First time ever! The Peanut Cup from Suffolk, Virginia See it in pictures! 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. See the touring; lots of touring and my visit to the Blue Mountain Speedway up in Walnutport, PA. Maryland figure 8 racing PLUS division 1 college football…find out where! Peanuts, cotton and the first ever stock car Peanut Cup! 
