2021 ANNUAL REPORT

2021 Trackchasing

Annual Report

 

I think my 2021 trackchasing season was actually one of my best ever. I ended up seeing racing at 89 new tracks. I trackchased in 28 states in the United States as well as one province in Canada.

Some readers might think that seeing “only” 89 tracks isn’t that good when I have seen more than 100 tracks in 13 different trackchasing seasons. As a matter of fact, I have averaged seeing more than 100 tracks for the very first time for each of the past 24 years dating back to 1998.

 

Here’s why I think the 2021 trackchasing season was so good. I started the year having seen racing at 2,671 tracks. When you’ve seen racing at that many locations it doesn’t leave that many more to see!

There were some “roadblocks” to the season. In 2021 I took the first five weeks of the year off, for the most part, when the Covid-19 pandemic was hitting its peak. Then in late August I got Covid myself and had to miss two weeks of trackchasing. Nevertheless, Covid-19 didn’t slow me down all that much. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, I have traveled overnight 201 times through the end of 2021.

 

Finally, eight different tracks canceled because cars didn’t show up or rain became a problem or because I couldn’t travel with Covid-19. That’s seven weeks of no trackchasing and about a month’s worth of trackchasing when the promoters, racers and/or the weather didn’t come through. 

Through the end of 2021 I have now seen racing at 2,760 tracks. I’ve done that in each and every state as well as in 85 total countries.

 

Having seen racing in 85 countries pretty well dominates my next nearest fellow competitor who has seen racing in 52 countries. My lifetime track total of 2,760 dwarfs my next nearest fellow competitor whose total is 1,900.

I think in order to hold onto the title “World’s #1 Trackchaser” one has to have traveled the world and seen racing in more countries and at more tracks. I doubt that anyone will ever match these totals. I hope to build on them in the future.

As I look over my year of trackchasing I would have to say seeing the NASCAR Cup Series race on the dirt in Bristol, Tennessee was the highlight. I got to watch that race with my good buddy Jim Sabo who I have trackchased with for the past 40 years. Sadly, just a month after the Bristol race Jim passed away unexpectedly. Rest in peace, Mr. Sabo.

 

Another really big race was the Dream at the Eldora Speedway. That short track stock car race paid $127,000 to win. I was so excited by that show that I have already purchased my ticket to the Eldora “Million” next year. Yep. That race pays one million dollars to win!

 

I have now seen racing at more than 500 road course tracks and more than 350 figure 8 tracks. I’ve also seen racing at more than 120 ice racing tracks in 23 states, provinces and countries.

My trackchasing in the future is going to be different than most of my fellow competitors. Probably 90% or more of the tracks that other trackchasers are seeing today have already been added to my list…sometimes decades ago.

I have only 15-20 permanent oval tracks or permanent road course tracks in the United States left to see. If you were to grab a copy of the National Speedway Directory you could see how thick that paperback book is. My dilemma of so few tracks left to see would be easier to understand when just 15-20 of those tracks in the entire book, not counting drag strips, have yet to be seen by me.

 

This creates a bit of a problem for the future. Since I’ve seen virtually all of the permanent tracks only temporary tracks will make up most of my future trackchasing. The problem with these primarily once a year tracks is their scheduling is so fragile. It doesn’t take much for them to cancel the race because of weather because they don’t have the equipment to get the track back in shape. Some of these once a year tracks will cancel for the strangest reasons. They might not have cars and/or races that meet the trackchasing guidelines. 

 

Nevertheless, I will pick and choose when and where I go trackchasing. I would certainly guess that I will see fewer new tracks during each future season. That’s not because I don’t want to go out on the road. It’s just that there aren’t that many places for me to see racing at tracks for the very first time. No trackchaser has ever encountered this problem.

If Covid ever calms down I hope to get back on the international trackchasing trail. I’ve still got a handful or so of new countries to visit and add to my list. I’ll also expect to be in Canada and Mexico a good deal.

 

Since the new track opportunities are becoming more and more limited, I would expect that I’ll be returning to some of my most favorite tracks that I’ve seen in the past to catch the really big races…just for the fun of it. By the way no trackchaser travels thousands of miles routinely to go back to their favorite tracks. Sorry. They just don’t.

I did some of that this year. I saw NASCAR Cup racing in Atlanta, Darlington, Austin and Martinsville. I made my way back to catch the Dream at the Eldora Speedway. I caught the USAC midgets up in Bakersfield.

 

Like I say when I look at the 2021 trackchasing season in total I give it an “A” grade. If I could do the same thing in 2022, I would be over the moon looking at the results.

 

With all of that being said I will bid farewell to the 2021 trackchasing season and am looking forward to 2022. I’ll keep adding Trackchasing Reports to my website at www.randylewis.org. I’ve now made nearly 1,500 YouTube videos and counting. My YouTube channel (channel name: Ranlay) has more than 1.4 million views and 2,500 subscribers.

 

If you see me hanging around a racetrack in 2022 stop me and say hi!

 

2021 Trackchasing Goals

 

First, I would like to welcome you to my trackchasing goals page…in the first year of my semi-retirement from trackchasing. What does “semi-retirement” mean? It’s simple really. My goals will be much more relaxed to befit a gentleman entering semi-retirement. My goals will be fewer. Nevertheless, I will still try to achieve those goals as I always do. So, without further adieu let’s get on with 2021!

 

Editor’s note:  My 2021 trackchasing goals appear below in BLUE. You will find my latest goal results (posted quarterly) printed in RED.

 

Why do I even establish goals? Having goals in life is important. It doesn’t take much effort to set a few goals.  However, there are some aspects of goal setting that ought to be considered.  By setting goals you can “stretch” to achieve more and/or improve yourself in whatever area you find important.

 

If you’re going to set goals there are a few things that will make the process better.  First, the goals have to be as specific as possible.  The more specific they are the easier it will be to see if you achieved your goals.  It’s also most important to tell folks who care what your goals are BEFORE you try to achieve them.  If one doesn’t do that it’s easy to “forget” about a goal when it is not achieved.  It’s all too easy to pat yourself on the back for a goal that might only have “materialized” AFTER you achieved it!  I’ve seen a trackchaser or two fall into this category.  Finally, it doesn’t do much good to set “softball” goals.  What’s a softball goal?  Softball goals that can pretty much be achieved just by getting out of bed in the morning.  I see that a lot too.  No softball goals!

 

I think you will find my goals specific.  I publish my goals during January of each year.    So there you go.  My goals are “out there” for all to see.  Now I’ll go about doing the best I can against those goals that are important to me in trackchasing.  At the end of each quarter, I’ll post the results.  Stay tuned.  I probably won’t make them all but I will be trying.

 

 

GOALS/RESULTS

Below you will find my trackchasing goals for my 2021 trackchasing season.

 

Goal – Get out there and do it!

I enter the 2021 trackchasing season having seen racing in 85 countries at 2,671 tracks. These totals dwarf the results of my fellow competitors.

Randy’s complete track list

 

In today’s trackchasing world there are not that many tracks left for me to see. Why? I’ve already seen most of them! Additionally, permanent racetracks are closing down at a rapid rate. So my goal will be to simply get out there and see as many as I want to from this point forward.

 

It’s important to note that I am NOT retiring from trackchasing. Far from it. I’m simply going to put a lot less time into hitting the road to see those new tracks. Am I tired of trackchasing? No. I’m as fired up about the hobby as I ever have been. It’s just that with so few real racetracks left to visit I can both understand and accept my situation.

 

I’ve seen racing at all but about 25 permanent ovals and road courses in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Nevertheless, I’ll be “out there”. I hope to see you somewhere over the “long and dusty trackchasing trail”.

 

2021 – 4th Quarter Update

I had another eleven new track visits during the fourth quarter of 2021. The fourth quarter of any year is usually the slowest of the year for trackchasing. Tracks are shutting down for the season by the early fall. They are not being replaced like they are during the first quarter of the year with ice tracks and indoor shows. Additionally, we have season tickets to both UCLA football and UCLA basketball and most of those games are on the weekends. 

I continue to be the very first trackchaser to visit most of my new tracks for 2021. As a matter of fact, I was the very first trackchaser to visit 50 of the 89 tracks where I trackchased this year. I think that’s probably the most remarkable stat of my entire trackchasing season.

 

Here’s the list of those “first ever by any trackchaser” visits. 50 tracks in total!

9-Jan	UTVs/dune buggies	Long Mountain Events Center – Long	Kingman, AZ
9-Jan	Junk cars	Long Mountain Events Center – Short	Kingman, AZ
17-Jan	GT sport cars	The Thermal Club – 2.4M	Thermal, CA
6-Feb	Senior champ karts	Coyota Run Arena Speedway	Mason, TN
13-Feb	SXS	Neosho Mill Pond	Neosho, WI
20-Feb	V-8 stock cars	Beaver Dam Lake Ice Oval	Randolph, WI
20-Feb	SXS	Bear Lake Ice Oval	Manawa, WI
21-Feb	FWD stock cars	Montello Lake Ice Oval	Montello, WI
21-Feb	SXS	Lake Dexter Ice Oval	Pittsville, WI
26-Feb	500 winged outlaw karts	OK Corral Indoor Arena	Harrah, OK
27-Feb	Small foreign cars	Madison Lake Ice Course	Madison Lake, MN
28-Feb	Winged outlaw karts	National Equistrian Center – Bldg #7	Lake Saint Louis, MO
6-Mar	Enduro stock cars	Rochester Fairgrounds	Rochester, NH
7-Mar	Senior champ karts	San Tan Karting	San Tan, AZ
13-Mar	UTVs	Barona Oaks Sports Center	Lakeside, CA
20-Mar	Enduro cars	Five Flags Speedway	Pensacola, FL
20-Mar	Modifieds	Dothan Motor Speedway	Cottonwood, AL
21-Mar	Ryan Blaney #12	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, GA
29-Mar	Joey Logano #22	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, TN
8-Jul	Junk cars/trucks/vans	Lewis County Fairgrounds	Lewiston, MO
8-Jul	Junk cars/trucks/vans	Lewis County Fairgrounds	Lewiston, MO
10-Jul	Pick up trucks	Legacy Center	Middle River, MN
10-Jul	4-cylinder junk cars	Kittson County Fairgrounds	Hallock, MN
16-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Wabasha County Fairgrounds	Wabasha, MN
17-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Pennington County Fairgrounds	Thief River Falls, MN
18-Jul	250 caged karts	Eagle’s Nest Kart Track	Jim Falls, WI
19-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Southern Kentucky Fairgrounds	Bowling Green, KY
21-Jul	Car and truck junkers	Edgar County Fairgrounds	Paris, IL
22-Jul	Hobby stocks	Dundy County Fairgrounds	Benkelman, NE
23-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Logan County Fairgrounds	Oakley, KS
24-Jul	Wingless sprint cars	Bandit Speedway	Box Elder, SD
29-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Gasconade County Fairgrounds	Owensville, MO
30-Jul	8 cylinder stock cars	Cowley County Fairgrounds	Winfield, KS
6-Aug	4 cylinder junk cars	Linn County Fairgrounds	Mound City, KS
8-Aug	4 cylinder junk cars	Baraga County Fairgrounds	Pelkie, MI
13-Aug	Model Ts	Tillamook County Fairgrounds	Tillamook, OR
11-Sep	LACC UTVs	Kinsey Scout Reservation	Gloster, LA
18-Sep	4 cylinder junk cars	Danville-Pittsylvania County Fairgrounds	Danville, VA
24-Sep	4 cylinder junk cars	Clinton Raceway	Clinton, Ontario
25-Sep	4 cylinder junk cars	Wainfleet	Wainfleet, Ontario
10-Oct	4 cylinder junk cars	Suffolk Executive Airport Arena	Suffolk, VA
17-Oct	4 cylinder junk cars	North Haven County Fairgrounds	North Haven, CT
20-Nov	NRX Nitro Rallycross	Glen Helen Raceway	Glen Helen, CA

 

 

2021 – 3rd Quarter Update

During the third quarter of my 2021 trackchasing season I added another 33 race tracks to my lifetime total which now sets at 2,749. My nearest trackchasing fellow competitor has a lifetime total somewhere in the high 1800s.

 

During the first nine months of the year, I’ve been able to see racing at 78 new tracks. Somewhat incredibly 47 of those 78 new tracks had never ever been seen by any other trackchaser until I showed up.

 

Here’s a list of those 47 tracks…where no other trackchaser had ever seen until I darkened their door.

9-Jan	UTVs/dune buggies	Long Mountain Events Center – Long	Kingman, AZ
9-Jan	Junk cars	Long Mountain Events Center – Short	Kingman, AZ
17-Jan	GT sport cars	The Thermal Club – 2.4M	Thermal, CA
6-Feb	Senior champ karts	Coyota Run Arena Speedway	Mason, TN
13-Feb	SXS	Neosho Mill Pond	Neosho, WI
20-Feb	V-8 stock cars	Beaver Dam Lake Ice Oval	Randolph, WI
20-Feb	SXS	Bear Lake Ice Oval	Manawa, WI
21-Feb	FWD stock cars	Montello Lake Ice Oval	Montello, WI
21-Feb	SXS	Lake Dexter Ice Oval	Pittsville, WI
26-Feb	500 winged outlaw karts	OK Corral Indoor Arena	Harrah, OK
27-Feb	Small foreign cars	Madison Lake Ice Course	Madison Lake, MN
28-Feb	Winged outlaw karts	National Equistrian Center – Bldg #7	Lake Saint Louis, MO
6-Mar	Enduro stock cars	Rochester Fairgrounds	Rochester, NH
7-Mar	Senior champ karts	San Tan Karting	San Tan, AZ
13-Mar	UTVs	Barona Oaks Sports Center	Lakeside, CA
20-Mar	Enduro cars	Five Flags Speedway	Pensacola, FL
20-Mar	Modifieds	Dothan Motor Speedway	Cottonwood, AL
21-Mar	Ryan Blaney #12	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, GA
29-Mar	Joey Logano #22	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, TN
8-Jul	Junk cars/trucks/vans	Lewis County Fairgrounds	Lewiston, MO
8-Jul	Junk cars/trucks/vans	Lewis County Fairgrounds	Lewiston, MO
10-Jul	Pick up trucks	Legacy Center	Middle River, MN
10-Jul	4-cylinder junk cars	Kittson County Fairgrounds	Hallock, MN
16-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Wabasha County Fairgrounds	Wabasha, MN
17-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Pennington County Fairgrounds	Thief River Falls, MN
18-Jul	250 caged karts	Eagle’s Nest Kart Track	Jim Falls, WI
19-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Southern Kentucky Fairgrounds	Bowling Green, KY
21-Jul	Car and truck junkers	Edgar County Fairgrounds	Paris, IL
22-Jul	Hobby stocks	Dundy County Fairgrounds	Benkelman, NE
23-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Logan County Fairgrounds	Oakley, KS
24-Jul	Wingless sprint cars	Bandit Speedway	Box Elder, SD
29-Jul	4 cylinder junk cars	Gasconade County Fairgrounds	Owensville, MO
30-Jul	8 cylinder stock cars	Cowley County Fairgrounds	Winfield, KS
6-Aug	4 cylinder junk cars	Linn County Fairgrounds	Mound City, KS
8-Aug	4 cylinder junk cars	Baraga County Fairgrounds	Pelkie, MI
13-Aug	Model Ts	Tillamook County Fairgrounds	Tillamook, OR
11-Sep	LACC UTVs	Kinsey Scout Reservation	Gloster, LA
18-Sep	4 cylinder junk cars	Danville-Pittsylvania County Fairgrounds	Danville, VA
24-Sep	4 cylinder junk cars	Clinton Raceway	Clinton, Ontario
25-Sep	4 cylinder junk cars	Wainfleet	Wainfleet, Ontario

 

The first track visit ever recorded by a trackchaser was seen nearly 100 years ago, in 1928. I continue to ask myself this question. How is it that I can show up at 47 tracks in 2021 that nobody’s ever been to? How long can I keep up a pace like that?

 

The third quarter of each trackchasing year is always the best quarter to travel. It’s going to be warmer. There are going to be more tracks, most notably county fairs racing. During the third-quarter I traveled overnight for 50 nights. There are only 91 days in a calendar quarter. Yes, I was on the road for more than 50% of those days…and that includes 10 days of quarantine when I got a breakthrough case of Covid after being fully vaccinated.

 

 

2021 – 2nd Quarter Update

My #1 trackchasing goal for 2021 is simply to get out there and do it. During the first six months of the 2021 trackchasing season I saw racing at 45 new tracks. That’s no big deal. I’ve done that pretty much every year of the last 20.

 

What is significant is that out of those 45 new track visits 26 of them were to a track that no other trackchaser had ever visited. Ever. I’m talking about a group of trackchasers who first started recording their race visits in 1928. There are hundreds of trackchasers in this group.

 

Can you imagine that a trackchaser who has seen racing at more than 2,700 tracks can still find 26 new tracks in the first half of this year that not a single other trackchaser has ever visited.? I find this pretty amazing. If I were to guess no other trackchaser this season has been to as many as 10 tracks that would be brand new to every trackchaser to ever to come down the road.

I’ve had a great start to the year by seeing NASCAR Cup tracks in Atlanta, Bristol (above), Darlington and Austin. I have returned to see racing at such big tracks as Stafford Springs, Darlington, Circuit of the Americas, Macon, Outlaw Motor Speedway and Eldora. That group of tracks right there would likely make the top 10 list for just about any racing fan in America.

 

Here’s a list of those 26 tracks that I’ve been to where I was the first trackchaser, sometimes along with other trackchasers, to visit the facility. Never heard of most of them? No problem. That’s because no trackchasers had ever been to any of them until I got there!

 

9-Jan	UTVs/dune buggies	Long Mountain Events Center – Long	Kingman, AZ
17-Jan	GT sport cars	The Thermal Club – 2.4M	Thermal, CA
6-Feb	Senior champ karts	Coyote Run Arena Speedway	Mason, TN
13-Feb	SXS	Neosho Mill Pond	Neosho, WI
20-Feb	V-8 stock cars	Beaver Dam Lake Ice Oval	Randolph, WI
21-Feb	FWD stock cars	Montello Lake Ice Oval	Montello, WI
21-Feb	SXS	Lake Dexter Ice Oval	Pittsville, WI
26-Feb	500 winged outlaw karts	OK Corral Indoor Arena	Harrah, OK
6-Mar	Enduro stock cars	Rochester Fairgrounds – oval	Rochester, NH
13-Mar	UTVs	Barona Oaks Sports Center	Lakeside, CA
10-Apr	UTVs	All-American Speedway – dirt	Roseville, CA
18-Apr	UTVs	Goertz Ranch	Rockne, TX
24-Apr	UTVs	Lee Farms	Martinsville, IN
1-May	Senior champs	Godspeed Raceway	Dandridge, TN
15-May	UTVs	Cal City MX Park	California City, CA
22-May	UTVs	Piney Woods	Castor, LA
5-Jun	Yard karts	Winding Creek Speedway	Pink, OK
11-Jun	FWD cars	Franklin County Fairgrounds	Union, MO
12-Jun	UTVs	Black Rock	Black Rock, AR
12-Jun	Stock appearing caged karts	Jonesboro Karting Complex	Bono, AR
13-Jun	Modified karts	Mac-O-Chee Raceway	West Liberty, OH
18-Jun	4 cylinder junk cars	Union County Fairgrounds	Sturgis, KY
20-Jun	V-8 stock cars	Worth County Fairgrounds – F8	Northwood, IA
20-Jun	V-8 stock cars	Worth County Fairgrounds – oval	Northwood, IA
26-Jun	Pick up trucks	Red Lake County Fair Speedway	Oklee, MN
26-Jun	4-cylinder junk cars	Cass County Fairgrounds	Pine River, MN

 

I’ve also had a huge year just meeting family and friends during the first half of 2021. At the risk of missing some, these are the folks I’ve had fun sharing my trackchasing experience with, almost always in their hometowns all across the country.

Becky and Bob Brown – Illinois

Bruce Spencer – New Hampshire

Jim Sabo – Tennessee

Astrid and Mitch Peters – California

Ron and Sandy Otto – Missouri

Greg Stuart – Indiana

Tom McLaughlin – Nebraska

Brian and Sue Dolphy – Indiana

Tom Deery – Ohio

Dave Casey – Ohio

Greg Robbins – Ohio

John Simpson – Arkansas

David Hardy and family – Oklahoma

Shane and Hunter McDonald – Oklahoma

Jules and Ella Goldman – Texas

Jim Lewis – Texas

Mandy Taylor-Griffin and Steve Griffin – Oklahoma

 

2021 – 1st Quarter Update

When I announced my semi-retirement from trackchasing before the 2021 trackchasing season began a lot of people thought I was not going to trackchase anymore. Not true. I’m simply cutting back because I have to.

 

Why do I have to? Because I’ve seen literally all of the tracks in the United States and Canada. There are a few here and there of course. I’m guessing there are about 25 tracks that race on a regular basis that I haven’t seen yet. That’s it.

Nevertheless, during the first quarter, I had an excellent trackchasing result. I ended up seeing racing at 18 new tracks in 10 different states. That doesn’t sound like semi-retirement does it? Covid travel limitations imposed by various governments limited my travel to the U.S.

 

During the first quarter of any given year, that would be January, February and March, most of the racing is done outdoors on ice or at indoor arenas. The outdoor ovals and road courses don’t begin their season until April or later in most all cases.

A lot of the tracks I saw this quarter are what I call “pop-up” tracks. They’ve never raced at these locations before. They truly do just “pop-up”.

 

I finished the first quarter of my 2021 trackchasing season having seen a lifetime total of 2,689 tracks in 85 countries. Surprising to me, of the 18 tracks where I saw racing this past quarter, I was the first trackchaser to see racing at 10 of the 18 first quarter tracks. I find that pretty amazing. It supports what I’m telling you that pop-up tracks are a major factor.

 

9-Jan	UTVs/dune buggies	Long Mountain Events Center – Long	Kingman, AZ
9-Jan	Junk cars	Long Mountain Events Center – Short	Kingman, AZ
17-Jan	GT sport cars	The Thermal Club – 2.4M	Thermal, CA
6-Feb	Senior champ karts	Coyota Run Arena Speedway	Mason, TN
13-Feb	SXS	Neosho Mill Pond	Neosho, WI
20-Feb	V-8 stock cars	Beaver Dam Lake Ice Oval	Randolph, WI
20-Feb	SXS	Bear Lake Ice Oval	Manawa, WI
21-Feb	FWD stock cars	Montello Lake Ice Oval	Montello, WI
21-Feb	SXS	Lake Dexter Ice Oval	Pittsville, WI
26-Feb	500 winged outlaw karts	OK Corral Indoor Arena	Harrah, OK
27-Feb	Small foreign cars	Madison Lake Ice Course	Madison Lake, MN
28-Feb	Winged outlaw karts	National Equistrian Center – Bldg #7	Lake Saint Louis, MO
6-Mar	Enduro stock cars	Rochester Fairgrounds	Rochester, NH
7-Mar	Senior champ karts	San Tan Karting	San Tan, AZ
13-Mar	UTVs	Barona Oaks Sports Center	Lakeside, CA
20-Mar	Enduro cars	Five Flags Speedway	Pensacola, FL
20-Mar	Modifieds	Dothan Motor Speedway	Cottonwood, AL
21-Mar	Ryan Blaney #12	Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, GA
29-Mar	Joey Logano #22	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, TN

 

There might be more pop-up tracks during the first quarter of each year than any other quarter. Lots of promoters discover the idea of racing indoors. Seemingly, an even larger number of new track opportunities that haven’t been seen by anyone previously are in the world of ice racing.

By the way, the highlight of my trackchasing in the first quarter was seeing the NASCAR Cup racing on the dirt in Bristol, Tennessee. I came oh so close to missing that race. I’m going to guess this event might be the one I will end up valuing the most by the end of the year.

Covid was still going strong during the first quarter of 2021. Nevertheless, I still had seven airplane trackchasing trips and three driving trackchasing trips. Honestly, I really didn’t notice the limitations put forth by Covid in terms of travel during the entire pandemic. I probably stayed in a hotel room for about 100 nights from March to March during the Covid. Of course, I tried to be safe but I wasn’t one of those folks who stayed in my house every day for a full year.

 

With so few permanent tracks left to see I would estimate that seeing 18 tracks in a single quarter will be a very good result relative to the spring and summer quarters and the fall quarter as well. I’m very happy with my results during the winter quarter.

 

 

Goal – Keep seeing those Trackchasing Tourist Attractions

I have long said that my hobby is really about just three things. Of course, I want to see racing at tracks all over the world that I haven’t visited. I want to continue to enjoy the logistical challenge of attacking this hobby from the most remote part of the United States, southern California, of any trackchaser going.

 

It is the third leg of my trackchasing stool that I find offers outstanding value for money when I make these trips. I want to see unique parts of the country and the world. I want to visit those places “close up”. If you have followed my hobby for long you know I call these places “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”.

 

I mentioned I’ve seen racing at quite a few racetracks and there aren’t that many left to see. Well, I’ve seen my share of Trackchaser Tourist Attractions as well. But…there are still lots of places to visit and I don’t mind returning to some of my TTA favorites.

 

If you’d like to see where I’ve been so far check out this link.

 

Trackchasing Tourist Attractions

 

2021 – 4th Quarter Update

I continued trying to see as many Trackchasing Tourist Attractions in between race track visits as I could. Some were better known than others. Here’s a sampling of what I was able to experience.

 

Allentown Rose Gardens – Allentown Pennsylvania

 

Lol’-Le-Hi Trout Nursery – Allentown, Pennsylvania

 

Towson University football vs. Sienna College – Johnny Unitas Stadium – Towson Maryland

 

Buc-ees – Calhoun, Georgia

 

Mecum auto auction – Chattanooga, Tennessee

 

Eden, North Carolina city tour – Eden North Carolina

 

Vanderbilt vs. Loyola Chicago college basketball – Memorial Gym – Nashville, Tennessee

 

I think the above is a pretty eclectic collection of  Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. Non-racing trips took Carol and me to Boston to celebrate her birthday and see the famous nutcracker ballet as well as catch a University of Connecticut women’s basketball game. Those women are famous! UCLA basketball travel took us to Las Vegas as well as a number of home football or basketball games. It was a busy quarter.

 

2021 – 3rd Quarter Update

Of course, a big part of my “getting out there” is visiting those trackchasing tourist attractions that are located all over our country. Folks, trust me there’s a lot to see.

 

I saw quite a bit of minor league baseball during the third quarter. I visited these ball parks.

 

Legends Ballpark – Lexington, Kentucky (got a foul ball!)

 

Victory Field – Indianapolis, Indiana

Robert Roberts Stadium – Springfield. Illinois

 

Legends Field – Kansas City. Missouri

 

Additionally, I visited these TTAs.

Illinois State Fair – harness racing – Springfield, Illinois

 

St. Lawrence Market – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Niagara Falls – Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

 

Ken Reid Conservation Area – Lindsay, Ontario, Canada

 

Jim Thorpe home – Yale, Oklahoma

Women’s College Softball World Series – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

 

Men’s College Baseball World Series – Omaha, Nebraska

America Picker’s headquarters – LeClaire, Iowa

 

Papa John Sculpture Park – Des Moines, Iowa

 

Missouri Botanical Gardens – St. Louis, Missouri

 

The Moto Museum – St. Louis, Missouri

 

Frankly, at this point, I just got tired of listing all of the Trackchasing Tourist Attractions that filled up my dance card this quarter!

 

 

2021 – 2nd Quarter Update

Trackchasing Tourist Attractions are the lifeblood of my hobby. Simply put the very last thing I would want to do is have a hobby where I just went to a racetrack and went home. When I’m in the area I want to see stuff.

I’m going to say my #1 TTA for the quarter was a visit to Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana. This is where one of the all-time best sports movies, “Hoosiers” was filmed back in the mid-80s. I absolutely loved this place. At the end of my two-person tour, I had time to shoot baskets in this famous gym which in 2021 is now 100 years old!

The two major attractions for this quarter would probably include the Women’s College Softball World Series (above) in Oklahoma City where we saw Florida State play Arizona. Right with that trip was a visit to the Men’s College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Nebraska where I saw Vanderbilt play North Carolina State. I stopped at lots of other places as well. You can see a sampling of all of my Trackchasing Tourist Attractions with this link:

 

Lifetime Trackchasing Tourist Attractions

 

2021 – 1st Quarter Update

A good deal of my first quarter trackchasing was what I would call “in and out“ trips. I had just enough time to blow into town, see the race and then maybe move on to another state and see another race before heading back to sunny Southern California.

 

I did travel to see racing in ten different states during this time frame.

Alabama

Arizona

California

Florida

Minnesota

Missouri

New Hampshire

Oklahoma

Tennessee

Wisconsin

 

I had two significant Trackchasing Tourist Attractions during the quarter. Carol and I drove out to see some racing in Kingman, Arizona. Along the way we stopped to tour the Grand Canyon which we’ve done a time or two in the past. With Covid, crowds weren’t very big. The weather was outstanding in January for viewing a big hole in the ground.

 

I noted the Bristol NASCAR Cup dirt track race was probably going to be the biggest trackchasing date of the year for me in 2021. I almost missed that race. I was all set to go and then our UCLA basketball Bruins started doing well in the NCAA tournament.

Our son J.J. came up with some excellent tickets for us to see UCLA play Alabama in the tournament. UCLA was a pretty big underdog but ended up being beating the Crimson Tide in overtime.

Of course, wouldn’t you know it the game against Alabama was on a Sunday night in direct conflict with the NASCAR Cup race in Bristol. I guess the trackchasing gods were shining down on me. Bristol got a ton of rain over the weekend and canceled on Sunday and raced on Monday. That meant I could see the basketball game on Sunday night (with J.J. and our friends Sara and Kyle), and drive down to Bristol a seven-hour one-way drive, to see the racing on Monday late afternoon.

I very much enjoyed the Bristol dirt race. NASCAR Cup cars hadn’t raced on dirt in 51 years. I kept smiling to myself as I watched them go round and round. As a NASCAR Cup fan and a dirt track racing fan to see both of my favorites come together was fantastic. I also got the chance to see the race with my long-time racing buddy Jim Sabo.

With UCLA winning against Alabama their next game was the day after Bristol against the Michigan Wolverines. Again, we were the underdog. I made the seven-hour drive from Bristol back to where the basketball games were being played in Indianapolis for the Tuesday night game. We won again!

 

I flew home from Indianapolis only to return 36 hours later to see UCLA play the #1 seed in the entire NCAA tournament, Gonzaga. We had those boys on the run. We took them into overtime, our third overtime game of the tournament. They ended up beating us on a half-court shot that banked in with zero time on the clock. That was a game!

I had one guy send me a message offering “condolences” after the Gonzaga game. What a farce! The message should’ve read “congratulations”! We ended up beating Michigan State, Brigham Young, Abilene Christian who beat #3 seed Texas, Alabama (#2 seed), Michigan (#1 seen) before taking Gonzaga into overtime with such a wild finish. How in the world is that condolences? UCLA had a fantastic season and reaching the final four was an outstanding achievement. Being able to have such an outstanding Trackchasing Tourist Attraction to tie in with my Bristol Cup race might be the highlight of the year.

 

Goal. Trackchasing/Exercise

This is one of my fun and, at the same time, one of my most difficult goals to achieve. I very much enjoy exercising. It’s one of the things that keeps me young. When I’m traveling out on the long and dusty trackchasing trail it is difficult to take time to exercise.  The more I trackchase the less time there is for taking care of one’s good health.

 

I will continue having a goal of power walking four miles a day for five days each week. When power walking opportunities are not available I will substitute with elliptical training. If and when I meet this goal for the year I will have walked a bit more than 1,000 miles.

 

2021 – 4th Quarter Update

I can tell you this. If I had not established an exercise goal as I have over the past several years I never would have exercised as much as I have.

I’m happy to report that I hit the beach/road 68 times to cover 4 miles or more during the fourth quarter. This gives me an annual total of 263 exercise periods where I power walked a distance of 4 miles or greater.

 

My goal for the year was to do this five times a week every week of the year. In order to meet my goal, I needed to walk those miles 260 times. This means that I walked well over 1,000 miles for the year. I’ll take it. I finished with 263 exercising efforts in 2021. 

 

2021 – 3rd Quarter Update

The busier my trackchasing schedule is the more challenging it is to meet my exercise goal. That’s why I established this goal in the first place! I didn’t want my trackchasing travel to be an excuse for not exercising. It’s difficult to fly for a few hours each day, drive a few hundred miles, see some racing AND exercise.

 

in order to meet my goal of powerwalking at least 4 miles a day or spending at least 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer I have to exercise at least five days a week. That’s 65 days during the quarter. That’s 260 days during the year!

 

For the quarter I fell just one exercise event short of my goal for the third quarter. I only hit the “bricks” 64 times. For the nine month period of 2021, I am exactly on target at 195 exercise events. With the cold weather coming during the fourth quarter, I won’t be trackchasing quite as often. That means more time to exercise. If I don’t get injured meeting and exceeding my annual trackchasing exercise goal should be easy to do.

 

2021 – 2nd Quarter Update

Each year my goal of achieving a certain level of aerobic exercise activity while I’m on the road is pretty much my most difficult goal of all. To add to the fun, I was saddled with a couple of minor and annoying little injuries. I also picked up my I travel a good deal during the second quarter.

 

I traveled overnight for 60 nights during the first half of 2021. To some that would be a gigantic amount of travel. For me, that’s well behind the pace of a “normal” year. With the pandemic raging in January and February I traveled a bit less. Finding time to walk four miles when I’m flying on airplanes and driving hundreds of miles each day is a big challenge.

 

My goal is to exercise with 4 miles of power walking or at least 45 minutes of elliptical training five days a week. For six months that means I need to exercise 130 times. I am most proud to tell you that I beat that goal but just by one exercise period. I am more than pleased with the result given the travel and the injuries that I faced. The next quarter is going to be very challenging because I always do a lot of traveling during the third quarter of the year. More travel means less time for exercise.

 

2021 – 1st Quarter Update

Each quarter I have a goal of exercising aerobically at least five times a week. That goal is challenging considering the amount of air travel and driving that I do on my trips. My goal comes out to 65 exercise efforts every quarter. I’m happy to report that I walked more than 4 miles every day or got on the elliptical trainer for 45 minutes a day, 69 times. Yes, considering I was on the road quite a bit and traveling in airports and driving long distances I’ll take it.

I did finish the month of March with a strained hamstring. I’ve had about 10 physical therapy sessions trying to improve that with not very much good to report. We’ll see how much the hamstring strain hurts my results this coming quarter.

 

 

Goal – Share the experience

As you know I am active on various forms of social media. If you’re reading this you have found my website. My site, www.randylewis.org, continues to get well over 20,000 views each month.

 

My YouTube channel (channel name: ranlay) features nearly 1,400 racing videos. To date, my channel has received more than 1.3 million views. I also offer SmugMug photo albums covering each trackchasing day from sunup to well past sundown. These albums share literally hundreds of thousands of photos simply “depicting the experience”.

 

I mentioned that I have seen racing at nearly 2,700 racetracks. When I had visited about 425 tracks I decided it would be a good idea to create and post a travelogue of the experience from each track and each day of trackchasing. As I enter the 2021 season I find that I have posted just a bit more than 49% of those adventures.

 

That means I have TONS of sharing still to come from both the “classic” tracks I’ve seen in the past and the stories from tracks still to come. If my website can get 20,000 views each month with less than half of the trackchasing stories posted I can’t imagine what the viewership will be when even more fully illustrated stories about the “other” more than 1,300 tracks get posted.

 

2021 – 4th Quarter Update

I’m happy to report that my social media efforts continue. My YouTube channel now has 1,459 total movies with nearly 1.5 million views and 2,486 subscribers.

 

I think my top 10 country viewing list is interesting. It looks like this in descending order of views.

 

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Australia

New Zealand

Mexico

Saudi Arabia

North Macedonia

Ireland

 

My website at www.randylewis.org continues to be where all of my Trackchaser Reports are stored. There folks can read about the track visits I’ve made, see SmugMug photo albums and YouTube videos and generally just be entertained for hours and hours and hours.

 

In the past year or two I have added my trackchasing newsletter to the mix as well. By the way, I also have a travel, finance and everyday life newsletter which you might find interesting. See you at the track!

 

 

2021 – 3rd Quarter Update

I continue to do a lot of sharing via my social media platforms. My website, www.randylewis.org, averages more than 20,000 views each month.

 

My YouTube channel, “RANLAY” has 2,426 subscribers. The lifetime viewing time of my YouTube channel is now more than 44,000 hours. According to YouTube my channel has more than 4.6 MILLION “impressions” to date. Some 84% of my viewers are male and 16% female. The greatest percentage of viewers are aged 25-34. Eighty-two percent of my views come from the U.S. Canada has 7.3% and the U.K. 2.5%. People in locations like Russia, Hong Kong, Namibia, Zimbabwe and El Salvador are frequent viewers. My newsletter gets the highest viewership of any trackchasing newsletter.  My newsletter is distributed by Mailchimp. Every one of my Trackchaser Reports comes with a captioned Smug Mug photo album. Each album averages 100 photos per track visit.

 

Website

YouTube

Newsletter

Photo albums

I’m happy to report that trackchasing fans are tuning in to my hobby from all different sources.

 

2021 – 2nd Quarter Update

Finally, even though it takes a lot of time, I find people are very much interested in what I have to share about my trackchasing adventures. My YouTube channel just surpassed 1.4 million views. Folks have watched my YouTube videos for nearly 43,000 hours! My YouTube subscriber base now exceeds 2,300.

 

I continue to write my Trackchasers Reports and post them on my website at www.randylewis.org. Most of these reports come with a YouTube video and a 100 photo or more album presented by SmugMug.

 

I’m really the only Trackchaser, and always have been, that takes the time and effort to share this much information about the trackchasing hobby with the general public. Why is that worth noting? Why? Because it’s true.

 

2021 – 1st Quarter Update

I will simply say that literally hundreds of people are enjoying my newsletter which I distribute after each racing event that I attend. If you’d like to become a member of that group, which doesn’t cost anything, simply send me an email at ranlay@yahoo.com.

 

Folks are getting the newsletter, seeing my YouTube videos and my SmugMug photo albums. My recently revised and updated website continues to get more than 20,000 views a month.

 

I enjoy sharing my results. For me it provides a very nice diary of all the things that I’ve been able to do and see with trackchasing. For others it gives them information and tips on race tracks they might not have heard about or been too. Folks who are interested can get a lot of financial and travel tips along the way as well from my adventures as well.