Greetings from first Medford, Oregon
And then Roseburg, Oregon
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Red & Eleanore Imola Memorial Arena Indoor dirt oval Lifetime track #990 River Arena Indoor dirt oval Lifetime track #991 Reprinted with permission from my Saturday, December 10, 2005, 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 Saturday, December 10, 2005. GREETINGS FROM WHITE CITY AND THEN ROSEBURG, OREGON EDITOR’S NOTE My two digital cameras were in the repair shop and therefore I didn’t get any pictures from my trip last week to Texas and Virginia. Never fear, trackchasing friend, Mike K. from Reading, Pennsylvania forwarded some great looking pictures that he and fellow racing photographer Mike Hess took at the Hampton Coliseum. Mike K. included these words with the pictures he sent, “I showed your last race report to about 10 people. I think all 10 said they wished they could do it just for 1 summer. I would be willing to bet if all 10 could do it most of them would be burnt out halfway through.” PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS As this is my last scheduled trackchasing trip between now and Christmas, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season. This may also be my last trackchasing trip of the year and if it is, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and a very healthy and prosperous 2006. Recall a couple of reports ago, I mentioned how proud I was to be the leading trackchaser while being married. Of course, to make that happen certain logistical issues need to be resolved at an early age. When a trackchaser decides to get married he/she needs to pick that special person who will “go along” with the trackchasing lifestyle. The trackchaser spouse needs to have some special qualifications. One of which is a “trackchaser friendly” birthday. You wouldn’t want to marry someone whose birthday fell in the heart of the trackchasing summer season. Can you imagine trying to get permission to go off on some far-flung trip and missing your husband/wife’s special day? That wouldn’t work. Therefore, when I was scouting around for a person to spend the rest of my life with the issue of birth date was of utmost importance. I was looking for someone with a winter birthday. When I came across Carol and learned she was a “Pearl Harbor” baby, meaning she was born on December 7, I knew it was my lucky day. Almost nobody races on December 7 anywhere in North America. Yes, Carol was qualified. Now if you’re going to be a married trackchaser, for very long that is, you need to treat your martial partner well as often as you can. That’s been my secret to success. To prove that point, Carol’s birthday celebration has expanded from a single day to an entire week of adoration and indulgence. Remember, you’re hearing this from the “#1 trackchaser while being married” so these comments have extra validity. I had several special events planned for Carol’s birthday week. Of course, there were no tracks to visit. After returning from Virginia last Sunday, I could devote my full attention to the task at hand. The first day of her birthday week started out with a Miami Heat – Los Angeles Clippers game at Staples Center. I had the tickets for several months in anticipation of Carol getting to see Shaquille O’Neil. Of course, Shaq conveniently injured his leg and missed the game. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts. For each day of the celebration week, I made it a point to take Carol out to breakfast, lunch or dinner. On the special day itself, I took her to Nordstrom’s so we could jointly pick out her birthday present. I like to buy her clothes, but I want her to like her present. I’ve found that if we look at things together, there’s a much better chance that we’ll BOTH like the gift. Remember, I passing out pearls of wisdom here! Any celebration week has to finish with a bang, a real topper if you will. It took some special planning on my part, but I found exactly what she needed to culminate an excellent birthday week. We would fly up to Portland for some sightseeing. Portland, Oregon in December can be a little bit wet and a little bit cold. Therefore, it would be important to schedule something indoors, so we could avoid the cold and wet weather. I had just the ticket, make that tickets. We would fly up on Friday afternoon. Saturday we could hit the Outlaw Kart races in White City (Medford) at 11 a.m. Then we would have a final celebration lunch before heading over to Roseburg, Oregon for the 7 p.m. start of THEIR Outlaw Kart races. I know what you’re saying, “Randy, you sentimental fool, you.” What more could a girl want! Everyone wants to get that really unique gift from a loved one. They want to know their loved one took the right amount of time to pick out just that special something. Seeing two indoor countable tracks at two different locations was certainly unique. To my knowledge, no trackchaser in the history of trackchasing had ever seen two indoor events on the same day at different locations ever. That’s a unique gift. Happy birthday, Pearl Harbor baby! Now, I certainly do not want to paint our trip up to Oregon as totally idyllic. On a Friday night, wouldn’t most Americans just walk into the living room and spend the evening in front of the TV? The more adventuresome might go out to dinner or maybe drive across town to the local movie theatre. Along the way, they might bemoan the fact that the light doesn’t change fast enough while heading to the mall. The Lewis’ are trackchasers. That is our fate. There is no quiet evening in front of the plasma if there is a new track to be had anywhere within 3,000 miles of the “Little Spanish city by the sea.” It’s just what we do. Here is what our Friday looked like. We left the house at a leisurely 10 a.m. for the 65-mile drive to one of the busiest airports in the world, Los Angeles International. After parking at the Parking Spot (which I highly endorse), we arrived at check-in at about noon. We learned our planned itinerary of LA to San Francisco to Portland was delayed. It would be better for us to take a non-stop flight from LA to Portland. Non-stops are the best, except this one didn’t leave for four and one-half hours! We spent the time writing our Christmas cards. The two-hour flight was uneventful except for two things. First, we were given exit row seats on the nearly full flight. Since we were on United Airlines, where I don’t have any clout, this was a blessing. Second, we befriended the flight attendant and she spent most of the flight telling us how much she hated the Chicago snow and winter weather and wanted to move to SoCal. I admit she had a good point. When we arrived in Portland, we learned Carol’s checked baggage didn’t make the flight. The best United could do was deliver the bag to our hotel in Roseburg, Oregon TOMORROW by about noon. Of course, that didn’t sit well with Trackchasing’s First Mother, but what are ya’ gonna do? We made a pit stop at Freddies (Fred Meyer) and picked up a few things for her. She could also share my toiletries bag. Later in the evening, she was heard to say, “I don’t think I was meant to smell like Old Spice men’s deodorant.” Heck, I like that smell! We hopped into our Alamo Rental Car Racing Chevy Malibu in 34-degree weather (yes, I was wearing shorts like I almost always do) and headed south on I-5. We had a 189-mile nighttime drive to the Holiday Inn Express in Roseburg. That would get us within 100 miles of our Saturday 11 a.m. race in Medford. I seem to have a built GPS system for our nation’s restaurants and tourist attractions. I can be just about anywhere in the country and say to my travel companion, “Two miles up on the right-hand side, there’s a Waffle House or the Biltmore Estate” or whatever. Carol and I were looking for a place to eat dinner. We were south of Portland. I told her, “About three miles up the road is a Newport Bay Seafood Restaurant. Let’s go there for dinner.” Of course, we rounded the bend and there was our seafood dinner waiting to be eaten. Carol is no longer impressed with some of the smaller things I bring to our collective table but my internal GPS skills still bring a smile of admiration to her face. Our tourist attraction of the trip was the “Festival of Lights” display in Roseburg. I had seen a couple of roadside signs advertising the event. This is a nighttime display of Christmas lights. There is a charge for admission, seven dollars per carload. The tour took about 20 minutes. Overall, we found the display disappointing. They had no depictions of Santa Claus or his trusty reindeer. My hometown of East Peoria, Illinois does a citywide Christmas lights display that’s the best I’ve ever seen. When we were paying for our admission, we were given in Carol’s words, “The teeniest candy canes for seven bucks you ever saw.” We turned down their offer of 3-D classes for an additional dollar. The greeter told us to turn to 89.9 on the FM dial for some festive Christmas music. We did as told. We were greeted with a 20-second “Loop” telling us that the UMPQUA Bank was happy to be the major sponsor of the event. The radio lady said we would soon be listening to “Festive Christmas Music” on this channel. There never was any festive Christmas music and after listening to the radio loop about four times, we turned off the radio. We then viewed the Christmas displays with a more critical eye. We finished off the evening with Carol’s final birthday celebration meal. We went on Sharon’s (Holiday Inn receptionist) recommendation after we asked for the best non-chain ethnic restaurant in town. Our choice was Anthony’s Italian Café (541-229-CAFÉ). If you’re in Roseburg or driving north or south on I-5 through Roseburg, you can’t go wrong with this authentic Italian eatery. I’m giving it a RANLAY RACING MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. I wanted to thank the leading trackchaser in California, Gary Jacob, for his help in finding Carol’s special gift. Gary turned me on to the race forum at the Cottage Grove Speedway website. This is where I learned there were two track locations racing on the same day (morning and evening) and just an hour and a half from each other. I will almost never fly anywhere for just one track. Two tracks are marginal for a trackchasing flying trip, but when it’s December and a gift for someone else, it seemed to make more sense. Thank you, Gary. The “weather streak” continues at 101 consecutive days of trackchasing without a single canceled day. During that time, I have seen 151 new tracks. This is one record that will never be broken unless I break it on my next trackchasing trip! Finally, I would like to acknowledge the rumor that has been making the rounds about our trackchasing. Yes, it’s true. Carol and I will be relocating temporarily during 2006 to a more geographically friendly area for trackchasing purposes. More details to follow in subsequent Trackchaser Reports. SPECIAL NOTICE RACE TRACK STATS: RED & ELEANORE ISOLA MEMORIAL ARENA, WHITE CITY, OREGON #990 – 12/10/05 RIVER ARENA, ROSEBURG, OREGON #991 – 12/10/05 These Oregon tracks are my 11th and 12th-lifetime tracks in the Beaver State. This is my second trip of the season to Oregon. I am in second place in the state just one track behind the aforementioned Gary Jacob. Today’s trackchasing double was my 61st double of the season. It was also my 24thday/night double in 2005. The day/night double is my favorite double type of the five different doubles I’ve seen this year. Actually, I have more than twice as many day/night doubles as any other double type that I see. These were Carol’s third and fourth tracks to see in Oregon. It’s her second trackchasing visit to the state this year. With today’s results, Carol takes over 43rd position by passing Bernie Harlan. She has her eye on Colin Casserly (from a trackchasing point of view) who has just two more tracks than she does and currently sits in 42nd position. RACE TRACK NEWS: RED & ELEANORE ISOLA MEMORIAL ARENA, WHITE CITY (MEDFORD), OREGON We pulled into the Jackson County Fairgrounds exactly at the scheduled start time of 11 a.m. It was 34 degrees under damp and cloudy weather conditions. This is exactly the weather one would expect in the winter in Oregon. I was the only person in the place wearing shorts. We did not know what to expect from the “indoor” race facility. It turned out the Isola Memorial Arena is a roofed building supported by about 50 steel columns. There are no walls to this structure. It’s similar to other indoor arenas in Chico and Lakeport, California. That meant that even though it was 34 degrees in the pit area, it was also likely to be about 34 degrees “indoors.” Carol wasn’t wild about that idea. We drove past the pit area entrance to the track. Racecar haulers were lined up waiting to sign in. We entered the spectator entrance, which had us driving through the pit area! We found a spot just a few feet from several of the pitted racecars. After a brief walking tour through the pit area, we returned to the warmth of our car. I had heard on a racing forum that the races were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. That’s not the most official source of news, but it was the best I had. Suffice it to say, they did not start at 11 a.m. They packed the track and then they started hot laps at 12 noon. At nearly 1 p.m. they called for everyone to assemble for a “driver’s meeting.” This is a common request at short tracks, although for the life of me I can’t understand how often this meeting is called AFTER the race’s scheduled start time. After several pleadings over the P.A., everyone who was going to come to the driver’s meeting was there. This is what the promoter told them. “I’m glad you came today. In the novice class, we ask that you remind your driver to get behind the car they were racing against on restarts. I’m glad you came today.” End of meeting! It took nearly 15 minutes of P.A. announcements to complete a 15-second driver’s meeting. Short-track racing and its management never cease to amaze me. There were five classes of racers today. These included Novices (7), Intermediates (13), 125/250 (12), 500cc (6) and micro sprints (7). The first two classes were for children. The last three were all countable by trackchaser rules. The racing was done on a well-watered 1/10th mile flat dirt track. There were 96 floodlights in the arena roof’s ceiling. With it being daylight outside, these lights didn’t do much good. The P.A. could be heard from a few select spots and the announcer made only infrequent contributions. Overall, the racing wasn’t much. There were several spins and not much passing. It was difficult to see the cars since the fans stood in the daylight and peered into the nearly dark arena. That coupled with the cold made this the worst indoor facility (out of four) I’ve seen this year. Today’s temperature at 34 degrees was a marked contrast to my last visit to Medford. On that visit to the Southern Oregon Speedway back in 1999, I saw the World of Outlaws race in more than 100-degree heat. I will give the same advice to Oregonians as I do to most others. Simply drive south on Interstate 5 until you hit the Mexican border. Then make a u-turn and drive about 70 miles north until you hit San Clemente. Quickly make an offer on a house, buy it and never look back. She’s just about the best trackchasing buddy a guy could have. CAROL’S COMMENTS She didn’t like the fact that her bag didn’t make the flight, but she did say that Fred Meyer sells good socks and underwear. She was happy the sun finally burned off the clouds to warm us up ever so slightly. She didn’t think a roof-only “building” was an indoor track. She cheered for the “cute blond girls” that raced in the micro sprint class. She was also impressed with the small children running around so lightly clothed in today’s very chilly weather. “They’re tough,” was her assessment. RIVER ARENA, ROSEBURG, OREGON The Outlaw Karts were the featured attraction at the River Arena. Good outlaw karts racing is one of my favorite racing classes. These guys and gals are ON THE GAS all the time. The cars are so fast and make such sudden moves the excitement is continuous. The River Arena is an unheated building with a roof and walls. The operative word here is “unheated.” With outside temps in the upper 30s, it was cold inside the building, especially for us California wimps. Even the local Oregonians brought their own portable propane tanks with a special heat lamp attachment. There were 150-200 people in the stands and probably 20 propane heaters. We strategically sat behind a couple and their HEATER. It helped a little. In talking to local fans, I learned the River Arena has been racing here for 15 years or more. That contrasts with the Medford races this afternoon where they are in their first season. Seven classes were racing tonight. It was nearly impossible to hear the announcer where we were sitting. Therefore, we didn’t know exactly who was racing when. One fan told me that three of the classes were driven by adults including the 250cc, 500cc and over-the-hill class. The announcer did give me a nice trackchaser mention over the P.A. I’m starting to believe it’s better to have something like 352 tracks rather than 991. I think that at the 991 level it is somewhat beyond belief for most non-trackchaser educated folks. You as loyal and long-time Trackchaser Report readers know what it takes to get to this level, but most people don’t have much understanding or appreciation. I still get the occasional, “Did you see them all this year.” That’s O.K. I will continue my quest to educate the public about the trackchasing hobby even if I must do it one racing audience at a time. The River Arena racetrack itself was a flat dirt oval about 1/10M in length. Essentially, it was a fairgrounds livestock arena. The infield was raised about two feet creating a “berm” that was troublesome for drivers taking the inside lane around the turns. The quality of the racing was diminished by the frequent use of the yellow flag. I’ve seen indoor racing at three Oregon facilities in Salem, White City (Medford) and now Roseburg. These racing programs with the outlaw karts are the outgrowth of the outlaw kart racing in Red Bluff, California. Red Bluff is the “Knoxville” of outlaw kart racing. Carol and I saw some great outlaw kart racing at Red Bluff back in 2001. That race was most memorable because on our drive back home the next day, Sunday, we learned of Dale Earnhardt’s tragic death at Daytona. CAROL’S COMMENTS She agreed the “little cars go really fast”, but “They seemed to crash on every lap.” She was glad we sat behind the nice lady with a portable propane heater. Carol liked the track cantina, which provided hot drinks such as apple cider and hot sandwiches. The lighting was great but the speaker wasn’t pointed in our seating section so we couldn’t hear the announcer very well. She was happy to finally catch up with her checked airline luggage AFTER we returned from our last race of the trip. Editor’s note: Even though she wore her same clothes for most of the trip, I thought she looked great all the time! RENTAL CAR UPDATE: I will be driving the Alamo Rental Car Racing Chevy Malibu. The car was brand new with just 347 miles on its odometer when we picked it up from space C3. LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total. Other notables 2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS * Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record ** Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record for women Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21st century Trackchasing doesn’t have to be fun to be fun. CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES: RENTAL CAR Portland International Airport – White City, OR – 278 miles White City, OR – Roseburg, OR – 411 miles Roseburg, OR – Portland International Airport – 623 miles AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – Portland, OR –812 miles Portland, OR – Los Angeles, CA – 812 miles Total air miles – 1,624 Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 2,247 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Red & Eleanore Isola Memorial Arena – Free! River Arena – $5 Total race admissions for the trip – $5 Anybody got any ideas? We may not be done yet for 2005. ** Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, California – February 5 ** Great Yarmouth Stadium (oval), Yarmouth, England – March 27 ** Tucson Raceway Park (outer oval), Tucson, Arizona – April 30 ** U.S. 30 Speedway (outer oval), Columbus, Nebraska – May 26 ** Rocky Mountain National Speedway (oval), Commerce City, Colorado – May 28 ** Hawkeye Downs (outer oval), Cedar Rapids, Iowa – June 3 ** 81 Speedway, Wichita, Kansas – July 21 ** Spartan Speedway, Mason (oval), Michigan – August 7 ** Galesburg Speedway (oval), Galesburg, Michigan – August 14 ** Peoria Speedway, Peoria, Illinois – September 5 ** Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Virginia – October 23 ** Texas Motor Speedway – 1.5M oval, Fort Worth, Texas – November 6 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 
Please mark January 23, 2006 on your email calendars. On that date, I will be sending you my 2005 Trackchaser Annual Report. Of probably more importance to you, the REGISTERED reader is that the RANLAY Racing ‘Contest and Prize’ department will be announcing a new contest for you to participate in. Some nice prizes will be available and you will not want to miss it. Details to follow.
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
Racetracks visited in 2005 (** not the first time to visit this track)