Pasadena Expo Center

EDITOR’S NOTE

I am so happy the NASCAR season has begun for 2013.  What could be better than having your favorite sport going from February to November every year!  Other sports might go as much as six straight months but no longer.

There are some racing fans that don’t like NASCAR.  I attribute that to just two reasons.  I’ve learned them both from those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers”.  First, I think fans that don’t care for NASCAR have a healthy case of “class envy”.  Secondly, some fans are just too dawggoned tight to part with the money for a NASCAR race.  In point of fact I can’t recall paying more than $20 for a ticket to the NASCAR races I’ve attended over the past several years.  Those tickets were all in prime time locations too.

It wouldn’t be fair if I simply said I liked NASCAR Sprint Cup racing without backing it up with some facts.  Don’t get me wrong I love short track racing especially on the little quarter-mile dirt ovals.  However, NASCAR brings some things that short track racing can only dream about.  What is that you ask?

First they start on time!  They bring full fields to every race (43 cars start the feature).  You don’t have to watch boring time trials or hot laps.  You also won’t have to wear out your butt watching meaningless heat races.  No on and on yellow flag periods with NASCAR.  No, “let’s take one more lap” while the drivers argue about who really owns 17^th place on a restart.  You like lead changes?  If you go to a major late model or sprint car feature it’s likely the winner will come from the front row and lead every lap.  In NASCAR you’ll see 15-20 drivers lead the race and have anywhere from 20-50 lead changes.  NASCAR won’t cancel on a bad weather forecast.  If it rains, it’s more than likely they will work on the track and get the race in.  At the end of the day, you can go home and watch the race on TV.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your local short track could match NASCAR in all of the areas I’ve mentioned?  I watch EVERY NASCAR Sprint Cup race on TV.  However, I also watch every NASCAR race on a pre-recorded basis.  I would never watch one with commercials.  I don’t have that kind of time.  Thirty-six weeks of NASCAR racing is just right for me and my DVR.  I’ll even try to catch one or two live as well even if it means traveling nearly 3,000 miles to do it.

THE KEYS TO THE TRIP

Carol has committed to one major flying trip each month during 2013…………….more in “The Plan”.

Buying good stuff cheap……………..more in “The Experience”.

In all of my previous 1,817 tracks I had never seen this class race. …………..details in “Race Review”.

I guess I must lead a pretty boring lifestyle. 

I guess I lead a fairly mundane lifestyle.  My main hobby is trackchasing.  This year that will take up about 29 weekends.  On the other hand, I’ll have some 23 weekends to do something else.  I don’t plan very far in advance.  For domestic trips I’ll think about a trip about one week ahead of time.  Most international trips are planned 1-2 months in advance of my departure date.

Up to this point in the year, I’ve trackchased three weekends and had three “off” weekends”.  Don’t think my “off” weekends are designed to keep me home.  They aren’t.  They are designed to have me doing something else other than trackchasing.  I was in Florida for EACH of my three “off” weekends in 2013.

Where’s Carol?

Carol has yet to see a track in 2013.  She’ll make her 2013 debut later this month if all goes as planned and we get our passports back in time.  She has contracted for one major flying trip each month on average.  That does NOT mean one major trackchasing trip.  In January, she chose a weeklong Caribbean cruise.  In February it will be a very long trackchasing trip as I seek out trackchasing country #64.  The trip will yield Carol’s 32^nd trackchasing country.

In March her likely itinerary will be a long weekend to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 basketball tournament.  Then in April she’ll travel (with me of course) to Maui.  It’s conceivable that she may have seen only 1-2 new tracks by the time spring hits in May.

She will have missed all of the ice racing, the single kart class activity half way across the country and other miscellaneous trackchasing events.  With all of the fun “non-trackchasing” activity during the first few months of the year will she have missed anything?  I don’t think so!

In the meantime I’ll be hitting the trail for as many as nine weekends through the end of April.  Not to worry.  One of the best things about being retired is seeing Carol pretty much 24/7 for most of Monday through Friday each week.  I couldn’t imagine still being part of the working world (Monday-Friday, 9-5) and going trackchasing every weekend.  If I did that I’d never see my wife or my family.

Another night on the road in luxury accommodations.

You’ll never get rained out at an indoor race.

I woke up on Friday morning at home in San Clemente, California.  I went to bed on Friday night in Houston, Texas.  After the race in the Houston area I ended up sleeping overnight in Albany, New York.  This is what the trip looked like.

The above headline is not always true for all sports.  Years ago, when we lived in Phoenix, Arizona we were “rained out” of a NBA Phoenix Suns basketball game.  The roof leaked!  It leaked badly enough to cancel and NBA basketball game.  I’ll bet that has not happened very often.

“Winter” trips are always a little different.

My “classic” trackchasing trip has always been to see races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  That used to mean I would head out on the trip on Friday and return on Monday.

However, “winter” trips are a bit different.  There’s almost no one racing on Fridays until the weekly tracks begin in May.  Really about the only tracks racing in January and February are outdoor “ice” tracks and select indoor events.  Today’s racing was going to be a race “indoors”.

Getting into Houston was easy on a late Friday night flight.  I’ve found that taking later flights on a Friday gives me a very good chance of getting on the plane.

Saturday morning was spent exercising.  Remember I have a goal of getting at least 45 minutes of consecutive aerobic exercise on three times as many days as I trackchase.  That’s going to be a tough goal to meet but I’ll give it a try.

AFTER THE RACES….

Texas was now in the rearview mirror.  New York here I come.

After the races I was surprised to find an early Saturday evening flight up to New York City.  This was surprising on two counts.  First, flights after 6 p.m. are the scarcest on a Saturday of any day during the week.  Secondly, the day before my planned trip to New York had encountered a very heavy snowstorm cancelling almost all flights.  Nevertheless, there was a seat for me.  That meant I would be trackchasing in the Northeast tomorrow.

Another night on the road in luxurious accommodations.

Buying good stuff cheap.

You’ve heard me say this many times.  Folks, when I spend my money I want to buy “good stuff cheap”.  I am not interested in “buying cheap stuff cheap”.  Please read the following and tell me how I did.  I was coming in an evening early so I would have plenty of time to get to this afternoon’s racing in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.

I arrived into Houston at 11 p.m. on Friday night.  I could have slept over in the airport’s chapel.  I did that last year.  I could have stayed in a Motel 6.  I’ve done that a lot too.

Before I chose any of those “cheap” options I thought I would see what my trackchasing sponsor Priceline.com could do for me.  First, I checked out past successful bidding prices at www.biddingfortravel.com.  BFT makes sure I don’t bid too much on Priceline.

To cut to the chase I will tell you I ended up at the Hilton Hotel in Houston.  This was a very upscale hotel.  During the week, it’s a business hotel, the room rates begin at $269.  What does that tell you?  It tells me that corporations don’t watch their expense accounts that closely!

The weekend rate was a much more reasonable $109 U.S. per night.  However, unless Carol is with me, even that is too much for this retired pensioner with, to hear Roger Ferrell tell it, a guy who has “unlimited funds”.

I was charged a paltry $44 for the evening.  That was about what the local Motel 6 was going for.  Yet, I stayed in an upscale Hilton hotel.  I love travel.  I love trackchasing.  I love buying “good stuff cheap”.

Mini Sprints ready to race.

Today I was seeing a “one-off” track.

For track counting purposes I enjoy seeing these “one-off” tracks.  By that I mean a track that will be racing just one time during the year.  That was the case with the Ross Kelley Arena at the Pasadena Expo Center.  The promoters from the Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas have taken it upon themselves to promote some “indoor” shows over the past few years.

There are lots of trackchasing pluses to the wintertime indoor show.  With the race being indoors I won’t get rained out.  With the race being in Texas I won’t get snowed out.  With the racing happening just one time per year I won’t “burn” any other trackchasing opportunities.  It’s the equivalent of trackchasing’s “perfect storm”.

Today’s racing would take place in a covered building that is most likely used mainly for rodeos and livestock auctions.  Although the entire racing surface is covered there are no sides to the building.  It’s “open-air”.  With the wind blowing at about 20 M.P.H. straight through the “building” I had to go back to the car to get my winter jacket.  Mind you the temperature was 66 degrees.  It’s the wind that makes the cold.

It wasn’t exactly ‘indoors’ it was ‘open-air’.

I had talked to the promoter earlier in the week.  I had seen a picture of the facility that made the grandstands seem as if they were outside (they weren’t).  With a 30% chance of rain I was concerned about a rain cancellation if the race were outdoors.  The promoter, Randy Waller, assured me they were racing under a roof.

He seemed happy to have discovered that go-karts could be added to his racing program this year.  “We had 35 of them a few weeks ago at another venue” he told me.  That fact made me less happy.  Flat karts would just take up time that could have been spent on countable classes was the way I looked at it.

A late start and lots of classes would change my travel plan.

Today’s racing was supposed to begin at 2 p.m.  If they started on time and ran the program efficiently I could make a wide-open flight to Charlotte in hopes of seeing some racing in that area tomorrow.

However, they started twenty-five minutes late.  Very few tracks actually begin at the advertised starting time.  I don’t like that.  However, I can’t do much about it.  I don’t get to riled up about things I can’t control.

I had ‘never ever’ seen these things.

The program began with about 6-7 classes of flat karts.  Then they raced a class I have NEVER EVER seen run in my previous 1,817 track visits.  That statement is pretty amazing isn’t it?

What class would that be?  Remote control cars!!  Yes, I’ve seen demonstrations of RC cars at racetracks before.  However, I had never seen RC cars run races, complete with the regular flagman and track scorer, in my life.  What surprised me most was how loud they were.  They were as loud as the loudest go-kart group tonight!  There were two separate classes of RC cars with three and five competitors each.

This was followed up with motorcycle racing.  The track was a bit small for them.  Nevertheless, they were loud with their sound being amplified by the building’s roof.  I actually enjoy seeing these “non-trackchasing countable” classes race as long as it doesn’t keep me from seeing what I came to see….trackchasing countable groups.

With a late start and so many classes of preliminary events (maybe 15 classes?) there was no way I could make my flight to Charlotte.  That was O.K.  I would simply show up at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport a little later than planned this evening.  This would likely alter Sunday’s race location as well.  Remember, the REAL value of my airline sponsorship is not saving money.  It’s the flexibility the program provides.

No ‘kids’ allowed.

There were three countable classes of mini-sprints racers tonight.  However, one of the wingless classes was for drivers under the age of eighteen.  “Kids” racing doesn’t count in trackchasing.  I’m guessing it’s probably because the ten trackchasing “Founding Fathers” who made up the rules hardly had a single kid between them!  Remember, kids are people too.

That left both a wingless and winged class of mini-sprints to make this track countable.  The track itself, a flat 1/8-mile (I’m guessing) dirt oval was way too narrow for these cars.  That was good for the spectator.  With limited racing space there was some bumping, banging and gouging as drivers tried to move forward.  You might want to take a look at the racing action video to see what I mean.

Overall, I was able to see about twenty races.  That was good enough for the 2 ½ hours I spent at the track.  I was surprised to see an event t-shirt selling for $15.  I know the time and expense it takes to come up with those souvenirs.  I have my own souvenir clothing line.  With just over 100 people in the grandstands I can’t imagine they sold very many.

There was a small concession stand on the premises.  I was surprised to see that hot dogs were selling for four dollars.  Don’t they know that NASCAR’S Martinsville Speedway sells them for just two bucks!  I ate off premises (calorie counting) before the race.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the event.  Seeing this race at this time of year satisfied me on many levels.  At this point I have now seen racing at all of the Waller promoted locations.  Maybe they will add a different location next year.

STATE COMPARISONS

Texas

The Lone Star State

This evening I saw my 54th lifetime track in the Lone Start state, yes the Lone Star state.  No one has reported seeing more Texas tracks than me.  I still have almost 15 venues left to see here.  There are several regularly scheduled oval tracks remaining.  A couple of them are brand new.  There’s still some road course action available too.  However, you won’t see much in the way of figure 8 racing in Texas.  I plan to come back to Texas another time or two in 2013.

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

Texas sayings:  I live in my own world.  People know me here.

Pasadena Expo Center – Indoor racing action!

TRAVEL DETAILS

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Houston, TX (IAH) – 1,382 miles

RENTAL CAR #1

George Bush (Houston) Intercontinental Airport – trip begins

Pasadena, TX

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: 

Pasadena Expo Center – $10

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 300 tracks of my lifetime total.  Don’t blame me.

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,818

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 63

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 5.08

That’s all folks!  Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report