Greetings from Carlsbad, California
From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Carlsbad Speedway – Track #201
I went to the Carlsbad Speedway in Carlsbad, California on Saturday night May 30, 1992. Carlsbad was just 25 miles from our home in San Clemente. I was there to watch modified midgets race on the 1/8- mile dirt oval. The History of American Speedways book tells us the Carlsbad Speedway raced from 1985-1994. The winner on the one night I attended was Denise Shimshank in the #8. It’s not often that I have reported that a woman was the feature winner. However, it was not oval racing that Carlsbad was famous for. It was motorcycle and drag racing. The Carlsbad RACEWAY not to be confused with the Carlsbad Speedway lasted for more than 40 years. As you can see from the photo at the top of this page the Carlsbad oval can still be seen from this aerial shot. It’s located next to the drag strip. Back in 1992 I was still a racechaser. My trackchasing total for the year was just 17 tracks. It wasn’t until 1995, at age 46, that I ever saw more than 20 new tracks in a single year. However in 1992 I was doing some traveling. The Carlsbad Speedway was lifetime track #201. The Sumter Rebel Speedway in Sumter, South Carolina was track #200. The Kil-Kare Speedway in Xenia, Ohio was track #202. . Most of my race chasing efforts back in ’92 were limited to California. However, I did make some trackchasing trips to South Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Quebec and Oregon. Believe it or not I was a season ticket holder (both races) for the NASCAR Winston Cup events at the North Wilkesboro Speedway. I would sell the tickets I didn’t need and the profit paid for the tickets I DID need. That all really worked well until one of the NASCAR races rained out on Sunday. The next day, Monday, there was ZERO demand for the tickets. On that Monday Geoff Bodine won the race that ran all 400 laps under the green flag. Do you have any experience with auto racing at the Carlsbad Speedway? By the way you might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share them 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. That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
