I first visited the Louisville Motor Speedway  on June 7, 1998.  The track was the 332nd of my trackchasing career.  I didn’t begin writing my famous Trackchaser Reports until about track #430.  My first visit to Louisville missed that cut off!  My limited notes do tell me that Tony Thomas #89 was the main event winner that day.  This was a special racing weekend.  Carol joined me to see Mike Jewell win the feature at the Ponderosa Speedway on Friday night.  Then we ventured over to the Eldora Speedway where Billy Moyer won the “Dream” on Saturday.  On Sunday we went to the Louisville Motor Speedway.  Later in the day we ventured up to Loogootee, Indiana where Greg Kendall #44 was the feature winner.

 

 

Three years later I went back to the Louisville Motor Speedway to see racing on their smaller 3/8-mile asphalt oval and their figure 8 track.  At the time I didn’t fully understand the “countability” rules within the trackchasing hobby.  I was somewhat of a “newbie” to trackchasing.  I was never part of writing the initial rules of trackchasing.

 

 

I thought, at the time, that I needed to see at least half of a single race in order to count the track.  I would later come to find out that all one needs to see is “competitive racing” in order to add the track to the list.  In reality, at the moment the first race takes the green flag the race and track are countable under trackchasing rules.  When you read my Trackchaser Report under the tab “2001 visit” you will clearly see how I was mistaken about the rules.  I follow the trackchasing rules to the letter.  However, it’s very important to know what the rules are!

 

 

 “The History of America’s Speedways – Past & Present” authored by Allan E. Brown is an excellent reference book.  It details the starting and stopping dates of America’s speedways.  Allan tells us the Louisville Motor Speedway was built to replace the old Fairgrounds Speedway (pictured above) in Louisville.  The 3/8-mile paved oval ran from 4/22/1988-2001.  The 3/8-mile figure 8 track held racing from 1988-2001.  The larger 7/16-mile asphalt oval opened on May 15, 1994 and closed in 2001.  I’m not sure if I knew in advance during my 2001 trackchasing visit that the Louisville Motor Speedway would close at the end of the 2001 season.  The track’s last event was held on September 14, 2001 just one week after I had visited!

 

 

By Terry Flynn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FORT MITCHELL — Kentucky Speedway is making plans for another year of auto racing, but track chairman and co-owner Jerry Carroll said the other track he owns, Louisville Speedway, has held its last race.

Mr. Carroll’s development company, Carroll Properties, Inc., will demolish the old half-mile race track off Outer Loop Road in Louisville beginning in February and develop it into an industrial park with several large buildings totaling about 1.3 mil lion square feet of space under roof.

Mark Simendinger, president of Carroll Properties and Kentucky Speedway, said Thursdaythat Louisville Motor Speedway, built in the 1950s, was no longer a money-making business and the property where it was built near the UPS terminal was prime industrial land.

“It reached the point where the value of the track property reached the level where we couldn’t afford to operate it as a race track,” he said.

 

 

 

Reprinted with permission from my September 7, 2001 Trackchaser Report.

 

 

 

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky,

 

 

TRAVEL/PEOPLE NEWS

This weekend’s racing trip objective was a simple one. My plan was to see two new tracks as well as the most prestigious late model stock car race in the country, the World 100, with friends Jim and Ed from the Cleveland area.

 

 

Like most plans it didn’t turn exactly as planned. I’ll tell you why. Carol was nice enough to drive me to the airport in the dark at about 5:30 a.m. Along the way it dawned (no pun intended) on me I had forgotten my watch and my umbrella. These two missing items would prove to be important omissions. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

 

When I’m on the airplane going on race trips I spend almost all the time on my laptop. A good deal of the time I’m working on financial planning topics so I can fulfill my dream of retiring from traditional work, as we know it.

 

 

I was in the midst of analyzing some important financial information when the flight attendant, Tina, came up from behind and said, “What are you working on? The screen sure has a lot of different colors on it”. At this moment the two people sitting next to me began craning their necks to see the screen.

 

 

I thought I would be honest and tell her I was working on understanding the impact of IRA rule 72-T and the effect of taking Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SEPP) from an IRA. My plan was to intimidate her so she would move along. To my surprise she seemed even more interested and looked closely at the screen. She noticed it included life expectancy tables and immediately wanted me to tell her how long her grandmother would live! She was a Seinfeldish, “loud-talker” and now even more people were turning around to look at us. I told her that life expectancy tables were just statistical quesstimates based on averages of large numbers of people. This intrigued her even further and I told her that her grandmother had about 15 years of life expectancy remaining based upon her current age. Tina seemed pleased.

 

 

Tina wasn’t finished. Now she wanted to know how long “a woman” who was 37 (about the age Tina looked) would live “who didn’t smoke, who didn’t drink and who had had only one sexual partner in her life?” Now, EVERYONE within five rows was looking at us and anxiously awaiting my answer! Fortunately, Tina moved on after she was assured that “this woman” had a long life ahead of her!

 

 

I landed in Indianapolis without further incidence. My plan was to replace my watch with a pocket alarm clock I had as well as my Palm Pilot and cell phone. This still didn’t break me of the habit of looking at my watch less wrist every couple of minutes.

 

 

I picked up my Budget Rental Car racing Ford Taurus (just $20/day via Priceline.com) without much problem. The forecast for the entire weekend is thunderstorms throughout the entire Middle West. Rain is a major problem for American short track racing. When it rains they don’t race and they postpone the event.

 

 

I decided to drive south of Indianapolis about 60 miles to Columbus, Indiana and wait. Columbus, according to a sign as you enter town, is both the birthplace and home of NASCAR driver and Home Depot sponsored, Tony Stewart. Columbus sits pretty much in the center of four different tracks that normally race on this night. Each track is about 75 miles from Columbus. With very threatening skies I planned to sit her until 6 p.m. and then call each track to see if their event was still on. The Dairy Queen parking lot provided both a chocolate chip cookie dough treat as well as a good place to take a short nap.

 

 

I awoke at 6 p.m. and began making calls. First, I called Bakersfield Raceway Park in Linton, IN. They were rained out. Then I called Camden Raceway in Camden, IN and they were rained out. Next was the Speed Creek Raceway in Lapel, IN. They were not racing this evening for an unexplained reason. The final track was the Louisville Motor Speedway in Louisville, KY. The lady said they were racing and the rain probabilities were just 30%. I told her with some exaggeration that I was coming from 200 miles away. She immediately went into a much more defensive mode and began to waffle on the likelihood of clear weather. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much choice since they were the only track within driving distance that had not cancelled.

 

 

 

RACING NEWS

 

I was told the Louisville track was to begin racing at 7:30 p.m. What I wasn’t told was that this was the EASTERN time zone. Indianapolis is in the central time zone. Columbus, IN is just south of Indy and is in the central time zone. Louisville is just south of Columbus so one might think Louisville is in the central time zone. Wrongo!! Louisville is in the Eastern Time zone and this error cost me the addition of two new tracks.

 

 

I arrived at Louisville Motor Speedway at 7:30 p.m. but it was 8:30 p.m. Louisville time and their program had been going on for one hour. That shouldn’t be a problem since a second phone call by me to the speedway had yielded an “all clear from the weather channel” response.

 

 

The admission to the track was $10. Louisville Motor Speedway is a state of the art track with great facilities. They even have a separate booth that sells tickets to the Kentucky Lottery. I’ve never seen that at a short track before. Carol and I had seen races on the 5/8 mile oval back in 1998. Tonight’s races were being held on the 3/8-mile oval and the figure 8 course.

 

 

When I arrived the scoreboard showed 12 laps left in the street stock feature which was being run on the 3/8-mile oval. Since there was less than half of the race remaining I couldn’t yet count this track since one has to see an official race at a track in order to count the race by trackchaser rules. For a race to be official you have to see at least 51% of the laps scheduled. There were still races to come on the 3/8-mile oval.

 

 

The next event was the figure 8 feature. They started a great field of 28 good-looking cars for the 30-lap race. After just 13 laps, incredibly, it began to rain!! Where was the lady who said the weather channel had given them an all clear forecast?

 

 

As it would turn out, despite some strong efforts by the track, the races ended up being cancelled. I missed seeing an official race on the oval track AND the figure 8 track each by just a couple of laps. Although I was disappointed I have been blessed with some simply outstanding weather for the first 51 new tracks I’ve seen this year.

 

 

Editor’s note:  I thought, at the time, that I needed to see at least half of a single race in order to count the track.  I would later come to find out that all one needs to see is “competitive racing” in order to add the track to the list.  In reality, at the moment the first race takes the green flag the race and track are countable under trackchasing rules.  I was mistaken about the rules.  I follow the trackchasing rules to the letter.  However, it’s very important to know what the rules are!

 

 

 

WORLD 100 Results

The next evening I joined up with Jim and Ed for the World 100 late model stock car race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The World 100 is always the weekend following Labor Day. This is the 14^th World 100 I’ve seen since my first one in 1980.

 

 

Obviously, Eldora Speedway is not a new track for me. This was my 32^nd trip to Rossburg since 1980. The weather was threatening. The races were scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and that’s exactly what happened. At 7:01 p.m. it started to rain and it rained hard for more than 30 minutes. Editor’s note: Special thanks to Ed for bringing an extra umbrella. The rain caused a delay in restarting until 9 p.m. After that the races ran off well although there were a lot of wrecks including two flips, which is very unusual for late models at Eldora.

 

 

The feature was great. Scott Bloomquist won from 10^th starting position. Donnie Moran was 2^nd from about the 8^th starting spot and Billy Moyer came from 19^th to finish 3^rd. It was a fun night of racing which finished about 1:15 a.m. We got back to the hotel at 2:30 a.m.

 

 

So, in the first two nights of racing I didn’t get credit for seeing any new tracks but did get a chance to see one of the biggest races of the year even though we had to wait out a rain delay.

 

 

Restaurants of the two days: McDonalds, Dairy Queen (twice), Waffle House, Wendy’s, Gas Station Pizza and mozzarella sticks, a pizza steak and a cheesewurst at Eldora. It’s amazing I don’t weight 300 pounds by now.

 

 

Rental Car update: The Budget Rental Car racing Taurus ended up with 389 miles on it at the Days Inn in Van Wert, Ohio. My last two rental cars have had a CD player but not a cassette player.

 

New racetracks visited in 2001

Editor’s note:  The URLs were active in 2001.  That’s a long time ago.  It’s very likely they don’t work today.  If you would like give it your best shot.

 

467. Laughlin Event Center, Laughlin, NV (no web site)
468. Loc Moran, Mont Carmel, Quebec (http://www.grabnetworks.net/delta/)
469. Circuit Jacques Rainville, Vanier, Quebec (no web site)
470. Pauline Davis Pavilion, Red Bluff, CA (http://www.rboutlaws.com/)
471. The Pavilion at the Fairgrounds, Chico, CA (no web site)
472. Baton Rouge Raceway, Baker, LA (http://www.batonrougeraceway.com)
473. Mississippi Motorsports Park, Long Beach, MS (http://www.msmotorsportspark.com)
474. South Alabama Motor Speedway, Opp, AL (http://www.southalabamaspeedway.com)
475. Nashville Super Speedway, Smyrna, TN (http://www.nashvillesuperspeedway.com)
476. Beech Bend Raceway (oval track), Bowling Green, KY (http://www.beechbend.com)
477. Beech Bend Raceway (figure 8 track), Bowling Green, KY (http://www.beechbend.com)
478. Soggy Bottom Speedway, Morgantown, KY (http://www.soggybottomspeedway.com)
479. Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow, CA (http://www.buttonwillowraceway.com)
480. Speedway 90, Beaumont, TX (http://www.Speedway90Bmt.com)
481. 105 Speedway, Cleveland, TX (http://www.105speedway.com/)

482   Savannah Speedway, Savannah, MO (no web site)

483. Winston Speedway, Winston, MO (no web site)
484. Stuart Speedway, Stuart, IA (http://www.midiowa.com/showtime/stuart.html)
485. Barberton Speedway, Barberton, OH (http://www.barbertonspeedway.com/)
486. Eriez Speedway, Erie, PA (http://www.statelineeriezspeedway.com/)
487. Anderson Dry Lake, Lucerne Valley, CA (http://hometown.aol.com/mdrracing/index.html)
488. Perris Auto Speedway-(figure 8 track), Perris, CA(http://www.perrisautospeedway.com/)
489. Dixie Motor Speedway – (figure 8 track), Birch Run, MI (http://www.dixiemotorspeedway.com)
490. Dixie Motor Speedway – (oval track), Birch Run, MI (http://www.dixiemotorspeedway.com)
491. Grand Prix of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (http://www.imgmotorsports.com/)

492   Painesville Speedway – (oval track), Painesville, OH (http://members.tripod.com/pspeedway/)

493   Painesville Speedway – (figure 8 track), Painesville, OH (http://members.tripod.com/pspeedway/)

494. Angola Motor Speedway, Angola, IN (http://www.angolamotorspeedway.com/index.shtml)
495. Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA (http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/)
496. Dixie Speedway, Woodstock, GA (http://www.dixiespeedway.com/)
497. Rome Speedway, Rome, GA (http://www.dixiespeedway.com/) Rome uses the same web site as Dixie Speedway.
498. Holland Speedway (oval), Holland, NY (http://www.hollandspeedway.com/)
499. Holland Speedway (figure 8 track), Holland, NY (http://www.hollandspeedway.com/)
500. Freedom Raceway, Delevan, NY (http://www.freedomraceway.com/)
501. Allegheny Mountain Raceway, La Mont, PA (http://www.amraceway.com/)
502. McKean County Raceway, East Smethport, PA (http://www.mckeancountyraceway.com/)
503. Bradford Speedway, Bradford, PA (http://www.bradfordspeedway.com/)
504. Ventura Raceway, Ventura, CA (http://www.venturaraceway.com/)
505. Winnebago County Speedway, Pecatonica, IL (no web site)
506. Boone County Fairgrounds, Belvidere, IL (http://www.boonecountyfair.com/index2.htm)
507. Slinger Super Speedway, Slinger, WI (http://www.slingersuperspeedway.com/)
508. Steele County Fairgrounds, Owatonna, MN (no web site)
509. Viking Speedway, Alexandria, MN (http://www.vikingspeeday.com/)
510. Princeton Speedway, Princeton, MN (http://www.princetonspeedway.com/)
511. North Center Motor Speedway, Brainerd, MN (http://www.borderlineracing.com/)
512. Golden Spike Speedway, Sauk Rapids, MN (oval) (no web site)
513. Golden Spike Speedway, Sauk Rapids, MN (figure 8) (no web site)
514. Portland Speedway (1/2 mile dirt oval), Portland, OR (http://www.portlandspeedway.com/)
515. Evergreen Speedway (figure 8), Monroe, WA (http://www.evergreenspeedway.com/)
516. Evergreen Speedway (3/8 mile oval), Monroe, WA (http://www.evergreenspeedway.com/)
517. Kent Raceways, Agassiz, British Columbia (http://kentraceways.com/)

 

 

 

Official end of RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report

 

You might have remembrances of the Louisville Motor Speedway.  If so, please feel free to share 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.