Greetings from Dungannon, Northern Ireland
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Tullyroan Oval
Asphalt oval
Lifetime Track #2,200
THE EVENT Today’s undertaking was just one of more than 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. It’s my tenth separate trackchasing trip to the United Kingdom. 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. I’ll try my best to respond. Thanks! ON THE WAY TO THE RACES THURSDAY I do it differently. I definitely pursue my hobby of trackchasing and the entire business of travel a little bit differently than most folks. If you’ve been reading my Trackchaser Reports for very long I suspect you will agree with my assessment. However, if you aren’t quite convinced maybe the story behind this trip will nudge you over the fence. I have help. It is true that I have a good deal of help from my travel sponsors. However, I am also willing to make the commitment it takes to make these trips happen. I will have seen 2,200 plus tracks when this trip raps up. Let’s say each trip averages 2-3 tracks. That would put the total number of trackchasing trips I have made at somewhere between 700 and 1,100. I’ve seen racing in 70 different countries. I’ve been to the United Kingdom ten separate times now to see 59 different tracks. The U.K. is a 10-12 hour one-way flight from my home in Southern California. During those ten trips I’ve flown about 110,000 miles. This U.K. trip was different. However, this trip in 2016 was different than each of the previous nine. How could it be different? Do I really approach travel that uniquely compared to anyone you have ever known? I woke up this morning on a Thursday. It was a Thursday in late March just before Good Friday and the Easter weekend. Most of my trips to the U.K. have been over Easter. Easter is part of a “Bank Holiday” in the United Kingdom. “Bank Holidays” are four-day weekends in Great Britain. I had absolutely zero intention of trackchasing in the United Kingdom this weekend or anywhere for that matter. That’s right. When I woke up this morning I had no intention of going trackchasing ANYWHERE this weekend be it in the U.S. or the U.K. I am retired. On most mornings I sleep in. I don’t sleep all that late. Normally, I am out of bed by 7:30 a.m. or so. Carol and I do not subscribe to a local newspaper. With my travel schedule we found I didn’t have time to read the paper and Carol doesn’t like getting her news from newspapers. However, on most mornings I will get my news from my USA Today iPhone app. Quite often I will read the headlines and a few stories from my phone before I get out of bed. We live in a crazy world and sometimes it is dangerous. Just two days ago, terrorists hit Brussels. News reports were telling everyone to avoid Europe. Americans were at great risk when traveling abroad according to the U.S. Government. That seemed to make sense to me. I was nursing a head cold. I didn’t have any plan in the near future to head to Europe. I was quite content with simply staying home in our modest seaside cottage until I felt a little better. In another week or so we head out to Maui, Hawaii. We’ve been spending a lot of time in Hawaii over the past year. This will be our sixth trip in the past 7-8 months. Each trip covers two weekends keeping me off the trackchasing trail a good deal. The Brussels story was huge. It’s a frightening mess the world is in. I’m not sure what the solution is going to be. There are just two many “soft” targets out there. My memories of the Brussels airport. I have special memories of the Brussels airport. Back in May 2005 I joined Belgium resident/trackchaser Roland Vanden Eynde is his home country for a trackchasing trip. Roland had extended an invitation to me to visit his part of the trackchasing world. I accepted. On my first weekend in Brussels Roland and I visited tracks in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Then I took a few days in the middle of the week to tour France including a trip to Disneyland Paris. Carol comes to Brussels airport…but where was she? The next weekend Carol joined Roland and I in Brussels. I recall the Brussels airport as being very small for a city the size of Brussels. Roland and I drove out to pick up Carol on a Friday afternoon. We arrived well in advance of her scheduled landing. We watched her plane land from an airport café. I recall there being a narrow opening, maybe about 10 feet wide where all incoming passengers entered the arrivals hall of the airport. At this point the passengers were moving from the secured part of the airport to the unsecured section. It was at this point that people were there to pickup their friends and relatives. Where in Brussels was Carol? However, there was a problem. Despite having seen Carol’s American Airlines plane land and despite all of the arriving passengers deplaning into the arrivals hall…there was no Carol. Both Roland and I found this somewhat amazing. Several minutes after her plane landed we began our search of the Brussels airport. Remember, this airport just wasn’t very big at all. Roland had never met Carol. Nevertheless, I showed him a photo of her and we both split up to look for her. I don’t think the Brussels airport is as big as the airport in Milwaukee. How could we miss Carol is a place like that? The flight into Brussels was several hours long. If Carol had missed the flight there would have been plenty of time for her to let me know. I had received no message from her. Airport authorities were more than hesitant to confirm she had landed on the American flight due to security reasons. However, I got an unofficial nod that she was on the flight. However, despite our checking every nook and cranny several times we couldn’t find her. Come on Carol. Come out from hiding. We had her paged. They don’t like to page people in the Brussels airport. Nevertheless, they made an exception in this case. I contacted the airport police. They gathered the information and tried to help. We were running late now. We were planning to go to a race on Friday afternoon at the famous Nurburgring Circuit in Germany. Would I have to leave her behind? If Carol didn’t show up soon we would miss seeing this important track. I seriously considered leaving Carol at the airport if we didn’t find her soon. We had been searching for two hours and no sign of her. The good thing about Carol is that she is a “big” girl. No, she doesn’t weigh a lot. She had always been considered the most fit person in the hobby of trackchasing, man or women. She is smart enough and rational enough to handle situations like this on her own. Just as I was about to give Roland the go ahead and leave Carol in the Brussels airport…or wherever she was, we found her!! She had been standing outside the airport at the curb waiting for our car to show up for nearly two hours. I can explain most things but not this. I still don’t this explanation. The place wasn’t that big. We had looked outside the terminal several times and never saw Carol. To this day I can’t believe we couldn’t meet up in such a small place. This is one of the great mysteries of my life. With that very unique experience in the Brussels airport the terror attacks there aroused my attention. Some leader or government is going to have to take a very strong stand in this situation to correct the problem. I hope they do it soon. I was still in bed enjoying Thursday morning. Much of this was going through my head as I lay in bed reading the “paper” this morning. With no trackchasing this weekend and with Hawaii coming up and with the past two weekends spent with our grandchildren I was going to be off the trackchasing trail for FIVE consecutive weekends. I can’t recall taking a break that long from my hobby for 10-15 years or more. My very FIRST look at the U.K. for Easter weekend. I got to thinking. Maybe at this late date I could at least LOOK at the tracks that might be running over the “Bank Holiday” Easter weekend in the United Kingdom. At this point I have seen racing at 56 different tracks in the U.K. I’ve seen most of the best tracks. The reason I haven’t come back to the U.K. much in the past few years is there just aren’t enough tracks to make the trip worth it. Invited guests to the United Kingdom. On three of my previous nine trips I have invited fellow trackchasers to join me. Allan Brown, P.J. Hollebrand and Paul Weisel have come to the U.K. with me. I don’t invite guests to come on these trips often. My travel schedule nearly mandates that I travel alone or with Carol on my trackchasing trips. For the past nine years much of my travel has been on a standby basis. Any trackchaser who would be matching my travel schedule would be doing so with a fully paid airline ticket. If I was flying standby and didn’t make it anyone I asked to join me would be going on the trip by themselves. I never renege on a commitment. No, I can’t really travel with other trackchasers given my method of travel. I invited Allan, P.J. and Paul for really just one reason. I didn’t think they would ever make that trip on their own. I knew if they came along, especially with the U.K. experience I bring to the party they would have a good time. I believe each of them would tell you they had fun on the trip. That’s what it’s all about. Could this work? Would it be a workable idea? My home office is about ten feet from our master bedroom. I went into my office at past 8 a.m. I would need to confirm a couple of very important items if a trip to the U.K., which I had just imagined in the past hour FOR THE FIRST TIME, could happen. I would need a reason to fly to the United Kingdom. That reason would come in the form of seeing tracks I had never visited before. I’m seen as many as 11 new tracks in one U.K. visit in the past. There was no way I could see that many on this trip. The soonest I could even get there would be on Good Friday afternoon. If that happened my “Four-day Bank Holiday” would be a three-day holiday (Saturday, Sunday and Monday). Could I even get there with such a late plan? If I DID find some tracks worth making the trip for I would have to figure out a way to get to the United Kingdom. It was Thursday before Easter weekend. With the seven-hour time change I would need to leave the house in the next six hours or so to make this happen. May I ask this simple question? Let me ask you a simple question. Who gets up in the morning with ZERO idea of flying to Europe and then FLIES to Europe on six hours notice? If you know anyone in your life that does that I’d like to meet them. As it was I found three Northern Ireland tracks racing over this weekend. They were all “asphalt oval” tracks. That meant there would be good racing at these places. However, Northern Ireland is not that easy or inexpensive to get to from Los Angeles on six hours notice over Easter weekend. I could fly into London but getting to NI would require an expensive ferry or an equally expensive second airplane ride. If not Northern Ireland then maybe England. There were also a few tracks racing on the “mainland” of the U.K. Most of these tracks were “autograss” tracks. Autograss tracks race in farmer’s fields for the most part. I’ve seen car counts approach 200 at some autograss events. My background as a racecar driver. I have driven racecars myself at about ten different tracks. My first ever driving experience in a real racecar came in Turley, England on an autograss track. It was one of the biggest highlights of my trackchasing career. There are lots of things to like about the racing I the United Kingdom. It rains a lot in the U.K. Most permanent ovals and road courses will race in the rain. That’s one of the things I like most about U.K. racing. They almost never rain out. However, with autograss events being run in essentially a farm pasture rain can cancel these events. What was the weather forecast for the U.K. this weekend? Rain. Yes, it was likely to rain every day of the Easter weekend. I have a lot of resources. Is there a reason I am approaching a 600-track lead over my nearest fellow trackchasing competitor? I have a lot of resources when it comes to flying on airplanes. I really can’t tell you how it all works. I’m sure you understand my position. Most of my flying trips are done on a standby basis. If there is an open seat and no other standby flyers have a higher priority than me I will get on the plane. If that doesn’t happen I don’t get on the plane. I simply walk over to the window in the airport terminal and wave good-bye to the departing passengers. Think about the last vacation you took by plane. Would you have accepted the option of flying standby? No, I didn’t think you would. What were the chances there would be any open seats on planes flying into London at the beginning of the Easter holiday? They would be slim but if you don’t try you don’t go. I would at least give this last minute trip a try. There was a flight leaving LAX for London’s Heathrow airport at 6 p.m. I would have to leave by 2:30 p.m. in order to fight my way through the rush hour traffic of Los Angeles. If I didn’t make that flight there were a couple flights leaving later in the evening. All hands on board. By now I was getting help from several people. Son J.J. and golfing buddy Charlie Hulse were helping with advice on the airplanes. U.K. resident Colin Herridge was checking out racetrack opportunities for me. I decided to give this trip a try. I wouldn’t reserve a hotel or a car until I arrived in England IF I arrived in England. Yep. This was definitely a fly by the seat of your pants trip. The traffic up to LAX was brutal. Yes, SoCal is famous for having bad traffic. However, I have been retired for nearly 15 years. It is a rare situation indeed when I get stuck in Los Angeles traffic. First, I don’t have to go many places all that far from home. Secondly, I know when and where the traffic is bad and avoid it like the plague. For me, there really is no traffic in SoCal. Los Angeles. Las Vegas. London. On the way up to the airport I got a call from my business partner. He lives in Las Vegas. He was following up on one of our investments. My friend was going to be in London this Monday night. We agreed we might try to get together in Piccadilly Square for a drink on Monday night. We’ll have to see if those arrangements can be made. I left the house at 2:40 p.m. I needed to travel 65 miles up the “San Diego” freeway. It took me about two hours to go 65 miles. Then it took me about 25 minutes to walk from my parking garage to the Tom Bradley (former LA mayor) International Terminal. I arrived at the airport at 5 p.m. Luckily, in a way, my 6 p.m. flight departure was delayed until 7 p.m. That was good because it gave me more time to check in. However, the later than expected departure also wiped out the chance to consider a couple of the flights scheduled for later in the evening. Randy Lewis? Randy Lewis? Ultimately, my flight left the LAX gate at nearly 8 p.m. By that time I had purchased standby tickets on two other flights to London. I’ll have to refund those when I get back from the trip. That’s right. My name was called. I was the last standby passenger to get on the plane. The wheels were in motion now. When my name was called I immediately sent a text to J.J. We had pre-arranged for him to order a cellphone data plan for me to use in the U.K. For $60 U.S., I would get 300MB of data. That’s not all that much but will come in very handy when it is needed. When I land and figure out if I am trackchasing in Northern Ireland or England I will reserve a car. I hope to rent a local GPS unit with the car. I think that might be easier that risking burning up my data plan on my phone’s Waze GPS. As mentioned I’ll have to figure out where I’m going to stay after I land as well. We would be landing in London at 1 p.m. on Good Friday. My plan would be to trackchase on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If all worked well and the rain didn’t disrupt things I would be able to see three or four new tracks. That’s not much. However, when I woke up this morning I had not planned on seeing any tracks this weekend. It’s time to pause and take a deep breath. Have you ever? Now let’s pause and ask ourselves a few questions. Have you ever flown to London? Do you know any people who have flown to London? Now for the really big question. How you ever known anyone to plan a trip the way this trip was planned? FRIDAY When you land in Europe don’t go to sleep. My plane landed in London about two hours late at 1 p.m. That wasn’t a problem at all. Actually the later the better. I hopped on a packed shuttle bus that took me from the airplane into the London Heathrow Airport terminal. Europe uses a lot of these types of shuttles. One rarely walks directly from the plane into the airport terminal. I’m been to Europe well over 50 times. I learned something from the first ever trip that Carol and I made to Paris back in the 70s. When you land, normally in the early morning, it’s is extremely important to stay awake until at least past dinner time. Today when I landed at 1 p.m. it was just 4 a.m. in San Clemente. Often times flights to Europe land at 7 a.m. or so. When that happens it’s midnight back home and the instinct is to want to sleep rather than start your day. I may have gotten the last seat on the plane from Los Angeles to London. I didn’t sleep much at all on the 10-hour flight. I did watch a couple of movies but I couldn’t sleep even though I did have a mostly comfortable aisle seat. What was the main objective today? The main objective today was to get from London to Dublin, Ireland. Today was Good Friday. Everyone was leaving on holiday. Getting a standby seat to a popular destination like Dublin over the four-day bank holiday would be tough. If I did make it to Dublin I would spend the weekend trackchasing in Northern Ireland. If I didn’t make it to NI I would simply pick up a rental car in London and trackchase all over England for the next three days. Once I made the flight I knew my trackchasing trip would be a success no matter what. I wish you could come with me. I wish every one of you could go on one of these trips with me. There’s a lot of “administrative” work to complete to make my plans work. There’s a good deal of walking too. Let’s think about it this way. I landed in London at 1 p.m. I would end up getting a flight to Dublin at 6 p.m. Then I rented a car and drove to my hotel in Dublin. That doesn’t sound like much walking does it? Nevertheless, my “Health” iPhone app told me I walked 4.64 miles today. I would not have been surprised if it had been more. Don’t get your hopes up. The airline people told me not to expect to make any of the flights to Dublin. It was “manic” today they told me. When I heard that advice I investigated flying into the only other British Airways location in Ireland/Northern Ireland, Belfast. Can you imagine flying into Belfast about 15 years ago? Belfast was “hot” back then with the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. Lucky so far and I’d like to keep it that way. I have trackchased in 70 countries and visited more than 80 in total. As I look back on it several of the places we have visited have had significant terror attacks or natural disasters. Luckily, so far, we missed all of that. Life without texting? I am an avid texter. I know many people my age who are not. I cannot imagine a life without texting. It’s such a quick and inexpensive way to communicate. I guess I could live without a TV, air-conditioning or an automatic transmission but would I really want too? RailSail Our son J.J. is always available to provide travel advice. He’s good with tech and travel. Today, he had an alternative if I couldn’t get on an airplane to Ireland. I could do the “RailSail” program. That’s right. I could ride the train from London to a point where I would pick up a ferryboat to Dublin. When I hear ideas like that I begin to salivate. With travel I’m interested in doing something I have never done. I couldn’t recall doing anything called a “RailSail”. That would have been fun. Nevertheless, I joined a large group of travelers who were trying to find a standby seat to locations all around the world from London. Names were being called and smiles were coming across the faces of the lucky ones. Soon my name was called for a flight to Dublin. That really simplified things. I think I may have gotten the very last seat on the way to Dublin. The one-hourish, 278-mile flight from London to Dublin went quickly. The BA crew did a great job. They served complimentary cocktails on the short flight and “crisps” (potato chips) to a packed flight. Well done. Once in Dublin I had to clear passport control. Yes, London located in the United Kingdom is a different country than Ireland. That process went quickly. Still more work to do to tie up the loose ends of this trip. Then there was more “administrative” work to do. Luckily, the Dublin airport has free Wi-Fi. With that I made a reservation for a car and a hotel for this evening. Was I a “fly by night” traveler? I guess I was. Two hours ago I didn’t know for sure I was even coming to Ireland. Then when I got to Ireland I had to come up with a rental car and a hotel. Most folks would have a trip like this planned months in advance. Different strokes for different folks. Drop dead gorgeous was really quite ugly. I found a drop dead gorgeous rate for a rental car at www.rentalcars.com. I have rented with SIXT before with good results. Today they were offering a compact car for just 40 Euros (about $45 U.S.) for four days. Wow! However, sometimes really good things are simply too good to be true. When I went to the counter I was told there was “mandatory” insurance of about 85 Euros to go with the 40 Euro fee for the car itself. I use my MasterCard to provide my insurance in situations like this. I even carry a 5-page letter from MasterCard that states the coverage. However, with the agent barely looking at my letter he announced it didn’t include “the proper language”. So now my 40 Euro car was going to cost 125 Euros. No thanks. I told him this was a major rip-off. Just do the right thing. I am huge on doing the right thing and simply being honest. When a person tells me one thing and then does another (I call it the Guy Smith rule) I remember it and then avoid them like the plaque from that point on. There were several other car rental companies in the airport. Surely some could match or beat the prices now being levied at SIXT. I walked across the hall to Budget Rental Car. Red-headed Irishmen. There I met a big red-headed Irishman named Kevin. Kevin was a good guy. However, I soon learned that very few prices were “firm” in the rental car game at the Dublin airport. By the way I saw more red-headed people in four days than I have seen in 20 years! I love redheads. I told Kevin how I was being ripped off at SIXT. Kevin offered his least expensive car at 120 Euros with no insurance or 180 Euros with insurance. That wasn’t any good and I told him so. Soon I was being offered an upgraded car for 120 Euros WITH insurance. Folks, if you don’t ask you don get. I would need a GPS unit for this trip. I didn’t want to use up my $60 300MB data plan on GPS usage. Kevin started by offering the GPS unit at 15 Euros for each of the four days of my rental. Later he lowered that price to 10 Euros/day and I accepted. I declined the two euro per day for insurance on the “windscreen”. That was insurance against any damage to the windshield. Nearly out the door. Now I was out the door with a manual transmission car for about 160 Euros for four days. That’s about $180 U.S. This price is close to what I would pay for a car in the states under similar circumstances. I ended up with a quite serviceable Czech owned Skoda Rapid. That’s right. I would be driving the Budget Rental Car Racing Skoda Rapid. I’ve driven on the “wrong side of the road” for tens of thousands of miles. I would soon be reminded that folks in England and Ireland drive on the “wrong side of the road”. I’m sure to them it SEEMS like the right side of the road. The car’s steering wheel is on the right side and the gear shift is operated with my left hand. My mantra in situations like this is “Lefts are easy, rights are scary”. But where would I sleep? While still in the airport I used both Kayak.com and Priceline.com to get a hotel for tonight. Hotels are inexpensive in Ireland/Northern Ireland. I would end up paying just $50-60 U.S. for each night’s lodging. It was now nearly 10 p.m. I needed a quick snack. When a McDonald’s appeared up ahead I stopped. I use Mickey Ds in foreign countries as a learning experience. I like to compare them to their counterparts back home. How did this Dublin, Ireland McDonalds compare? Not that favorably. First, they don’t accept ApplePay. My server had never heard of it. However, after I explained the concept she admitted that it was a cool idea. Next up a large Diet Coke was nearly $3 U.S. They don’t do refills either. My bill for a large Diet Coke, a three-piece chicken select offering and a chocolate caramel flurry came in at 9.3 Euros or more than $10 U.S. That meal at home would cost about $7-8 dollars and would offer unlimited drink refills paid for with ApplePay. Come on European McDonalds get with the program. Now it was time to sleep for a long time. I checked into the Aspect Hotel Dublin Park West at nearly 11 p.m. I had stayed up all day after landing in Europe. Now I would have a good 8-10 hour sleep. By tomorrow morning would be on “local” time. From my room I made hotel reservations for the next two nights. Then I rechecked the locations of the racetracks on this trip. My good buddy Colin Herridge (center above with P.J. Hollebrand) from the U.K. was helping with this trip. I first met Colin all the way back in April, 2004 at the Bovingdon Circuit. He is always willing to help with my U.K. racing plans. This was new news. It was good news. As he told me, “just two minutes ago I discovered an Ireland track I had never heard of”. Folks, you will be hearing more about Colin’s discovery as this post continues. Colin, thanks buddy. SATURDAY Terrible race-watching weather. After a very nice “first sleep” in Europe I began my day. Racing was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tonight. I was fighting a strong cold, stuffy nose, sneezing etc. The local weather was not going to help in that regard. Temperatures were expected to be in the 40s and 50s with 10-20 M.P.H. winds and about a quarter inch of rain each day. In the U.S. those are “race cancelling” weather conditions. However, here I would expect them to race. After checking out of my hotel this morning I spent a leisurely one-hour in the hotel lobby. There I could get things organized with a good Internet connection. Internet connectivity is a lot like food and drink. Sometimes you don’t know when your next good Wi-Fi connection is going to come from. I would have a pleasant two-hour drive up to Dungannon, Northern Ireland. I had strategically picked out a quality bed and breakfast accommodation less than 10 km from tonight’s racing venue. U.K. Welcome Centers. Since my first ever visit here I’ve always been impressed with the “Welcome Centers” in the United Kingdom. These are essentially interstate rest areas on steroids. Except in rare circumstances the United States doesn’t come anywhere close to the quality and product offerings available in these Welcome Centers. Although today’s center was not officially called a Welcome Center it had several fast food restaurants, gift shops and bakeries and the like. I would love to see this concept come to United States. Tonight’s lodging. Tonight I was staying in the Charlemont House in Dungannon Northern Ireland. I found this bed-and-breakfast on Kayak.com at the amazingly low price of just $49 US. That includes my room, parking, Internet and a delicious full English breakfast in the morning. The “hotel” is essentially an old house. I learned it was built in 1760. My room looks like it was right out of an issue of Architectural Digest or Better Homes & Gardens. Don’t miss the photos. THE RACING Tullyroan Oval – Dungannon, Northern Ireland A landmark track. Tonight I was seeing my 2,200th lifetime racetrack. Can you imagine collecting, seeing or doing anything 2,200 times? Not many people get the opportunity or take that opportunity. I’ve done both. Here’s a list of what I call my “century” tracks. SUMMARY OF “CENTURY” TRACKCHASING ACHIEVEMENTS # 1 – Peoria Speedway (Mt. Hawley), Peoria, Illinois – circa 1955 # 100 – Red River Valley Speedway, West Fargo, North Dakota (Sammy Swindell winner) – July 13, 1981 # 200 – Sumter Rebel Speedway, Sumter, South Carolina – March 28, 1992 # 300 – Brownstown Speedway, Brownstown, Indiana (Billy Moyer Jr. winner) – April 19, 1997 – # 400 – Barren County Speedway, Glasgow, Kentucky – October 1, 1999 # 500 – Freedom Raceway, Delevan, New York – July 27, 2001 # 600 – Trail-Way Speedway (figure 8 course), Hanover, Pennsylvania – July 20, 2002 # 700 – Thunder Alley Park, Evans Mills, New York – April 22, 2004 # 800 – Five Flags Speedway, Pensacola, Florida – December 3, 2004 # 900 – I-96 Speedway (inner oval), Lake Odessa, Michigan – July 15, 2005 # 1,000 – Auburndale Kartway, Auburndale, Florida – February 10, 2006 (Ed Esser joined in the celebration) # 1,100 – Cambridge Fair, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada – September 9, 2006 # 1,200 – Castrol Raceway, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – June 3, 2007 # 1,300 – Bira Circuit, Pattaya, Thailand – January 19, 2008 # 1,400 – Kemper Raceway, Kansas City, Missouri – December 20, 2008 # 1,500 – Glencoe Fairgrounds, Glencoe, Ontario, Canada – September 27, 2009 # 1,600 – 85 Speedway, Ennis, Texas – October 8, 2010 # 1,700 – Aylmer Fairgrounds (figure 8), Aylmer, Ontario, Canada – August 13, 2011 # 1,800 – Ancaster Fairgrounds (oval), Jerseyville, Ontario, Canada – September 20, 2012 # 1,900 – Jackson Speedway (inner oval), Jackson, Minnesota – August 30, 2013 # 2,000 – Reading Fairgrounds (oval), Leesport, Pennsylvania – August 4, 2014 # 2,100 – Le RPM Speedway (oval), Saint-Marcel-de-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada – June 6, 2015 I love the racing here. The weather is another story. I really like racing in the United Kingdom. Tonight I was seeing my second lifetime track in Northern Ireland. It would be my 57th track in United Kingdom. No American trackchaser comes close to those numbers in the UK. Tonight was going to be a challenge weather wise. The temperature was 5.5°C which is about 42 degrees Fahrenheit. The winds were blowing a good 20-30 mph with gusts greater than that. It was also raining off and on. There was only one thing that could save me. I’ll tell you about that just a moment. I could find the track on my own with just the postal code. Nevertheless, about two kilometers from the Tullyroan Oval itself I encountered a racecar hauler heading to the track. That happens from time to time. I simply followed him. Soon I was entering the racetrack property. I always meet nice folks. I soon encountered a helpful woman who was bundled up to beat the band. One of the last things I would want to be doing tonight is standing out in this wind and cold for three hours selling tickets to the fans. Nevertheless she had a smile on her face and upbeat attitude. That’s what I like to see. She seemed so pleased she encountered an American. She rattled on in Northern Ireland “English” most of which I could not understand. Was I a pensioner? However she did ask me if I was a “pensioner”. Technically I guess I am not because I do not receive a pension from my employer. I never have. I don’t make my wife work to support me. Carol and I live off the savings I accumulated after my 30 years of working for the man. Nevertheless, what she was really trying to ask me was whether or not I was old enough to earn a senior citizen discount. I told her I met that requirement. That meant I would get in tonight for six English pounds or about 8-9 dollars US. That seemed fair. Trackchasing in two countries this weekend. I had come to the United Kingdom on just six hours notice. My original plan had me trackchasing exclusively in Northern Ireland. However when Colin Herridge came up with a new track in Ireland I was all over that idea. As you know Northern Ireland and Ireland are in different countries. You knew that right? Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. Ireland is it’s own country. Two countries; two currencies. These two countries have different currencies. Northern Ireland and all of the United Kingdom operate with the British pound. Ireland goes with euros. Carol had supplied me with English pounds. However, because Ireland was a really late addition to this trip I came without any euros. This was the most important question of the night. I had one very important question for the ticket seller. The question was, “Would I be able to watch the races from inside my car?”. Tracks in the U.K. rarely provide any form of grandstand whatsoever. However fans can watch from their cars. Alternatively, they can stand. The answer to my question was a resounding yes! It would cost me four more English pounds to park my car where I could see the racing. Those would be four pounds well spent. Again the ticket seller went off into a pleasant rant using English words in her dialect that were not understandable to me. She also gave me a program and a list of “fixtures” a.k.a. race dates for the two tracks this group promotes. I grabbed a spot on the tier two level. This location was about 50-75 feet higher than track level. I was located on the front straightaway of the nearly quarter-mile slightly banked asphalt oval. Sitting in my car on a weather night like this would be a perfect way to enjoy lifetime track #2,200. I just love U.K. racing!! There are all kinds of things I like about U.K. racing. They do lots of things that are very spectator friendly. From what I can remember as well as tonight they always start the races on time. Their American counterparts are way behind on that issue. I had arrived an hour before the scheduled start time of 6:30 p.m. This gave me time to walk around the track and visit the pit area. That’s right. Spectators don’t have to pay anything extra to visit the pit area. This way fans can get up close and personal with the cars and drivers. If lots of road racing groups, go-kart racing bodies and most of the U.K. can do that why can’t American oval track operators? The answer is called profit. There’s nothing wrong with profit that’s what America was built on. Not being able to visit the pit area is just not very spectator conducive for American spectators at oval venues. Celebration time. Tonight was a night of celebration. The weather was not going to dampen my enthusiasm (pun intended) for this party. During the evening the temperature dropped to 5 1/2°C or 42°F. The 20-30 mile an hour winds with gusts greater than that buffeted my car as if someone was leaning on the front fender. Although rain was in the forecast it only spit the wet stuff. I risked life and limb to get you video clips. I ventured out of the car just long enough to get some great video clips of tonight’s racing action. There were five classes of stock rods running. This is probably my least favorite class of all U.K. racing. I’m a big fan of the BrisCa F1 stock cars and the F2 stock cars as well. I really love the bangers. Yep. I love those bangers. If I lived in the U.K. I would travel long distances to see the major banger promotions. What was on the menu for tonight’s celebration? I said tonight was a celebration. At the concession stand I ordered the chips (French fries) smothered in brown gravy. It was almost poutine. I’ll bring my own mozzarella cheese next time. They did top my order with chicken strips. I loved every bit of it. I had to eat it with my fingers but at least I could eat it in the car. This delicacy with two bottles of Diet Coke set me back 8.5 English pounds or about 12 bucks. Absolutely saved. I was literally saved by being able to watch the races from the car. This facility was built only a few years ago. It’s probably one of the nicest asphalt short tracks I’ve seen in the UK. No, I can’t explain it. Somewhat incredibly there are absolutely no grandstands or spectator seating whatsoever. People simply park their cars around the track for some great viewing lines. Others stand near the fence and watch the races. I don’t think I will ever understand the U.K.’s aversion to grandstands of any kind. Nevertheless, I still love U.K. racing. They are very slow do you throw the yellow flag. That keeps the show moving. Their flagmen are most animated. Tonight they ran one race after another. Each of the five classes had two heat races and a main event. A memory of my corporate life. I recall going to a Procter & Gamble team-building event many years ago. Everyone was supposed to write down on a piece of paper something about them that nobody else in the company new. I wrote that I had seen 327 racetracks. That was a surprise to most people because I kept a very low profile about my trackchasing travel at the time. I saw my 327th lifetime track back in 1998 when I was of course still working for the man. What type of cars were racing tonight? Tonight was the first meeting of the 2016 season for the Tullyroan Oval. Tonight’s classes included the 2.0 hot rods, stock rods, lightning rods, pro stocks and junior productions. Some of the stock rods came from as far away as Scotland. Tonight was a special night. I only get to celebrate seeing track #2,200 one time. When the racing was finished I headed back to my hotel located less than 10 km from the track. Don’t miss the photos and videos from tonight’s trackchasing adventure. AFTER THE RACES What quaint places to stay overnight. I wish there were more tracks for me to see in the United Kingdom. I love coming over here and staying in the quaint little bed-and-breakfast hotels. My hotel tonight fits that bill to a tee. However, Northern Ireland’s weather conditions were not supportive of my stuffy nose, head cold and sneezing situation. I took some Nyquil and called it a night. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Good night. United Kingdom Ten times. I have just begun my 10th all-time United Kingdom trackchasing trip. This one is starting off well. 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 U.K. sayings: Strawberry Creams: hunger-inducing term for a woman’s breasts. QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – London, England (LHR) – 5,449 miles London, England (LHR) – Dublin, Ireland (DUB) – 279 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Dublin International Airport – trip begins Dungannon, Northern Ireland TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Tullyroan Oval – $6 British Pounds plus 4 pounds for tiered parking 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 525 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see the “Video Plus” production from the racing action today. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure. Tullyroan Oval – Track #2,200 PLUS the trip from LAX to London to Dublin! 
