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. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link:

 

Randy’s Complete Track List

 

 

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!

 

 

Randy on Facebook

 

 

 

Editor’s note:

The rules of trackchasing allow for the counting of wheel to wheel racing on road courses, ovals and figure 8 tracks. Within those configurations tracks can be counted when the racing happens on dirt surfaces, paved surfaces and mixed (dirt/paved) surfaces.

 

 

I have seen racing on the four totally separate road courses at the Chandler, Arizona race facility. My last visit in 2016 was to see racing on a mixed surface course now named the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. That made five trips to this location resulting in five different tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM CHANDLER, ARIZONA,

 

 

PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS

 

Before I tell you about today’s adventure in Arizona I wanted to wrap up some unfinished business from last week’s Birdsboro, PA trip. Good friend, Gordy Killian (the Breadman) writes the following about that trip.
Randy.

 

 

“So glad you enjoyed your sojourn in the heart of eastern bias. I do feel the need to help you with regards to the

local cuisine. The bologna at Mahoning was ring bologna, a fine, lightly smoked sausage product. However,

please feel free to remove the outer casing before eating your next piece. It wasn’t meant for consumption. There

are many local, small meat packers in the area that make the stuff, with Hippey’s being my personal favorite. You

were almost correct about the meat in the bean soup, as it’s ham, not pork. My wife makes a wonderful version

using a ham butt and package of 12 assorted bean types. Pierogies aren’t stuffed potatoes. They are two slices

of dough with a potato based stuffing put in the middle before sealing around the edges. Cheese and/or onions
are often added to the mashed potatoes for the stuffing. They are then deep fried making them very Atkins

unfriendly but tasty. You’ve hardly scratched the surface of the many different local concoctions available here.

Having now tried some of them for yourself, you may have a better idea how I’ve accumulated my girth. The

people at Pagoda may scare you with their fatigues, but their club is heavily involved with children’s charities in

the area. Many of the members do have a military background, possibly explaining the fatigues. Their

annual Christmas ride for kids always has around 500 motorcycles in the procession led by Santa Claus……..

 

Let me know if you choose to come this way again.”

Gordy

 

 

I nominate the Breadman as official food taster of Trackchasers Inc.

 

 

Now back to Arizona…..most of my trackchasing runs are part of a race trip. Today’s track is being visited because of a wedding trip. That’s right, our good friends the Moody’s, Wes and Jill are celebrating the wedding of their son Brian to Melissa. Carol and I go to UCLA football and basketball games with the elder Moody’s. Our favorite trip is to the Bay area to see our Bruins compete against either Cal or Stanford. We can all laugh and talk the entire 500 miles each way on our fun trips.

 

 

The wedding is being held in Scottsdale, Arizona because Melissa is from the Phoenix area. I’m not sure when Carol and I attended our last wedding. Maybe niece, Sarah? I have a hard time remembering my own wedding to the littlest trackchaser (not counting Natalie Ritter!) some 32+ years ago.

 

 

Today’s wedding was held in a huge Catholic church. Everything went perfectly for this couple and the ceremony lasted about an hour. It was then off to the reception where Carol and I and the rest of about 200 people danced the night away. Well, maybe we didn’t exactly dance the night away but we did opt for a couple of slow dances. I know that all in the trackchasing community will want to wish Brian and Melissa a long, happy and healthy marriage. They are a super couple.

 

 

The metro Phoenix area is also home to my brother, Mark. He and I went to a race back in January (not a new track) at the Central Arizona Speedway. Carol and I met up with Mark and his roommate Rod for a pre-race breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Of course, while we waited to get a table a quick Tour Tempo discussion and demo was held, complete with a 7-iron and MP3 player in the parking lot.

 

 

I do a lot of driving during my trackchasing trips. For the most part, I don’t mind it a bit. There is one time when the driving does seems longer than usual. That would be for trips that begin from San Clemente. I don’t know why driving 1,000+ across the Midwest seems like a piece of cake and driving 400 miles from S.C. seems to take forever.

 

 

Carol and I share the driving duties on long trips. She’s a good driver. She did make a pit stop calculation she would end up regretting. We were out in the middle of the California dessert when we came upon an interstate rest stop. Carol needed to make the pit stop (for comfort) and I didn’t. As we were about ready to make the rest stop exit, a sign popped up stating the next rest area was in 45 miles. Carol decided (with no input from me) that she could wait for 45 miles. About 5 miles down the road we came across a highway accident that stopped traffic entirely. Traffic was stopped in front of us for as far as the eye could see. To make a long story short, Carol was extremely uncomfortable. There was something said about, “Back teeth floating”. Since it was 100 degrees and we were in the middle of the dessert, I offered her a frosty bottle of water. Lots of frowns met my offer (actually some modified expletives as well). We were delayed in this traffic problem for nearly an hour. It was then another 40 minutes to the next rest stop… Trying to be helpful, I recommended Carol use the natural facilities of the dessert but she didn’t think the cactus provided much privacy. Finally, we did reach the next rest area and Carol was able to benefit from the generosity of the California taxpayers who provided the Edwin J. Monroe Memorial Rest Area.

 

 

There won’t be any trackchasing for me for the next couple of weeks (Ed, this is your chance). Carol and I will be in New York City next weekend and can be seen on the finale of Survivor (CBS – 10 p.m. PDT – Sunday) as guests of Jim Sabo. I hope all of you mothers out there have an awesome Mother’s Day this Sunday.

 

 

CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:

 

San Clemente, California – trip begins

Chandler, Arizona – 445 miles

San Clemente, California – 927 miles – trip ends

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES (U.S. Dollars):

 

Firebird International Raceway – $20 (three people)

 

 

 

RACING NEWS:

 

 

The Firebird International Raceway East Road Course is my 705^th track. Firebird is quite a facility. This venue has three different countable road courses (none of them is connected in any way). They also have two ovals, a drag strip and a lake for boat racing!

 

 

Here’s a description of the East road course today from the track’s website: “1.2 Mile Road Course with 10 turns, a 1/2 mile straight-away and 2/10th of a mile barrier pit lane makes it the perfect test track for Formula and Indy Cars. Also used by the Bondurant School for their advanced students and by Ride & Drive promotional companies.”

 

 

Carol notched her first new track of the year. This is her 149^th new track of her trackchasing career. My brother Mark is a resident of Chandler, Arizona where Firebird is located. Mark will be coming up with his track total soon.

 

 

There are not many racetracks close to San Clemente that race on a weekly basis that I have not seen. My closest regularly scheduled Friday track is 702 miles away in Gallup, New Mexico. Las Vegas is my closest yet to be seen Saturday night track, which is 306 miles away. Finally, Sunday tracks are a little harder to come by. I believe the track in Rawlins, Wyoming is my closest yet to be seen Sunday choice, which is a crisp 1,023 mile one-way drive. There are many other tracks that run on an occasional basis that are a bit closer to me. The Firebird track is 445 miles from the city by the sea. I’m glad I was out in this area for another reason because the racing at Firebird today would never justify a separate trip.

 

 

General admission was simply a donation. I gave them a lot more than the racing turned out to be worth. The first admission gate we encountered on this massive property was for the boat racing drags. Patrons to this event would be paying $22 each. The boat people directed us to the East course location.

 

 

After making our donation, we waited for the current practice session to end. When the racecars pulled off the track, we were allowed to drive our car across the race track and into the pit area. Did I tell you it’s starting to get in the warm, bordering on hot season in the “Valley of the Sun”? Today’s temperature was 98 degrees. That’s actually pretty cool for Phoenix. The city will have more than 100 days of the year where the thermometer will exceed 100 degrees. On the drive home, it was 102 degrees in Palm Springs at 7 p.m.!

 

 

We arrived at the track at 11:30 a.m. The first countable race was scheduled to begin at 12:50 p.m. That gave us 90 minutes to look at the race cars in the pit area. In reality, it would only take us about 20 minutes to look at the cars. This left 70 minutes to stand in the very hot sun waiting for the “Yellow group” to have a 30 minute race.

 

 

The pit area is totally flat. The asphalt road course provided a border for the pit area. The cars were parked on more asphalt and there was a gravel parking lot for spectators. Restrooms were of the porta potty variety. The concession area was one carnival type food trailer with a very limited selection of goodies.

 

 

I would estimate there were 60-70 racecars at the track. Nearly have of them were spectator type cars without racing numbers. Drivers of these cars were allowed to take passengers out on the course and everyone was required to wear a helmet.

 

 

The competitive racing today was sanctioned by ProAutoSports. These folks have scheduled races later in the year at the Firebird West and Main courses as well as at the St. John’s Grand Prix in Arizona.

 

 

They had a large mixture of different types of cars. The Bob Bondurant School of high speed driving is located at Firebird. The Bondurant cars are Ford Mustangs all painted a bright orange. There were a few legends/dwarf cars, formula vees, Indy cars, some mini-Coopers and several late model asphalt stock cars. It was a real pot pourri.

 

 

There were 11 cars that started the 30 minute “Yellow” group race. The ProAutoSports web site has a succinct description of what makes up the Yellow class: “Open wheel race car and Sport racers group. For licensed race drivers only”. The Yellow race today had several open wheeled Indy/formula vee cars as well as a couple of dwarfs and a Can-Am looking car.

 

 

They have a longer description of their “damage” rule: If a car is out of control or is attempting a pass and causes damage to another car, the driver of that car is suspended until a satisfactory agreement is reached with the owner of the damaged car as to restitution. Once that is done, the offending driver is put on probation. Another incident while on probation is reason for permanent suspension.” Tony Stewart are you reading this?

 

 

Shortly, after waiting 90 minutes in the scorching sun for the pretty boring 30 minute race we felt comfortable in getting out of Firebird for the ocean breezes of San Clemente. The west is in a heat wave. It was still 79 degrees when we pulled into the Lewis compound at 10 p.m. on Sunday night.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK FOOD:    

We ate before we got to the track. Our only purchase from the food trailer was for three bottled waters. I was amused by the U.S. educational system that required our server to use a calculator to figure our change. Is it that hard to subtract $8.50 from 20 dollars?

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:    

No rental car on this trip. I’ll be driving the Carol Lewis leased, 24 Hour Fitness sponsored Jaguar Racing S-type. Carol’s lease is up in just 8 months. We are way under the lease mileage so it seemed to make since to drive her car rather than mine. This is my first trackchasing trip of the season that I’ve driven too. The previous five trips were all via the air route. The Jag is a nice road car and performed flawlessly.

 

 

ED ESSER UPDATE: 

As of today, I’m at 705 tracks and Ed remains at 657. This proves the power of prayer as Ed’s racing trip to Michigan was hampered by rain and he did not get any countable tracks. I’ll probably lose a few tracks to Mr. Esser over the next couple of weeks. Does anyone think I should suggest to Carol over Mother’s Day weekend that we catch the slingshots at the somewhat nearby Poughkeepsie Speedway in upstate New York rather than seeing a Broadway play? Naw, I didn’t think so either.

   

 

 

Randy Lewis

#1 Trackchaser living west of the Mississippi

 

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average.

 

 

 

 

Racetracks visited in 2004 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

705. Firebird International Raceway – East Course, Chandler, Arizona, May 2

 

704. Pagota Motorcycle Club, Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, April 25

 

703. Mahoning Valley Speedway, Lehighton, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

702. Shellhammer’s Speedway, Leesport, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

701. Hill Valley Speedway, Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

700. Thunder Alley Speedpark, Evans Mills, New York, April 22

 

699. Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium, Belle Vue, United Kingdom, April 12

 

698. Buxton Raceway, Buxton, United Kingdom, April 12

 

697. Brampton Raceway, Brampton, United Kingdom, April 12

 

696. York Autograss, York, United Kingdom, April 12

 

695. Sheffield Stadium, Sheffield, United Kingdom, April 11

 

694. Blyton Raceway, Blyton, United Kingdom, April 11

 

693. Hunmanby Raceway, Hunmanby, United Kingdom, April 11

 

692. Skegness Stadium, Skegness, United Kingdom, April 10

 

691. Silverstone, Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, United Kingdom, April 10

 

690. Mildenhall Stadium, Mendenhall, Suffock, United Kingdom, April 9

 

689. Bovingdon Circuit, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, April 9

 

688. Sunshine Speedway (figure 8), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3

 

**Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3

 

687. Lubbock Motor Speedway, Lubbock, Texas, March 21

 

686. Thunderbird Speedway, Crandall, Texas, March 20

 

685. Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale, Texas, March 20

 

684. Texas World Spdwy (Road Course), College Station, Texas, March 20

 

683. Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Waco, Texas, March 19

 

**Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20        

 

 

 

 

Planned new racetracks for the remainder of 2004

 

21-May	Regular Program	Warren County Speedway-Oval	Indianola, IA
21-May	Regular Program	Warren County Speedway-Fig 8	Indianola, IA
22-May	Regular Program	Jackson County Speedway	Maquoketa, IA
23-May		Blackhawk Farms	Rockton, IL
23-May	USMTS Modifieds	Raceway @ PowerCom Park	Beaver Dam, WI

 

 

GREETINGS FROM CHANDLER, ARIZONA,

 

 

 

AND THE READERS RESPOND

Recently I wrote about the difficulty I had in getting four different Saturday night convenience store clerks to give me directions to a track I was searching for in Virginia. Here is what Leon J., a former Virginian and Virginia Tech graduate who reads the trackchaser reports had to say:

 

 

“One thing that you should be sensitive to regarding Southerners (which certainly includes Virginians) – if they think that they are dealing with a “Yankee” they may intentionally provide bogus direction. Anyone without a Southern drawl has the high potential of being classified as a Yankee.”

 

 

I will be interested in what my good friend, George, from Eden, North Carolina has to say about the above.

 

 

Another reader felt I was too tough on the convenience store workers and should not have expected them to have any idea where the 41-year-old track was located in their relatively small Virginia town. He felt that if they were not interested in auto racing, they would not know where the track was located. I can understand that thinking. Unfortunately, I have also had a tough time getting directions from these types of folks with regard to a restaurant, how to get on the interstate and several other questions, that you would think a local would have the answer too.

 

 

Actually, the comment was not so much about the four people who could not come through with the proper directions. The thinking was more about people who underachieve and in some cases are underemployed. I see this all over America. People are in jobs that a slightly trained monkey could do. As computers continue to automate more and more jobs these folks will face tougher and tougher times. At fast food locations, you only need to press the “milk shake” cash register key to place a milk shake order. There is a picture of a milk shake on the key itself! When the order is complete, the register pops open and shows the “cashier” how much change to give back to the customer. The employee doesn’t have to do much thinking, just look for the milk shake picture and give the customer the change the register tells you to give them. No wonder these folks look like they are on Prozac half the time.

 

 

How did they get there? In most cases, they came from homes where education was not valued. They did not get a good education and that will haunt them the rest of their working life in numerous ways. I’ll blame their parents more than the convenience store employees even though a couple of the employees were probably already parents. We have a very large group of poorly educated people in our country that will be in minimum wage jobs or low paying jobs all of their lives. I don’t like that and wish I could help fix the problem, but it’s so deeply ingrained I think it is impossible to ever fix. This is not meant to be a harsh assessment of the situation, but it is reality.

 

 

FAMILY NEWS UPDATE

We live in an urban/suburban environment in Southern California. We don’t get to go to the country for our fun. When we seek entertainment it has a “city” flavor. Here’s an example. When daughter Kristy was asked to join the company sports team it wasn’t about playing softball or being on the bowling squad. She works in the tallest building in Los Angeles. The building is about 75 stories high. What would they do for sport? They would simply start on the ground floor and run to the top. Here’s a portion of a note Kristy sent to me about the climb:

 

 

“I ran the stairs in our building on Friday (75 stories) and came in with a time of 20:06 (see Latham & Watkins 3, below). It was pretty challenging – you all should come up next year to try it! It’s something!!”

 

Mike H., my marathoner from Tremont, Illinois, any idea how long it would take you to run up 75 floors. I hope to be bowling somewhere if Kristy invites me on this run next year!

 

 

PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS

I realize that many of my non-trackchasing friends have been to very few racetracks if any. Therefore, I’m going to have to count on my trackchaser buddies to answer this question. Why is it that the women who visit racing road courses are simply knockouts and the women who visit oval tracks are more likely to knock you out? This concept was explained to Brother Mark and then he got to experience it at Firebird on Sunday afternoon. We had Michelle Pfeiffer’s prettier than her, twin sister sitting in front of us and many other beautiful women (per capita) in the pits and stands as well. I can’t explain it. Maybe someone else can help. Mark says he wants to go to more road courses to see the ladies.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

The Firebird International Raceway – Firebird track is my 784th lifetime track to meet or exceed all current trackchaser rules. This is my 102nd track of the season. This track is my 17th countable track in Arizona. Arizona is the only state that I lead all trackchasers in number of tracks seen on a lifetime basis.

 

 

13 to go!

 

 

Yep! Just 13 more to go to set the all-time record for seeing new tracks in one year. The current record is 114.

 

 

This is my second visit to Firebird this year. They have three different road courses. Trackchaser rules state that multiple road courses at one track can each be counted separately as long as they are all independent of each other. All three road courses at Firebird are separate from each other with no overlap. Back in May, I saw the “East” course and today I saw the “Firebird” course”. You never know, I might even be back for the “West” course before the year is out.

 

 

The Firebird course is 1.6 miles long and uses the 1/4 Mile Drag strip with 14 turns and a 5/8 mile straight-away. The event was sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Mark and I saw races #3 and #4.

 

 

When we sat down in the grandstand, Mark asked, “Can you count this track?” I asked why not. “There are no people here”, he said. Mark, there don’t have to be any spectators for a track to count. “They didn’t charge us to get in”, Mark continued. Mark, you’ve seen you’re big brother in action before. Yes, we circumvented the sign-in procedure, but nevertheless, it is not necessary to pay for an event for it to count as a track. “This is cheesy”, Mark concluded. Finally, we got off the countability of the track and concentrated on the racing and the ladies (for Mark only) that were lounging in the stands.

 

 

The cars raced down the drag strip straight for what seemed like forever. I am certain that every car topped out at its maximum speed on this straightaway. The cars were then nearly out of sight as they began to negotiate 10 turns or so on the north end of the circuit. They then turned and ran roughly parallel to the front straight. Unfortunately, this backstretch, if you will, was hidden by the drag strip grandstands. The entire lap took about 70 seconds. We could see the cars clearly for maybe 15 seconds of each lap.

 

 

Race #3 was a Mazda RX7 type class. They started about 18 cars. There was no PA system so it was hard to know exactly what was happening. I believe the races were for 20 minutes each. There were a few spins and some minor contact, but I visited with Mark during the race and that helped pass the time. Race #4 was for a group of more powerful cars than in the earlier race. Not much action here.

 

 

FOR THE ADVANCED NON-TRACKCHASING FAN

Recently, our trackchaser conference has been discussing the “trackchaser double”. I thought some of the non-trackchasing readers might be interested in more information on this concept. Below is a primer on the intricacies of the “trackchasing double”. This is not meant for the casual non-trackchasing fan. It is meant to give the interested non-trackchasing fan an insight into the trackchasing strategy used by most of the world class trackchasers. A recent review of trackchaser historical data shows that 80% of the leading trackchasers achieve a double of some kind in 13-20% of the days they go trackchasing.

 

 

What’s a double?  No, not a McDouble.  A “double” is when a trackchaser gets to count two tracks in one day. People have even been able to get three or four tracks in one day in the past. I don’t believe anyone has ever been able to get more than four tracks in one day.

 

 

There are at least five kinds of trackchasing doubles. By the way, these are my definitions as there are no official definitions of double activity. There is the day/night double, the blended double, the two tracks at one location double, the traditional double and the stay for a heat race and boogie to another track double.

 

 

As a general way of defining these doubles a day/night double is when someone sees a track during the day and has a couple of hours or so before a track is seen in the evening. A blended double is where a trackchaser sees 1-2 hours of racing at the first track before going to another track where he also sees 1-2 hours of racing at the second track. A two tracks at one location double is when there are two countable tracks at one location. A traditional double is where a trackchaser stays for most of the show at the first track and sees maybe 75-95% of the first track’s racing including a feature and then leaves to see the last part, maybe 5-25% of a second track’s show that also would include a feature. Finally, the stay for a heat race and boogie to another track double means a trackchaser stays for a very minimal amount of racing, maybe as little as 5 or 10 minutes and leaves for another track. All five of these forms of doubles are countable under trackchasing rules. The last example, the stay for a heat race and then boogie to the next track is the only type of double that I do not practice or support; although I do admit it is countable. I don’t criticize anyone for getting doubles in any of the five ways I have mentioned. These are general definitions but are probably very accurate based upon what trackchasers have actually done in the past.

 

 

I’ve seen my share of doubles this season. I attribute that to spending hours on the computer developing a productive trackchasing plan. I have the data with regard to my doubles activity.

 

 

I have 16 day/night doubles. My day/night doubles include 14 different road courses all of which raced during the day. My most recent day/night double effort was with several trackchasing friends and began in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.

 

 

I have 11 blended doubles. I know too my admirers it seems like more! I would like to have more blended doubles but they are hard to find. I have at least one more blended double on my remaining schedule. Like I say, if I can find more I will.

 

 

I have 9 same location doubles. These are obviously the easiest doubles to get. I must point out there is nothing wrong with something being easy. Easy is the result of good planning and preparation, as in “it’s easy to bench press my own weight, because I worked (planned and prepared) hard on my weightlifting”. Of course, I can’t bench press my own weight but I could if I had planned and prepared!

 

 

I have 2 traditional doubles. I believe that I could have turned nearly every one of my blended doubles into a traditional double but I’m trying to increase the “entertainment” level of my trackchasing. I’d rather get the feel of a track for at least 1-2 hours before I go off to another track. Showing up for the last 5-30 minutes of a show to get a traditional double does not allow me to get the feel of the show. Of course, with most traditional doubles, I don’t get to see half of the cars or more in attendance even come onto the track. Give me a blended double where I get to see almost all the cars at each track race rather than only about half of them.

 

 

I don’t have any of the “see a heat race and boogie on to the next track” doubles.

 

 

My favorite double from an entertainment view, is the day/night double (D/N). This type of double lets me see as much of each program as I want before leaving the track. Today’s racing usually offers three, four, five or even more classes of cars. This means the show can really drag out. I would estimate that trackchasers arrive for the start and stay to the very last checkered flag at only 25% of all countable tracks. I don’t have any data to support this statement but believe it to be directionally true. In my opinion, there are very few race programs in today’s world that are worth staying for from the very first green flag to the very last checkered flag.

 

 

Both the blended double (BD) and the traditional double (TD) require the trackchaser to drive from one track to another while both track’s programs are continuing. Let’s say both tracks start at 7 p.m. and have their programs end at 11 p.m. That’s probably not too wild of an assumption. Let’s also assume the tracks are 30 minutes driving time apart. The farther the drive between tracks, the less racing a trackchaser will see at each track. I set a maximum drive time of 60 minutes or so for the typical BD or TD. It’s very rare for two tracks to compete for race fans and operate within less 30 minutes of each other. It happens, but not very often.

 

 

With the blended double, in this example, I begin to see racing at 7 p.m. at the first track. My objective is to see the same amount of racing, time wise, at each track. Therefore, I would plan to leave at about 8:45 p.m. In my experience, I’ve found that a track’s intermission often occurs during some of the time I’m driving from one track to another with a BD. As a matter of fact, when track #1 goes to intermission that’s usually a good time to head for track #2. This is good because it means I’m not missing any racing. With a 30 minute drive, I would arrive at track #2 and see the same about of racing, time wise at track number two until the program ends at 11 p.m.

 

 

The traditional double has some similarities to the blended double. I’ve going to see racing at two different tracks and spend some time driving for one track to another while both track’s programs are continuing.

 

 

The traditional double varies from the blended double in one significant way. The TD requires that the trackchaser see a feature event. At a blended double you may see a feature event at the first track, but probably not.

 

 

I’m going to guess than when a track starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m., the feature events will begin about 9:30 p.m. With the BD, at track #1, I’ll usually see every class’s heat races and many time consolations and B features, before I leave at around 8:45 p.m. I’ll drive 30 minutes and arrive at around intermission time at track #2. This will normally allow me to see all of the features at track #2 for every class.

 

 

The traditional double is a bit more limiting and, in my judgment less entertaining. Using the above assumptions regarding starting and ending times (these times are only educated guesses, but are probably as accurate as any assumptions that could be made); I stay for at least one feature event at track #1. This assumes the first feature starts at 9:30 p.m. and takes 20 minutes or so. Some features take more time and some less. Usually the main classes feature does not run first at most tracks. If I leave after just one feature, I will be driving from 9:50 p.m. until 10:20 p.m.  The bad part of driving with the traditional double is that both tracks are running feature events during the time I’m driving. Normally the drive time for a blended double is made during the final heat races, if there are more than 10 heats or during a track’s intermission time.

 

 

Same location doubles are the easiest of all doubles. You don’t have to go anywhere because both tracks are going to race in front of the grandstand you’re sitting in. I would say the predominant type of same location double is where an oval and figure 8 track both exist. The downside of this type of double is that many times the figure 8 track has only one race, the feature, and it is run as the very last event of the night. This means you might need to sit through 4-6 classes of features on the oval before seeing the figure 8 track and getting your same location double.

 

 

More and more tracks are offering an inner oval track inside the track’s original oval track. This smaller track normally allows less powerful cars to race at slower speeds on a smaller track.

 

 

The final see a heat race and boogie to the next track is looked down upon by nearly every trackchaser. The feeling is that a trackchaser cannot get much of a feel for the track if they leave after a 10-minute heat race. Surprisingly, this type of double has some similarities to the traditional double only in reverse. The TD sometimes allows a trackchaser to see only one race and a very few minutes of racing at that. I really don’t believe there have ever been very many see a heat race and boogie doubles in the history of trackchasing. One person is accused of doing it, but he really doesn’t add very many tracks each year to his total. Another drawback to this type of double is that it could get expensive to pay a full track admission and leave after seeing one short race.

 

 

So there you have it, a very complete explanation of the various trackchasing doubles available to the modern worldwide trackchaser. Here’s my priority of seeing doubles:

 

1. Day/night double
2. Blended double
3. Same track double
4. Traditional double
5. See a heat race and boogie double

 

 

 

RACE TRACK FOOD: 

We didn’t eat anything at the track. However, we did enjoy some delicious BBQ on the way from the track to the airport. P&G retirees and employees may recognize the name Charles “Chuck” Erickson. Chuck is the outside consultant who has run the two-day RECESS seminars that advise future P&G retirees on how to handle finances and their upcoming retirement lifestyle.

 

 

Chuck lives in Phoenix. He first mentioned the “Honey Bear’s BBQ”, restaurant to the group I was in at one of the RECESS seminars. Chuck was an early advisor to the founder of this restaurant. They now have three locations in the Phoenix area. Their slogan is, “You don’t need no teeth to eat our meat”. I’m not sure if Mr. Erickson is responsible for this line, but I sorta hope not! Anyway, if you like BBQ, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler or anything else along this line, you’ll love Honey Bears. Give them a call at 602-273-9148.

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE: 

We used my brother Mark’s self-sponsored new Oldsmobile Alero to navigate the Arizona desert. I hope the slow leak in the right front tire got repaired OK. Thanks, Mark, for your hospitality.

 

 

ED ESSER & P.J. HOLLEBRAND UPDATE:

 

As of October 16, 2004, the battle for positions 7-10 in the worldwide trackchaser standings is as follows:

 

1. P.J. Hollebrand – 787
2. Randy Lewis – 782
3. John Moore – 757 (Not updated since 1/1/04.       Will provide only one update to his total at the end of the year)
4. Ed Esser – 718

 

 

P.J. did not add any tracks since our last update. It’s going to be getting cold where he lives and I believe he is out of vacation time. If I know P.J., he’s not done for the year.

 

 

Ed added four tracks since the last update and voluntarily subtracted one. This guy can be strategic (sometimes called sneaky in other circles). He has a website that says he will be one place and he shows up at another. You’ve got to give a guy credit to go to those lengths to confuse the competition. Good job, Ed!

 

  

 

CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:

Phoenix, Arizona Airport – trip begins

Prescott Valley, Arizona – 95 miles

Chandler, Arizona – 215 miles

Phoenix, Arizona Airport – 241 miles – trip ends

 

 

Cumulative miles driven in rental cars for 2004 trackchasing trips – 21,353

 

Cumulative miles driven in friend’s car for 2004 trackchasing trips – 907

 

Cumulative miles driven in my personal car for 2004 trackchasing trips – 2,222

 

Cumulative miles driven for all trackchasing trips – 23,267

 

Cumulative air miles flown for all trackchasing trips – 66,188

 

Cumulative cruise ship miles for all trackchasing trips – 6,431 (estimated)

 

Cumulative miles traveled (car, air and ship) for all trackchasing trips – 95,886

 

Total miles driven in my personal car for all activities in 2004 – 8,141

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES (U.S. DOLLARS): 

Prescott Valley Speedway – $12

Firebird International Raceway – Free

 

Total racetrack admissions for this trip – $12

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

The California Outlaw

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average.

 

 

 

 

 

Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)

I’m sorry that do to competitive reasons, I can no longer post my future trackchasing plans. My fellow

competitor’s do not post their future plans which allows them to keep their trackchasing research results to

themselves. I have been freely sharing all of my trackchasing research since day one. I even offer an Excel

spreadsheet, which lists every new track racing date opportunity that I know of. I regret that I will no longer be

able to advise my trackchasing peers of where “The California Outlaw” will be trackchasing. This policy will be under review and could change in the future.

 

 

 

Racetracks visited in 2004 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

784. Firebird International Raceway, Chandler, Arizona, October 17

 

783. Prescott Valley Speedway, Prescott Valley, Arizona, October 16

 

782. Ace High Speedway, Monroeton, Pennsylvania, October 3

 

781. Winchester Speedway, Winchester, Virginia, October 2

 

780. The Bloomsburg Fair – Figure 8, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, October 2

 

779. Mercer Raceway Park, Mercer, Pennsylvania, October 1

 

778. Lincoln Speedway, Lincoln Illinois, September 27

 

777. Clay County Speedway-Oval, Flora, Illinois, September 26

 

776. Clay County Speedway-Figure 8, Flora, Illinois, September 26

 

775. Crown Point Speedway, Crown Point, Indiana, September 25

 

774. Illiana Motor Speedway-Road Course, Schererville, Indiana, September 25

 

773. Illiana Motor Speedway-Figure 8, Schererville, Indiana, September 25

 

772. Illiana Motor Speedway-Small oval, Schererville, Indiana, September 25

 

771. Anderson Speedway – Figure 8, Anderson, Indiana, September 24

 

**     Anderson Speedway – Oval, Anderson, Indiana, September 24

 

770. Southern Speedway, Milton, Florida, September 4

 

769. Dog Hollow Speedway, Strongstown, Pennsylvania, August 30

 

768. Nelson Ledges, Garrettsville, Ohio, August 29

 

767. Airport Speedway, New Castle, Delaware, August 28

 

766. Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, August 28

 

765. Selinsgrove Raceway Park, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, August 27

 

764. Farmington V.F.D. Speedway, Farmington, Pennsylvania, August 26

 

763. Tonopah Speedway, Tonopah, Nevada, August 21

 

762. Sportman’s Speedway, Knox, Pennsylvania, August 15

 

761. Jennerstown Speedway, Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, August 14

 

760. BeaveRun Motorsports Complex-Wilson Circuit, Wampum, Pennsylvania, August 14

 

759. BeaveRun Motorsports Complex-Road Course, Wampum, Pennsylvania, August 14

 

758. Motordrome Speedway, Smithton, Pennsylvania, August 13

 

757. Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, Berea, Ohio, August 12

 

756. Wayne County Fairgrounds, Palmyra, New York, August 11

 

755. Pocono Intl Raceway – Road Course, Pocono, Pennsylvania August 10

 

754. Butler Fairgrounds, Butler, Pennsylvania August 9

 

753. Ninety-Three Speedway, Oak Hill, Ohio, August 1

 

752. Jackson County Speedway, Jackson, Ohio, August 1

 

751. Sportsdrome Speedway, Jeffersonville, Indiana (figure 8), July 31

 

750. Sportsdrome Speedway, Jeffersonville, Indiana (oval), July 31

 

749. Gateway International Speedway – road course, Madison, Illinois, Illinois, July 31

 

748. Warren County Fairgrounds (oval), Roseville, Illinois, July 30

 

747. Warren County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Roseville, Illinois, July 30

 

746. Tri-City Speedway (inner oval), Auburn, Michigan, July 29

 

745. Tri-City Speedway (outer oval), Auburn, Michigan, July 29

 

744. Munger Fairgrounds, Munger, Michigan, July 29

 

743. Ionia Fairgrounds, Ionia, Michigan, July 28

 

742. Thayer County Speedway, Deshler, Nebraska, July 18

 

741. Heartland Park-Road Course, Topeka, Kansas, July 18

 

740. Montgomery County Speedway, New Florence, Missouri, July 17

 

739. Soggy Bottom Raceway, Greenup, Illinois, July 17

 

738. Wayne County Speedway, Wayne City, Illinois, July 16

 

737. Music City Motorplex, Nashville, Tennessee, July 15

 

736. Clarksville Speedway, Clarksville, Tennessee, July 14

 

735. Tri-State Speedway, Pocola, Oklahoma, July 13

 

734. Tulsa Speedway, Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 12

 

733. Park City Raceway, Valley Center, Kansas, July 11

 

732. Heartland Park – Road Course, Topeka, Kansas, July 11

 

731. Nevada Speedway, Nevada, Missouri, July 10

 

730. Adrian Speedway, Adrian, Missouri, July 10

 

729. Bolivar Speedway, Bolivar, Missouri, July 9

 

728. Dallas County Speedway, Urbana, Missouri, July 9

 

727. U.S. 30 Speedway (small oval), Columbus, Nebraska, July 8

 

726. U.S. 30 Speedway (large oval), Columbus, Nebraska, July 8

 

725. Butler County Speedway, Allison, Iowa, June 27

 

724. Webster County Fairgrounds, Ft. Dodge, Iowa, June 27

 

723. Dallas County Fairgrounds, Adel, Iowa, June 26

 

722. Butler County Speedway, Rising City, Nebraska, June 25

 

721. Hamilton County Fairgrounds, Aurora, Nebraska, June 25

 

720. The Speed Bowl, Red Cloud, Nebraska, June 23

 

719. Junction Motor Speedway, McCool Junction, Nebraska, June 22

 

718. Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Illinois June 13

 

717. Charleston Speedway – Road Course, Charleston, Illinois June 13

 

**     Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, June 12

 

716. Doe Run Raceway, Doe Run, Missouri, June 11

 

715. Fredericktown Raceway, Fredericktown, Missouri, June 11

 

714. Highland Speedway, Highland, Illinois, June 8

 

713. Pine Ridge Speedway, Baldwyn, Mississippi, May 29 (Carol’s #153)

 

712. Memphis Motorsports Park-Road Course, Memphis, Tennessee, May 29 (Carol’s #152)

 

711. Simpson County Speedway, Mendenhall, Mississippi, May 29 (Carol’s #151)

 

710. Southern Speedway, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, May 28 (Carol’s #150)

 

**     Charleston Speedway, Charleston, Illinois, May 22

 

709. Coles County Speedway, Loxa, Illinois, May 22

 

708. Lincoln Trail Motorsports Off Road Park, Casey, Illinois, May 22

 

707. Warren County Speedway (oval track), Indianola, Iowa, May 21

 

706. Warren County Speedway (Figure 8 track), Indianola, Iowa, May 21

 

705. Firebird International Raceway – East Course, Chandler, Arizona, May 2 (Carol’s #149)

 

704. Pagota Motorcycle Club, Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, April 25

 

703. Mahoning Valley Speedway, Lehighton, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

702. Shellhammer’s Speedway, Leesport, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

701. Hill Valley Speedway, Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

700. Thunder Alley Speedpark, Evans Mills, New York, April 22

 

699. Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium, Belle Vue, United Kingdom, April 12

 

698. Buxton Raceway, Buxton, United Kingdom, April 12

 

697. Brampton Raceway, Brampton, United Kingdom, April 12

 

696. York Autograss, York, United Kingdom, April 12

 

695. Sheffield Stadium, Sheffield, United Kingdom, April 11

 

694. Blyton Raceway, Blyton, United Kingdom, April 11

 

693. Hunmanby Raceway, Hunmanby, United Kingdom, April 11

 

692. Skegness Stadium, Skegness, United Kingdom, April 10

 

691. Silverstone, Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, United Kingdom, April 10

 

690. Mildenhall Stadium, Mendenhall, Suffock, United Kingdom, April 9

 

689. Bovingdon Circuit, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, April 9

 

688. Sunshine Speedway (figure 8), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3

 

**     Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3

 

687. Lubbock Motor Speedway, Lubbock, Texas, March 21

 

686. Thunderbird Speedway, Crandall, Texas, March 20

 

685. Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale, Texas, March 20

 

684. Texas World Spdwy (Road Course), College Station, Texas, March 20

 

683. Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Waco, Texas, March 19

 

**   Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20        

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM CHANDLER, ARIZONA,

 

 

 

RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

Just when I thought I was cruising along on my way to a world record in trackchasing, the government jumps in. Yes, I’ve been asked to report for jury duty on November 3^rd. If I get an O.J. Simpson or Scott Peterson trial I could be finished for 2004. I’ll know more later this week.

 

 

 

 

THE CHASE FOR THE 2004 CHAMPIONSHIP

Until the end of the year, I will keep you posted on the battle for the 2004 trackchasing title and my personal effort to break the all-time record for new tracks seen in one year. Here are the current top trackchasers and number of tracks seen for 2004:

 

 

RANDY LEWIS, San Clemente, California – 107

 

ED ESSER, Madison, Wisconsin – 93

 

ROLAND VANDEN EYNDE, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 83

 

WILL WHITE, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 59

 

ROGER FERRELL, Majentica, Indiana – 58

 

ANDY SIVI, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 58

 

 

Roland is showing surprising strength for a European trackchaser, but his season has got to be winding down soon. Roland, take a break, have a waffle.

 

 

THE QUEST FOR THE ALL-TIME TRACKCHASER RECORD FOR NEW TRACKS IN ONE YEAR

 

 

8 to go!

 

Just eight more tracks to go to break the all-time new tracks in one-year record of 114.

 

 

 

PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS

This weekend was supposed to be a relaxing football weekend. However, in today’s world of fast-paced trackchasing, the term “relaxing football weekend” no longer exists. I am currently chasing the world record for new tracks seen in one season, and a possible listing in the Guineas Book of World Records. Nevertheless, I cannot forget that before I can go off chasing tracks, I must satisfy one very important person, my wife Carol.

 

 

What did “satisfying” Carol look like for the weekend? I had to check off two items and then I would be free to trackchase. First, on Friday night I had to take her to the California Auto Show. Then, on Saturday, I would transport her to the Rose Bowl for the UCLA football game. I enjoy football, but she probably likes UCLA football even more than I do.

 

 

Let me give you some background. I first met Carol when she was 19 years old. At the time, I drove a 1964 Ford Falcon Futura. Carol did not own a car and would not own her own car until after we were married. Our first brand new car, after being married on February 13, 1972, was a butterscotch in color 1972 Ford Mustang fastback. Since the car was purchased in Illinois and we were poor, it did not have air-conditioning. In August 1974, we moved to Phoenix, Arizona. With temps over 100 degrees every day and Carol seven months pregnant, a non air-conditioned car wouldn’t get it. We sold that car and bought a practical used car for Carol and our new baby, J.J.

 

 

I’m sad to say, but if I ever run for President, these facts will come out anyway so here goes. For a good deal of my business career, I had company cars. Since we drove the company car on every trip we ever made, it never made sense for Carol to have a new car. At retirement in 2002, company cars and car allowances were gone. It was time to reward Carol for all of her hard work and dedication. I told her she could have any new car she wanted. With that, we were off to the Los Angeles International Auto Show. To make a long story short, Carol decided on a 2002 Jaguar S-type. I’m sorry it took 30 years, for Carol to get her second new car. We leased that Jaguar for a three-year term.

 

 

Carol’s Jag has less than three months to go on the 2002 initiated lease. The car has only 34,000 miles on it and the three year lease allows for 45,000 miles. Carol has several rules for her car. First, I am rarely allowed to sit or ride in the Jaguar. Whenever we drive anywhere of distance, we take my car. Not only am I rarely allowed in the Jaguar, but also when I am, I am never allowed to eat in the car. Because of these strict policies, the car is in mint condition. Anyone reading this can buy the car for our costs, which is the sum of the residual price to the leasing company and sales tax. I think it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $27-28,000.

 

 

I consider my role in life as that of identifying opportunities and then exploiting them. That life objective sounds kind of harsh but it’s fun and rewarding for me. I needed a car to drive about 800 miles over to Phoenix and back for today’s race. I have three choices. First, I could drive my new Lexus. Secondly, I could rent a car. My final choice was to drive Carol’s Jaguar.

 

 

It didn’t seem like a good choice to drive my brand new Lexus 800 miles in one day to a race that I knew would be less than entertaining. I could sit in my car for an entire month driving around San Clemente and never put 800 miles on it. I also remember the minor hassle I got from prospective buyers of my 1999 Lexus when I told them the five year old car had 80,000 miles on it.

 

 

I could rent a car for $30 a day or so and that seemed like a reasonable idea. If I did that and wanted to avoid a second day charge, I would have to pick it up at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning and drive the entire 800 plus miles in one day. That plan had its limitations.

 

 

My final choice was to somehow talk Carol into letting me drive her Jaguar to Phoenix. After being married for more than 32 years, I’ve been faced with issues like this before. The real challenge is getting the idea out, before the “explosive no” hits me in the face. I thought I had logic on my side. Hey, we were turning the car in soon, and we were under our lease miles. Why not drive the Jag, not put miles on the Lexus, and not incur the expense of a rental car.

 

 

In my selling career, I was trained to give the buyer a gift before I asked the buyer to do anything for me. That gift could be a material item or simply recognition or a kind word. What could I give Carol so that she would receive my news in the most favorable light? How about an offer to take her to the California Auto Show in Anaheim on Friday night. We could look for a new car for her when the Jag lease expires……. and would you mind if I drove your Jaguar to Phoenix on Sunday?

 

 

Carol is no dummy! She married me right? Oh, you say that doesn’t support her not being a dummy. Nevertheless, she can recognize opportunity. She agreed that if I took her to the car show, I could take her Jaguar to Phoenix.

 

 

We drove up to the car show with our $2 discount coupons freshly printed from the show’s web site. Even though we spend more money than anyone you know, we’ll use a coupon wherever we can.

 

 

The car show was great. There were more than 500 models on display from 35 manufacturers. I told Carol she could pick any car she wanted. I tried to interest her in the new Kia model. Heck with a price tag of $13,000 who wouldn’t think that was a good buy. How about the newly styled Mustang for somewhere in the mid-twenties? No, Carol wasn’t having any of this talk.

 

 

We had been at the show for more than two hours. We had seen nearly every car in the building. I was starting to feel like I do when we’ve been in the mall for too long. I suggested that we had seen everything and should head for the exits and a nice dinner. That suggestion was met with the reason why I’m always admitting that “Carol is no dummy”. “We haven’t seen the Jaguars”, she exclaimed. Right, she was. Jaguar had a location in the far back corner of the building and we had not seen their cars. How could I have missed it? We walked over to the Jaguar area and Carol shouted, “There, that’s the car I want”. She pointed directly at a shiny 2005 Jaguar S-type.

 

 

It would have been cheaper for me just to rent a car and drive it to the race in Phoenix. Now I was in a real pickle. Was I naïve to think she would go for the $13,000 Kia? Was it impossible to imagine that she would downgrade from a Jaguar to a restyled Mustang? Maybe so. Now, I’m on the line to get her another Jaguar.

 

 

Does Carol realize that I’m in a race to set an all-time record for new tracks seen in one season? Does she understand the expense that setting this record entails? Does she believe that I can hold off Ed Esser without a substantial commitment of capital? Does she understand that in order for me to get the number of tracks needed to compete on a national basis that I must fly to most of my races? Where does she think the money comes from? These were all questions that raced through my mind as I watched Carol sitting in the Jaguar S-type at the car show.

 

 

I had questions I needed to ask myself. Should I stop trackchasing and use all of my discretionary funds to spend on Carol and her luxury car habit? Should I tell Carol that she would be getting a used 1992 Ford Tempo and that I would begin flying first class to all of my races (even that question sounded like a loser idea to me). Maybe if I spent a little more time on our financial spreadsheets, we could squeeze a new Jag and my flying 20 times a year to some far away place to go trackchasing into the budget.

 

 

Maybe I could drive to all of my races. Every other worldwide trackchaser drives to more than 95% of their tracks. I fly to 95% of my tracks. Maybe I’m missing an opportunity. I might need to talk to a financial planner. Maybe even a CPA. How about if I could compare myself to a trackchasing CPA? We actually have a trackchasing CPA, who is ranked third in the worldwide trackchaser career standings. His name is Andy Sivi. Andy must have the magic solution. If he can drive to almost every track he visits, be ranked third in the worldwide standings and have the intellect to be a CPA and tell other people how to handle their financial situations, maybe I should compare myself to him.

 

 

Well, that’s exactly what I will do. In a separate report I will make a comparison of how Andy is able to drive to all of his tracks, while, up to know, I must fly to almost all of my tracks. If I can learn something from this comparison, then I might have a few more pennies lying around and could spend them on Carol’s premium sound system. Maybe, I could even get her that $4,000 navigation system.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

 

The Firebird International Raceway-West Course is my 789^th track to meet or exceed all current trackchaser rules. This is my 107th new track of the season. This track is my 18^th countable track in Arizona and my fourth trip to Arizona for racing this season.

 

 

With this being my 789^th lifetime track, I have now moved into 7^th place in the worldwide trackchasing standings. There’s a tight battle for this position and I’m proud to hold it for the time being.

 

 

This is my third trip to Firebird this season. They have three different road courses on their property. Under trackchaser rules, each of these road courses counts as a separate track. Here’s how the rule reads:

 

 

“…all tracks falling under the road course category are only separately countable if they are not connected or if they meet the change of surface rule, with the following exception, one permanent and one temporary road course which share a minority of common surface may be counted twice.”

 

 

And you thought the IRS tax code was complicated. Today I saw the West course. Earlier this season I saw the East course with brother Mark and Carol (we drove to the track in the Jaguar!) and I saw the Firebird course earlier this month with Mark.

 

 

The East course is nearest to the I-10 interstate and the least entertaining of the three. The Firebird course is the most spectator friendly because you can sit in the drag strip grandstand and watch the races. I think the West course provides the best racing. At different vantage points around the track, you can see virtually all of the racing. The West course even has a flat quarter mile oval that is partially in its configuration.

 

 

I’ve driven by the Firebird International Raceway many times. It is clearly visible from Interstate 10. I always used to check the track website for upcoming countable events. Firebird’s main attraction is their drag strip. There is not much information about their road courses at all. I discovered that the best way to learn about road racing activity is not to look at a track’s web site but at the road racing sanctioning group’s web site.

 

 

I can go on the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) site and find out where all kinds of road races are being held. I can also go to a track’s web site and they might not have any mention of an upcoming SCCA, or some other sanction’s event. Of course, I had to learn this nugget of trackchasing strategy on my own.

 

 

I arrived at the track about two hours before the first race. This allowed me to see all of the cars at the track practice. There was a relatively small field of cars. There were about 10 open wheel formula cars racing in the “yellow” group. They also had six or seven stock car appearing cars, eight or ten Mazda type cars, one legend and two flat go-karts. That was about it. I enjoyed the Yellow feature race the most.

 

 

I’ll probably never go back to the Firebird International Raceway again. It may be the only property that has three countable road courses. The racing is below average for all of the trackchasing choices and even for the road racing venues. I’m thankful to have these three tracks in my rearview mirror.

 

 

Editor’s note:  The above paragraph proved to be totally incorrect (7/16).

 

 

By the way, the Wild Horse Pass casino is located less than one mile from Firebird. This is a full service casino with blackjack. Mark and I went there on my last visit to Firebird.

 

 

Additional race information:

Following UCLA’s drubbing of Stanford 21-0, Carol and I drove from Pasadena to San Dimas. There we had her Jaguar waiting for its trip to Blythe and beyond. I hopped in the Jag and very carefully drove it out of the parking lot and onto Interstate 10. I drove through Palm Springs, where that section of the freeway is called the “Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway”.

 

 

I made a brief visit to the I-10 Speedway in Blythe on Saturday evening. I had last been there in 1998. My comment then was “delayed desert racing”. Not much has changed in 17 years. I saw the bandaleros, legend and late model features. They were all spin and crash fests. As an example, the legends were scheduled for 35 laps. After numerous restarts and crashes, the race was shortened to 20 laps. I’ve seen more races than I care to count have their distance shortened because the driver’s cannot race without crashing. That’s bad.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK FOOD: 

Don’t go to Firebird for the food. They have one small trailer selling cheeseburgers for $5. I was able to take advantage of a previously mentioned Randy’s Famous Money Back Guarantee offer at the Honey Bears BBQ restaurant. They have three locations in the Phoenix area. I went to the Tempe restaurant, which is less than 10 minutes from the track and on the way to the airport. Honey Bears BBQ is very good. I especially like the “Cowboy” beans. I liked them so much that I ordered a gallon to go. When I was told that would be 27 dollars for the beans, I downgraded to a quart for a little more than six bucks. These beans have enough spice to make my bald spot itch, which is what I’m looking for in some good baked beans.

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE: 

The Carol Lewis leased and Republican National Party sponsored Jaguar S-type is a fine road car. Because Carol is reading this, I cannot tell you how much stuff I ate in the car or how fast I drove it back to San Clemente. I can only tell you I arrived back two hours before she expected me!

 

 

 

ED ESSER & P.J. HOLLEBRAND UPDATE:

As of November 1, 2004, the battle for positions 7-10 in the worldwide trackchaser standings is as follows:

 

1. Randy Lewis – 789
2. P.J. Hollebrand – 788
3. John Moore – 757 (Not updated since 1/1/04.       Will provide only one update to his total at the end of the year)
4. Ed Esser – 721

 

 

P.J. must be locked into job conflicts and poor weather. I have not heard from him in sometime. Sorry, I had to scoot by you for 7^th place. You’re goal of remaining in the top 10 should be safe for a few years to come.

 

 

Ed added three tracks since the last update. His Wisconsin Badgers are still undefeated. Although, I am a bit concerned that Ed was reported to be making trackchaser related phone calls during halftime of last week’s game. It seems nothing is sacred anymore.

 

 

    

CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:

San Dimas, California – trip begins

Blythe, California – 207 miles

Chandler, Arizona – 381 miles

San Clemente, California – 826 miles, trip ends

 

 

 

Cumulative miles driven in rental cars for 2004 trackchasing trips – 21,641

 

Cumulative miles driven in friend’s car for 2004 trackchasing trips – 907

 

Cumulative miles driven in our personal cars for 2004 trackchasing trips – 3,048

 

Cumulative miles driven for all trackchasing trips – 25,596

 

Cumulative air miles flown for all trackchasing trips – 72,188

 

Cumulative cruise ship miles for all trackchasing trips – 6,431 (estimated)

 

Cumulative miles traveled (car, air and ship) for all trackchasing trips – 104,215

 

 

Total miles driven in my personal car for all activities in 2004 – 8,811

 

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES (U.S. DOLLARS): 

I-10 Speedway – No charge

Firebird International Raceway – West Course – No charge

 

Total racetrack admissions – ZERO!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

The California Outlaw

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average.

 

 

 

 

 

Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)

I’m sorry that do to competitive reasons, I can no longer post my future trackchasing plans. My fellow

competitor’s do not post their future plans which allows them to keep their trackchasing research results to

themselves. I have been freely sharing all of my trackchasing research since day one. I even offer an Excel

spreadsheet, which lists every new track racing date opportunity that I know of. I regret that I will no longer be

able to advise my trackchasing peers of where “The California Outlaw” will be trackchasing. This policy will be

under review and could change in the future.

 

 

 

Racetracks visited in 2004 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 

789. Firebird International Raceway – West, Chandler, Arizona, October 31

 

788. Atomic Motor Speedway, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, October 24

 

787. Cleveland Speedway, Cleveland, Tennessee, October 23

 

786. Bronson Motor Speedway-Figure 8, Bronson, Florida, October 22

 

785. Bronson Motor Speedway-Oval, Bronson, Florida, October 22

 

784. Firebird International Raceway, Chandler, Arizona, October 17

 

783. Prescott Valley Speedway, Prescott Valley, Arizona, October 16

 

782. Ace High Speedway, Monroeton, Pennsylvania, October 3

 

781. Winchester Speedway, Winchester, Virginia, October 2

 

780. The Bloomsburg Fair – Figure 8, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, October 2

 

779. Mercer Raceway Park, Mercer, Pennsylvania, October 1

 

778. Lincoln Speedway, Lincoln Illinois, September 27

 

777. Clay County Speedway-Oval, Flora, Illinois, September 26

 

776. Clay County Speedway-Figure 8, Flora, Illinois, September 26

 

775. Crown Point Speedway, Crown Point, Indiana, September 25

 

774. Illiana Motor Speedway-Road Course, Schererville, Indiana, September 25

 

773. Illiana Motor Speedway-Figure 8, Schererville, Indiana, September 25

 

772. Illiana Motor Speedway-Small oval, Schererville, Indiana, September 25

 

771. Anderson Speedway – Figure 8, Anderson, Indiana, September 24

 

**     Anderson Speedway – Oval, Anderson, Indiana, September 24

 

770. Southern Speedway, Milton, Florida, September 4

 

769. Dog Hollow Speedway, Strongstown, Pennsylvania, August 30

 

768. Nelson Ledges, Garrettsville, Ohio, August 29

 

767. Airport Speedway, New Castle, Delaware, August 28

 

766. Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, August 28

 

765. Selinsgrove Raceway Park, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, August 27

 

764. Farmington V.F.D. Speedway, Farmington, Pennsylvania, August 26

 

763. Tonopah Speedway, Tonopah, Nevada, August 21

 

762. Sportman’s Speedway, Knox, Pennsylvania, August 15

 

761. Jennerstown Speedway, Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, August 14

 

760. BeaveRun Motorsports Complex-Wilson Circuit, Wampum, Pennsylvania, August 14

 

759. BeaveRun Motorsports Complex-Road Course, Wampum, Pennsylvania, August 14

 

758. Motordrome Speedway, Smithton, Pennsylvania, August 13

 

757. Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, Berea, Ohio, August 12

 

756. Wayne County Fairgrounds, Palmyra, New York, August 11

 

755. Pocono Intl Raceway – Road Course, Pocono, Pennsylvania August 10

 

754. Butler Fairgrounds, Butler, Pennsylvania August 9

 

753. Ninety-Three Speedway, Oak Hill, Ohio, August 1

 

752. Jackson County Speedway, Jackson, Ohio, August 1

 

751. Sportsdrome Speedway, Jeffersonville, Indiana (figure 8), July 31

 

750. Sportsdrome Speedway, Jeffersonville, Indiana (oval), July 31

 

749. Gateway International Speedway – road course, Madison, Illinois, Illinois, July 31

 

748. Warren County Fairgrounds (oval), Roseville, Illinois, July 30

 

747. Warren County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Roseville, Illinois, July 30

 

746. Tri-City Speedway (inner oval), Auburn, Michigan, July 29

 

745. Tri-City Speedway (outer oval), Auburn, Michigan, July 29

 

744. Munger Fairgrounds, Munger, Michigan, July 29

 

743. Ionia Fairgrounds, Ionia, Michigan, July 28

 

742. Thayer County Speedway, Deshler, Nebraska, July 18

 

741. Heartland Park-Road Course, Topeka, Kansas, July 18

 

740. Montgomery County Speedway, New Florence, Missouri, July 17

 

739. Soggy Bottom Raceway, Greenup, Illinois, July 17

 

738. Wayne County Speedway, Wayne City, Illinois, July 16

 

737. Music City Motorplex, Nashville, Tennessee, July 15

 

736. Clarksville Speedway, Clarksville, Tennessee, July 14

 

735. Tri-State Speedway, Pocola, Oklahoma, July 13

 

734. Tulsa Speedway, Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 12

 

733. Park City Raceway, Valley Center, Kansas, July 11

 

732. Heartland Park – Road Course, Topeka, Kansas, July 11

 

731. Nevada Speedway, Nevada, Missouri, July 10

 

730. Adrian Speedway, Adrian, Missouri, July 10

 

729. Bolivar Speedway, Bolivar, Missouri, July 9

 

728. Dallas County Speedway, Urbana, Missouri, July 9

 

727. U.S. 30 Speedway (small oval), Columbus, Nebraska, July 8

 

726. U.S. 30 Speedway (large oval), Columbus, Nebraska, July 8

 

725. Butler County Speedway, Allison, Iowa, June 27

 

724. Webster County Fairgrounds, Ft. Dodge, Iowa, June 27

 

723. Dallas County Fairgrounds, Adel, Iowa, June 26

 

722. Butler County Speedway, Rising City, Nebraska, June 25

 

721. Hamilton County Fairgrounds, Aurora, Nebraska, June 25

 

720. The Speed Bowl, Red Cloud, Nebraska, June 23

 

719. Junction Motor Speedway, McCool Junction, Nebraska, June 22

 

718. Belle-Clair Speedway, Belleville, Illinois June 13

 

717. Charleston Speedway – Road Course, Charleston, Illinois June 13

 

**     Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, June 12

 

716. Doe Run Raceway, Doe Run, Missouri, June 11

 

715. Fredericktown Raceway, Fredericktown, Missouri, June 11

 

714. Highland Speedway, Highland, Illinois, June 8

 

713. Pine Ridge Speedway, Baldwyn, Mississippi, May 29 (Carol’s #153)

 

712. Memphis Motorsports Park-Road Course, Memphis, Tennessee, May 29 (Carol’s #152)

 

711. Simpson County Speedway, Mendenhall, Mississippi, May 29 (Carol’s #151)

 

710. Southern Speedway, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, May 28 (Carol’s #150)

 

**     Charleston Speedway, Charleston, Illinois, May 22

 

709. Coles County Speedway, Loxa, Illinois, May 22

 

708. Lincoln Trail Motorsports Off Road Park, Casey, Illinois, May 22

 

707. Warren County Speedway (oval track), Indianola, Iowa, May 21

 

706. Warren County Speedway (Figure 8 track), Indianola, Iowa, May 21

 

705. Firebird International Raceway – East Course, Chandler, Arizona, May 2 (Carol’s #149)

 

704. Pagota Motorcycle Club, Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, April 25

 

703. Mahoning Valley Speedway, Lehighton, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

702. Shellhammer’s Speedway, Leesport, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

701. Hill Valley Speedway, Orbisonia, Pennsylvania, April 24

 

700. Thunder Alley Speedpark, Evans Mills, New York, April 22

 

699. Belle Vue Greyhound Stadium, Belle Vue, United Kingdom, April 12

 

698. Buxton Raceway, Buxton, United Kingdom, April 12

 

697. Brampton Raceway, Brampton, United Kingdom, April 12

 

696. York Autograss, York, United Kingdom, April 12

 

695. Sheffield Stadium, Sheffield, United Kingdom, April 11

 

694. Blyton Raceway, Blyton, United Kingdom, April 11

 

693. Hunmanby Raceway, Hunmanby, United Kingdom, April 11

 

692. Skegness Stadium, Skegness, United Kingdom, April 10

 

691. Silverstone, Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, United Kingdom, April 10

 

690. Mildenhall Stadium, Mendenhall, Suffock, United Kingdom, April 9

 

689. Bovingdon Circuit, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, April 9

 

688. Sunshine Speedway (figure 8), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3

 

**     Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3

 

687. Lubbock Motor Speedway, Lubbock, Texas, March 21

 

686. Thunderbird Speedway, Crandall, Texas, March 20

 

685. Kennedale Speedway Park, Kennedale, Texas, March 20

 

684. Texas World Spdwy (Road Course), College Station, Texas, March 20

 

683. Heart O’ Texas Speedway, Waco, Texas, March 19

 

**   Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20        

 

 

 

DAY 2 – “THE LAST TRIP OF THE YEAR” TRACKCHASING TOUR

 

 

 

TODAY’S HEADLINES

RLR – Randy Lewis Racing souvenir t-shirts are now available. …………..details in “RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Special Report”.

 

 

 

Me and my little brother Mark and his Oldsmobile Alero……………….more in “The People”.

 

 

Never pass up a Honey Bear’s. …………..details in “Where’s the best place to eat”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RLR – RANDY LEWIS RACING SPECIAL REPORT

My special reports are meant to be “critical thinking” pieces on the state of trackchasing.  Often times they will be considered controversial by the “trackchasing hierarchy”.  Nevertheless, some things just have to be told regardless of whose feathers may be ruffled.

 

 

At other times my special reports will be major “news flashes” about the direction I am going with trackchasing.  I will always try to stay ahead of the curve as I continue to pursue more and more tracks.  Regardless of where you stand on the trackchasing “political fence” everything is meant to stimulate thought about what can, should and frequently will be done in this hobby.  I hope you enjoy the commentary.

 

 

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING’S FIRST EVER SOUVENIR CLOTHING LINE.

 

 

A hobby of ‘firsts’ and ‘how many’. 

Trackchasing is a hobby of “firsts” and “how many”. I guess I’ve had my share of each during my trackchasing career. I was the first ever trackchaser to offer something as simple as business cards to promoters, friends and fans that supported my trackchasing effort. I think people looked on that as making what we do more “authentic”.

  

 

Publicity pays many times over. 

 

 

I have long gone out of my way to publicize the hobby. If you check the media contacts list on my website, you will find tens of newspaper, radio and TV interviews. I’m guessing I’ve done well over 100 interviews with announcers at the tracks I visit.

 

 

During the past few years I’ve cut back on newspaper interviews. It’s not because I don’t want to do them. I do. However, with my standby flying situation I can never guarantee a promoter or newsperson that I will visit their area. Nevertheless, I can still walk into a track for the first time and be recognized by someone I’ve never met. That’s always fun for them and me.

 

 

Meeting all of these people and doing this trackchasing media work is enjoyable. Quite frequently I benefit from V.I.P. treatment during these visits. I also get to meet the very finest people. I’ve really had good luck in my international trackchasing travels meeting great people.

 

 

What do people ask me out on the trail? 

 

 

I get asked three questions frequently when I’m out trackchasing. First, what’s your favorite track? Secondly, are you in the Guinness Book of World Records. The final question has been popping up more and more. Do you have any souvenir t-shirts/hats to sell.

 

 

The answer to these three questions has always been the same. My favorite track is the Peoria Speedway. No, I have not taken the time to pursue the Guinness Book of World Records idea although I probably should. Finally, I never had any souvenir apparel available although most race drivers of note do. If they do, why shouldn’t trackchasers. 

 

 

This all started with a custom logo. 

About a year ago, I developed my own trackchasing logo with a company called 99 Designs. Their operation is pretty slick. You describe what it is you are looking for in a logo. You tell them how much you are willing to pay to get the logo produced. Then 99 Designs offers up the request to hundreds of free lance artists. Those artists submit their designs. I get the chance to have the artists I’m most interested in “tweak” their efforts. Then I pick the one I want and I’ve got a logo! Of course, Carol offered some great ideas during the entire process as well.

 

 

I wanted to have a few things included in my logo design. First, I needed a checkered flag somewhere in the design. Next I wanted a world globe to signify that trackchasing, for me, is an international effort. Finally, I wanted a focus on the fact that I’m the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”.

 

 

Then I needed a clothing company sponsor. 

Although I’ve had my logo for awhile it took some time to act on getting an apparel agreement. I worked with Intensitee Custom Clothing in Boone, Iowa. The outcome was my logo applied to t-shirts that are available for both men and women. They come in two colors (red and gray) and sizes from small to triple X. Prices are $18 per shirt, which includes shipping anywhere in the U.S. I’m donating 50% of the proceeds ($9 per shirt) to the Salvation Army.

 

 

 

Visit “The Store”. 

You can get a glimpse of what I’ve produced by visiting my website at www.randylewis.org. Click on “The Store” tab. I’ve also had both golf shirts and sweatshirts produced but for my use only up to now. If you would like a souvenir trackchasing shirt for yourself or a friend just let me know.

 

 

I’ll continue to work to get the “trackchasing name” out there. I’ve had a good deal of success doing that up to now. I hope to do even more to make the trackchasing hobby better known from this point forward.

 

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM CHANDLER, ARIZONA

 

 

 

 

THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE

 

 

 

The Objective  

 

I love Iowans but why does God treat them this way? 

One of the best pieces of trackchasing technology over the years has been weather forecasting websites. I find the hourly forecasts on www.weather.com to be excellent. For several years now I’ve had access to that data on my cellphone. I would say this is the #1 reason I have the best weather record in all of trackchasing and have had for several seasons.

 

 

My original plan for this weekend had me leaving Des Moines, Iowa on Sunday morning (today) and arriving into Phoenix, Arizona for this afternoon’s race. I would have been connecting in Minneapolis right about the time the Metrodome roof was collapsing from a heavy snow fall. However, the race promoter I was working with in Iowa as well as weather.com convinced me to avoid the Midwest.

 

 

I was lucky I did. It was bad enough to wake up in Dallas to a temperature of 33 degrees. This morning’s weather in Des Moines featured a temperature of just 4 degrees. With the 31 M.P.H. wind the “feels like” temperature was -21 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, Iowans are a lovely people but why did God treat them this way?

  

 

This is my last trip of the year. 

I believe this is my last trackchasing trip of the year. I hope to publish my much anticipated 2010 Trackchasing Annual Report during the first week of January. If I do, that will be the earliest it’s ever gone to press. This way I can get on with the business of 2011 as soon as possible.

 

 

 

The Trip

 

Trackchasing logistics are always a challenge. 

Trackchasing travel can be trying at times even when everything works according to plan. By the time I got out of the Dallas Mavericks basketball game last night, gassed up my rental car, checked into my hotel, downloaded all of my photos and began charging all of my electronics it was past midnight.

 

 

Today’s wake-up call came at 4:15 a.m. (2:15 a.m. San Clemente time). Yesterday’s wake-up call came at 5:15 a.m. to begin this trip from California. I guess that means that Monday’s 6:10 a.m. wake-up for Yoga class is going to be like sleeping in!

 

 

This morning I would have a 2 ½ hour flight from Dallas to Denver. Then I would grab a plane to Phoenix with a flight time of 1 ½ hours. Until this afternoon’s race is finished I won’t know exactly how I will get home. I’ll work on that later.

  

 

 

I fly on airplanes…..a lot. 

This is my 34^th trackchasing trip in 2010 that required airplanes. I normally average 4-5 plane rides during each trip. That’s somewhere between 140-175 flights a year. Of course, that doesn’t include the flying we do that doesn’t involve trackchasing.

 

 

 

I rent a lot of cars too. 

I will rent somewhere between 50-60 cars every year doing this. However, I was lucky today. I didn’t need a rental car. My brother Mark, who lives in Kingman, Arizona was picking me up at the Sky Harbor (Phoenix) International Airport. It would give me another chance to ride in his famous Oldsmobile Alero.

 

 

 

The People

 

 

Me and my little brother Mark.

It’s always fun to go trackchasing with my little brother, Mark. I think he gets as big a kick out of just being with me as he does the racing. Of course, I enjoy his company as well.

 

 

 

And the Olds Alero! 

Today he picked me up at the airport. We had just enough time for lunch at Honey Bear’s BBQ (see below). Then we motored over to the Firebird International Raceway in Mark’s “stellar” Oldsmobile Alero. He’s right about one thing. He doesn’t have a car payment! Since the windshield wipers don’t work, living in Arizona is probably a pretty good idea.

 

 

Mark is giving some thought to pursuing his 200^th track so he can become a “listed” trackchaser. He’s somewhere in the 150-175 range right now. Geographically (Kingman, Arizona) he’s not very well suited for adding to his totals.

 

  

 

Where’s the best place to eat?

 

 

 

RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Money Back Guarantee

 

Honey Bear’s BBQ – Tempe, Arizona (1 of 3 locations)

I used to eat BBQ all the time. However, I doubt it’s good for you if overdone. Nevertheless, when I come to Phoenix I can never pass up Honey Bear’s. I first learned of it from Charles Erickson, Procter & Gamble’s outside employee financial consultant. By the way, Charles Erickson deserves a “tip of the cap” from me. He’s was in some ways responsible for my being able to retire at age 53.

 

 

The founders of Honey Bear’s, originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, opened their business back in 1986. They immediately received the “New Times Best of Phoenix” award. They do a big catering business, employ 70 people and have nine delivery trucks in addition to their three stores.

 

 

Chuck Erickson had great advice about both finances and restaurants to offer. Honey Bear’s has three locations in Phoenix. Mark and I ate at the Tempe, Arizona store today. The BBQ port sandwich and hot links was outstanding. I didn’t need the peach cobbler. I didn’t have any “room” for the peach cobbler. However, when would I be back? I had the peach cobbler. There was only one drawback to the meal. The store was out of their homemade vanilla ice cream. Honey Bear’s is very very good. 

 

 

 

RACE REVIEW

 

 

 

FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (DIRT ROAD COURSE) – CHANLER, ARIZONA

 

 

I was seeing my fourth road course at Firebird!

Today was not my first visit to the Firebird International Raceway complex. I was here back in 2004. Firebird is one of the few road racing venues that offers three separate permanent asphalt road course race tracks.

 

 

Today’s racing would be on a permanent dirt road course. They’ll be using this layout twice at Firebird in 2011 with the Lucas Oil Off-Road Series. I’m not sure if ANY trackchasers has ever seen racing on four different permanent road courses at one location. I believe it’s a first for me.

 

 

 

I’m glad I keep good records. 

I used to remember just about all the details of most of my trackchasing visits. However, I don’t anymore. I’m not sure if it’s just the passage of time or the shear number of tracks that is making my memory a bit hazy. I don’t remember much about my visits to the Firebird tracks in 2004.

 

 

My records tell me I went to Firebird three separate times in 2004. The first visit was in May and the next two were on different weekends in October. Carol and Mark joined me in May. Mark came along for one of my October visits. At least I didn’t get three tracks in one location the EASY way. I had to go out of state three times to make this happen.

 

 

 

Stadium Off-Road Racing beats its competition in so many ways. 

Today Mark and I would be seeing “Stadium Off-Road Racing”. This is one of the least popular types of racing with trackchasers. Why is that? Most of it is done in the western part of the U.S. Trackchasers frequent the west the least of any major region in the country.

 

 

 

Folks, these guys GET IT. Let’s just look at the FACTS. The promoters of this type of stadium off-road racing do all of the things that fans of “traditional” short track racing WISH their tracks would do. If the Stadium Off-Road promoters can do it, why can’t most of the short track oval promoters?

 

 

I very much enjoy this type of racing. The competition is close, the action is plentiful and, for the most part, they don’t screw around. These races are held over a two-day weekend. During the afternoon of both Saturday and Sunday only feature events are held. All of this racing is done during the day. Compare just about any other form of wheel to wheel racing with the above criteria and it won’t measure up very well to Stadium Off-Road Racing.

 

 

Today’s dirt road course had two very high-banked oval-like turns. There were jumps where the buggies and trucks flew 50-100 yards in the air. Fans love to see the racers flying through the air. We had perfect seats in the top row of the grandstand. The only problem was the scorching sun. The temperature said “80” but it felt much more like “100”. Remember, folks this is mid-December!

 

 

 

$30 a head and the grandstands were packed. 

 

I think you’re going to like the photos and video that I took from this event. I’m especially proud of the video’s creative soundtrack. The fields were full and the racing was intense. The grandstands were packed at $30 per seat. Remember race fans vote. Yes, they vote with their feet. That is why go-kart events, amateur road racing and more and more ovals are attracting crowds of 200 people or less. I’ve never seen so many small crowds at these types of races like I have during the past two years.

 

 

 

Attention NASCAR haters. 

NASCAR haters can cry about declining attendance at the big tracks. Yet, when NASCAR races, their crowds are usually the largest of any sporting event in the country on that weekend! I’ve never heard a NASCAR hater mention that their local short track is getting a crowd of 150 people when they probably got five times that or more ten years ago.

 

 

 

Welcome to Rockstar Energy Drinks, my new sponsor. 

 

 

Today I was sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drinks. Fortunately, my brother is an up and coming executive with Pepsi. His contacts gained free admission for the two of us. Thanks Rockstar! Thanks Mark! Thanks Amber!

 

 

Another nice feature of this type of racing is that fans are allowed full access to the paddock area. This allows folks to get “up close and personal” with the cars and drivers.

 

 

Each race goes for about 12-15 laps or about 20-30 minutes. During that time “all hell breaks loose” with race vehicles jumping in the air, racing two and three abreast in the turns and having body parts fall off frequently. Don’t miss the photos and video.

 

 

 

This is ‘fan-oriented’ racing. 

 

 

This type of racing is very “fan oriented”. About midway during each race a “competition caution” is waved. Normally, that’s the only caution flag that slows the action in any race. Often times a competitor will flip and be laying on his/her top and they don’t stop the race! Contrast that to your local Saturday night track that would stop a race multiple times when the last place car spins and then just sits on the inside edge of the track until a yellow flag is waved.

 

 

The competition caution is waved to “close up the field”. Think of a stadium off-road competition as being like income taxes. Income taxes are designed to take money from the wealthy and give to the poor. They call it a “redistribution of income”! It doesn’t work any better in stadium off-road racing than it does in real life. The smarter and faster always beat the less smart and slow. Sorry, folks they call that life!

 

 

 

No more of this racing for me? 

Although I very much like stadium off-road racing, I probably won’t see much more of it this coming year. Remember, I’m a trackchaser and not a racechaser. I have now seen racing at every track on the upcoming 2011 Lucas Oil Off-Road racing schedule. We had a treat today. Mr. Forrest Lucas, president of Lucas Oil was in attendance. Lucas Oil seems to have their name on everything including an indoor stadium. Even Carol has noticed their widespread advertisements.

 

 

Overall, today was a fun day of racing despite the heat of the day. It was fun seeing a race with my brother Mark. I’ve seen four permanent tracks at Firebird. Will I ever be back? Hard to say. In trackchasing as in life you can never say never.

 

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

 

 

 

Arizona

This afternoon I saw my 27^th lifetime track in the Grand Canyon state, yes the Grand Canyon state. This allows me to maintain a first place ranking here. I hold down the #1 spot in 12 of the 13 Far Western states. The racing Eckels – Bruce and Pat who seem to vacation in Arizona frequently are in second place with 21 Arizona tracks each. Some 54 trackchasers have found their way here to record at least one track.

 

 

I still have two tracks left to see in Arizona. Neither really races on a regularly scheduled basis. I’ll come back here to see them when I can.

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features!

I’ve added YouTube slide shows and movies with actual racing footage of the tracks I visit. Now I’ve added souvenir trackchasing t-shirts. What comes next? I don’t know but I’ve got all winter to think about it!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Arizona sayings: Don’t take life too seriously; no one gets out alive.

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Dallas, TX (DFW) – 1,237 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #1

 

Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport – trip begins

Alvarado, TX – 44 miles

Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport – 108 miles – trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

 

Dallas, TX (DFW) – Denver, CO (DEN) – 640 miles

Denver, CO (DEN) – Phoenix, AZ (PHX) – 601 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #2

 

No rental car!

Mark’s car – 22 miles

 

AIRPLANE

 

Phoenix, AZ (PHX) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 369 miles

 

 

Total Air miles – 2,847 (4 flights)

Total Rental Car miles – 108 (1 car)

Total Mark’s Car miles – 22 (1 car)

 

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 2,977 miles

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: 

Diamond W Arena Complex – $20 (no senior discount)

Firebird International Raceway – Free – Sponsorship from Rockstar Energy drinks

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $20

  

 

 

COMPARISONS

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS 

 

There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,612

 

2. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 1,345

 

3. Guy “The Kid” Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,333

 

 

 

Finally, if you’ve read this far I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and safe New Year. Of course the FIRST person (from my email distribution list) to get back to me referring to this message wins a $6 Wal-Mart gift card to help with their Christmas shopping.

 

 

Editor’s note:  Alas, this prize has already been claimed (7/16).

 

 

 

Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

 

I had no intention of trackchasing in the Grand Canyon state.

When I left home on Friday morning I had absolutely zero intention of coming to Arizona for the Red Bull Global Rallycross racing on Sunday afternoon. However, a combination of two things sent me to the Grand Canyon State.

 

 

First, the certainty of my Sunday afternoon race in California was in doubt. There’s a new karting track that has opened up in central California. However, they haven’t been getting all that many winged outlaw karts that meet the stringent rules that trackchasing’s founding fathers set forth many years ago.

 

 

Secondly, I got a reminder tip from Tim Frost, owner of the National Speedway Directory about the races in Phoenix. I had known about those races, but having fought off the challenges of the pesky racing Eckels (Pat and Bruce) a few years ago in Arizona, I didn’t see any great need to trackchase there for sometime.

 

 

However…

However, with the prospects looking dim in California and a wide-open flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix it was time to act on Tim’s idea. Off I went to my former hometown state and city of Phoenix, Arizona. That’s right! In 1974 Carol and I lived in Phoenix for one year. As a matter fact our first son, J.J., was born there. The Manzanita Speedway was our hometown track. I’ll bet lots of folks reading these reports didn’t know that. We saw some fantastic racing at “Manzy” over the years.

 

 

From cold to hot. From the mountains to the desert.

This morning I was up bright and early in Salt Lake City. The outdoor ambient temperature was a crisp 46°. The city was ringed in snowcapped mountains as it is for virtually all of the year. Of course the mountains are always there but not always the snow! It was time to say goodbye to Utah and welcome to Arizona. I was up for it.

 

 

Don’t go to the airport without TSA pre-check.

Yesterday I had purchased my airline ticket. Yes, I do buy airline tickets. I had made a special stop to input my global entry TSA pre-check number into the ticket’s permanent record. That’s important nowadays with the press telling everyone how long the waits can be to clear airport security. With pre-check there can be waiting in lines for other people but not me.

 

 

The Far West is my home court.

I hold a dominant position in all 13 far western trackchasing states with regard to overall rankings. Most trackchasers are based in the east. Most eastern based trackchasers don’t trackchase in the Far West. Even though I am based in the Far West most of my trackchasing has taken place in the Midwest.

 

 

I learned this from “Billy the Kid”.

Why is that? The answer is pretty much the same as when “Billy the Kid” was asked why he robbed banks. “That’s where the money is” was Billy’s answer! Of course the Midwest is where the tracks are.

 

 

Where have I seen my more than 2,200 tracks?

Here’s how my track dispersion breaks out across the four major regions in the United States as well as in the overall foreign category.

 

 

Midwest – 850

South – 398

West – 384

Foreign – 319

East – 268

 

 

Pretty quiet in and around SLC.

I have spent a lot of time in Salt Lake City with business travel over the years. I have spent a lot of time in the Salt Lake City airport with my sponsored airlines making connections. Returning a rental car is a lot easier when you’re familiar with the airport. It was all also noteworthy how little traffic there was in and around Salt Lake.

 

 

Closing out my rental car contract took all of 30 seconds. I was given both a printed receipt as well as an email copy for my records. I drove the car just 71 miles. My gas bill was $6.57. My total rental car expense for the day was less than that. As I amortize my expenses, especially over the two tracks I saw in Utah, I won’t get much more financially efficient than that. Yes, I told you I think about the trackchasing hobby just a little bit different than my fellow competitors.

 

 

Despite what you might think.

Despite what you might be reading in the press I don’t think airline security lines are all that long in most places I visit. Today I cleared security in approximately 58 seconds. Even the “normal” people who don’t have pre-check had a line of only about 10-15 people. Of course Salt Lake City is more of a connecting airport then a departure airport.

 

 

My next stop was McDonald’s. There I picked up a Egg McMuffin sandwich in about 60 seconds. I used my iPhone to pay for it electronically. When I was a boy the idea of getting a “fully cooked breakfast sandwich”, that term probably never existed then, in 60 seconds was unheard of.

 

 

Some people are more suited for one lifestyle that another. I am suited for this one. Off I went on a powerwalking escapade throughout the vast expanse of the Salt Lake City international Airport.

 

 

Just when everything was going perfectly.

Just when I was marveling at how smoothly everything was going for this entire trip I ran into a small problem. After I boarded my flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix the pilot announced they were experiencing an engine problem.

 

 

While still on the ground we were going to have to take a delay of 40 minutes while he tested things. Ultimately the test showed that he would not be using this airplane! I guess it was better to find that out on the ground rather than in the air.

 

 

All of the passengers were asked to get off the plane. Soon we would find out if a replacement plane could be found. Timing was of the essence. Ultimately, a new plane was found. I would still make the race in Arizona.

 

 

Benefitting from the time change.

I was going to benefit from Salt Lake being on Mountain Daily Time (MDT) and Phoenix being on Mountain Standard Time (MST). The flight would take one hour and 15 minutes but we would gain an hour in time zone changes.

 

 

I would be on the ground at about 11:15 a.m. in Phoenix. Luckily, the Whitehorse Motorsports Park is only about a 20-minute drive from the Sky Harbor International Airport. I figured that by the time I deplaned, got my rental car and got out to the track I could be there in an hour after landing.

 

 

The entire program for the “lites” Red Bull Global Rallycross division was scheduled to begin at 1:10 p.m. These races normally sticky to a pretty tight time schedule. I figured I could count on that. This entire plan would give me nearly two hours to get out to the track and get situated. My plan was still on!

 

 

I actually landed at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at about 11:30 a.m. That would give me one hour and 35 minutes to get my rental car, drive over towards the race track and maybe have a quick drive through lunch. That was plenty of time.

 

 

I needed a good road car.

Since I was going to be picking up my car in Phoenix but dropping it off in Los Angeles, a distance of more than 400 miles, I needed a good road car. I selected my second Chrysler 300 of the weekend. That would fit the bill nicely.

 

 

Sorry. Not a big fan of the “Valley of the Sun”.

I must tell you I am not a big fan of Phoenix in general. When we first moved there from Cincinnati I thought it was great. However, after having lived in California for so many years my opinion of Phoenix has changed. The city has changed a great deal since Carol and I lived there in 1974. In point of fact it is hardly recognizable.

 

 

In a city that has grown as fast as Phoenix there is usually a problem with the infrastructure keeping up with the growth. That has been the case with Phoenix. There traffic can be bad although today it was no problem at all.

 

 

The second issue I have with Phoenix is the gosh darned heat. Phoenix will have more than 100 days with a high temperature of 100° each year. This usually starts in early May and goes through late September. Today it was warm but not ungodly hot. The high temperature came in at about 90°.

 

 

What? Whataburger!

On the way over to the track I stopped at one of my all time favorite fast food hamburger joints – Whataburger. Do you know what the original four hamburger chain restaurants were? Here’s the answer: White Castle, Whataburger, In N Out Burgers and Krystal’s.

 

 

The Whataburger double meat sandwich reminds me of a discus. Whataburger has the biggest standard buns and burgers in the industry. It’s also very tasty. In an attempt at restraint I passed on the French fries. However, when I got my order through the drive-through window the clerk cheerfully said, “We’ve included a complimentary order of fries”. What could I do? The Whataburger fries have just come out of the fryer. They were heavily salted. They were just about the best French fries I had ever tasted. Whataburger rocks.

 

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park – Chandler, Arizona

 

 

White Horse or Firebird.

Today I would be seeing Red Bull Global Rallycross racing at the White Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The track has been renamed. It is the former Firebird International Raceway.

 

 

Conflicted.

I must tell you that I am conflicted with the Red Bull Global Rallycross racing organization. There are some parts of it I like and some significant areas that don’t please me one bit.

 

 

Perfect for trackchasing.

From a trackchasing point of you this group is perfect. They race at some very unusual venues. Additionally their racing surface is what is called “mixed”. That means part of the surface is asphalt and part is dirt. Normally the vast majority of the track they race on is asphalt. Of course trackchasing’s founding fathers, or was it a later group, in an attempt at leniency ruled that “mixed” surfaces are a different “track” than paved or dirt tracks. Folks, I didn’t make the rules I only explain them to you. I definitely do not agree with all the rules.

 

 

Another thing I like about the Red Bull Global Rallycross series is, like most road racing, the paddock area is open for the fans to visit. I think oval track racing should have done this a long time ago. In today’s world of attracting new fans not letting the fans get up close and personal to the racers and their machines is a big mistake.

 

 

I am not in love with Global Rallycross.

However I am not a big fan of the admission prices for Red Bull Global Rallycross. They may try to promote this is big-time racing but I don’t think it is. A one-day ticket runs $35 at most venues. I think that’s way out of line.

 

 

I’ve seen Red Bull Global Rallycross racing all over the United States. This includes Austin, Texas, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The programs have been very similar at each of these locations.

 

 

Typically, the races have only 4-6 competitors and run for four or five laps. What would a real racing fan say if they went to Daytona, Indianapolis or Eldora and the main class of racers had five cars running for five laps? I think everyone knows the answer to that.

 

 

No people.

At each of the Red Bull Global Rallycross events that I have attended the fan attendance has been anemic. The number of fans in the grandstands today was probably 200-300 at most. What would a real racing fan say if they went to Daytona, Indianapolis or Eldora and the crowd was that small?

 

 

How do they do it?

So how does a touring group like this exist when nobody shows up to watch them race? They have a nice TV contract and sponsorship package. For the most part I’ve never heard of any of their drivers but then I don’t follow this type of racing. I can’t imagine this racing organization being a long-term success. It wouldn’t seem to me that their TV ratings would be much at all. I would look for this group to go away in the not too distant future. We will see.

 

 

Something for the NASCAR “haters”.

The NASCAR “haters” get a charge out of criticizing that group when they only draw 40-50,000 people. They should step into the Red Bull Global Rallycross waters to see what a crowd of 300 looks like.

 

 

Today I was seeing my fifth countable track at the formerly named Firebird International Raceway. The facility has three separate stand alone paved road courses. I’ve seen racing at all of them.

 

 

A few years ago I also saw a race event on the all dirt Lucas Oil style off-road course. Now today I was seeing racing on a mixed surface track. As you may have noticed trackchasers are seeing racing at a lot of different “configurations” as facilities they thought they would never go back too.

 

 

Two classes of racing.

The Red Bull Global Rallycross races with two different race car classifications. They call these classes the Supercars and the GRC Lites. The main class is the Supercar group. The secondary class is the GRC Lites. I was in time today to see the full Lites show from their heat racing through their last chance qualifier and then their main event. That was a total of four races.

 

 

I was hoping that since I had missed today’s first half of the program that by the time I got there the ticket sellers would have gone home. Alas, this was not the case. I ended up paying $10 to park. Then I had to walk the better part of a mile to the ticket booth. Once there I was charged $35 admission. In a way I felt like I was flushing money down the toilet.

 

 

The race course.

Today’s course was 0.9 miles in length. There was one significant dirt jump when the cars got a lot of “air”. There were two grandstands for spectator viewing. I positioned myself in both during the course of the day to get some good photographs and video. I wondered how many of the “fans” had been given free tickets by sponsors?

 

 

This is definitely a racing series for young drivers. A couple of the drivers couldn’t have been more than 16 or 17 years old. I will give them this. Several of the drivers were very aggressive with today’s racing.

 

 

It could have been hotter. I was in Phoenix. I get my share of sun by being outdoors a good deal. However, I rarely get sunburned. When I got home I realized I had gotten sunburned. I could see the outline on my face of where I had been wearing sunglasses. I can’t recall the last time that happened. Phoenix is a HOT place.

 

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

No more pesky racing Eckels.

I have now seen 38 tracks in the Grand Canyon state. A couple of years ago the pesky racing Eckels, Pat and Bruce gave me a run for my money for the number one spot in Arizona. When I saw that happening I put a special focus on Arizona and moved significantly ahead of their trackchasing totals. I hope I didn’t offend them. I’m sure I didn’t. They are both level-headed folks and understand how this all works. However, when someone issues a challenge you have to return the favor.

 

 

I had arrived at the track at just before 1 p.m. I was in time to see the entire Lites program which consisted of two heats, a LCQ race and the group’s feature. When the feature race took the checkered flag I was leaving the Wild Horse Motorsports Park at 3 p.m.

 

 

I was glad to get out of there. It was hot. I had a long drive that was going to exceed 475 miles before I would get home.  I would be driving into a setting sun.

 

 

The “get home” plan.

I would first need to drop off my rental car at the Los Angeles International Airport. After I did that I would get a shuttle ride over to my parking garage. Then I would have another 65-mile drive home to get home. As it turns out I pulled in the driveway just as the clock was striking midnight.

 

 

Another busy weekend.

I had left on this trackchasing trip on Friday morning. I was now getting home late on Sunday evening. I had trackchased in three states including California, Utah and Arizona. I had rented three cars and flown on two airplanes.

 

 

I had added four tracks to my lifetime trackchasing total. Considering that I have seen more than 2,200 tracks to this point being able to add four tracks on any given weekend with only two nights out is a nice accomplishment.

 

 

Were you able to answer the question?

When I wrote my first Trackchaser Report after my first stop of the weekend in Chowchilla, California I asked racing fans to answer one simple question. Have you ever trackchased or racechased over a weekend like I did on this one? Well, have have you?

 

 

Good night from San Clemente, California.

 

 

What should be done with these people.

P.S. I am extremely disappointed with American drivers who drive slowly in the passing lane on our nation’s interstate highways. Should these people be locked up and have their driving licenses suspended? Yes, I think that would be an appropriate reward for their idiotic driving behavior. I’d like to take these people to Europe for a weekend and see how long they would last. Not long!

 

 

 

 

Arizona

 

 

The Grand Canyon state

This afternoon I saw my 38th lifetime track in the Grand Canyon state, yes the Grand Canyon state. I hold the #1 trackchasing spot in Arizona. I’ve seen 38 or more tracks in 16 separate states.

 

 

 

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

Arizona sayings: If you can’t stand the heat, get out of Arizona.

 

Editor’s note: O.K., I’m going.

 

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Chowchilla Barn Burner – $10

Rocky Mountain Raceways – Complimentary admission

Wild Horse Motorsports Park – $35 (plus ten bucks to park – bandits!)

 

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $45

 

 

 

 

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.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,218

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

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

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 70

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.47

 

 

 

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

 

 

Click on the link below to see the video 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.

 

 

A Sunday afternoon of Red Bull Rallycross racing from Chandler, Arizona