Greetings from Kansas City, Kansas
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Kansas Speedway
Asphalt oval
Lifetime Track #585
THE EVENT In 2016 I visited the Kansas Speedway for the second time. I was there to see NASCAR Sprint Cup racing in the Chase. My first visit came all the way back in 2002. That was the second year of operation for the track. I saw the Indy cars race at the Kansas Speedway those many years ago. Here’s the link to my 2002 Trackchaser Report. Kansas Speedway – 2002 – Indy Racing League 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: 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! ON THE WAY TO THE RACES FOREWORD I was planning to racechase at the Kansas Speedway today. A “racechaser” goes to the races for the quality of the racing. They don’t really care if the race is being held at a track they have visited in the past or not. A “trackchaser” goes to the races to add a new track to their lifetime trackchasing resume. I’m not going to kid you or BS you like some other trackchasers constantly do. I went to the Kansas Speedway today because I didn’t have any other trackchasing opportunities in the immediate geographical area. In a way I’m glad there weren’t any new tracks to see. That encourages me to go back to tracks that I either like very much or that I would like to give a second chance. The Kansas Speedway falls into the “second chance” category. I had been there back in 2002 to see the Indy Racing League cars compete. That was just the second year of operation for the Kansas Speedway. At the time the Kansas Speedway became my 585th lifetime track. That’s right. During the past 14 years or so I have added nearly 1,700 new track visits. NASCAR racing is the most popular form of auto racing in the United States. The crowds are not quite as large as they were in the heyday of NASCAR racing. That peak probably came in the 1990s and early 2000s. With the exception of the Indy 500, NASCAR racing dwarfs the spectator attendance at all other types of racing in the U.S. It is interesting to note that NASCAR races hold the all-time sports spectating attendance records in about 15 states in our country. I’ll bet most people are not aware of that particular stat. Some people think that attending a NASCAR race is a very expensive endeavor. I don’t think that is true at all. If you know what you’re doing it’s not expensive at all. I have read that when NASCAR comes to town the hotels jack up the rates and often impose multiple day stay minimums. I believe that to be true. I checked the hotel rates in Kansas City this weekend. The Marriott was charging $249 a night plus taxes and fees. The Country Inn and Suites Hotel, which is not even the quality of the Marriott, had a price of $312 a night. However, I have developed strategies and systems which allow me to bypass these extravagant charges. I stayed in Kansas City on both Friday and Sunday nights. The NASCAR race was held on Sunday afternoon . I had a hotel suite for an average price of $38.50 for each of the two nights I stayed in Kansas City. On Saturday night of this trip I stayed about two hours west of Kansas City. I did that because the track I was seeing on Saturday evening was located there. Some think the tickets prices to attend NASCAR races are too expensive. No way….if you know what you’re doing. I didn’t have a ticket for today’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race in advance. That didn’t concern me in the least. Again I have systems and methods that have been proven to be most effective in securing a ticket to big events like this. Parking can be very expensive at major sporting venues. UCLA charges $30 to park for football games. Parking is always free on racetrack property for NASCAR events. Have you ever been to a major league professional basketball, football or baseball game where the parking was free at the stadium? No, you have not. I have heard other trackchasers complain that NASCAR is overpriced with regard to their food and drink. NASCAR pricing for refreshments is on par with other major league sporting events. That means it’s not cheap. As an example, today a bottle of water sold for four dollars and a 20-ounce Coca-Cola in a plastic bottle sold for five dollars. Those are not inexpensive prices. However, you will pay that if you attend any other major professional sporting event in the United States as well. It should be noted that NASCAR tracks, for the most part, allow their spectators to bring in their own food and beverages. If the refreshments at a NASCAR track are too expensive for your budget you have that option. Again, those choices don’t exist at most other major professional sporting venues. Heck, lots of short tracks won’t let you bring in your own food or drink. Let’s review. I can park for free. I could bring in my own food and beverage if I wanted. What was I going to do for a ticket to the races? I had checked the ticket prices for today’s race on the Kansas Speedway website. Mostly they ranged in the $100-$149 range. I didn’t expect to pay that. On line ticket prices were high was well. I came to the track today with my “sign”. The sign was simple. It read on one side “Need One” and on the other side “Need 1”. I’m bi-lingual. This was my form of advertising. A newspaper editor once said that not advertising was like “Winking at your girlfriend in the dark. You know what you’re doing but no one else does.” That made all the sense in the world to me. I have bought and sold tickets to most of the major sporting events in United States and several internationally. I have discovered two important things in doing this. First, most people don’t understand the true market value of the ticket they are buying or selling. If they are selling a ticket they think that nobody is in the market for it and offer it at a low price. Lots of times they might have an extra ticket that they will end up “eating”. Of course, they won’t literally eat the ticket. They will simply walk into the event with the unneeded ticket buried deep in their pocket. Folks who are in the market to buy a ticket think the exact opposite. They almost automatically think that the demand is much greater than it really is. With that type of thinking people pay too high of a price for the ticket they want. Scalpers are the “middlemen” in this process. They made tons of money on the fact that people don’t know the value of the ticket they have or the ticket they want to buy. I’ve learned lots about buying and selling tickets over the years. I estimate that I’ve bought my ticket from an individual at well over 200 sporting events. I have noticed in buying and selling tickets at these big events that a large number of tickets are going unused. Here’s what I’m talking about. Let’s say a party of four friends decided they were going to go to a sporting event months ago. They went out and bought their tickets to ensure good seating. Now at the last minute one of the four friends has dropped out. Now the remaining three folks have an extra ticket. Maybe their flaky friend paid for it so they have no great incentive to sell it. However when I come along sporting a “Need one” their eyes light up. My sign reads something else to them. It says “Beer money”! My sign is invaluable. Rarely do I wait more than a minute or two before the fish come biting. Again, that was the case today. By the way I don’t see anything whatsoever to be unethical with my behavior. Quite the contrary. I see myself as being a “savior of mankind”. O.K. that might be a little strong. However, I am providing a market for an item that might not have a market. I’m giving cash to a person who might take his/her little piece of cardboard into the event. A few minutes after that happens that little piece of cardboard (ticket) truly is worthless. Even though the face value of today’s tickets was $100-$149 for almost all the seats in the grandstand I did not expect to pay more than $20. I haven’t paid more than $20 to attend a NASCAR race in the past many years. THE RACING Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kansas I hadn’t been holding my sign up for more than a minute. I had not passed 15 spectators until a fellow spoke up and said, “I’ve got an extra ticket.” I silently said to myself, “I’ll bet you do.” He was part of a group of three fellows sitting at the back of their automobile relaxing and tailgating. I could see what their situation was at a glance. One of their friends had bagged the idea of coming to the track today. It was written all over this group. I asked the guy how much you wanted for his ticket. He told me his ticket had a face value of $100. That was essentially useless information to both of us at this point. He admitted he was willing to sell the ticket for half of the list price. I secretly said to myself, “I’ll bet you would”. I told him I was more interested in paying about $20 for the seat. He countered with thirty dollars. I told him I would consider it and come back if I thought that was going to work. There are two levels in the Kansas Speedway grandstand. The lower half of the seats are in the “100 level”. The upper half of the seats are designated with the number “200”. The fellow trying to sell me his ticket was in the lower half of the grandstand seating area. I told him I was really looking for a seat in the upper sections. In reality I was saying to myself that I didn’t want to pay $30 or maybe even $20 for his ticket. I walked on. Fans were beginning to enter the track. I positioned myself near the entrance of the Kansas Speedway. The most consumer traffic was walking past this point. I held up my sign just like those folks do at intersections near where you live. I wasn’t homeless. I simply needed a ticket. My sign told everyone that. As I mentioned I’ve done this hundreds of times. I love it when a couple comes past and one of them tugs on the sleeve of the other and seems to say, “Honey, look at that poor fellow. He doesn’t have a ticket. Poor soul.” I feel like saying, “Let’s think about this for a moment. You’re a season ticket holder. You gave up your money a year ago to get your tickets. You paid full price and maybe even more with a permanent seat license. That means that a year ago you had to commit to coming today. When your daughter told you a month ago that your granddaughter’s recital was today you said you couldn’t go because you had already bought tickets to the event today”. That’s right. These people had paid top dollar, given up their cash a year ago and were locked into attending the event today regardless of what might have transpired since they bought those tickets. On the other hand, the homeless looking fellow (me) was about ready to buy a ticket for less than half price on less than an hour’s notice. If MY granddaughter had a recital today I wouldn’t be missing it because I had paid full price for my tickets LAST YEAR. I hadn’t been standing at the track’s entrance for more than 90 seconds until a family, man, wife and a couple of kids passed me. I saw the woman sort of nudge her husband as they walked on by and make a comment. This wasn’t the “poor soul” approach. It was exactly the opposite. I knew exactly what was happening. They had an extra ticket. They were going to give it to me! They walked about 10 feet past and stopped. The woman pulled the ticket out of her purse. From the corner of my eye I could see her approaching me. She gave me the ticket and said, “Take this”. Although I knew she wouldn’t accept, I thought it was my obligation to ask her how much she wanted for it. “Nothing” was the answer. “We’ll see you in the stands because you’re seat is right next to mine” as she waved good-bye. I felt a little bad at that point. The ticket she had given me was in row four. That was much too close to the track for my tastes. I hope she wasn’t offended when I never showed up to sit with her family. I certainly appreciated her giving me a free ticket to the NASCAR race today. Her ticket had a face value of only $65. That was the price of tickets in the first ten rows of the grandstand. The fans of the Kansas Speedway are some of the most loyal of any in NASCAR. Despite lots of open seats appearing at some NASCAR venues Kansas Speedway still fills about 90% of their seats. The Kansas Speedway has a seating capacity of 74,000. I had now parked for free, got a free ticket and had enough food and beverage in my backpack to get me through the afternoon. I was in pretty good shape. Let me add just one more important point to my description of the “sign” and it’s capabilities. Even Superman cannot overcome kryptonite. If you come to the track with seven people or seventeen people you’re not going to be able to hold your sign and get that many tickets all located together. You probably could buy the tickets, at steeply discounted prices, one or two at a time until you got as many as you needed. Then you could probably find a place for your large party to sit together and use the savings as a down payment on a new Tesla. Oh, one more thing. Let’s say the event is in super high demand. Let’s say it’s the Cubs. Let’s say it’s the World Series. Let’s say the World Series game is being played at Wrigley Field. But wait. Let’s not even go there. That would never happen would it? My next stop was over to the race scanner trailer. I was hoping that they could program all of the driver frequencies into my scanner. However my Uniden 2000 race scanner, which I bought new some years ago, is now out of date. The people at the track won’t even program my model. I learned that a couple of years ago at another NASCAR race. The fellow I was talking to was nice. He offered me a couple of options. I could sell him my scanner for about 60 bucks and for an additional $180 or so I could get a new Uniden 3000. My other option was for him to give me a printed piece of paper with all the driver frequencies on it. I opted for the free alternative. With the frequencies I could find the driver channels and media channels on my own. I guess my money wasn’t good in Kansas City. I wasn’t able to spend it on much of anything. I had the time so I wandered into the driver souvenir area. It wasn’t long before I was exiting with a Brad Keselowski powder blue souvenir T-shirt. It was a great looking shirt and the price was right at $15.97. I stood in a very long line of people who were checking out with their souvenirs. The checkout process went quickly. There must have been 30-40 cashiers processing everyone’s purchases. When the race was about to start I headed to the grandstand. I found a spot on the upper deck where I could sit. I watched the first 100 laps or so of the 267-lap feature race from there. It was a warm blue sky day. The temperature came in at about 85°. That’s fairly unusual for mid-October around here. At the 100-lap mark I retreated to down under the grandstands. There I could simply relax in the shade for a while. There were quite a few other people doing the same thing. I have a really good noise canceling set of headphones. NASCAR racing can be extremely loud. Those headphones are a lifesaver. Today I listened in with my race scanner and headphones to the MRN radio broadcast as well as the driver communications to their pit crews. When I get home I will watch the entire race again on TV. That way I can see what REALLY happened. Frankly, I can’t imagine being a spectator without ear protection at an event like this. I can’t imagine simply watching the race without some audio input as to what’s happening. That would bore me to death. I know that I know more about these races that 95% of the people in the stands. I can’t imagine what entertainment value they would get with the racing being so loud and not being able to hear some of the background on what’s happening with the race. However, to each his own. After a brief respite under the stands I wandered off down toward turned four and sat in the lower half of the stands. I even sat in the very first row to take some video of the cars zooming by. That was pretty wild. It was about this time that I noted I was missing something. I had left my backpack under the stands on the seat where I had rested for a while. I had my $900 prescription glasses in that backpack. I made a beeline to that area. I was relieved to find my backpack pack sitting untouched exactly where I left it. Whew! I must tell you I am not a fan of 1.5 mile oval tracks for this type of racing or any type of racing for that matter. I never miss a NASCAR race on TV. It’s so much more convenient to watch the racing on the tube. I would never watch a NASCAR race live on TV. For every four hours of broadcasting about one hour and maybe even more is commercials. I only watch my NASCAR racing at home on a pre-recorded basis. That way I can watch it when I want too. If I want to watch only a portion of the race at a single sitting I do that. Then I come back when I have more time to see the rest. I can’t imagine doing it any other way. Since I had absolutely no money invested at the track today I even thought about leaving at mid-race. I figured I could be back to my hotel and watch the last 50 laps on TV. However by moving around, and finally ending up at the finish line, I was able to catch the checkered flag. Kevin Harvick was the winner. He’s not one of my favorites. I liken him to Tony Stewart or maybe Kurt Busch. I see all of these guys as big whiners when things don’t go well. Maybe that’s why they all drive for the same team! I was a little surprised when I watched Harvick do his burn out down the front straightaway. Some 90% of the people simply stood in the stands and watched. This either proves they are true Midwesterners and don’t get out much or maybe there was a major rock concert after today’s race. Maybe they were waiting for that. AFTER THE RACES I had seen the entire race from green flag to checkered flag. I knew that my car was nearly a mile away in a very remote part of the race property. I saw my opportunity. I made it! Now I could beat most of the crowd out of the speedway. I did just that. My power walking hobby was a major advantage in this pursuit. However, I was walking through a lot of high grass areas that was soft to the foot from recent rains. Nevertheless, I made it to my car with no delay whatsoever and was out of the Kansas Speedway immediately. I was glad I had come today. Everything had worked out nicely. However, I probably won’t be coming back to a 1.5-mile NASCAR track anytime soon. Sign me up for Bristol, Martinsville or Richmond. I’d even take another shot on Talladega. I try to see NASCAR racing at least once a year but I don’t always make it. My hotel was a quick 20-minute drive from the track. I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box to have breakfast for supper. People do that you know. I was back to my hotel before dark. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to get back to California tomorrow, which was Monday. I figured I would figure it out. I simply relaxed in my hotel room all evening and dictated my Trackchaser Reports for this weekend. During the evening I gave Carol a call and signed up for a flight that was departing at 7 a.m. Central time tomorrow morning. That flight would mean an early wake up call. It was my best shot for getting back to Los Angeles easily. I have now seen 99 tracks in the 2016 trackchasing season through October 16. I have another six in the planning stages. I’m not sure I’ll make all those but at this point I expect to exceed 100 tracks for the 11th year in my trackchasing hobby. Good evening from Kansas City, Kansas Kansas The Jayhawk state I have now seen 40 tracks in the Jayhawk state, yes the Jayhawk state. I hold the #1 trackchasing spot in Kansas. I’m tied for that spot with Ed Esser. When I first came to the Kansas Speedway in 2002 it was only the fourth Kansas track I have ever seen. I’ve seen 40 or more tracks in 17 separate states. No one can beat that stat. 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 Kansas definitions: Manhattan What it means everywhere else: The super populated borough in New York with over 1,600,000 people. What it means in Kansas: The 8th largest city in Kansas with a population of around 56,000. It’s the ‘little’ Big Apple. QUICK FACTS 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 575 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see the video 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. The “sign” was my ticket….at the Kansas Speedway
