Greetings from Columbia, Missouri
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Boone County Fairgrounds
Dirt oval
Lifetime Track #1,130
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Boone County Fairgrounds
Dirt figure 8
Lifetime Track #1,131
Reprinted with permission from my Saturday and Sunday, December 9 & 10, 2006 Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) it didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. Steve Williams – New Zealand Saloon Car Champion I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with New Zealand saloon car champion and friend – Steve Williams). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Well, you made it this far. You might as well pour yourself a cold one and take your Trackchasing 101 class. When you finish you’ll have your trackchasing diploma and can then teach your friends about the hobby. Let’s get started. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Let’s do this by the numbers. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org you’ll get three pieces of entertainment. First, my Trackchaser Report will be an in-depth essay on how the trip went from A-Z. Yes, I’ll cover the racing aspect of things. But you will also hear about what it took to pull off the trip, the special stops that made the trip fun and the obstacles that needed to be overcome. Secondly, you’ll get a YouTube video of the racing action I saw. These are normally short 3-6 minutes highlights of the racing. My YouTube channel is named, “RANLAY”. I have nearly 2,000 subscribers to my channel. Currently, I have posted more than 1,300 videos and my channel has more than 1.2 million views! Finally, I’ll share a captioned photo album using a photo-sharing program called SmugMug. Normally, there will be anywhere from 50-200 photos from each trip I take. Sometimes more! My website is linked to hundreds of thousands of photos from all of the trips I have taken. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. A common question I get about my hobby is, “Why?”. I’m a curious fellow. I’m an adventuresome fellow. My hobby is about seeing and experiencing the things that most folks walk right past. Below is a link to a special video. It shows a small town in Missouri that I visited on one of my trips. In this video, I’ll share with you exactly what I mean. This video might just make your day. Trackchasing….this is exactly why I do it Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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! FOREWORD Saturday & Sunday, December 9 & 10, 2006. GREETINGS FROM COLUMBIA, MISSOURI We woke up this morning in San Clemente, California and went to sleep in Columbia, Missouri. TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION #1 Have you ever been to a “Bass Pro Shop?” Have you ever heard of a Bass Pro Shop? I would wager to say that many people especially those on the west and east coast would answer “No” to those questions. Prior to today, I had heard about them, primarily because they advertise on the NASCAR televised races I watch. However, I had never been in one. A Bass Pro Shop is a huge retail store oriented toward hunters and fishermen. According to my friend, Bud Heineman, the chain first started down in Springfield, Missouri. These types of stores are huge. They sell items as big as $50,000 bass and ski boats to things as small as a cork for your cane pole. They had a pickup truck suspended from the ceiling and all kinds of stuffed wild animals on display. If you have never been in one, I highly recommend it from an entertainment point of view, if nothing else. I was first introduced to these types of “outfitter” stores when I visited a “Cabela’s.” These are HUGE multi-level stores in the Midwest that attract crowds similar to what you might see at an amusement park. According to Florene Heineman, the Bass Pro Shop we were seeing today was only about half the size of some of the outlets she has visited. I couldn’t resist making a couple of purchases. I’ve been intrigued by those “Crocs” shoes. I know you’ve seen them. They are those really ugly, plastic-looking sandals that people wear. I’ve been told they are the most comfortable shoes you will ever find. I wear a size 12-13 shoe. I tried to get a pair of Crocs in the past but couldn’t find my size. Today, I did. I found a pair of dark blue ones and they fit just fine. I was sold when another shopper told me they were the most comfortable shoes she had ever worn. While Carol, Bud and Florence looked on in horror. I paraded up and down the aisle in my soon to be new Crocs. I’m hoping their outlandish appearance will divert attention from my ankle golf tan! Anyway, we had seen another fine Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. I highly recommend Bass Pro Shops to you for a future visit. PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS The Strategy Trackchasing used to be a seasonal sport. Chasers would start the season in late March or April. October would normally be about the last month anyone could or would see a new track. However, when the sport began to expand beyond its regional Northeastern locale, things started to change. Some folks discovered ice racing. Most ice racing is done on frozen lakes in the Northeast, Upper Midwest and Canada. You might imagine that those crazy Northeasterners started padding their track totals with several winter events. The rest of us (mainly me) looked on in dismay. I hate cold weather. In addition, I could not go ice racing because of the unpredictability of the events. If it’s not cold enough to produce about a foot of ice, they can’t have an ice race. Often the ice race organizers don’t make the “race or not race” decision until a day or two before the scheduled event. That type of cancellation policy doesn’t work well with a non-refundable airline ticket. A second major addition to the winter racing scene is the expansion of the indoor racing season. Again, most of the indoor venues have been in cold weather climate locations. I rank far down the list of indoor racing locations seen in the trackchasing standings. In point of fact, I have only 15 indoor tracks and rank 23rd in the worldwide indoor standings. Guy Smith leads with 36. I would be perfectly fine with a trackchaser rule that said something like, “There will be no countable tracks allowed between November 1 and March 31 of any given year.” Maybe when Carol reaches voting age (400 tracks), we will vote as a block for such a proposal. There would be several advantages to such a rule. First, trackchasers would be given a much-needed break from the hobby for a period of five months. Secondly, trackchasing budgets could also be given some relief with such a respite. Finally, it would be safer for everyone to keep trackchasers off the road during the sometimes treacherous winter driving conditions. But no…………., the hobby has gotten so competitive in this dog eat dog world of trackchasing that such a rule would never pass. The Northeaster trackchasers would never support this idea. They want to continue to pad their totals by standing out in the freezing cold watching some generally poor ice racing or go to indoor racing events when they should be watching basketball games or hockey matches. This really leaves me with no strategic choice whatsoever. I have to go to winter races or these cold-weather climate people would bury me under an avalanche of winter tracks. I must fight back, put away my surfer shorts and bring my one and only jacket out of mothballs. I must compete with these people or be relegated to the back of the trackchasing pack. If they want to see some tracks in the winter and not take my recommended hiatus, then I say fine. I will do my best to see as many “off-season” tracks as I possibly can so they might one day regret their gluttonous decision. Bring it on, baby. The Trip This should be an easy trip. Although the Midwest is colder than normal for this time of year, with nighttime temps in the 20s and 30s, it is clear. The plan is for a quick three-day, two-night trip that will garner two countable tracks. We did run into one minor glitch at LAX. We had packed a bottle of wine as a gift for our friends, the Heineman’s. United Airlines seemed to think this was a bad idea and refused to allow the gift-wrapped package on the plane. We had two choices. Dump the wine or take it back to the car, which was in a remote parking lot. We didn’t fancy throwing our San Clemente labeled wine away, so I volunteered to hop back on the “Parking Spot” shuttle bus and return the wine to the car. My pinpoint “just in time” airline planning model does not allow much time for such diversions. As one might expect, the shuttle bus took forever to pick me up, but we made it to the gate, just in time to hear the agent saying these words over the P.A. system, “Randy and Carol Lewis, last call for Randy and Carol Lewis.” We made it but it was close. The People Did you know that the top ten 2006 trackchasers have seen about 70% of all the new tracks reported by the 41 people reporting tracks this year? Those ten trackchasers have seen more than 800 tracks. You might think we would be running into each other like crazy. Nope! In reality, I rarely run into someone at a track that I was not expecting to see. This is my 140th new track of the season. Other noted trackchasers at today’s event included Ed Esser, Roger Ferrell, Bing Metz and Paul WeiseI. This was Wisconsinite Ed Esser’s 102nd new track of 2006. It was Paul Weisel’s 85th, Roger Ferrell’s 68th and Bing Metz’ 45th track for this year. When I combine my total with these four trackchasers, we have seen 440 new tracks in 2006. How many times do you think I have been to the same track on the same night and were surprised to see one of these trackchasers? Just twice! Out of 440 track visits this year, there have been only two (Auburndale, Florida and Grand Bay, Alabama) times where I ran into Ed unexpectedly. I’ve also met up with him in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin and Altus, Oklahoma but I expected him to be there in advance. To my knowledge, I have not been at any tracks with the other three this year. When I visit a new track, more often than not, I have an interview with the track announcer or the announcer makes some mention of my visit. I have met Paul Weisel only one time previously. That was in Australia. How did he know I was there? He heard my interview with the track announcer. I know that Ed has learned of my attendance, in the same manner, many times before. These four trackchasers were not the only celebrities in the audience. Our track visit tonight was within 50 miles of Missouri’s capital, Jefferson City. Our good friends, the Heineman’s are from “Jeff City.” We met Bud and Florene on a trip to China about eight years ago. We’ve stayed in touch and I’ve been their houseguest a couple of times. Each time, I’ve been cruising past the Heineman house, Carol has not been on the trip. I think they thought I had killed her since I never had her with me on previous Missouri visits. This was her first time to reunite with Bud and Florene since our visit to China. Bud and Florene are race fans. As lifelong Missourians, their home track was the Capital Speedway in Jefferson City. They are huge University of Missouri sports fans as well and go to all of the Tiger football and basketball games. It was great having lunch with them and watching the indoor races. Bud has always been a big fan of my Trackchaser Reports. He tells me he reads it from beginning to end. He told me that since he doesn’t travel that much anymore, “I travel through you, Randy.” Those are nice words to hear. Bud and Florene, it was great seeing you and we’ll be down to the Double X Speedway one of these days. Also, Bud thanks for the Richard Petty DVD. That’s a great gift! As I mentioned there were several trackchasers in attendance today. I might have expected that and I did. Heck, it’s the middle of December with snow on the ground. There’s the chance to get two tracks in one day. I actually expected more trackchasers to take advantage of this offer. I’ll take a moment to tell you about each of the trackchasers that Carol and I ran into. First on the agenda was Roger Ferrell. Roger trackchases out of Majenica, Indiana. That’s up by Ft. Wayne. He is often accompanied by his wife, Brenda, who has more than 300 tracks herself. Although I have not seen Roger since September of 2005, it’s always good to run into him. I love asking Roger his opinion on different trackchasing matters. I must tell you he is an “I didn’t see nothin’, I didn’t hear nothin’ and I don’t know nothin’” kind of guy. However, if you listen closely, you will soon understand that the persona he presents is not accurate. I will tell you this. I wouldn’t want to play poker with this fellow. I did ask Roger who he was pulling for in the battle for worldwide trackchasing supremacy. Although I cannot reveal what Roger told me, for his own personal safety, his answers would surprise people. I think Roger was most fond of meeting Carol for the first time. Most trackchasers are! They seemed to hit it off. Roger said something to the effect to Carol, “I heard you were quiet. You’re not quiet.” Yes, they seemed to hit it off well. That made me feel comfortable leaving Carol in the capable protection of Roger while I went off to do my media work. By the way, my trackchaser interview was supplemented with my picture being taken with the three Hooters girls in attendance. When the driver’s meeting began on Sunday afternoon, I invited Carol, Bud and Florene to join me in the pit area to see and hear what type of direction was being given to the drivers. While we hung around that meeting, we could get a close up look at the racecars themselves. We were going about our business when I heard and saw a gruff-voiced and stern-looking man, yell something at me. I turned around and asked him to repeat himself. He yelled again, “You got a pit pass?” Dang! I was busted. I did not have a pit pass. I instantly felt bad for my three guests. I’ve been kicked out of better places than the Boone County Fairgrounds pit area, but I knew they wouldn’t feel good about being kicked out. Just as I was about to go into my “No, I don’t have a pit pass, but I have a good reason for being here,” sob story, the stern-looking man broke into a big smile and introduced himself as Paul Weisel. I glanced down the read the name “Paul” on his black racing jacket. Paul Weisel in one of the foremost trackchasers in the world at this time. He is currently ranked fifth in the 2006 standings. Carol and I met Paul briefly at the Western Speedway in Hamilton, Victoria, Australia on New Year’s Eve, 2004. He’s from Orefield, Pennsylvania. To say that we trackchasers get around would be an understatement. Paul has had a lifetime involvement in racing but, mostly, not as a trackchaser. His career includes driving both midgets and stock cars around the northeastern tracks from the late 60s until the mid-80s. Today, he continues to make a living in racing by being a race tire distributor and a dealer for Humpy Wheeler legends cars. Paul tells me that pretty much a complete legends setup goes for $12,900. If I wasn’t busy trackchasing, I just might buy one of those. Paul, sorry I didn’t recognize you and it was great visiting with you. I must make one more comment about Mr. Weisel. I am glad to see a few silver strands of hair on his head. That means, his age isn’t too far from mine. Paul is willing to get on an airplane to go trackchasing. The only folks who will ever catch me in the worldwide trackchasing standings are going to have to make the airplane their friend. Fortunately, for me, Paul is 500 tracks behind my total. If he were any younger or any closer in tracks seen, I might have a real battle on my hands. Bing Metz (above right) is another new trackchaser who has come onto the scene in the last couple of years. He and Paul (above left) travel the country together. I didn’t get much chance to talk with Bing. He did mention that I was “raising the bar” for my fellow trackchasers from a competition point of view. Bing, I’ll look forward to seeing you at some future races. It was nice to meet you. Finally, I’ll make mention of my fellow competitor, Ed Esser. Ed always enjoys seeing Carol and me. O.K., he really enjoys seeing Carol and I don’t blame him for that. February 10, 2006 – Ed celebrates my 1,000th track with Carol and me in Auburndale, Florida. Ed came down to sit in our section for a few minutes while he ate his lunch. Bud was most pleased to meet Ed (pictured above earlier in 2006), since he has read about him in these pages so often. Ed said this to me, “I’ve never seen you wearing blue jeans. I didn’t think you owned a pair.” My reply was simple. “I rented them. You can rent blue jeans from formal wear shops. They use them for country weddings.” Ed had made the seven-hour drive from Madison, Wisconsin to Columbia. He was seeing his 101st and 102nd tracks for the year. He was now only two tracks behind Mike Knappenberger. Time is running out. I believe Mike has a couple of more 2006 tracks on his radar screen for the year. Ed’s going to have to really hustle if he wants to finish in second place for the third consecutive year. My final people contact was Greg Clemmons, the track promoter. Last week, I spent several minutes talking with Greg on the phone. He’s a local promoter who wants to bring back the fun in his local events without the huge expense that many times comes along with today’s racing. Greg is also fascinated with the trackchasers he’s met. He thinks we’re nuts! Nevertheless, he’s more than willing to give out information to help us wherever he can. He did his best to put on a good show for the fans. Sunday turned out much better than Saturday. Trackchasing for me is always fun. I’ve heard some trackchasers say that trackchasing isn’t as much fun as it used to be. I don’t really understand that comment at all. I’ve always maintained that trackchasing is like golf. In golf, you play against the course, not against other people. If you hit it in the woods, you have no one to blame but yourself. If someone else hits in the woods, what effect does that have on you? If you can’t have a good time, don’t blame others, blame yourself. That’s the way trackchasing is as well. You decide where you want to go. If some other trackchaser decides to go to Timbuktu, what effect does that have on me? If I decide to go to Timbuktu, what effect does that have on anyone else? Trackchasing is an individual hobby. If someone beats you in an individual ranking, congratulate them. If someone is playing by the rules and you don’t like the rules, don’t criticize the trackchaser, change the rules. After it’s over we total up the results and those who want to make a comparison between themselves and anyone else can do so. What’s so hard about that? RACE TRACK STATS: BOONE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – OVAL TRACK #1,130 – 12/9/06 & FIGURE 8 TRACK #1,131 – 12/10/06 These Missouri tracks were my 28th and 29th-lifetime tracks in the Show Me state. These two tracks move me past Allan Brown and into sixth place in the state rankings. That’s good for one more lifetime NGD point. Ed Esser, who was also here tonight, leads the state with 51 tracks. These were Carol’s third and fourth Missouri tracks. She hadn’t even made a Missouri trackchasing visit until June 24 of this year. Despite a slow Missouri start, she has moved up from a tie for 37th place to a tie for 31st place with Dwight Bucks among others. RACE TRACK NEWS: BOONE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS (OVAL & FIGURE 8) The racing at the Boone County Fairgrounds would be contested over a two-day period. On Saturday night, they would race on the oval only. On Sunday afternoon, the plan was to race on their oval and figure 8 tracks. We landed in St. Louis at 3 p.m. on Saturday. We were just 111 miles from the track. Hot laps were scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. with racing to follow at 6 p.m. I figured, if our flights were not delayed, we would be able to get to the track by the scheduled start time. We really didn’t even have to go tonight as we could get both of their tracks (oval & figure 8) on Sunday. However, I’m a “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” guy. If we saw the oval track race on Saturday, we would be partially protected against any type of last-minute Sunday cancellation. In case you have not noticed, I am always thinking trackchasing strategy. The race program on Saturday was poor. Before I tell you about that let me describe the facility. The Boone County Fairgrounds is located on the north side of Columbia, Missouri. This weekend’s racing will take place in an indoor arena. Sometimes these arenas are heated and sometimes they are not. We were in luck; the Boone County Fairgrounds arena was heated to a temperature of about 60 degrees. Carol still wore her gloves. The one-tenth mile oval had a flat dirt-racing surface. The facility also had a permanent concrete retaining wall with a 6-8 foot wire catch fence. The pit area was all indoors. The racecars were pitted adjacent to the front straight and backstretch of the racetrack. Spectators sat on five-row high aluminum bleachers on the backstretch and around turns one and two. There was also balcony seating, which offered the best view, overlooking turns one and two. The announcers talked continuously, but unfortunately, the P.A. system was garbled, making most of the information provided unintelligible. Saturday night’s racing was poor at best. The classes racing included a couple of kid’s winged go-kart classes as well as trackchasing countable classes of 500cc outlaw karts and micro midgets. The micro midgets looked to be very near the size of a regular racing midget. We arrived at nearly 6 p.m. They were not starting their first heat race, they were time trialing. I had talked to the promoter, Greg Clemmons about the race schedule. He had not said anything about time trials. Time trials are something I go out of my way to avoid. However, some folks, mainly promoters, consider time trials as part of the racing program. Trackchasers do not consider time trials to be countable and therefore avoid them whenever possible. After a good amount of single car, single-lap qualifying that chore was finished. We then started in with heat races for the kid’s classes. It was not until 8:05 p.m. that the first countable event of the night took to the track. This was the 500cc Outlaw Kart class. They had two heats for their 15-kart class. I saw many of these racers during my indoor visit to the Wichita area last month. The outlaw karts, just like the kid’s classes had a spin about every other lap. This obviously delayed the program. The micro midgets were up next. They had three heats and about 21 cars. They spun on most laps as well, further delaying the program. One car even flipped causing a red flag to be displayed. At 9:45 p.m., some three hours and 45 minutes after the scheduled start time, we had seen our two countable classes run five-car heat races. After being at the track for nearly four hours, I decided we had gotten our money’s worth. We chatted with Roger in the building’s foyer for about 20 minutes and headed for our La Quinta Resort. I explained the intricacies of my airline sponsorship deal to him. I was hoping the stock cars would be better tomorrow. Thankfully, they were. By the way, Roger stayed for the balance of the program. He had the most unique reason. Roger’s overnight lodging was going to be in his Ford mini-van. With overnight temperatures hitting the 20s, Roger said, “It’s better to stay in the arena than go to my mini-van any earlier than I have too.” Good point. Roger reported the racing program concluded at 15 minutes past midnight, more than six hours after the scheduled start time! Sunday’s program was scheduled to have hot laps at 2 p.m. and racing at 3 p.m. I was really scared we would get another clunker of a program when our guests, Bud and Florene joined us. Recall, they met me this summer at the Lake Ozark Speedway for a program that had a caution flag for nearly every lap of the heat race program. I am pleased to report that today’s program was MUCH better. There were just three classes racing today. The micro midgets were running their feature from last night. Last night’s track surface was dry and slick. That caused the many spinouts and caution flags. Today’s racing surface was “heavy.” That means it was wet and muddy. The midgets got a much better grip on this racing surface and ran their races with few caution flags. The midgets ran a heat race and a 20-lap feature. Next up were the hobby stocks, a four-cylinder stock car division. These were simple down-home cars that didn’t spin too much and didn’t mind running into each other on occasion. They were actually pretty entertaining. The finish for the 20-lap main event might have been the best I’ve seen in the 140 tracks I’ve been to this year. The two lead cars were beating and banging coming out of the fourth turn as they raced side-by-side. Each was turning their steering wheel into the other driver’s car with the accelerator to the floor. As they crossed the finished line, it was hard to tell who won the race. It also looked like they might both go through the first turn wall because their finish line speed was so great. It was a fantastic finish. When the oval cars were finished, the track went to intermission and a CAT road grader came into the arena. The grader would be used to cut an “X” into the 2-3’ tall berm that made up the oval’s infield. During the oval races, track officials had stood on the berm in relative safety. The grader came onto the track at 4:55 p.m. and took about 30 minutes to do its work. We trackchasers spent the time telling tales until the figure 8 race was ready to begin. This final event of the weekend was a 20-lap, 9-car figure 8 race. The other trackchasers had some very long drives ahead of them. The figure 8 race started at nearly 6 p.m. Roger Ferrell had to drive some seven hours home. He would lose an extra hour because he lives in the Eastern Time zone. Ed Esser’s drive back to Madison was about seven hours. Finally, Pennsylvanians, Paul Weisel and Bing Metz were looking at a 13-hour, 1,050 tow. I knew it was getting late for these boys. Midway in the afternoon, I made this offer to them. “I know it’s getting late. If you guys want to leave now, I will send pictures of the figure 8 race and you’ll still be able to see what the race was like and get home at a more reasonable hour.” Of course, none of these trackchasers was dumb enough to fall for this trick. They stayed for the figure 8 finale before heading to their far-flung destinations. Their plight made me feel sorry for their long-distance trips….. but not for long. Carol and I motored back to St. Louis after having a leisurely eaten Chinese dinner. We got up at a reasonable hour and flew onto Chicago and then Los Angeles. Gosh, I like this retirement lifestyle. WEATHER CONDITIONS We were really surprised by all of the snow on the ground. A major snowstorm hit the area almost 10 days ago. There are still snow piles nearly 10 feet tall in some store parking lots. The daytime temps were in the low 50s and in the 30s at night. We weren’t outside long enough for the cold weather to be an issue. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: I picked out a National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix with a leather interior and XM radio. That fit the bill quite well for our short trip. Saturday total driving miles – 141 Sunday total driving miles – 114 Monday total driving yards – 233 The driving portion of the St. Louis based trip covered 255 miles. A quick fuel stop near the airport on the way back to the Lambert International Airport had me paying an average price of $2.24 per gallon. The Pontiac Grand Prix gave me 21.5 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 10.5 cents per mile. The car cost 20.3 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total. * Warning, you are within 50 tracks of being removed from this list. ** Special exemption. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS 10.Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 56 Tracks have been reported from 41 different worldwide trackchasers this season. LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS 2006 (current thru 10/29/06)** **Lifetime NGD results could be affected by current track counting proposals Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis #1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi Don’t go trackchasing with a stranger until he becomes your friend. CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES: AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – Denver, CO – 860 miles Denver, CO – St. Louis, MO – 768 miles RENTAL CAR – ST. LOUIS, MO Lambert International Airport – trip begins Columbia, MO – 111 miles (first time) Columbia, MO – 141 miles (second time) Lambert International Airport – 255 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE St. Louis, MO – Chicago, IL – 258 miles Chicago, IL – Los Angeles, CA – 1,740 miles Total Air miles – 3,116 miles Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 3,371 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Boone County Fairgrounds (oval) – $8 Boone County Fairgrounds (figure 8) – $8 Total racetrack admissions – $16 UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS This was my second week of December trackchasing. Just three more to go and the season is a wrap. RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2006 (** not the first time to visit this track) 1,000. Auburndale Kartway, Auburndale, Florida – February 10 1,001. Ocala Speedway (asphalt oval), Ocala, Florida – February 12 1,002. Speedworld Speedway, Surprise, Arizona – February 19 1,003. Lowe’s Motor Speedway (1/5 mile asphalt oval), Concord, North Carolina – February 25 1,004. Concord Raceway, Concord, North Carolina – February 25 1,005. Antioch Speedway, Antioch, North Carolina – February 25 1,006. Green Valley Speedway, Gadsden, Alabama – February 26 1,007. East Bay Raceway (inner oval), Gibsonton, Florida – March 17 1,008. Volusia Speedway Park West (1/6M oval), Barberville, Florida – March 18 1,009. Speedway Park, Fruitland Park, Florida – March 18 1,010. Sand Mountain Speedway (road course), Fort Meade, Florida – March 19 1,011. Anderson Motor Speedway, Anderson, South Carolina – March 31 1,012. Westminster Speedway, Westminster, South Carolina – March 31 1,013. East Lincoln Motor Speedway, Stanley, North Carolina – April 1 1,014. Margarettsville Speedway, Margarettsville, North Carolina – April 2 1,015. Sunny South Raceway, Grand Bay, Alabama – April 7 1,016. Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama – April 8 1,017. Coldwater Raceway, Coldwater, Alabama – April 8 1,018. Talladega Short Track, Talladega, Alabama – April 8 1,019. Ballymena Raceway, Ballymena, Northern Ireland – April 14 1,020. Oulton Park, Little Budworth, England – April 15 1,021. Somerset Rebels Banger Raceway, Rooks Bridge, England – April 16 1,022. Mendips Raceway, Shipham, England – April 16 1,023. Oval Raceway, Angmering, England – April 17 1,024. Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne, England – April 17 1,025. Southside Speedway, Midlothian, Virginia – April 28 1,026. Motor Mile Speedway, Radford, Virginia – April 29 1,027. Wythe Speedway, Wytheville, Virginia – April 29 1,028. Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point Circuit, Summit Point, West Virginia – April 30 1,029. Old Dominion Speedway – inner inner oval, Manassas, Virginia – April 30 1,030. Shenandoah Speedway, Shenandoah, Virginia – May 4 1,031. Bridgeport Speedway (inner oval – front), Bridgeport, New Jersey – May 5 1,032. Empty Jug, Hawley, Pennsylvania – May 6 1,033. Oakland Valley Race Park, Cuddebackville, New York – May 6 1,034. Thunder Mountain Speedway, Center Isle, New York – May 6 1,035. Motocross 338, Southwick, Massachusetts – May 7 1,036. Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, Fultonville, New York – May 7 1,037. Calumet County Speedway, Chilton, Wisconsin – May 19 1,038. Grant County Speedway, Lancaster, Wisconsin – May 20 1,039. Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Rockton, Illinois – May 21 1,040. The Milwaukee Mile (Road course), West Allis, Wisconsin – May 21 ** Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – May 21 (new track Carol only) 1,041. Park Jefferson Speedway, Jefferson, South Dakota – May 25 1,042. Superior Speedway, Superior, Wisconsin – May 26 1,043. Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minnesota – May 27 1,044. Canby Speedway, Canby, Minnesota – May 27 1,045. Crawford County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Denison, Iowa – May 28 1,046. Tri-State Speedway, Sisseton, South Dakota – May 29 1,047. Sheyenne River Speedway, Lisbon, North Dakota – May 29 1,048. Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, Pahrump, Nevada – June 3 1,049. The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada – June 3 1,050. Hibbing Raceway, Hibbing, Minnesota – June 6 1,051. Buena Vista Raceway, Alta, Iowa – June 7 1,052. Lebanon Midway Speedway, Lebanon, Missouri – June 8 1,053. Rocky Top Raceway, Coal Grove, Ohio – June 9 1,054. Midvale Speedway (oval), Midvale, Ohio – June 10 1,055. Midvale Speedway (figure 8), Midvale, Ohio – June 10 1,056. Spring Valley Raceway, Millport, Ohio – June 11 1,057. Rialto Airport Speedway, Rialto, California – June 17 1,058. Lawrenceburg Speedway (figure 8), Lawrenceburg, Indiana – June 20 1,059. Lawrenceburg Speedway (temporary oval), Lawrenceburg, Indiana – June 20 1,060. Thunder Mountain Speedway, Knox Dale, Pennsylvania – June 21 1,061. State Park Speedway, Wausau, Wisconsin – June 22 1,062. Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin – June 23 1,063. Lucas Oil Speedway (oval), Wheatland, Missouri – June 24 1,064. Lucas Oil Speedway (figure 8), Wheatland, Missouri – June 24 1,065. Tri-City Speedway, Pontoon Beach, Illinois – June 25 1,066. Lake Ozark Speedway, Eldon, Missouri – June 29 1,067. Poplar Bluff Speedway, Poplar Bluff, Missouri – June 30 1,068. Indianapolis Motor Speedway (road course), Indianapolis, Indiana – July 1 1,069. Rush County Fairgrounds, Rushville, Indiana – July 1 1,070. Rock Castle Speedway, Mount Vernon, Kentucky – July 2 ** Windy Hollow Speedway (oval), Owensboro, Kentucky – July 2 1,071. Heartland Park Topeka (dirt oval), Topeka, Kansas – July 3 1,072. Thunderhill Speedway, Mayetta, Kansas – July 3 1,073. Little Valley Speedway, Little Valley, New York – July 13 ** Twin State Speedway (oval), Claremont, New Hampshire – July 14 1,074. Twin State Speedway (figure 8), Claremont, New Hampshire – July 14 1,075. Canaan Speedway (asphalt oval), Canaan, New Hampshire – July 14 ** New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire – July 15 1,076. White Mountain Motorsports Park, North Woodstock, New Hampshire – July 15 1,077. Legion Speedway, Wentworth, New Hampshire – July 15 1,078. Devil’s Bowl Speedway, Fair Haven, Vermont – July 16 1,079. Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, Connecticut – July 17 1,080. Little Log House Speedway, Hastings, Minnesota – July 28 ** Elko Speedway (outer oval), Elko, Minnesota – July 28 ** Elko Speedway (inner oval), Elko, Minnesota – July 28 ** Elko Speedway (figure 8), Elko, Minnesota – July 28 1,081. Chickasaw Big Four County Fairgrounds, Nashua, Iowa – July 29 1,082. Buffalo River Speedway, Glyndon, Minnesota – July 30 1,083. Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, Utah, – August 4 1,084. Atomic Motor Raceway, Atomic City, Idaho – August 4 1,085. Mission Valley Speedway, Polson, Montana – August 5 1,086. Rock Creek Race Track, Kimberly, Idaho – August 6 1,087. Stevens County Fairgrounds, Morris, Minnesota – August 9 1,088. Norman County Raceway, Ada, Minnesota – August 10 1,089. Miller Speedway, Miller, South Dakota – August 11 1,090. Gimli Motorsports Park, Gimli, Manitoba, Ontario, Canada – August 13 1,091. Bemidji Speedway, Bemidji, Minnesota – August 13 1,092. Dayton Fair (figure 8), Dayton, Pennsylvania – August 14 1,093. Holmes County Fairgrounds, Millersburg, Ohio – August 15 1,094. Lawrence County Fairgrounds, New Castle, Pennsylvania – August 16 1,095. Armada County Fairgrounds, Armada, Michigan – August 17 1,096. Spencer Speedway, Williamson, New York – August 18 1,097. Yates County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Penn Yan, New York, – August 19 1,098. Tillsonburg County Fairgrounds, Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada – August 20 1,099. Marshfield Fair, Marshfield, Massachusetts – August 21 1,100. Cambridge Fair, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada – September 9 1,101. Georgetown Fair, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada – September 9 1,102. Oakwood Fair, Oakwood, Ontario, Canada – September 10 1,103. Western Fair, London, Ontario, Canada – September 10 1,104. Rice Lake Speedway, Rice Lake, Wisconsin – September 14 1,105. Iowa Speedway (oval), Newton, Iowa – September 15 1,106. Harrison County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Missouri Valley, Iowa – September 16 1,107. Calhoun County Raceway (oval), Rockwell City, Iowa – September 16 1,108. Hutchinson Raceway Park, Hutchinson, Kansas – September 22 1,109. Dodge City Raceway Park (outer oval), Dodge City, Kansas – September 23 1,110. Dodge City Raceway Park (inner oval), Dodge City, Kansas – September 23 1,111. Enid Motor Speedway, Enid, Oklahoma – September 24 1,112. Desert Thunder Raceway, Price, Utah – September 30 1,113. Norfolk County Fairgrounds, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada – October 4 1,114. La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway (inner oval), La Crosse, Wisconsin – October 5 1,115. Londonderry Raceway, Manchester, New Hampshire – October 8 1,116. Hudson Speedway, Hudson, New Hampshire – October 8 1,117. Topsfield Fairgrounds Arena, Topsfield, Massachusetts – October 9 1,118. Cricket Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina – October 11 1,119. Gordon Park Speedway, Groveton, Georgia – October 13 1,120. I-20 Kartway, Batesburg, South Carolina – October 14 1,121. Hemi Speedway, Mount Croghan, South Carolina – October 15 ** Bakersfield Raceway Park, Linton, Indiana – October 20 (new track Carol only) 1,122. South Georgia Motorsports Park, Cecil, Georgia – October 25 1,123. Altus Speedway, Altus, Oklahoma – October 29 1,124. Riverside Raceway Park, Mayodan, North Carolina – November 3 1,125. Hickory Motor Speedway, Hickory, North Carolina – November 4 1,126. Delaware International Speedway, Delmar, Delaware – November 5 ** Willow Springs International Raceway, Rosamond, California – November 12 (new track Carol only) 1,127. Kansas Coliseum-Arena Building, Valley Center, Kansas – November 18 1,128. Mercedes Benz of Sugar Land Road Course, Angleton, Texas – November 19 1,129. OCR Action Sport Park, Rougemont, North Carolina – December 3 1,130. Boone County Fairgrounds (oval), Columbia, Missouri – December 9 ** Boone County Fairgrounds (oval), Columbia, Missouri – December 10 1,131. Boone County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Columbia, Missouri – December 10 Official end of RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report 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. Boone County Fairgrounds – meeting up with old and new friends 
