Greetings from Logan, Utah
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Cache County Fairgrounds Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,627 THE EVENT Editor’s note: For some reason, I get the biggest kick out of trackchasing in the 13 far western states. I don’t know exactly why that would be. Maybe it’s because there aren’t very many racetracks in these locales compared to the Midwest and the east. Maybe it’s because my fellow trackchasing competitors rarely get out this way. Whatever it is seeing a “far west” racetrack is always a special treat for me. I AM A TRACKCHASER. Are you new to the hobby of trackchasing? If so, let me give you just a little bit of background. Before I go any further I will tell you that a lot of people get pretty enthused about what I’ve been doing with trackchasing. I will offer this warning. If you try it yourself it could become addictive. My name is Randy Lewis (above with my Tunisian racing buddy Slim Ab). 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. Trackchasing is a “collecting” hobby. Trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. It’s really not all that much different than when you were a kid and you collected stamps or beer cans or bottle caps. Trackchasing is all about visiting new auto racing tracks for the very first time. Believe it or not, trackchasing has “rules“ as to what kind of racetrack and race car and race driver count toward your lifetime totals and which ones would not. I’ll try to oversimplify the rules situation for you. Trackchasers are allowed to count racing cars and trucks that compete on oval, road course and Figure 8 configurations. Any class that is racing, in order to count, must be open to racers 18 years of age or older. This means that trackchasers cannot count racing down exclusively by kids. There are also various motorsports events and classes of cars that do not count. Trackchasers do not count drag racing, demolition derbies, motorcycle racing or boat racing. Just cars and trucks on ovals, road course and figure 8 tracks. Trackchasing does not allow the counting of flat go-kart racing either. Remember, I didn’t set up these rules. I only count by them. The rules were set up in the 1990s by a group of white men who primarily hung out in Pennsylvania. I don’t know that any of them had ever seen any racing on a road course or figure 8 track or maybe even a drag race, with a few exceptions, when the rules were established. There is one good thing about having a common set of rules. It allows each trackchaser to compare his or her list to the next trackchaser. Trackchasers like to do that. In addition to the racing part of trackchasing for me, I really enjoy seeing the local sights and sounds of whatever area I am visiting. I called these “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. If you go to my website at www.randylewis.org and click on the Trackchasing Tourist Attractions tab you’ll see where I’ve been all over the world. Here’s a link to that tab. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions I also really enjoy the logistical part of the hobby. I have been retired for nearly 20 years. During that time I have not earned a single dime of work income. That means I have to manage my money pretty closely enable in order to be able to do what I do. Logistically I have to handle seven different categories of trackchasing expenses. Those expenses include airplanes, rental cars, hotels, airport parking, gasoline, food and race tickets. As an example, you can just imagine what traveling from Southern California out to the Midwest for four days of racing would cost. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles. I’ll stay in hotels 150-200 nights a year, rent 50-75 rental cars every year and buy a full tank of fuel about 100 days a year just for trackchasing. After each and every event that I attend I post a YouTube video, a SmugMug photo album and a very detailed Trackchaser Report about the experience. My stories are not just about what happened at the track but about my visit to the area and what exactly it took to make the trip happen. That’s where the racing, the touring and the logistical challenges come from. I told you that trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. Trackchasing is ultra-competitive as well. Lots of people don’t recognize that when they are initially exposed to this hobby. Trackchasing has had all of the political drama, cheating, accusing people of cheating and other aspects of poor personal behavior that any other competitive activity might have. This is why I am NOT a member of any organized trackchasing group. The management of these groups has been so poor over the years these groups are not something I want to be associated with whatsoever. As this is written I have seen racing in 85 different countries at more than 2,650 racetracks. During all this time I have never tried to benefit financially from my hobby. This is despite being interviewed by hundreds of track announcers, newspaper reporters and radio and TV outlets as well as doing a TV pilot. I’m a volunteer. I do this 100% for the fun of it. Because I have seen racing in 85 countries at this point I am considered the World’s #1 Trackchaser. That’s good enough for me. Now I encourage you to drop down a few spaces and read about trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on today just think about the idea that I’ve done this more than 2,600 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to that hobby of trackchasing. Yes, 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, July 18, 2020. Last night I trackchased in Nashua, Iowa. Following those races I made a three-hour drive up to Minneapolis. I would venture to guess I go into and out of Minneapolis maybe more than any other city in the United States pursuing my hobby. I often stay at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel near the airport. I can confidently tell you that the environment around that hotel in the middle of July is much different than during the middle of January when I am up in Minnesota for ice racing. Minnesota has been a great source of ice racing for me. It gets cold early up there and it stays cold. SATURDAY This morning I had a leisurely flight from Minneapolis to Salt Lake City, Utah. I did have other options for trackchasing in the Midwest. However, I really enjoy trackchasing in my home “13 far western states” of which Utah resides. Earlier in my flying trackchasing career, I was in and out of Salt Lake City quite a bit. With the coronavirus, the passenger traffic at SLC is dramatically reduced. As a matter of fact the airport had an entire terminal closed. Today I had some extra time. That allowed me to do a little power walking. I got in an extra 2-3 miles inside the SLC airport. I must repeat as I have repeated often. The National Car Rental location in Salt Lake City, Utah is the worst by far of any National location I have ever rented from. Today I had major problems in every aspect of my car rental experience. Finally, when the National manager interrupted the agent, who was trying to help me, for about the third time I just couldn’t take it any longer. I yelled out my displeasure. I asked how many more interruptions he was going to make during the course of my rental which had already taken nearly 30 minutes to be consummated. At that point, the manager was most apologetic and made a hasty exit and never returned. The someone inexperienced agent was a little flustered seeing his boss taken down. The agent told me he was having a bad day too. He said that he had lost $400 that morning. Well, I guess I should feel bad for him. On the other hand, you would never find me carrying $400 at any point in my life unless I was trying to secure a huge cash discount during the building of my home but then that’s another story. Then I began to wonder. Are National Car Rental agents trained to offer up the “I lost $400 this morning” option to try to distract and dissuade an irate customer? Naw, that was just too much conspiracy thinking and I don’t believe in any conspiracy thinking. Finally, I did get a Ford Fusion from National Car Rental in Salt Lake City. That’s not my favorite car. I can barely get in and out of it it’s so tight. However, I would only be driving a couple of hundred miles on this trip so I guessed I could get through it. Maybe I should have been thankful. Up until a year or so ago National-SLC only rented GM products because they were owned privately by a GM dealer. It was going to be a relatively short 80-mile one-way drive from Salt Lake City north to Logan, Utah. Carol and I had been in Logan many years ago when we followed the University of California – Irvine Anteaters basketball team. We used to fly all over the West going to those UCI games and saw them when they played in Logan against Utah State University. The scenery in the far west is like no other. You won’t want to miss the pictures from my SmugMug photo album. The scenery and the view was gorgeous. Tonight I will be seeing my 16th-lifetime track in the state of Utah. My next leading fellow competitor in the Beehive state has seen only eleven tracks here. I always like to maintain an advantage like that. I would be seeing my first ever “trash car” racing in the state of Utah. Trash car racing in Utah is pretty much like “autocross or bump n run” racing everywhere else. Autocross racing is popular all across America. Michigan probably does it best. They have three different promoters who are very active during the summer although they have been curtailed by COVID-19 this summer. As I mentioned autocross racing or junk car racing or bump and run racing is for drivers with crudely assembled junk cars! These machines probably don’t cost more than a couple of hundred dollars to put on the track. Because their cars are so cheap the numbers of cars in the field are greater than you would find at a traditional stock car track. These events attract younger spectators. Think “date nights for young folks. These spectators enjoy seeing all of the full contact this form of competition provides. Oftentimes the “traditional” race enthusiast doesn’t think much of junk car racing. Tonight there was a good crowd on hand at the Cache County Fairgrounds. Whenever I come to Utah I always see all kinds of children in the airport. Mormons are the dominant religion in Salt Lake City and they seem to have large families. I would say the majority of the crowd in the stands tonight was probably in the 16-30-year-old group. Lots of families. The racing was done on a heavily watered fifth-mile oval. The track was extremely narrow. There wasn’t much room. Only two cars could race side-by-side at one time. They had a couple of heat heats for the six cylinders and about four heats for the four cylinders. Again four-cylinders are probably cheaper to race than the more powerful cars. Cheaper means more cars racing. There was a tremendous amount of contact all evening. With the track being so wet the car actually slid into the dirt bank retaining wall all by themselves. After the races, I had a nice Sheraton hotel to spend the night in Salt Lake City. I had gotten a great deal using Priceline.com for this hotel. When I use Priceline I pay in advance and the deal is non-refundable. Then when I check out I’m already “paid for” and simply leave the property. However, for some unknown reason, the Sheraton decided to charge my credit card about $48. This wasn’t the cost of my room. It was just, to me, a random number. It took me about three weeks and two calls to the manager to get this charge reversed. In situations like this I never give up. Once I was back home I stopped in to visit J.J. and Dustin on the way back to San Clemente. We got some food to go from a hole in the wall Mexican place and enjoyed some time together. The next morning I was out at the beach for my almost daily power walk. Then it was chocolate chip cookie time with vanilla ice cream as a reward for successfully completing this trip. Daughter Kristy and our grandkids Mitch and Astrid as well as their friend Laura and her kids Aurora and Elanor stopped by San Clemente for a couple of days. They are in the midst of a 48-state, 61-day driving tour all over the country. This was the third time we were able to see them during the trip (Michigan and Minnesota previously). Yes, we Lewis folks are travelers. Good evening from Logan, Utah. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,627 tracks. Utah The Bee Hive State This evening I saw racing at my 16th-lifetime track in the Bee Hive State, yes, the Bee Hive State. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in Utah. Utah only ranks #38, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Utah state trackchasing list. I have made 13 separate trips to Utah seeing these tracks. 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 Utah sayings: Utah: Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus I live my life by these lyrics……. JUST THE 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 760 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries My nearest trackchasing competitor, a native of Belgium, has seen racing in more than 30 fewer countries compared to 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. 
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music with my friends
On the road again
Seein’ things that I may never see again
On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
Is on the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
