Greetings from Tucson, Arizona
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Tucson Kart Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #2,671 THE EVENT Editor’s note: I couldn’t do my trackchasing hobby very well if I didn’t have help from the promoters and drivers at the tracks I want to visit. Today I got a lot of that valuable help from the folks who run and race at the Tucson Kart Speedway. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above during trackchasing visit to Argentina with Jerry Fisher). I live in a modest seaside cottage in 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 for me is all about three things. First, I’m interested in seeing an auto race. Secondly, I want to take some time to see the local attractions of wherever I might be visiting. Finally, I want to create a logistical plan that allows me to accomplish the two points mentioned above without depleting my retirement account. That’s trackchasing for me. Am I truly serious about trackchasing? I think so. I’ve seen an auto race in 85 countries at more than 2,660 different tracks. Does that sound serious to you? I’ve been able to see the world doing this. If you’re interested in exactly what I’ve been able to experience all around the U.S. and the world I recommend you click on this link. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions Trackchasing can be an expensive hobby. One of my fellow competitors was said, “When Randy stops trackchasing we know he will have run out of money”. Folks, I have been retired for nearly 20 years and have not earned a single dime working. I’m still 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 on my website at www.randylewis.org. I guess people find what I share interesting. My website gets more than 20,000 views every month. 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 today’s trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on at this track just think about the idea that I’ve done this more than 2,600 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. If you’re interested in looking back and seeing where I’ve been the following link is for you. 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, December 5, 2020. I’ve been wanting to see some “trackchasing countable” racing at the Tucson Kart Speedway for more than 20 years. Why hadn’t I come to this track sooner? Rules! If you have read very many of my Trackchaser Reports you know that I am not all that happy with trackchasing’s founding fathers. Yes I am pleased they came up with the hobby. Trackchasing has given me something to do in retirement. However, the rules these characters came up with are horrendous. First, they outlawed flat kart racing. Then they outlawed racing conducted by “kids”. Those are two big mistakes in my opinion. Tucson Kart Speedway has had very little trackchasing countable racing over the years. They race flat karts. Trackchasing’s founding fathers turned thumbs down on flat karts. However, a new group has formed in Arizona over the past couple of years. They are the AZ Champ Karts. I love their logo (above). They have about 20 cars and drivers that are racing at several locations in and around Phoenix and Tucson. It was the AZ Champ Karts that brought me nearly 1,000 miles round-trip to the Tucson Kart Speedway on this December afternoon. However, this would not be a simple trip. Very few of my trackchasing adventures are simple. That’s why I do this! The Covid pandemic is raging right now. Almost every day the death count sets a new record since the pandemic was officially tracked in the United States in mid-March. As this is written more than 280,000 people have died from COVID-19. It’s not the freaking flu! It’s not or at least it shouldn’t be a freaking political thing. I was getting some good updates from the track and the folks from AZ Champ Karts. I spoke with Chance, the track promoter. Nice guy. He told me he didn’t know the first thing about racing but because his five-year-old son was interested in racing karts he became the track promoter. We need more guys like that. During my conversation with Chance, I had the unenviable task of telling him that trackchasing doesn’t allow for the counting of flat kart racing. He was disappointed to hear that. I was disappointed to have to explain it. I always feel a large amount of chagrin when I have to tell a flat kart track promoter that trackchasing doesn’t think enough of their divisions to even count them. One of the leading champ kart drivers, Daniel Strickler was also very helpful. Dan got back to me quickly and with quality answers each time I asked him a question about today’s racing. I really appreciated that. I know my questions of drivers and promoters might seem a little unusual at times. The feedback I get from them determines whether or not I make the trip or not. Mike Martin also a champ kart driver answered several of my questions as well. I appreciate that too. From early June until early November I hopped on an airplane for 24 consecutive weeks to pursue my hobby of trackchasing. Then as the pandemic ratcheted up and a vaccine seemed to be on the near-term horizon I decided to stop flying until I can get vaccinated. However, that safety protocol did not prevent me from driving to a track. Just like I did two weeks ago I would drive my EECU sponsored Tesla Model X to Tucson and the racetrack. The drive would be about 500 miles in length and that’s just one way. However, for most of the trip I had my Tesla on autopilot which makes a long drive quite a bit easier. I will tell you this. It takes some balls to drive a car on autopilot through the mountains. Today’s southern drive took me over the Cuyamaca Mountains of the Mountain Empire area. Imagine going down a 6% grade on a winding mountain road at 70 mph just 18 inches from the guard rail and NOT steering the car! Balls baby! I felt very confident in my ability to social distance on this trip. I wouldn’t be stopping at a gas station for fuel. However, sometimes when I was re-charging I would be near gas stations! My Tesla electric car is powered by Tesla superchargers strategically spread all across the United States and in many foreign countries. I would eat at fast-food drive-through locations. I would sleep in the Tesla itself. With the rear seats folded down, there is ample space for me to relax and sleep overnight on my 3-inch thick padded cushion. Despite being 6‘3“ tall I’ve got all the room that I need. I would be wearing a mask when needed. There would be ZERO circumstances where I would be within six feet of someone for 15 minutes. I wouldn’t be within six feet of anybody for more than a minute! Racing was scheduled to begin on Saturday at noon. I left our modest seaside cottage in San Clemente, California at about 5 p.m. on Friday night. This would allow me to get about five hours of the 7-8 hour drive in on Friday evening. I ended up sleeping overnight in the Casa Grande, Arizona Interstate 10 highway rest area. Very comfortable. Chance, the track promotor, did tell me that there was a possibility he could receive a phone call at any time from the Pima County health officials telling him that today’s race program was going to be shut down, disallowed and canceled. That was a risk I was willing to take. When I make these long trips I use my Tesla’s GPS system. It’s pretty cool. The system will tell me where I need to stop and for how long at each Tesla supercharger in order to complete the trip. Tonight my first stop would be in El Centro, California. When I arrived at the supercharger I would have just 5% of total charging supply remaining. That concerned me just a little bit. I consulted the senior tech guru for Randy Lewis Racing. That would be son J.J. He gave me some advice on how to check things out as I went along to make sure that the 5% projection was accurate. Luckily, for me I guess, getting through San Diego on Friday night with traffic slowed me down some. That saved some juice. I arrived safely in El Centro with 15% charge left even better than projected. At about midnight I pulled into the Casa Grande highway rest area. I would sleep there for the next seven hours. SATURDAY I woke up this morning at 7 a.m. It had been a chilly December night in the desert. At almost 8 a.m. this morning it was 34°. That’s when I realized I had made a huge mistake. While sleeping in the Randy Lewis Racing EECU sponsored Tesla Model X I could have simply turned on the heater and been toasty warm all night. By pressing a button or two on my iPhone I could activate the car’s heating and cooling system. I can’t believe I overlooked that. As someone once told me, “for us old folks stuff like this is a trial and error situation”. When I remembered I had this capability the car’s heating system took just three minutes to heat the car’s interior from 46 degrees to 77 degrees! I wasn’t the only one having an unusual experience this morning by waking up in near-freezing temperatures. The guy parked next to me was using a hand pump to put air in his flat tire when he woke up this morning. Then, somewhat unbelievably, another guy passed over the rest area at a low altitude flying a lighter than air machine. That had to be a cool outing! I had time for a quick breakfast at a Sonic drive-in location. I’ll bet I’ve eaten at those places more than 10 times in the last few months after hardly using them ever before that. I’m a big fan of their pretzel bites dipped in a cheese sauce. Tasty! Today I was headed to a location in Tucson that is home to a number of racing facilities. The most popular over the years has been the Tucson Raceway. Years ago it was a track that was owned by NASCAR. As a matter of fact, few people probably know this, NASCAR’s former CEO Brian France was the manager of the Tucson Raceway when he was in his 20s. The Tucson Speedway is also home to a dirt go-kart track of its own. It’s called the Kart Track at Tucson Speedway. However, I was not going there to watch racing today. Just across the street from the Tucson Speedway is the Musselman Honda Circuit track (above left). This is a road course where they race motorcycles and flat karts. As far as I know, they don’t hold wheel to wheel racing for trackchasing countable cars. Who knows? Maybe someday that will change. As you can see from the aerial photo the larger Tucson Speedway is in the center and the Tucson Kart Speedway is pictured in the lower right of this photo. Despite none of these racetracks being on my radar screen today, I was surprised to see this many race locations in such a small area. They are all situated way out in the desert. There are no homes anywhere close. My trackchasing location for today was the Tucson Kart Speedway. I’ll bet I have known about this track for more than 20 years. As far as I know, they have very little history of racing caged karts for adult divisions at this racing facility. That was going to change today. Today’s racing schedule had to be “massaged” in order to satisfy the local Pima County health department because of the Covid pandemic. This is what the rough plan was. The pit area was going to be limited to a maximum of 50 people. As far as I know, an almost unlimited crowd of spectators could come to the track today although most kart racing is not spectator driven. It is competitor driven. Today’s racing program was going to be divided into two separate entities. Three divisions of caged carts would race from 12 noon until 2 p.m. Then at about 4 p.m. the flat karts were going to come in and race until 7 p.m. The track has a strict curfew right now so everyone had to be on their way home and preferably at home by no later than 10 p.m. I was here to see the champ karts race. In other locations around the country, this class would be called senior champs but here at the Tucson Kart Speedway, they are simply champs. The champs are driven by adult drivers. The champs are a new division to the Phoenix/Tucson area. I was told there are now 21 champ kart racing teams and drivers in this group. That’s quite a crowd. I was also told that eight champ teams had signed up to compete today. If that had happened that would have been great. What actually DID happen? The group has 21 racing teams and eight of those had committed to show up today. In point of fact, only three champ racing machines were in the pit area today. For their first heat, only two of those three could make it to the starting line. Then only one of those two made it to the checkered flag of the first heat. The second heat was canceled when only one champ racer had a functioning kart. I’m happy to report that by feature time all three champs at the track today were ready to race. I would have loved to have seen more competitors but when two champs took the green flag in the first heat that made the track countable by trackchasing rule. I have plenty of time to talk to all three of the champ drivers who did show up today. Very nice guys. Dan Strickler had been my Facebook contact. I really appreciated his help. I had a chance to talk with Keith Pierson who was driving kart #14 and Maitland Hassard driver of the #89 racing champ kart. Keith (above) used to race stock cars up in Fernley, Nevada. These Arizona champ car drivers and their organization as well have some big plans for traveling to tracks all around Arizona next year. Although it’s a 1,000-mile round-trip drive for me I might come back a timer or two and see where they end up racing. They were throwing out track names today that I have never ever heard of. Of course, if I make it to those tracks I will share my experiences with my fellow trackchasing competitors as I am doing today. No other trackchaser in the history of trackchasing has ever seen racing at the Tucson Kart Speedway. That’s saying something since hundreds of trackchasers have been reporting track visits since the 1930s. The Tucson Kart Speedway was my 72nd new track visit in 2020. That gives me a lifetime total of 2,671 tracks in 85 countries. More than half of the tracks I have visited this year have NEVER been seen by any other fellow trackchasing competitor. This is a list of all of my “first-time” for the entire hobby of trackchasing that I’ve made in 2020. 1/6/2020 1/25/2020 2/8/2020 2/9/2020 2/15/2020 2/16/2020 3/1/2020 3/7/2020 6/6/2020 6/11/2020 6/13/2020 6/20/2020 6/26/2020 7/10/2020 7/12/2020 7/18/2020 7/24/2020 7/25/2020 8/15/2020 8/21/2020 8/22/2020 8/29/2020 8/30/2020 9/5/2020 9/6/2020 9/7/2020 9/11/2020 9/12/2020 9/13/2020 9/19/2020 9/20/2020 9/26/2020 10/10/2020 10/17/2020 10/17/2020 10/31/2020 11/7/2020 11/8/2020 11/21/2020 12/5/2020 With the heat that Arizona gets for 6-8 months each year coming to a race in December was ideal. Today’s temperature was in the high 60s with blue skies. That’s pretty good considering it’s nearly Christmas time! The track itself is a slightly banked 1/5-mile dirt oval. This is one of the largest kart tracks I’ve ever seen. I’ve probably seen racing at more than 200 kart tracks. With a track this large they could definitely host racers with more power such as micro sprints and the like. However, their safety equipment would need to be upgraded substantially I think to make that happen. The two-winged divisions other than the champs brought four cars and two cars respectively. Despite such anemic car counts, they raced competitively. One young driver, I’m going to guess he was about 8-10 years old, did a flip in his caged kart worthy of anything you might see with the World of Outlaws. His only comment when rescuers came to his aid was, “I didn’t break any bones but my shoe came off”! That was a tough ride for a guy that small. I had paid my $10 pit admission price which gave me a chance to get a close-up view of the nine racers who had shown up for the caged kart part of the program. Considering I had a 500-mile drive to make after today’s racing I wasn’t going to stay for the flat kart competition that would go well into the darkness. By the way, I had the opportunity to sit in on the drivers’ meeting. During the meeting Chance, the track promoter reminded everyone that the county would fine anyone $50 if they were not wearing their mask. I have now seen 72 new tracks during 2020. Only one other track, the Midvale Speedway in Ohio, enforced mask-wearing as strictly as the Tucson Kart Speedway. Good for them. I’ll ask that you take a look at my YouTube video and my SmugMug photo album to get a lay of the land today from the Tucson Kart Speedway. I found one thing pretty amazing. Today’s track pit area is separated by a small wire fence from the Kart Track at the Tucson Speedway. Small world huh? After talking to a few folks that I met today it sounds as if these two racing locations won’t be sharing Christmas dinner with each other. I can only guess why the champ kart group that has 21 racing teams had only three show up today. I’m sure Covid had a lot to do with that. Secondly, families might better want to spend their money on Christmas presents for the kids than more expense for the race car. I did hear that they had virtually everyone in their group racing at a track around Phoenix a few weeks ago. As it turned out I had driven 1,000 miles and slept overnight in my car with the reward was being able to see three champ karts race one heat and a feature. Did I feel short-changed? Absolutely not. The track promoter and drivers I met continually apologized for the small kart count. No need. Remember, I was not staying for the second half of the program featuring flat karts. That event was scheduled to begin a couple of hours after the caged karts finished up and left the pit area. For me, trackchasing is about three things. Of course, it’s about racing. It’s also about the adventure of the trip and the planning and execution of each one of these adventures. I honestly didn’t feel any different seeing three champ karts race than if thirty showed up. I would have preferred more but a large kart count is not a requirement for me to have fun by any means. Although the program was supposed to begin today at 12 noon it didn’t start until 1 p.m. The promoter had watered the track the night before and the water didn’t soak in very well. When I arrived at 11:30 a.m. a couple of trucks were running around the track trying to get it dried out. Ultimately they started about an hour late and ran the better part of an hour after the time when the program was supposed to be finished. Dirt track prep can sometimes be tricky. There was a plus! No dust! When the champ kart feature was wrapped up, won by #12 Dan Strickler, it was time to say good-bye to the champ kart drivers and track promoter. They were all nice folks and hopefully, I’ll see them again. I would say I drove my car on autopilot using its self-driving features for 975 miles out of the 1,000 miles I covered. I really don’t want to get in a habit of putting 1,000 miles on my personal car to add one track to my lifetime totals. I’ll do it a few times but certainly not very often. My 2020 trackchasing season is winding down. Despite the impact of Covid, this is been a pretty good year actually. I’ve seen racing in six countries, twenty-three states as well as one Canadian province. I’ve seen racing at 72 new tracks giving me a current lifetime total of 2,671. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I could have seen 100 tracks this season if I hadn’t taken off 85 days waiting for tracks to open up because of the Covid pandemic. Considering I had already seen nearly 2,600 tracks coming into this season adding another 72 was outstanding. The Randy Lewis Racing research department and I spend a good deal of time searching out new tracks for me to visit. We have contacts sprinkled strategically all over the world. These folks are constantly sending me new track venues to add to my future trackchasing agenda. What do I have to say to those gals and guys? Thank you! Without you, I couldn’t do what I do very well. I might have one more track to see this year. If I do it’ll be a driving trip. I’m going to do my best to stay out of the airport travel scene until I can get things wrapped up with a Covid vaccination. I sort of feel like I might’ve pushed my luck traveling for 24 straight weekends around our nation’s airports in the midst of the pandemic. I arrived back at our modest seaside cottage at a little past midnight on Sunday morning. This had been a 30-hour excursion. My Tesla electric car performed flawlessly. In just about two weeks I will have owned the car for one year. During that time I’ve driven it about 11,000 miles. Two thousand of those 11,000 miles have been for Arizona trackchasing trips during the past 30 days. Oh, one more thing. I stopped to charge my car on this trip six times so I could drive about one thousand miles. A few days ago I signed up for a Hulu subscription. I can watch Hulu on my car’s video screen. I’ve gotten into watching the TV mini-series The Handmaid’s Tale. The show’s a little strange but entertaining and a good way to pass the time when I’m getting an electric charge at a supercharger. Good afternoon from the Tucson Kart Speedway in Tucson, Arizona. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,617 tracks. Arizona The Grand Canyon State This afternoon I saw racing at my 44th-lifetime track in the Grand Canyon State, yes, the Grand Canyon State. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in Arizona. Arizona ranks #19, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Arizona state trackchasing list. I have made 39 separate trips to Arizona 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 Arizona sayings: Arizona: Right of California 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 780 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. 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 rare trackchasing driving trip from California to Arizona 
Ice Pragelato
Pragelato, Italy
Lake Superior (Barkers Island) Ice Course
Superior, WI
Stampede Premium Covered Arena at the Florida State Fairgrounds – F8
Tampa, FL
Stampede Premium Covered Arena at the Florida State Fairgrounds – oval
Tampa, FL
Clearwater Lake Ice Course
South Haven, MN
Pelch Services Ice Race
Rosetown, Saskatchewan
Autodromo de Yucatan Emerson Fittipaldi
Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Asele Motorsallskap Ice Course
Asele, Sweden
What Cheer Raceway-oval
What Cheer, IA
Wisconsin International Raceway
Kaukauna, WI
Kiamichi Mountains Speedway
Nashoba, OK
Alien Motor Speedway
Roswell, NM
Boss Dirt Track Speedway
Lawton, OK
Coulee Go-Kart Raceway
West Salem, WI
McClure Raceway
West Liberty, OH
Cache County Fairgrounds
Logan, UT
KC Raceway
River Bend, MO
Poplar Grove Speedway
Kamrar, IA
Miller Raceway Park
Montgomery, IN
Viking Speedway – inner
Alexandria, MN
Midvale Speedway – inner
Midvale, OH
1264 Xtreme Park
Wellsville, KS
Hawkeye Downs Speedway RC
Cedar Rapids, IA
Guthrie Center Fairgrounds
Guthrie Center, IA
Madison International Speedway-roval
Oregon, WI
Lion’s Park
West Liberty, OH
Honor Speedway
Pueblo, CO
State Fair Arena
Sedalia, MO
Windy Hollow Speedway-roval
Owensboro, KY
Round Town Raceway
Circle, MT
Washington Quarter Midget Assn
Monroe, WA
Cedar Hill Raceway
Ovalo, TX
Slayton Speedway
Slayton, TX
Adrenaline Motorplex
Adrian, MO
Udall Figure 8 Arena
Udall, KS
MEC Coliseum
Shipshewana, IN
81 Speedway
Park City, KS
Old 71 Speedway
Butler, MO
Gila County Fairgrounds
Globe, AZ
Tucson Kart Speedway
Tucson, AZ
JUST THE FACTS
