Greetings from Amarillo, Texas
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Tri-State Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #1,423 Reprinted with permission from my Friday, May 1, 2009, Trackchaser Report. By the way…I returned to the Tri-State Speedway for a second, bringing along my wife Carol, during the 2020 trackchasing season. 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) this trackchasing adventure 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. This was during the 2000 trackchasing season. 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. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with our good buddy Ann Forkey (l) and the World’s #3 Trackchaser, wife Carol (c). 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. 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 I hope you will take the time to imagine in your mind what it took to make this trip from SoCal and understand the fun I had doing it. 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. 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 Friday, May 1, 2009. DAY 1 – “I HAD TO STAY CLOSE TO HOME” TRACKCHASING TOUR Greetings from Amarillo, Texas, TODAY’S HEADLINES See the best note I’ve ever received from my email inbox…………..details in “From the Best Readers in Racing”. My state of the art technological resources allowed me to make major travel changes with no increase in expense because of weather issues ………………more in “The Trip”. Don’t forget to upgrade your toys when needed…………..details in “The People”. THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED HAD YOU BEEN PAYING MORE ATTENTION IN SCHOOL I will maintain my policy of affording anonymity to readers who send in interesting bits of information or who provide cutting edge analysis. FROM THE BEST READERS IN RACING From time to time, I receive some incredibly complimentary remarks about one thing or another. Whenever I do I am humbled that someone took the time to write. Along those lines, you may recall I have a “tribute” section on my website to my all-time favorite racing driver, Darrell Dake of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My work has been recognized by the Hawkeye Racing News as well as many websites and forums that follow things like this. Maybe that is why I get so many unsolicited “thank you” messages from fellow Darrell Dake fans. I thought I would share the two most recent messages I’ve gotten on the subject. One is from a thirty-seven-year-old fan who could not have been very old when Darrell retired nearly 20 years ago. The second note is from Mrs. Laverle Dake, Darrell’s widow. As I said, I have received many compliments over the years about what I see and write about. I have NEVER received a more cherished message than this one. I hope you enjoy it. If you’ve never taken the time the check out my “Darrell Dake” tribute at www.ranlayracing.com please give it a look. From an Iowa resident who grew up close to the Darrell Dake racing garage. Hi, I just stumbled across your Darrell Dake tribute page while trying to look up other Cedar Rapids history (Ce-Mar amusement park). I grew up less than a mile from Darrell’s house on Squaw Creek Rd, just past the Lighthouse Inn and to the north. I only recall going to Hawkeye Downs a time or two during my childhood (dad was a big drag racing fan so we went to Cordova, IL a lot) but I remember driving past his place all the time and always looking to see if he had the garage door open or, even better, the car loaded up on his flatbed truck. Even better was playing out in the yard and hearing him fire up the car from nearly a mile away! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I learned more about Darrell in 20 minutes of reading that I had previously known about him in my 37 years on earth. From Mrs. Laverle Dake, widow of Darrell Dake. My name is Laverle Dake and I am the proud widow of Darrell. I just want to thank you for all the kind things you have said over the past years. When I am feeling sad and missing him so very much, I often go to your site and reminisce about our 50 years together. I remember when you sent the California license plate to him. He was very pleased. It has taken longer than usual to begin to ease the pain of his loss. Darrell lived life to the fullest and mostly did what he loved, which was racing. Respectfully, Laverle. Editor’s note: Mrs. Dake refers to a California license plate that I sent to Darrell. Back in 1980, I bought a new car and for the first time ever had the chance to purchase a “vanity” plate. My plate number was “Dake 8”. When I retired that car some years later, I sent one of my plates to Darrell and kept one for myself. At the time, I was not certain he ever received my gift. Now I know he did. I left Los Angeles bound for Dallas, Texas on Friday morning. I was headed for Wichita Falls, Texas but rain forced me over to Amarillo. This is what transpired on day 1 of my 11th trackchasing trip of the 2009 season. THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP AND THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Objective What was the primary objective of this trip? I had three main objectives that would need to be met for this trip to be successful. First, I had to stay close to home. In my world, being just 1,200 miles from home IS staying close to home. I had to be back on Monday as Trackchasing’s First Mother and I have a big trip planned for when I return. I’m also planning to meet Juan Alvarez at tomorrow’s track. I met Juan during my visit to Bogota, Colombia in March. I’ll tell you more about that in tomorrow’s report. Finally, I’ll plan to meet up with brother Mark on the third day of this trip. From there I will head home. The Trip The use of mind and body saving machines rocks for me. I want to get the very most out of the time and money I invest in the trackchasing hobby. Heck, when I think about it a little longer, I want to get the most of the time and money I invest in everything I touch in life. I want to see as many entertaining racetracks as I possibly can. I also want to minimize the travel hassle and expense required to trackchase at the top levels of the sport. Bottom-line, I want to enjoy the journey while making the trip as easy and simple as possible. In order to do well in this hobby I have to be flexible. However, if you don’t get good advice, you won’t even know what your choices are let alone which of those choices might be the best one. My Apple iPhone saved me today. It’s so much more useful than a laptop computer it is hardly comparable. Here’s what the iPhone did for me today. When I landed in Dallas, I checked two different weather sources to see if it was going to rain in Wichita Falls, Texas. I wanted to go to this area since there would be two countable tracks at one location (inner and outer oval). However, the rain forecast was 50%. The local radio station told of tornado watches in the area. I don’t have that many Friday night tracks left to see, especially in west Texas. During the flight, I had used my laptop to scan other opportunities in case Wichita Falls was going to get rain. Surprisingly, there were events being held tonight in Amarillo as well as Lubbock, Texas. Wichita Falls was a two-hour drive from where I had landed in Dallas. As luck would have it, Amarillo was just three hours beyond Wichita Falls. Lubbock was a six-hour drive from Dallas in a different direction. My Rand McNally electronic software had listed the driving distances. “Tonto” my loyal and faithful GPS buddy had provided expected driving times. I had used Google Earth to plot the tracks with Tonto that I would visit this weekend. This approach is such a long way from when trackchaser Paul Weidman would call up ambulance companies (presumably from a landline!) to ask if they knew where any racetracks were. Heck, this approach is way different that how most current trackchasers go about finding racetracks and getting from point A to point B. I figured I could drive to Wichita Falls, see what the weather was like and if it was bad continue on to Amarillo. That is what I did. When I crossed the Lloyd Ruby interchange bridge in Wichita Falls, the weather looked bad. It would be too much of a risk to stay there even if I had the chance to get two tracks. The weather forecast (via my iPhone) for Amarillo called for a 0% chance of precipitation. With a new racing venue onboard, the rest of the trip’s vendors would need to be changed. While I walked toward the rental car bus, I called National Rental Car and changed my reservation. I would still be getting a car in Dallas but I would not be returning it to Dallas. I would now be dropping it in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One-way rentals are expensive. One-way rentals made with five minutes’ notice are REALLY expensive. National wanted $142 for the one-day trip. Not a problem! I have accrued several “free” days because I rent so frequently from National. I use those free days for situations just like this. I would only be paying $9.92 for today’s one-day rental. The People There are so many behind the scenes people helping me. Not long ago, Pryce B., a long-time reader of the RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report wrote to tell me about a new Apple iPhone application “app”. This app integrated my at home DirecTV with my iPhone. In a nutshell, it allows me to program my DVR (digital video recorder) at home from anywhere in the world. I had forgotten to record Sunday’s PGA golf tournament and Tiger Woods was in the hunt. I don’t watch any PGA tournaments (except the majors) unless Tiger is playing. The DirecTV iPhone app is incredibly simple to use. I can add a show in a matter of seconds. When I return from my trip, that show will be waiting for me to see……and I don’t have to watch any commercials. It even asks me which of the four DVRs we have at home should do the recording. J.J. was helpful in getting me to download the DirecTV app as well. Later this week he will upgrade my “high definition” DVR. Watching programs in HD versus non-HD is the equivalent to watching programs in color versus black and white. The new HD DVR will move my storage capacity from 30 hours of HD viewing to 145 hours! The cost of the new hard drive was just $122. Ten months ago, the cost was $260. What other product category had falling prices and increasing product performance? I almost never watch TV on a live time basis. It’s just too time-consuming with commercials and too time restrictive to be tied to the actual time the program is airing. However, I don’t always have time to watch every program I record, either. That’s no problem, I simply delete it. I am blessed to have people who send me these small tips. Lots of small tips add up to big amounts of enjoyment. Often times I don’t realize the value of some of the tips I receive. It is then that I challenge myself to understand what the sender sees in the idea to begin with. When I look at it that way, I am much more open to receiving ideas originated elsewhere. Usually in the end, after I have processed and implemented another person’s idea I end up recommending it to someone else. Therefore, I’ll just say thank you to all of those folks who share their creative approaches with me. RACE REVIEW TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY, AMARILLO, TEXAS I love it when a plan comes together. My iPhone review of the track’s website told me the races would begin at 8:00 p.m. tonight. Tonto told me I would arrive at the track at 8:07 p.m. He (Tonto) told me this more than three hours before I got there. I drove a little faster than expected but made a six-minute pit stop for an ice cream cone and a Diet Coke. Editor’s note: It was a McDonald’s reduced-calorie ice cream cone! I arrived at the track at 8:07 p.m.! They were just lining up the first heat race. Tonight’s countable action would come from caged karts of one form or another. There were three trackchasing countable classes racing tonight. There were 4 senior champs, and about 10 cars in each of two mini-sprint type classes. The announcer didn’t speak often, so it was impossible to understand exactly what classes were racing. There were a few classes of flat karts as well although they don’t count in trackchasing. The weather was bad for spectating tonight. When I drove through Wichita Falls earlier tonight it was 86 degrees. When I arrived at the track in Amarillo it was 52 degrees!! The wind was blowing from 20-30 M.P.H. as well. I was wearing shorts. This was not going to work. Fortunately, almost all of the fans parked their cars near the front straight fence. Although I was somewhat late, I found a place right near the flag stand and snuck in. There might have been 20-30 cars parked as I was. I never saw more than five people in the grandstands all night. I was as warm as a “bug in a rug” in the National Rental Car Racing Impala LT. Who is the most important employee at the track? I think it’s the announcer. He’s the guy who tells you what you will see, what you’re seeing and what you just saw. If he (she) does his job right, you will be on the edge of your seat. Tonight the track missed that opportunity to entertain their fans. The races didn’t excite me. Although there were 6-8 racing classes, none of them had enough cars to run more than one heat per round. Each class raced two heats and then a feature. The rules call for the track to be finished by midnight. That didn’t seem like a very aggressive goal to me. There wasn’t much passing in the races. They did have a few harmless spins as the cars slid over the bank of the 1/5-mile dirt oval. The facility is a good one. It is located out in the country. The catch fencing, racing surface and flag stand are all professionally done. The cars pitted beyond turns one and two. There were two things wrong with tonight’s racing. The track couldn’t control the weather. However, if I did not have the rental car for shelter there is no way I could have hung out in these cold and windy conditions. The other major “wrong” was the track not having an announcer. I don’t think there’s any excuse for that. I played it conservatively tonight. I could have tried for a “same track” trackchasing double. However, I likely would have been rained out. I “settled” for just getting one track, but in a place where there was no chance of being rained out. Amarillo was directly on the route to tomorrow’s destination of Albuquerque. The gas expense to drive there was about what I would have paid to fly on one of my associate (not primary) sponsors from DFW to ABQ. I had the time to drive and it didn’t cost anymore. I saw that as a “no harm/no foul” situation. STATE COMPARISONS Texas Tonight I saw racing at my 35th Texas track. This was already my 13th state to trackchase in during 2009. This goes along with seeing racing in ten different countries so far this year. I started the year as the #1 ranked trackchaser in Texas. However, Wisconsin’s Ed Esser has unseated me and now has the #1 rating with 36 tracks. I expect this leadership for Ed in the Lone Star state to be short-lived. I expect him to be eating my Texas trackchasing dust by the Fourth of July. RENTAL CAR UPDATE Dallas, Texas – Friday/Saturday I quickly picked up a Chevy Impala LT from the “Executive Selection” area at National Rental Car. It’s a nice sized car for the drive from Dallas to Albuquerque via Amarillo. The price was right too. Coming soon! How do fellow P&G retirees really think? Why I fear Ed Esser. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser When you’re honest, you don’t need a good memory. TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – Dallas, TX – 1,233 miles RENTAL CAR Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport – trip begins Amarillo, TX – 353 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Tri-State Speedway – $5 COMPARISONS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2009 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Lifetime track totals in ( ). Tracks have been reported by 28 different worldwide trackchasers this season. LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS Final 2008 National Geographic Diversity results have been posted. UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS Tomorrow I will reunite with a new friend from Bogotá, Colombia. He’s in Albuquerque for a weeklong business meeting. I’ll have the chance to show him some racing American style. 1,401. Death Valley Raceway (oval), Armargosa Valley, Nevada – January 3 1,402. Lake Weyauwega Ice Track (oval), Weyauwega, Wisconsin – January 11 1,403. Marion Pond Ice Track (oval), Marion, Wisconsin – January 11 1,404. Grandvalira Circuit (road course), Port d’Envalira, Andorra – January 17 1,405. Kuna International Raceway (oval), Kuna, Idaho – January 25 1,406. Circuito Efren Chemolli (oval), Buenos Aires, Argentina – January 31 Ozark Empire Fairgrounds (oval), Springfield, Missouri – February 6 (new track for Carol only) Lake Speed Ice Track (oval), Tilleda, Wisconsin – February 7 (new track for Carol only) 1,407. DeltaPlex (oval), Grand Rapids, Michigan – February 8 1,408. Losail International Circuit (road course), Doha, Qatar – February 13 1,409. Lake Washington Ice Track (road course), Mankato, Minnesota – February 15 1,410. Bahrain International Circuit (road course), Sakhir, Bahrain – February 27 1,411. Dubai Autodrome (road course), Dubai, United Arab Emirates – February 28 1,412. Dunkin Donuts Center (oval), Providence, Rhode Island – March 6 1,413. Fur Rondy Grand Prix (road course), Anchorage, Alaska – March 8 1,414. Perris Auto Speedway (road course), Perris, California – March 14 1,415. Autodromo de Tocancipa (road course), Tocancipa, Colombia – March 22 1,416. Motorland Aragon (road course), Alcaniz, Spain – March 28 1,417. Circuto de Murca (road course), Murca, Portugal – March 29 1,418. High Plains Speedway (oval), Clovis, New Mexico – April 19 1,419. Flomaton Speedway (oval), Flomaton, Alabama – April 22 1,420. Kapelluhraum (road course), Hafnafjorour, Iceland – April 25, 2009 1,421. Monadnock Speedway (oval), Winchester, New Hampshire – April 25, 2009 1,422. Berlin Lions Club Fairgrounds (oval), Berlin, Connecticut – April 26, 2009 1,423. Tri-State Speedway (oval), Amarillo, Texas – May 1, 2009 Official end of RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report You might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. 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 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. I didn’t begin producing YouTube videos until after I made my 2009 visit to the Tri-State Speedway. However, I wanted you to see what racing looks like at the track so I am sharing a video of their race action. Unfortunately, during my two visits to the track, I didn’t see the excellent racing offered in this video. 
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2009
