Greetings from Slayton, Texas
.
.
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Slayton Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,659 THE EVENT Editor’s note: I seem to have found a “motherlode” of new track opportunities in Texas. Texas has quite a few kart tracks and off-road SXS tracks that I didn’t know existed. Maybe someday I will be the first trackchaser to see 100 tracks in the Lone Star State. I’m at 86 right now. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above trackchasing with family out in Western Nebraska). I live out in San Clemente, California. We’re only 74 miles north of the Mexican border. I’m not sure a person could pick a more inconvenient location in the continental United States if they wanted to be a world-class trackchaser. My residential location virtually assures the idea that I must fly to virtually every track I visit. 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 enjoy auto racing. Secondly, my hobby requires a good deal of overnight travel. When I venture out to see a race at a track I’ve never seen before I do not want my trip limited to racing only. The very last thing I want when I’m done trackchasing is to have memories of only racing. I want to take some time to see the local attractions of wherever I might be visiting. Those visits in many cases will provide more long-lasting memories than whatever I saw on the track. 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. Hundreds of trackchasers have stopped for a moment to create their own personal trackchasing list. I think that is great. However, I will tell you that no one has ever taken trackchasing more seriously than I have. Do I have any data to back up that assertion? I do. To date, I have seen auto racing in 85 countries at more than 2,670 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 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. My trackchasing contributions generate a good deal of interest in what I am doing. My YouTube channel (ranlay) has more than 1.3 million views. 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 nearly 2,700 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. It’s just fun! 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, October 10, 2020. I don’t know that anyone has ever trackchased in the state of Maine on one night and then ended up trackchasing out in West Texas the very next evening. I don’t even think I’ve done such a thing before. On Thursday to begin this trip I flew overnight from Los Angeles to Boston. It’s difficult to get any good sleep doing that. Then last night I had just four hours of sleep in a hotel near Boston. When I get back to the hotel late after the races and have a drive to the airport for an early morning flight that doesn’t leave much time for sleep. I’m not complain’ just explain’. This morning in Boston’s Logan International Airport I had just enough time to stop by their sports museum display in terminal B. I was reminded of the strong history of sports and success that has come from Boston. This ranges from Bill Russell to Rocky Marciano to the Red Sox reversing the curse and a lot more. Don’t miss my photos from this interesting display that is sprinkled throughout the airport. I was a little surprised that the flight from Boston to Dallas takes a little bit more than four hours. I thought it might have been less. This meant I had flown from Los Angeles to Boston in five hours and now another four hours back to DFW. I’ll have nearly 3 hours on the flight from Dallas to Los Angeles to return home. That’s 12 hours of flying to see one track in Maine and one track in Texas. I had chosen to trackchase at the Slaton Speedway in Slaton, Texas this evening. I picked this track over other locations across the country simply because there’s not a lot of countable racing during the year at the Slaton Speedway. Some of these little go-kart tracks go in and out of business and many of them run flat karts. You gotta get ‘em when you can get ‘em. I was hoping to pick up another Toyota Camry from National Car Rental in Dallas. However, they didn’t have any available immediately and the staff wasn’t too enthused about finding one for me. I ended up with a Nissan Ultima which is a nice enough car it just doesn’t get the fuel mileage the Camry does. I guess that’s not a big deal because gas prices are in the range of a buck 80 to a buck 90 in this part of Texas. Gasoline is about four dollars a gallon back home in California. I did make my somewhat obligatory stop at the Whataburger next to the rental car center at DFW. My go to sandwich in situations like this is the double Whataburger with cheese, mustard and onion only. I must’ve been busy thinking about something else because I ordered the sandwich with everything. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that in probably hundreds of stops at Whataburger. I had to “fish” the tomato and lettuce away from the sandwich. Luckily Whataburger does not put catchup on their sandwiches as a matter of course. It was now about 12 noon. The drive from Dallas out to Slaton was going to take nearly five hours. I had plenty of time. I didn’t expect the racing to begin until about 7 p.m. Even that guesstimate was optimistic. Last night when the final checkered flag flew on the racing up in Lyman, Maine the temperature was a brisk 41°. Today’s temperature in Texas was expected to meet and exceed 100°. Is there a reason the sunbelt states have tons of population growth and the cold weather states do not? I passed through one town just a few miles from Slaton. The bank clock told me it was 105°. This is a dry heat but it’s a toasty. I don’t really like dry or wet heat. Give me 72 degrees with a mild breeze. The drive out to West Texas was interesting because of the preponderance of cotton fields. I also found the landscape dotted with oil wells and wind machines. New technology replacing old technology! From Wikipedia….Slaton is a city in Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,121 at the 2010 census. Slaton was named for Lubbock rancher and banker O.L. Slaton, Sr. (1867–1946), who promoted railroad construction in Slaton. The Caprock Classic Car Club Show and Cruise takes place every third Saturday in July. The annual event showcases classic and refurbished cars and trucks. Set up around the town square, the event includes music, arts and crafts, food, and more. Slayton Speedway is a small minorly banked dirt oval. I was surprised to see that the pit area was pretty much like a huge sandbox. I wondered how they got the cotton to grow in the sandy soil. Maybe that WHY the cotton grows here. This fall Texas race organizers have put together a series called the “2020 Mega 12 K” karting series. The series involves racing at three tracks. The series will go to each of these three tracks twice. That’s six races in total. A couple of weeks ago Carol and I stopped at the Cedar Hill Raceway in Ovalo, Texas to see racing at one of the three tracks hosting the series. Tonight I was going to get my second track in the series at the Slayton Speedway. I’m even thinking about stopping in for the last race, which will be held in December at the WFO Motorsports track in San Angelo. No trackchaser anywhere in the world has ever seen racing at ANY of these three tracks and after tonight I will have seen two of them. The guys who run the series do a pretty good job. It’s just that for my tastes they start really late. I saw some published information that said hot laps would begin at 5 p.m. That didn’t happen. I showed up a little after 6 p.m. There was no action on the track. When they finally did get around to having hot laps it was 7:30 p.m. Short track racing doesn’t wear a watch. Following hot laps for 65 racing machines they had the drivers’ meeting. This was followed by the national anthem and then the prayer. The drivers’ meeting didn’t take place until 8:45 p.m. No, short track racing doesn’t have a watch. When Carol and I went to the Cedar Hill Raceway the race format included two heat races for each class and also a feature race. Tonight the first set of heats for all 11 classes which included about 14 total races wrapped up at about 11 p.m.. I didn’t know if they were running a second heat race for everyone or not. Even if they went to feature races right away following just one set of heats the racing wouldn’t get done until one or two o’clock in the morning. I’m not sure what they’re thinking with this plan. Tonight’s flat cart racing classes included the young guns, modifieds, Junior 1 outlaws, Junior 2 outlaws, Junior 3 outlaws, vintage and pro clone. Just by looking at the flat karts I couldn’t tell one class from another. Four classes of caged karts, all of which met trackchasing’s somewhat provocative rules, followed. The names of these classes were 125 outlaw, 250 outlaw, 500 outlaw over 35 and 500 outlaws or sometimes called outlaw karts. I paid $15 for a pit pass. Some fans watched from a grandstand. I don’t know if there was any charge for them. When Carol and I went to Cedar Hill it looked as if the only option was to buy a pit pass. Although I guess I did see a couple of cars parked out on the road outside of the track at Cedar Hill. I was able to get a lot of really good photographs in the pit area as well as of the racing tonight. You’re definitely not gonna want to miss my video. These guys were hard on the gas. I liked one aspect of the Slayton track especially since it was something I had never seen before. They had a strand of what seemed to be Christmas lights that turned green, yellow or red depending upon the flag condition at the time. This lighting went all the way around the turns. This was great for the drivers. As soon as the yellow or red was displayed everyone racing knew it. There were a few hard crashes. One driver went end over end in the 125 outlaw class. A couple of other drivers spun in the turn and then were hit at full speed by oncoming traffic. You can get knocked around racing these karts! I got some good video and audio of tonight’s drivers’ meeting. If you’ve never sat in on a drivers’ meeting I think you’re going to enjoy what they had to say tonight. It does seem a bit unusual, not in a good sense, that by 11 o’clock all they had managed to do was run 14 go kart heat races. Last night in Maine I saw a similar number of karts competing. The Bartlett Bridge Raceway had their heat races and feature races finished before 10 p.m. Nevertheless, I was just happy to be able to come down to Texas and be guaranteed dry weather. Tonight I was seeing racing at my 86th lifetime track in the Lone Star State. I never thought I would have a chance at seeing 100 tracks in Texas. Now…who knows. They do a lot of UTV racing down here. Maybe I will make it to 100 tracks in Texas someday. Considering there’s almost no county fair once a year racing like there is all over the Midwest in the most many parts of the east getting to 100 tracks in Texas would be a nice accomplishment. Like I say don’t miss the video and the photo album. I did run into a little bit of an issue when I left after the last of the heat races were completed. I was virtually boxed in where I had parked out by the highway. I never would’ve thought that would’ve been the case given the location. Luckily when I went to my car the guy who had completed part of my “box” was going to his car as well. I asked him to move his car just a bit. His help got me “out of the box” and headed on down the long and dusty trackchasing highway. Tonight the heat races featured anywhere from 1-6 karts in each event. The 250 outlaws brought nine karts and had two heat races for their group. All of the other countable classes had five racers or less. That’s a pretty thin field. With nearly a five-hour drive back to Dallas from Slayton this was a perfect opportunity to engage one of my trackchasing sponsors. That would be 5-Hour energy drink. Without that it would have been a tough drive back to the big D. As I looked at my flight opportunities to get myself back to Los Angeles tomorrow the best choice seemed to be a 7 a.m. flight. Since I was leaving the Slayton Speedway at 11 p.m. I wasn’t going to get back to Dallas until a little after 4 a.m. I would need to be at the airport by 5:30 a.m. to begin the rental car return and the check in process over at the airline terminal. You can do the math on that one. This all translated into exactly a one-hour nap in a random hotel parking lot near the DFW rental car center. I didn’t get the gas mileage or the fuel tank mileage that I would get with a Camry by renting a Nissan Ultima. However, with gas prices at less than two dollars I didn’t have much to complain about. After getting hardly any overnight sleep at all I took the opportunity with this morning’s window seat to sleep for about three hours. When I woke up the two people who have been sitting next to me had moved across to the other side of the plane. Now I had the entire row to myself! That doesn’t happen very often. By the time I got back to San Clemente I had walked nearly five miles in first the Dallas airport and now the Los Angeles airport. It was nice to get home before 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I would spend the rest of the day working on my 2020 retirement stock and bond portfolio’s annual rebalancing plan. That will be implemented on the first business day of my new fiscal year which is tomorrow, Monday. I also relaxed and did a little bit of trackchasing maintenance. Then I began planning for next weekend’s outing. The trackchasing season is winding down. Because I had to take three months off out of respect for COVID-19 earlier this year I’m trying to get as many trackchasing visits in as possible before the end of the year. I’ll wrap up my day by watching the NASCAR race on a recorded basis. I’ll plan to doze a bit on our sofa that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. That’s my definition of a kickback day. Good evening from the Slaton Speedway in Slayton, Texas. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,659 tracks. Texas The Lone Star State This evening I saw racing at my 86th-lifetime track in the Lone Star, yes, the Lone Star State. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in Texas. Texas ranks #10, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Texas state trackchasing list. I have made 58 separate trips to Indiana 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 Texas sayings: Don’t mess with Texas You’ve no doubt seen this phrase on everything from T-shirts to belt buckles. It’s been the unofficial slogan of the Lone Star State since 1985. While the rest of the country thinks it’s just a catchphrase, true Texans know it’s part of an anti-littering campaign. 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 785 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. From Maine to way down in Texas…the way it should be done
