Greetings from first Pensacola, Florida
and then Cottonwood, Alabama
and finally Hampton, Georgia
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Five Flags Speedway Asphalt road course Lifetime Track #2,687 Dothan Motor Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,688 Asphalt oval Lifetime Track #23 (re-visited today) THE EVENT Editor’s note: A trackchasing weekend doesn’t get much more diverse than this. First, I was able to spend a day in the French Quarter of New Orleans. What a restaurant town! Then a grand Trackchasing Tourist Attraction with the USS Battleship Alabama. From there a novelty event at the famous Five Flags Speedway and a night at one of the few oval tracks I have not seen…this time in Alabama. Finally, a NASCAR Cup race in Atlanta. I pretty much covered every base! I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with Carol at one of our many Trackchasing Tourist Attractions, this time at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. 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 2,680 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/Sunday, March 20/21, 2021. I guess over the years trackchasing has changed a little bit for me. Back in the day, a successful trip would have me seeing a permanent oval track race on Friday, Saturday and probably on Sunday. I called that type of trackchasing trip a “classic” trip. In today’s trackchasing world I have seen all but about 20 permanent oval and road course race facilities in the United States and Canada. Now, much of my trackchasing is focused on one-of-a-kind events also known as novelty racing. That’s certainly not as good as seeing those high banked dirt bullrings that I used to feast on. But that’s what I’m left within the hobby today. This weekend’s trip is nothing if not diverse. I’ll plan to see one of those aforementioned novelty races, one of my final permanent oval track conquests and a NASCAR Cup race. Oh yeah. I am headed to one of my two most favorite restaurant cities in the U.S., New Orleans. I’ll tell you more about that as we go along. I also figure to add to my list of Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. When I left California I didn’t know where that would be but I knew it would be. It’s March and I’m heading to New Orleans. About three years ago I was doing the same thing. Just when we were about to land in New Orleans the pilot came over the P.A. and wished everyone a happy Mardi Gras weekend. Mardi Gras? I had no idea. I had always wanted to visit the area during Mardi Gras. I immediately got in my car and found the Mardi Gras parade route. I was a rookie with Mardi Gras but had a fantastic time with the event and all of the different parades. I liked it so much I brought Carol to New Orleans for Mardi Gras the very next year. Now, in 2021, Mardi Gras has been canceled because of Covid. I hope that Carol and I get to see Mardi Gras in the near future once again. FRIDAY Today was a “travel” day. I figured if I was going to spend the entire day getting to the race in Pensacola, Florida on Saturday I might as well stop by in a city that I really enjoyed for a quick review today. That would be New Orleans. I used a discount airline to fly from Los Angeles to New Orleans. Discount airlines offer cheap fares but charge “a la carte” for things like a carry-on bag, a checked bag, printing a boarding pass or buying a Coke. Today I was one of the last people to board the plane. I was flying standby. The plane was full but I would get on. I watched one passenger after another be rejected for boarding because their carry-on bag was too large to fit the airline’s requirement for a free “personal item”. What happens then? In order to fly on this discount airline, a passenger must pay for their carry-on bag. What’s the price? 65 buckaroos. Most people, by definition, fly on discount airlines because they are young or poor or both. I really hated to see so many of these folks having to pay $65 to bring their carry-on bag on board. I suspected that some of these people didn’t have $65 worth of stuff in their bags! When I landed in the brand new New Orleans airport I stopped off for about an hour at the Club at MSY. This is a private upscale club available to me as a Priority Pass member. Priority Pass is an outstanding opportunity. I’ve used the benefits all over the world. The Louis B. Armstrong New Orleans airport opened in November 2019. Less than four months later the world was shutting down because of Covid. What a beginning for the airport! This was the first time I have been in the new terminal. It’s very nice. I was going to be driving about 1,000 miles on this trip. I would pick up my car in New Orleans and drop it in Charlotte, North Carolina. I wanted to get a good car and not a gas-guzzling SUV which seems to dominate rental car lots nowadays. I normally rent with National Car Rental. I went with them so often that I hold the “executive elite” status in their frequent renter program. This allows me to make a reservation with at least 24 hours’ notice regardless of whether or not they are sold out to other customers or not. I also get to pick any car in the executive section. When I arrived all they had were a selection of SUVs. Although I drive an SUV at home these are more downscale SUVs. They don’t get very good mileage. They don’t provide a very good ride. I asked the agent if she might be able to find me a Toyota Camry. She gave the cleanup crew a call. They had one! It would be available in about 10 minutes. I was in no great rush. I didn’t mind waiting. Then about 15 minutes came to pass. One of the National Car Rental managers came over to apologize for the delay. As a reward for my waiting patiently, he told me the first tank of fuel would be free. Wow. Maybe the meek really can inherit the world! A Toyota Camry can get as many as 700 miles per tank full. With today’s gas prices this was going to be a $50-$60 perk I was being given. I hadn’t even minded waiting in the first place. Now I was off to the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans. The French quarter holds a very special place in my heart. I’ll tell you why. My first day of professional employment was Monday, July 3, 1972. I realize some of the folks reading this weren’t even born at that time! My first full week of employment would have me attending our national sales meeting held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. That meant for five days all I had to do was sit in meetings during the day. Then I could roam around the French Quarter with my newfound business friends til the wee hours of the morning. Each night we went out to the very best restaurants in town and ordered anything on the menu we wanted to eat and drink. Of course, all was paid for by the company. It was about this time that I figured I was going to like this gig. I did it for the next 30 years. The Covid pandemic has absolutely killed travel. Nobody has been traveling. Well, I guess that’s with the exception of me. During the first year of Covid, I flew somewhere more than 30 weekends. Do you know anyone in your life who did such a thing? Things are changing folks. People are starting to travel. Most older people have been vaccinated. They are not making up the current travel public. Right now we are in the heart of spring break. Young people are traveling. They haven’t been vaccinated. They probably don’t think they need to be vaccinated because they feel they are bulletproof. Maybe with Covid they are. I found the French Quarter to be very crowded. I had to wait in line outside at one of my favorite New Orleans eateries called the Gumbo Shop. I’m not necessarily putting the gumbo shop in the category of Charlie’s Steakhouse and Pascal’s Manale. two of my all-time favorites. But the Gumbo Shop is very good. I would have a nice lunch there today. From the Gumbo Shop, I walked over to Bourbon Street. I never miss Bourbon Street when I come to New Orleans. I passed by Pat O’Brien’s (above) where I’ve drunk my share of hurricanes. However, it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Bourbon Street is really a nighttime activity. I did see one interesting thing during my stroll along Bourbon Street. Some young entrepreneurs had set up a chin-up bar. For $10 anyone could attempt to hang from the bar with two hands for 100 seconds. If they could do that they would get a $100 bill. I saw some guys in pretty good shape tried it. They couldn’t do it. If you think you could hang from a chin-up bar for 100 seconds you better get down to Bourbon Street. From there I walked over to a place I never miss. It’s called the Café Du Monde. They serve beignets, coffee and hot chocolate. It’s a New Orleans institution. Do I think their beignets are super fantastic? Probably not but, it’s a New Orleans institution. From New Orleans, I drove over to Mobile, Alabama. That would be a good staging point for tomorrow afternoon‘s racing in Pensacola, Florida. SATURDAY I woke up this morning at a Holiday Inn Express and Suites Hotel in Mobile, Alabama. As you probably know Mobile is the hometown of legendary baseball player Hank Aaron. That guy was amazing and a nice guy as well. In Mobile, I was just an hour from this afternoon‘s racing location at the Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. Race time was scheduled for 2 p.m. That would give me plenty of time to find a local Trackchasing Tourist Attraction and check things out. Of course, I went to my old standby, Google, and searched for things to do in Mobile. It turns out that the #1 tourist attraction in the city is the USS Alabama Battleship tour. I haven’t done all that much touring in Alabama. I figured if this attraction was rated #1 in Mobile I needed to see it. The USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, home to the USS Alabama was only 10 miles from the hotel. I quickly drove over there and paid four dollars to enter the national park and an additional $13 to be able to tour the grounds. I really had a chance to do three separate things on location. The first was to tour the Submarine USS Drum. The USS Drum was commissioned in 1941. She is 311’ long and carried 7 officers and 65 enlisted men. I think of myself as being minorly claustrophobic. I’m not sure I would have wanted to be on a submarine for possibly months on end in a wartime environment. That sounded like fun to me. Before I go much further in telling you about my experience here in Mobile today I’ll ask that you take a look at my SmugMug photo album. I got some really good photographs of what I’m going to tell you about. Although I act like I am 35 years old my joints will tell you quite loudly that they do not appear to be 35 years old…and they are not. Moving from one opening (hatch!) to another and getting my 6‘3” body through an opening that was about 4 feet tall did get my attention. I think I have toured some submarines in the past but they don’t come to mind right away. Following the submarine visit, I paid five bucks to ride an eight-minute F-16 simulator ride. The pre-ride warnings included a caution for folks who might be claustrophobic. The sign also warned people who might not deal well with strobe lighting. I’m not a huge fan of strobe lighting either. The simulator’s capacity was eight people. A large family ahead of me went in with their kids. First, the door shut on the simulator and then it opened up before the ride began. One of the kids peeled out. This ride was not for him. Then when my time came a family of four with two teenage sons also had one of their sons bow out at the last minute. I was getting a little nervous. I kept reminding myself, “how bad could it really be?” In point of fact, the simulator wasn’t nearly as frightening as the two kids who bailed on it and the simulator warnings seemed to indicate. I took some videos during the ride. You’ll see that attached to my Five Flags Speedway racing video. From there I walked over to the Battleship USS Alabama. They have three separate self-guided walking tours of the ship labeled “red, green and yellow”. I took them all. There was quite a bit more space on the battleship compared to the submarine as you might expect. Nevertheless, the sleeping quarters were essentially “asshole to elbow” as we used to say in the Marines. As you might imagine the vocabulary in the Marines was not always fit for Sunday. The USS Alabama was commissioned in 1942. Yes, we were building battleships and submarines at a rapid pace at the beginning of WWII. The ship and her crew shot down 22 enemy planes during the war. The ship’s assigned crew was 127 officers and 2,205 enlisted. A battleship is a lot bigger than a submarine! The entire touring experience was well worth it. I’m glad I stopped. I almost always say that about every Trackchasing Tourist Attraction I get to do. From Mobile, it was going to be just a one-hour drive over to the Five Flags Speedway. Back on December 3, 2004, I went to the famous Five Flags Speedway to see racing on their asphalt oval track. At the time that was my lifetime 800th track where I had seen racing. Those “century” tracks are always special for me. As is often the case in the last few years a novelty race that will take place on a different track configuration brings me back to the speedways that I had visited years ago. Many times that situation allows me to see racing on the oval from so long ago. Today I would not get the chance to see racing on the famous oval. Today’s racing, the Sweat Hogg enduro, was going to be run on a makeshift road course. By the way, the winner got the chance to kiss a pig! This track included part of the Five Flags Speedway oval and the track’s infield. Surprising to my admission for spectators was going to be free. Also surprising to me was the fact that today’s racing was going to be televised as part of a two-part series on MAV TV with Lucas Oil Production Studios. I’m going to check that out. Some of the coldest weather for racing I have ever seen in the winter…has been in Florida. You might think of Florida as being a warm-weather state but during the winter night not so much. We’re still in the last few days of our official winter season. With today’s racing being in Pensacola in the panhandle of Florida in late March I might have been expecting warmer weather. As it was the temperature topped out at about 65° but it was cloudy and a strong wind of 10 miles an hour or more persisted. Because I wore shorts it was a bit chilly. Today’s enduro race on the road course started about 15 minutes late. The announcer told the crowd that with the “large amount of entries” they just couldn’t quite get it together to start at the advertised time of 2 p.m. How many cars did they have? Just thirty. In the world of really good enduro races, thirty is a pretty sparse turnout. It was easy for me to grab a top row spectating location down toward turn one of the oval. I’m going to guess there were about 200 fans in the stands. I looked around but didn’t see any other trackchasers. This was definitely a racing event and not a demolition derby. There was very little contact between the cars. Nevertheless, the attrition rate was significant with only about 13 cars finishing the 90-minute race. The announcer kept telling the crowd this was a 90-minute race in total which included a 10-minute pitstop in the middle of the race. He told us they would race for about 20 minutes in one direction and then turn around and race for 20 minutes in the opposite direction before the pitstop. Following the pitstop, they would do the same thing. They would race in the counter-clockwise direction for 20 minutes and then turn around and race clockwise for the final 20 minutes. I think he was just a little off in these estimates. The race started about 2:15 p.m. and didn’t finish until about two hours later. No harm no foul there. There were two drivers who battled it out for most of the race. One of those cars dropped out with only about 15 minutes remaining. With the checkered flag, actually when the opening green flag was dropped lifetime trackchasing track #2,687 was in the books. This was also my 76th-lifetime track to see in the Sunshine State. I maintain a solid #1 trackchasing ranking here. It was certainly a nice gesture for the Five Flags Speedway to offer complimentary admission into the grandstand today. It was nice to get back to the Five Flags Speedway after not having been here for 17 years. They are known for the Snowball Derby which runs in early December every year. Big-name NASCAR stars like Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott have won that race. I’m glad I came down to Florida to see this. Today’s stop in Pensacola was going to be the first half of a day/night trackchasing double. When I left the Five Flags Speedway I headed to the Dothan County Speedway in Cottonwood, Alabama for their evening race program. Before pulling into today’s Florida track I did make my own pitstop at the Waffle House. I’m a member of the Waffle House Regular’s Club. From time to time they send me special offerings which commonly include an offer of a free waffle. I had that offer at the ready today all printed out and resting in my briefcase. When I walked into the Waffle House I sat down at the counter. When I did that my waitress came up and asked the young man sitting next to me if he might like to move over one spot to create a little more Covid social distancing. He told her he wasn’t all that worried about Covid as you might expect from a 20-year-old. We struck up a conversation. It turned out my new friend was in the Navy and stationed in Pensacola. He had signed up for six years and has only been in the service for a year and a half. He told me he didn’t like it much mainly because Covid was limiting their activity a good deal. He said one of the reasons that he signed up was to see the world but he hadn’t been able to do that just yet. When it was time for me to go I grabbed my check and his. I think he felt a little embarrassed with my picking up his meal but I told him it was the least I could do to thank him for his service. On the way out he thanked me and I wished him well. He was a nice young man from South Carolina. I suspect that the service will provide his “college experience“ as he matures from a high school graduate into a young middle 20s young man. I wish him the best. On the drive over to tonight’s racetrack, I stopped at a Florida highway rest area and switched from shorts to long pants. As people who have followed my hobby for many years know I almost always wear shorts. However, tonight’s race time temperature was expected to be in the low 50s with a little bit of wind. I was happy I brought long pants. I also listened to the Dale Jr. Dirty Mo media podcast. In this podcast, Dale Jr., along with co-host Mike Davis, interviews racing personalities. Today’s episode included an entertaining talk with guest Bobby Labonte. I’m a big fan of this podcast. I had a choice for where I might like to dine for tonight’s supper. I could eat at the track or maybe somewhere on the way to the track if something caught my attention. That “something” turned out to be KFC. I’m in the midst of reviewing various fast-food chicken sandwich locations on Facebook. So far I’ve been to McDonald’s, Popeyes, Burger King, Zaxby’s and now KFC. To cut to the chase my number one vote goes to KFC. Zaxby’s comes in a close second. I’ve always thought of Zaxby’s as a good upscale fast food casual dining option. I might point out that I was impressed with the customer service I received at KFC in Florida. The woman over the loudspeaker in the drive-through lane kept referring to me as “baby”. She continued to do so when I picked up my order. I told myself I wasn’t going to let this “familiar“ dialogue influence my judgment on the KFC chicken sandwich. I don’t think it did. It was a good sandwich with friendly customer service. By the way, I’ve driven the National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry 352 miles to this point. I’ve still got 3/8 of a tank of gas left. You might recall when I picked up the car in New Orleans I was given a free tank of fuel because I had to wait a few minutes to get the car. I’m figuring a full tank of gas on the house from National is going to save me about 50 bucks. Tonight I would be trackchasing at the Dothan Motor Speedway in Cottonwood, Alabama. After I knock off this track tonight I will have only 22 permanent oval tracks in the United States left to visit for the very first time. Actually, not all of those 22 tracks are 100% confirmed to be racing in 2021. I might take a moment to tell you about a new trackchaser named Brian Dolphy. Brian’s been doing a good job starting with a base of near-zero and adding new tracks. He made a comment on Facebook recently stating that he had “beaten me“ in each of the last three years. I thought that was a curious statement to make from a rookie. Had Brian been to more new tracks for him in each of the past three years than I had been for me? The answer is yes. However, there is something really important to consider in my opinion. I had already been to 90% of the tracks he had seen in the last three years. For the most part, I saw those tracks more than 10 years ago. How can a trackchaser who is seeing new tracks in the past three years for the first time say that he is beating someone who has already seen all of those tracks 10-20 years ago? To my way of thinking he hasn’t really beaten me at all. He is simply seeing tracks that I’ve already seen. When he’s seen more new tracks than me he can say he has beaten me. Is this another example of youngsters not respecting their elders? What is the world coming to? All over the country a lot of tracks go out of business. Sometimes they resurface with a new name. Maybe that has something to do with our credit and bankruptcy laws! It seems like a larger number than normal of Alabama tracks close and then reopens after some point in time. According to the History of American Speedways authored by Allan E. Brown the oval track in Dothan was built in 2002. Since then it has operated under a few names. Tonight I pulled into the parking lot of the Dothan Motor Speedway right at 7 p.m. Perfect timing. The schedule called for racing to begin at 7 p.m. Did it? Er…no, it did not. They were still holding time trials when I arrived. I elected to sit in the car and listen to the announcer until it was time for racing to begin. A few minutes later it was time. When I approached the ticket booth I saw something that I can never remember seeing in the United States and probably the world after having seen racing at 2,687 tracks. What in the world could that be? A young black woman was selling the race tickets? Why mention that at all? Well…it was something I had never seen at a single racetrack I had visited. That made it very unusual indeed. I find my racing reports to be more entertaining and/or informative when the unusual is observed. The woman sold me a race ticket for 15 dollars. It might be appropriate to ask the question, “Is short track racing welcoming to black people?” Not being a black person I can only attempt to answer that question as a white person. I can say this. Easily less than one racing fan in attendance at these short tracks is black, out of every 1,000 fans that come through the gate. That might be a true statement for every 10,000 fans that come through the gate. Black people make up about 12% of the U.S. population. Are short track racing promoters missing something when they get virtually ZERO interest from a population group that represents 12% of the population? It sounds to me like they are. This has always been the case with the fan base at America’s short tracks. Will it change. If I had to guess I would say no. The Dothan Motor Speedway was a nice enough layout. Its oval configuration looked to be about 3/8-mile in length. The turns were modestly banked on this dirt track. Tonight’s wooden grandstands held a crowd of about 200 people. Additionally, they had quite a bit of new lumber in the stands. The announcer could be heard well over a solid PA system. The concession stand offered a wide variety of “racetrack” fare. The pit area could be seen behind the grandstands and over off of turn #1. All of that was fine and good…but there was one problem. There weren’t any race cars. O.K. there were some. It’s just that there weren’t very many. Since the financial crisis of 2008, I have noticed a significant decrease in race car quantity. Where individual classes used to have 15-20 cars now they bring about ten. I would say, over the past couple of seasons, the AVERAGE car count by class at all of the oval tracks I visited is about ten. That’s not very many by historical standards. Tonight’s car counts were even worse. Tonight they were racing modifieds, street stocks, late models, four-cylinders, enduros and sprint cars. I might have missed the street stock heat race while I was moving from my car in the parking lot to the grandstand. I do know this. I saw five classes each run one heat race. The car counts for those classes were 4, 4, 4, 5 and 7. The announcer also mentioned sprint cars were racing. There were no sprint car heat races before the track went to a “15-20-minute” intermission. I did see ONE sprint car in the pit area. The south, at local tracks, is not a hotbed for sprint cars. It’s late March. On the one hand, race car owners may not have their racers ready this early in the year. On the other hand, not very many tracks are open this early in the year either. You might think that Dothan might get some cars from other tracks that are yet to open for the season. I think I do know this. A rural track like this is not going to get fans to pay a $15 general admission price to see car counts this small. The track advertised their racing purse based upon a 10-car minimum in each class. According to that information, they would pay out nearly $10,000 in prize money each night if they got 10 cars per class. I’m no math wizard. O.K., I am a math wizard and I know this. Unless car counts dramatically improve the Dothan Motor Speedway will close before the end of 2021. I had seen a grand total of 27 cars race in five heat races. I decided there was little redeeming value in sitting out in the cold for 15-20 minutes (as advertised) for an intermission that was more likely to last 30-40 minutes. The heat races had been pretty dull with no passing and only one yellow flag. With the same car counts would things change? I didn’t think so. I left. I told you I had seen virtually every permanent dirt oval track in the entire United States. Was the entertainment value of tonight’s track near the bottom of all the tracks I had seen? Yes. I soon beat feet up to Cuthbert, Georgia. Along the way, I listened to the first half of the UCLA- Brigham Young NCAA tournament basketball game on SiriusXM radio. By halftime, I had pulled into my Econolodge Hotel in this small town. Our UCLA Bruins were leading by 11 points at the half. They would go on to win and advance to play Abilene Christian next Monday. If UCLA wins that game it might very well disrupt my trackchasing plans for next weekend. SUNDAY Today I was taking the opportunity to re-visit the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Carol and I first went there in 1971. Coming back to AMS brought back all sorts of memories from the past and as you will see created new memories! Most people consider themselves “normal” right? I think of myself as being normal as well. Maybe it’s just me but I’m a bit concerned with the “unusual” things that seem to happen to me. Are drug busts and breaking and entering and transporting minors across state lines a part of your life? I’m asking for a friend. I don’t make any of this stuff up. I don’t need to. What’s happens to me is just like my newsletter title says. It’s my everyday life. Nope. No, it was not. Since I was already in the “area” I wanted to stop and see the NASCAR Cup race, the top NASCAR series, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. There were a couple of obstacles in the way of my getting to do this. I had already ignored the CDC’s warnings not to travel. I am fully vaccinated. I consider the CDC stance to be for “other people”. Truth be told even before I was fully vaccinated I flew somewhere some 34 different weeks from March to March of the pandemic. Don’t get me wrong. I am not a believer in conspiracy theories. I fully accepted the danger of Covid-19. I also believed in the effectiveness of airplane HEPA filters. I social distance, wash my hands, wear a mask…and travel. Only recently have they been allowing fans in the stands at dramatically reduced capacity. For the Atlanta race, the promoter was allowed to sell 15,000 tickets. All of those tickets were sold in advance. There were no “paper” tickets. Every fan had their ticket on their phone. This was just one of the “contactless” features of today’s race event. The race was SOLD OUT as signs all over the property shouted to all within viewing distance. I did not have a ticket to the race. That did not bother me in the least. I did have a clear plastic bag. Carol had given me this bag to stuff my “racing gear” in so as to meet the requirements of the track. This was not going to be my first visit to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. I first went there all the way back in 1971. The famous A.J. Foyt won the Atlanta 500 that day. TRANSPORTING A MINOR ACROSS STATE LINES I remember something that seems sort of funny some 50 years later. Society’s mores were just a bit different back then as I am sure they were 100 years ago as well. Is that your wife? Before I tell you how I answered that question let’s think about a few things. I’m a college kid. I’m on spring break. I want to get a hotel room for my “friend” and me. How many people in that situation are going to answer that question honestly? I am almost embarrassed to say this. I answered that question honestly. I told the hotel owner that was not my wife in the car but my sports trainer. O.K., I didn’t say that but in today’s world, that answer might have worked. I told the lady my friend in the car was not my wife. We didn’t get the room. What would Jesus do? I looked over at my friend. She was looking to me for direction. What should we do? Could we make it safely through this snowstorm…should we get a hotel room? She asked me what I thought. One voice seemed to say to me, “I think we can make it. We have class tomorrow. We need to make it”. Then another voice coming from the other shoulder seemed to be saying. “Your friend is really good-looking. You’re in a snowstorm. There is a Holiday Inn just up ahead. Are you crazy? What are you waiting for? Get the room!” What about Carol? Just the facts. However, you only know half of today’s Atlanta Motor Speedway story. I was here today. I didn’t have a ticket. The event was sold out. I have a problem talking to strangers. I have a system for situations like this. I need to advertise my situation to as many eyeballs as I can. Someone once said that you can wink at your girlfriend “but if you don’t advertise what you’re doing no one but you will know”. I needed to let people know that I needed a ticket. It pays to be discreet. I have used this method literally hundreds of times at all kinds of stick and ball sports, auto races and concerts. It works every time…and it works quickly. Today’s situation was a bit different. No one had a “hard” ticket. That’s a paper ticket in my world. Everyone’s ticket that they would use for admission today was on their phone. I went about my work. First I passed by a couple of police cars. My sign stayed under my jacket until I was clear of them. Then when the cops were in my rearview mirror out came the sign! Some strangers are just weird. When that happens I simply want to grab the elderly woman by the nap of her fur coat and yell, “No I don’t have a ticket. I didn’t buy my tickets nine months ago as you did. I didn’t pay the full price plus a donor’s fee like you did. I’ll end up with a better seat location than you and pay one-third the price at the last minute!” Somebody always bails. I don’t deal with professionals. Their business is really easy. Everyone who has an extra ticket thinks its resale value is small. Everyone who needs an extra ticket to the simplest sporting event you can imagine thinks the demand for that ticket is akin to buying a ticket to the Super Bowl. Selling high; buying low. I don’t buy from ticket scalpers. They are trying to do exactly the opposite of what I am trying to do. I want to buy low and they want to sell high. I commonly tell them that I don’t buy from professionals…because I am a professional. Today I didn’t see a single ticket scalper in sight. That is rarely the case and certainly not at a NASCAR race. I attributed that to the fact that all tickets were electronic and on people’s phones. I think that made it easier for me. By the way, I must adhere to a dress code when I’m on the prowl for that elusive ticket. I don’t wear a Trump MAGA hat or a Biden/Harris t-shirt. I can’t be wearing a UCLA shirt when I need a ticket in the south. Lots of civilian sellers would just as soon eat their extra ticket than sell to the enemy. This is what happened today. I met a man named, “Richard”. I’ll go with that name because that’s what he told me his name was and I believed him. Richard had some extra tickets. He was with his brother Sam. Richard wasn’t a race fan. Sam was. They live near Atlanta and come to the races every year. In order to make sure that Sam got to come to the race, Richard paid $500 on StubHub (an online ticket broker) for two tickets in total! Wow! I wasn’t expecting to pay that much. However, Richard told me a local car dealer friend had given him four tickets for free. He was willing to sell me one of those tickets. I don’t pay retail. Although Richard was a nice guy and he likely would have been a good friend of mine in real life this was not real life. This was “stranger” life. There is a difference. I don’t mind that some people think I’m homeless. Richard’s story of paying $500 for two tickets was pretty effective in getting me to raise my initial offer. Offering twenty bucks to a person who had just paid more than ten times my offering price seemed a bit rude. I offered $40. Richard accepted. We were still friends. It was still an hour and a half before race time. Richard had MY ticket on his phone. Rather than try to hook up later and because Richard didn’t know if he could send his ticket to my phone we went up to the ticket taker. The ticket taker scanned Richard’s phone for my ticket and I was in. I would have to go back “outside” to get that done. There was just one minor problem. I didn’t have any proof that I had a ticket because my ticket was on Richard’s phone and Richard was long gone. Randy from California Off I went and who did I run into? Richard! I never expected to know so many people by their first name today. I felt obligated to explain what I was doing “outside”. Richard understood. The radio programming went smoothly and I returned in search of “Gabe”. Gabe? Where did Gabe go? O.K. then, I had no ticket. I had no Gabe. I was outside of security and needed to get back into the track. What could I do? Was this really ‘breaking and entering’? I grabbed a seat in my most preferred location. I was high up near the start/finish line. I could see everything really well, although at a distance, at today’s 1.54-mile asphalt oval. Thanks for the recommendation. How was the race? Not that great. The fun and challenge of the adventure had been in the ticket acquisition process. The race was actually almost a letdown. I hate long pants. I wear shorts 99.45% of the year. Today I wore long pants. I even had my ultra-thin upper long underwear under a long-sleeved lightweight t-shirt. At the ready was a light jacket. I didn’t need any of this! If I were president. When the race had finished I headed up to Charlotte, North Carolina. I did make the obligatory stop at Waffle House to redeem my free waffle couple. I’ve eaten at WH well over 1,000 times. Today was a first. I guess they were out of plates. My waffle was served in what I call a “cake pan”. I love firsts in life. In Charlotte, I checked into my Sheraton hotel. I bought it on Priceline for 51 bucks. Then when I checked in I reminded the desk clerk of my Titanium Elite frequent stay status. I was upgraded to a king suite at a Sheraton for 51 bucks. I love talking to strangers. BUSTED FOR DRUGS! First, I want to clear up anything that needs to be cleared up. I was not busted for drugs. I have never used an illegal drug in my life and I grew up in the 60s. Never. Ever. 21st and last on the standby list. However…they kept calling standby passengers one by one and giving them a seat on the plane. Soon they were down to standby passengers #19, #20 and #21, which was me. There was ONE seat left on the plane. Will you split? Now the drama began. Over the course of time, four different passengers were “detained”. Each time the perps were moved to a remote spot about 50 feet away. There four uniformed officers went through these passenger’s bags. Copper! Undercover no less. So how did this drug bust affect me? Well…there had been one open seat. When the couple flying standby ahead of me refused to split up I was going to get that last seat. Drugs were going to keep me out of first class. An alert agent, way to alert for my tastes, saw the opportunity to give the two open seats to the couple who were rightfully ahead of me on the standby list. Truthfully, that was some pretty unusual behavior on the agent’s part but I couldn’t complain. The couple, who had refused to split up, were now off to Los Angeles. The drug detained passenger was off to jail. The tipster was likely in line for a reward. I was destined to attempt to take the next already full flight to Los Angeles. No! Not the drug-sniffing dog. Good afternoon, good evening and good afternoon from first Pensacola, Florida then Cottonwood, Alabama and finally Atlanta, Georgia with a stop-off in New Orleans. Randy Lewis San Clemente, California Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,687 tracks. Florida The Sunshine State This afternoon I saw racing at my 76th-lifetime track in the Sunshine, yes, the Sunshine State. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in Florida. Florida ranks #12, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Florida state trackchasing list. I have made 61 separate trips to Florida 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 Florida sayings: “If you can afford a vacation home in Florida, you should be able to pay the taxes.” 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 795 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. This one covers it all! New Orleans – Five Flags – Dothan – Atlanta and more 
I’m sharing some excerpts from this past weekend’s trip down to Atlanta and Charlotte. I had no idea I would be linked to a major drug bust. I certainly didn’t intend to be liable for criminal breaking and entering. Finally, did I really transport minors across state lines in my previous life? Why do these things keep happening to me? I’m just a normal person. This is my world. People know me here.
BREAKING AND ENTERING?
Honestly, I don’t know how I find myself in situations like this. I had already been to my favorite New Orleans eateries and seen racing in both Florida and Alabama. Wasn’t that enough of a weekend trip?
The main problem with today’s race was that I didn’t have a ticket. The Atlanta Motor Speedway seating capacity is 71,000. For the past year, NASCAR has not allowed any fans to watch their events in the grandstands because of Covid.
What was in the plastic bag? I had my racing radio and Bose noise-canceling headset. There was a McDonald’s double cheeseburger from a morning stop at Mickey D’s. I had a large bottle of Gatorade ZERO.
I was down in Georgia on spring break for that trip. I had convinced a young girl I met in college to make the trip with me. We would also be going down to Florida as part of our spring break plan.
My girlfriend and I stopped at a mom-and-pop small hotel. My “friend” stayed in the car while I went in to secure a room. In the course of the conversation with the hotel proprietor, a woman about the age of my mother at the time asked me a question. “Is that your wife in the car?”
I had another experience with this girl from college. You’re getting all of my most deep-seated memories now. One time we were traveling back to college and we were caught in a midwestern snowstorm. The roads were nearly impassable. Traffic was crawling. It was nearly midnight. Just up ahead was a Holiday Inn in LaSalle, Illinois.
Truth be told could we have made it through that snowstorm? We will never know. I got the room!
People sometimes ask me “What does your wife Carol say when she reads these reports?” Well…I do share some intimate details don’t I? I think Carol can fully appreciate that college kids go on spring break and sometimes they bring along a “friend” right? Snowstorms happen. College kids are always on a budget. If two college kids find themselves in the middle of a raging snowstorm and a hotel is their only option you don’t expect them to blow their pizza money on two hotel rooms do you?
As a 100% honest guy, I feel a requirement to only share factual details from each of my experiences. Carol has come to appreciate and value my honesty. When she reads this don’t you think I’m in line for a pat on the back simply because I told the story honestly? Would this situation fly in your household?
Just one more thing about that snowstorm story and the ma and pa hotel story in Florida for that matter. The girl from college…my friend…yes the really good-looking one was in point of fact the woman who would become my wife for the last 49+ years…Carol. And now as Paul Harvey would say, “You know the rest of the story”.
Yes, I have a problem talking to strangers. The problem is that I love talking to strangers! Today I needed to meet a stranger who would give me or sell me a ticket to today’s race. As I walked onto the grounds of the AMS property everyone I saw was a stranger!
However, I couldn’t let EVERYONE in the place know I needed a ticket. The police don’t like people like me. We’re sometimes called “scalpers”. I prefer the term “promotional wholesaler”. 
Back at home, I had taken a light yellow piece of paper and in large block letters printed “Need One” on one side and “Need 1” on the other side. I thought this made my sign bi-lingual.
I must tell you this. My sign does attract a unique clientele. There’s always the young jokester who can’t resist telling me he has a ticket and he will sell it to me for $2,000.
Then there is another person who will read my sign that clearly states, “Need One” and ask, “Do you have any tickets to sell?” Folks I can’t explain other people’s behavior. I can only report it.
Oh! There’s one more “typical” response. This happens a lot at stick and ball sports. Let’s say I’m at a major college football game. An elderly couple will always pass by and the wife will grab her husband’s arm just a little bit tighter. I can almost read her lips. She will be whispering, “Look at that man, he needs a ticket, he doesn’t have a ticket. Poor guy”. This is not a dissimilar response than when passing a homeless person lying on the ground with only one shoe, a week-old beard and a tattered Philadelphia Flyers jacket.
Once I wade through this riff-raff I get to the people who DO have an extra ticket. Maybe they were a group of four and the brother-in-law bailed at the last minute. Maybe they got some promotional tickets and have an extra. The point is there are a lot of extra tickets just sitting in pockets or in today’s case on phones.
I almost forgot. There’s one more group of folks who have “extras”. These people are true ticket scalpers. These guys (almost all the scalpers are guys but not every time) are buying and selling tickets to make a profit.
People with extra tickets are willing to sell low. People who want a ticket are willing to buy high. The ticket scalper buys low and sells high.
Would you enjoy meeting strangers with me?
I wish you could come with me when I go out to “meet strangers”. I would bet you a Coke that I will be in active negotiations within just five minutes over the price and availability of a ticket…after I share my sign.
Richard asked me what the retail price was for tickets to the race. Earlier today another stranger I met told me face value for the ticket he had was $66. I told Richard that. His face seemed to light up.
I could not pay Richard the full price of a ticket at $66. His ticket was “damaged”. Damaged? Yes. We were just shortly before race time. There was almost no one willing to buy his ticket and prospective buyers didn’t even know he had a ticket to sell. His ticket effectively had an expiration date.
For the last dozen NASCAR races I have attended I have bought my ticket at just two price points. In half of those situations, I was given a ticket for free. I told you some people think I’m homeless in this situation. On the other six occasions, I paid just twenty dollars for each of my tickets. In all of those situations the retail value of the tickets I was buying ranged from $60-100 or more.
Any questions? This is how it is done in my world.
Folks, that is how it is done in the Covid buying world. However…once I was inside I realized I had not taken the time to have my racing radio programmed. This is a process, that when completed, will allow me to listen in on each driver’s radio communication to his (sorry only guys racing this year) pit crew.
Not a problem. I like to talk to strangers. I walked up to a young man who was scanning tickets for fans coming into the stands. I explained my situation. I told the young man that I was “Randy from California”. He told me he would remember and let me back in when I returned from my radio programming errand. I asked for his name. Gabe. I smiled and told “Gabe” I would see him soon.
If life was simple everyone would succeed right? I went back to where Gabe, the ticket scanner, had been standing and there was no Gabe. There was no Gabe anywhere. I asked around. No one even knew who Gabe was.
While all of the other ticket takers were busy trying to scan tickets in bright sunlight I simply walked in. I had the facts on my side even though at that point I had no official ticket.
You might note that I never asked Richard what the seat location was for his ticket. It didn’t matter in the least to me. I think of seat locations printed on sports tickets as “recommendations”. I consider those recommendations and sit where I want.
I got a little screwed up with the weather. The forecast called for 59 degrees, clouds and wind. In reality, it was nearly 70 degrees with lots of sun and no wind.
Personally, I don’t think anyone should wear long pants or live in a climate where long pants might be considered. If I were elected president the first thing I would do is make long pants illegal…but then that’s just me.
Busted for drugs! How did being busted for drugs influence my airplane ride back to Los Angeles from Charlotte? I know what you’re saying. “Of course, airlines are not going to be very receptive to someone using, abusing and trafficking illegal drugs. What were you thinking Randy?”
Here’s what came down today. I was flying standby. I would be able to get on the plane from Charlotte to Los Angeles if the airlines had an unsold seat. Unfortunately, I was 21st on the standby list. There was no way I was going to make this flight. I was already developing backup plans.
It looked as if my luck has run out. However…passengers #19 and #20 were a couple. There was only one seat. I began to lick my chops. I had been in this situation before. Would the couple split up? Would one of these folks take the final available seat and leave the remaining person behind? No!! They would not split. I was golden. I was going to Los Angeles.
That being the case I was going to get that very last seat. Not only was that the situation but that last seat was in first class! Ya, I know. Pretty lucky huh?
However…in the world of standby flying, things are never final until the plane’s wheels leave the ground. While all of this standby drama was going on another type of drama was happening as well.
When I first arrived I noticed a young man in a black golf shirt and black pants standing near where passengers were boarding the plane. His golf shirt did share the letters P-O-L-I-C-E in small font. He was packing heat as well. This man gave the evil eye to each passenger as they approached the plane.
I noticed another guy standing about five feet from me. He had long scraggly hair, a backpack and jeans. I pegged him as a copper right off the bat. He was eyeing each boarding passenger as closely as the police officer in the Tiger Woods golf shirt. Yep. He turned out to be undercover as well. Then came another fellow with a police dog! This was the equivalent of six squad cars surrounding a speeding vehicle on the interstate. Somebody tipped off somebody! Don’t worry. That’s detective talk.
However…when one of the drug bust detainees was going to be permanently detained that now created two open seats. I already had my first class boarding pass in my hand. I was trying to scan my boarding pass as quickly as I could when the boarding pass was snatched from my hush puppy greased fingers!
At this point, I began assessing alternatives to the sold-out flights I was trying to get on during spring break. Just as I began to walk away the police officer with the canine had his dog sniff my bag. No! The dog let me slide today. Maybe that had something to go with the hush puppy I dropped at his feet.
