Southern Kentucky Fairgrounds

 

 

My trackchasing goals are time oriented not track oriented…………….more in “The Details”.

 

Oh no!  Why was this state patrol office pulling me over?……………..more in “The Details”

 

Do this everyday and you will be rewarded…sooner or later……………more in “The Details”

 

After seeing nearly 1,900 tracks I had never seen this! …………..details in “Race Review”.

 

 

THE PLAN

My goal is time not tracks.

In any given trackchasing year I have no idea how many tracks I will see.  I don’t want to set a goal of seeing a specific number of tracks.  If I did that then I might have to go trackchasing more than I wanted too or more than is good for my interaction with family and friends.

 

 

However, I do have a “time” goal established.  My goal is to have 23 weekends (that’s almost six months of weekends!) reserved for things other than trackchasing.  I’ve had a “time” goal for the last several years to limit my trackchasing.  I’m taking nearly half the year off from trackchasing.  I would call that “semi-retirement”.

 

 

Some of my fellow competitors will go trackchasing every weekend if there is a track to see.  If I wanted I could see tracks pretty much 52 weekends a year.  I don’t need to trackchase that often.  If that were the ONLY thing to do I would love it.  However, if I went trackchasing every weekend there would be no time for all of the other experiences that need to be had.  Make sense?

 

How does this compare to your hobbies?

By having 23 weekends away from trackchasing I still have 29 weekends devoted to this hobby.  Think about the hobbies you have.  Would you say you spend time with your hobby 29 weekends a year?  Of course, my hobby almost always requires that I hop on an airplane 29 weekends each year.  Heck, that doesn’t seem like much to me.  When I was in business I flew virtually every week of the year, although rarely on weekends.

 

 

I am heading into the busiest two months of the year trackchasing-wise.  Of course, I did take off four straight weekends in June to pursue family oriented activities.  When I complete a very busy two months of trackchasing I will then go back into semi-retirement for the remaining four months of 2013.  You can rest assured I will not take my eye off the goal of having 23 non-trackchasing weekends.

 

 

THE TRIP

 

I had a full 19 hours at home.

I woke up this morning in San Clemente, California.  I went to bed in Indianapolis, Indiana.  This is what today looked like.

 

 

Today is Tuesday.  I left the house at 5 a.m.  Of course, I didn’t get home from my LAST trackchasing trip until yesterday at 10 a.m.  That gave me a luxurious 19 hours at home.  Carol was gone from the house tending with her siblings to her aging parents in New Mexico, when I left on my last trip.  When I left on this trip she still had not returned.

 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

This will give us one of the longest periods ever of being apart.  However, she will join me on my next trackchasing trip.  What was the longest time we ever spent apart during our 41-year marriage?  It came right after our honeymoon!  We were married during my 10-day Marine Corps leave immediately following my completion of boot camp.  Following our wedding and a trip to Orlando, Florida (no racing but a visit to Disneyworld which had been open just three months) I returned to active duty.  Carol was able to visit me once, in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a weekend and that was it for the first three months of our matrimonial life.

 

No airline sponsorship today.

Today I will travel on a “full-fare” airline ticket.  There are some advantages to doing that.  First, I KNOW I will be getting on the plane.  I’ll be traveling out of our “hometown” airport aka John Wayne Airport or Santa Ana or Orange County.  I believe this is the best airport in the country.

 

 

How is it we have the best weather and the best airport?  Maybe that’s why we chose San Clemente as the place to live for the past 24 years and California for 34 years in total.

 

John Wayne here I come.

This is the first time this year I have used the John Wayne airport.  Every other trip has emanated from “LAX” or the Los Angeles International Airport.  LAX, although more than twice as far from my house as the John Wayne Airport, offers much more flexibility and frequency of flights.  Granted LAX is a “zoo” and the John Wayne Airport is more of a palace but “flexibility and frequency” win out over convenience.

 

 

Luckily, just as I do at LAX, I have a full airport parking sponsorship at John Wayne.  I stay in a hotel about 150 nights per year.  That means my car is parked at an airport more than 150 days each year.  The average parking charge at our airports is in the range of $12-17 per day.  Can you imagine what it would cost, just to park my car, if I didn’t have sponsorship?

There are drawbacks to even good ideas.

Flying out of John Wayne did not come without its drawbacks.  First, I had a non-refundable non-changeable ticket.  That’s why they sold me the ticket so cheaply.  This meant I was locked into leaving today and flying first to Dallas and then onto Nashville.  Weeks ago I chose Nashville because of its central location.  I had no idea when I purchased the ticket what the weather would be like when I arrived in Nashville.  However, I knew that by landing at 2:45 p.m. I could drive some 250 miles in ANY direction of Nashville in search of a new track.

 

A good flexible plan will normally give you above average results.

For me trackchasing is all about using “strategy”.  Strategy challenges the mind.  It’s like a board game.  How do I win?  I win by seeing more tracks in less time than my fellow competitors.  So far this year I have seen 56 tracks in 17 trips.  That’s an average of 3.3 tracks per trip.  None of my fellow competitors can match that total or even come close.

 

 

As of today I have not been rained out in 781 days a span that has seen me trackchase at 212 new tracks.  I would guess most trackchasers get rained out 5-7% of the time.  Buying using “strategic travel” as it relates to weather patterns I have seen 10-15 more tracks over this period than the average trackchaser who gets rained out much more frequently.

The streak cannot go on much longer.

I will tell you this.  I fully expect to have some rainouts over the next two months.  When that happens I will be bummed.  Often times I will be trackchasing every single day for a long period of time.  Many of these trackchasing visits offer no backup plan.  If I have only one track to see in Maine or Kansas or New Mexico and the Man decides to dampen the earth I will just have to live with it.  That’s the way it goes in trackchasing.  Nevertheless, I hope to have a very fun, productive and trackchasing satisfying experience as this trip unwinds.  If I do it will be just like every other trackchasing trip that I take.

 

 

THE EXPERIENCE

Just like riding the bus.

I feel very comfortable traveling.  I’ve been doing this since I was 23 years old.  For me flying on an airplane or renting a car is about like riding the bus.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand when people I meet are so stressed out about travel.  Some think the plane will crash.  I don’t worry about that.  I figure the pilot wants to make it as safely as I do.  Some folks don’t like to hassle with airport security.  Heck, with the systems I have in place (Pre-Check, Global Entry) getting through security can sometimes be done in less than 60 seconds.  Others, especially as they age, have just “given up”.  I’m not going to give up for as long as I can.  You won’t see very many people older than me in airports.

 

Do this every day and you will be rewarded sooner or later.

Today in the Dallas airport I had time to stop and get a “Subway” sandwich.  The line was long and an elderly couple was just in front of me.  When it was their turn to order they had some trouble communicating with a young Eastern European male server.  He was cheerful and friendly but his English was not very good.  The elderly couple probably didn’t hear that well and might not often come in contact with English being spoken with a heavy Eastern European accent.  They gave up and left the line.

 

 

I continued on and ordered my sandwich.  When I reached the cashier to pay for my sandwich I noticed the line was three times longer, maybe 20 people, than when I joined it.  At the END of that line was the elderly lady with shockingly white hair who had been in front of me.  Her even more elderly husband had now taken a seat.  They were going to try again but with her position in line it was going to take some time now.

 

 

It was time for me to intervene.  The cashier was an affable fellow.  He was busy but I asked him to slow down for just a moment.  I pointed out the elderly woman in the back of the line and explained what had happened to her and her husband.  The cashier was empathetic to the situation.  He made arrangements to have one of his assistants go the back of the line and escort the older woman to the FRONT of this long line.  From there I watched as she was given “V.I.P.” treatment.  That made me feel good.

 

No good deed goes unpunished?

Along the lines of “no good deed goes unpunished” which is a favorite saying of Carol’s I had another experience of trying to help that ended up causing some problems.  We got a call last week that son Jim was heading to California from his home in Honolulu, Hawaii on a business trip.

 

 

During our conversation I learned he would not have access to a car.  I was leaving on this trip on Tuesday.  He was coming in tomorrow on Wednesday.  I had a solution that would work for each of us.  I would leave my car in the parking garage at LAX.  When he landed he could grab the key (strategically located on top of the left rear tire) and use my car for the week.  Then when his trip was over he would return the car to where he picked it up.  A few days later (this may give you an indication of how long this trip will be!) I would return to LAX to get my car just as if it had been sitting there the entire time.  Wow!  What a perfect idea.

 

 

Of course, not all plans are good plans.  Every one of my trackchasing trips had begun from LAX this year.  I had forgotten that this trip was beginning at the John Wayne Airport and that’s where my car would be when Jim landed at LAX!  The two airports are about 45 miles apart.  Wow!  What an imperfect idea.

 

 

I didn’t figure this out until the night before I was leaving on this trip.  I had to get things “fixed”.  However, I wouldn’t be in town to fix them.  I had made a commitment and when I make a commitment I will do just about anything to make sure it happens the way I said it would.

 

What were my options?

I had two “repair” options.  The first was having Carol drive up to LAX to pickup Jim and then driving him, which would be on the way home, to the John Wayne airport to get my car.  From there he could use the car for the week and return it to LAX.  Secondly, Jim could ride the Flyaway bus from LAX to Union Station and take a train to San Clemente.

 

 

You guessed it.  Carol ended up driving to LAX (a nearly two-hour one-way drive) to pickup son Jim.  From there they visited the Orange County airport where Jim picked up my car for the week.  Yes, Carol is a trooper.

 

Don’t be afraid to ask

It never pays to ask.  When I rent from my sponsor, the National Rental Car Company, they let me pick any car on the lot.  Then they give me a $15 credit toward a future rental.  You can’t beat sponsorship.

 

 

Tonight National didn’t have much to pick from.  I asked the manager if they had any Hyundai Sonatas.  I’ve come to like these cars for their gas mileage (35 M.P.G. plus) and the fact that they almost all come with XM/Sirius satellite radio.  The manager had to walk back to the “clean up” area to see if they had what I was wanting.  He soon returned with a brand new Sonata with just 9 miles on it.  I’ll drive that car to Indianapolis and hopefully closeout my contract and then keep the same car under a new contract.

 

Was this a good deal?

Effectively I have a one-way rental for five days of this full-sized car for about $200.  That’s before the $30 worth of rebates I will be earning.  Net cost about $170.  Call your rental car company and see what their rate is for a five-day one-way rental of a full-sized car.  I’m guessing the quote will be upwards of $500 and maybe even have a mileage cap.

 

 

Was my 10-year speeding ticket streak about ready to come to an end?

I have not had a speeding ticket since 2003.  Since that time I’ve driven about 400,000 miles.  However, I have received one “moving violation” ticket.  That’s when a Uruguayan cop pulled me over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street.  That was embarrassing and expensive.  However, it was what it was.

 

 

Tonight I was cruising along I-65 headed up toward Indianapolis.  It was past midnight.  I always speed.  However, I try to limit my speeding to just 5-7 M.P.H. over the limit.  I use my cruise control so that I don’t start day dreaming and get more than 10 M.P.H. over the speed limit.

 

 

There wasn’t much traffic on the interstate at this late hour.  However, I did notice a state highway patrol car sitting in the medium of Interstate 65.  I was sleepy and didn’t think much of it.

 

 

I was planning to pull into a highway rest area in about a mile.  Just as I made that decision I noticed the highway patrol car was pulling from his parking spot onto the highway in my direction.  Even though the police car was a few hundred yards behind me I knew this was not good news.

 

 

In just a moment or two I exited off the interstate for the rest area.  As I expected the state patrolman, now just 50 yards behind me exited too.  Was I going to get my first speeding ticket in more than ten years?  I pulled into a rest area parking space.  The cop pulled in right behind me and hit the flashing lights!

 

 

This alerted my fellow “rest arians” that an episode of “Cops” was about to take place.  Just like I always do (in my previous nine speeding ticket situations anyway) I rolled down my window.

 

 

I was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

However, this time was going to be different.  I was “mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it any more”.  Before the cop reached my door I jumped out of the car and wrestled him to the ground.  I went for his service revolver and pointed the gun in his face.  “You’ve got to stop harassing the public!  We are all hard-working ‘little guys’ and won’t stand for police oppression.”  The guy was scared within an inch of his life.  He agreed to let me go if I let him get up and gave him his gun back.

 

 

O.K., none of the things mentioned in the above paragraph actually happened.  They could have but then I would be writing this from a jail cell.  The officer did say this,  “I saw you pass me without a license plate (my car was brand new and didn’t have a plate).  However, now I see you have your registration taped to the back window.  I’ll just take a look at your driver’s license and be right back”.

 

 

All the while the flashing lights were going like crazy.  Everyone who stopped in the rest area was looking at me as if I were a criminal.  Soon the state patrolman returned, came me my driver’s license back and I was on my way.  This episode woke me up to a degree that I no longer needed to spend anytime in this rest area.

 

 

SOUTHERN KENTUCKY FAIRGROUNDS – BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY

 

 

It’s happened before.

I must admit I had somewhat of a panic attack on the way to the track tonight.  Back in 2001 I went to the Beach Ridge Speedway in Bowling Green, Kentucky for both their oval and figure 8 racing.  Then I got to thinking that TONIGHT’S figure 8 racing might be at the same place!  In the world of trackchasing that would have been devastating.  Of course, not really devastating in the world of life!

 

 

I began making phone calls.  “Was the figure 8 race tonight going to be in the same place as the figure 8 racing at Beach Ridge Speedway?” I asked.   The first two folks to answer the phone at the fairgrounds didn’t know the answer to that question.  This was even more concerning at that point.  However, a call to the promoter’s business gave me the response I was looking for.  Tonight’s figure 8 races were part of the Southern Kentucky Fair a location different than where the now defunct Beach Ridge Speedway operated.  Whew!

 

 

The early bird gets the worm.

The posters and internet said the race was to begin at 7 p.m.  I arrived early at 4:30 p.m.  I grabbed a spot near the entrance gate and set to work managing my photos and Trackchaser Reports from previous track visits.  It was 91 degrees and humid, so with my car getting 35 M.P.G. I let the engine and more importantly the air-conditioning run for a couple of hours.

 

 

As time went by I looked in my rearview mirror.  There were well over 150 people in line to get in mostly high school age kids.  They were coming for the carnival.  Good on them.

 

A ‘city’ county fair?

At just before 7 p.m. with the temperature at 91 degrees I entered Lampkin Park in Bowling Green sight of tonight’s race, my 1,870^th track.  I did a brief tour of the Southern Kentucky Fairgrounds.  It wasn’t that large and was more of a “city” fair than most.

 

 

It wasn’t hard to find the figure 8 track.  It was located down in a well-shaded area at an elevation much lower than where the carnival sat.  The $12 fair admission gave everyone unlimited rides as well as entrance to the figure 8 races.  Although I didn’t have much time for rides that seemed like a fair deal.

 

 

When I arrived into the nicely situation aluminum grandstands with the sun at my back the red-clay Kentucky racetrack dirt looked like they were getting to plant corn on it.  As 7 p.m. came and went the track sat.

 

 

Wow!  I could get rained out if they didn’t get it in gear.

The pit area was located on the far side of the grandstands on the other side of the track.  There wasn’t much activity.  I could count seven race cars.  I checked my iPhone.  There was a huge area of thunderstorms less than 10 miles north of Bowling Green.  Luckily, if normal weather patterns that move from west to east held we would not get any rain.

 

 

With the track all plowed up they came out and turned it up some more.  Then the water truck came onto the track with a man holding a hose to add moisture to the track.  This was followed with a huge Caterpillar steamroller to pack the dirt down.  They must have known what they were doing because by race time the surface was excellent.  However, the racing did not begin until about 8:15 p.m.

 

How is it that something I have never ever seen before shows up at nearly every new track I visit?

Then something happened that I can never recall happening in my previous 1,869 new track visits.  I would be disappointed if something new didn’t happen at 99.9% of the tracks I visit.  That’s why I come!

 

 

They had time trials (two laps) for each of the seven competitors.  Wow!  Time trials for a seven-car figure 8 field.  Let me clarify.  I am assuming these were time trials.  The P.A. was very poor and the only announcements I could hear were directed toward the pit area.  Nevertheless, each car ran two laps in what LOOKED like time trials.  I think they were.

They diddled and then they diddled some more.

Then they diddled around some more before running two heats of first three cars and then four.  Finally, after some MORE diddling around the six-car feature came onto the track.  During the breaks the figure 8 drivers came out to “walk the track” much like top-level late model stars do.  I had never seen that as a figure 8 show before.

 

I have connections to Kentucky.

Let me tell you that my kin folks on my father’s side are from Kentucky.  I consider myself part Kentuckian.  Nevertheless, I rate Kentucky as probably my second most rural state in the U.S. behind West Virginia.  They “smoke like trees” as we used to say back on the block.  Tonight’s crowd both on and off the track was very rural with more tattoos than your average American would have.  What can I say?  They’re my kinfolk.

 

Not a bad race.

The feature event was a good race.  It didn’t take long to have lots of action at the “X”.  I have no idea how many laps the race was scheduled for.  On the first lap they had a major tailgating fender bender that drew a red flag.  After the debris was cleaned up they went on racing.

 

 

The drivers didn’t seem to lift at all at the crossing of the figure 8 track.  This created several close calls until finally a major crash occurred at the “X”.  You won’t want to miss this on video.  There is very little safety equipment in these cars.  There are no airbags and often the drivers race in t-shirts and jeans wearing only a standard passenger safety belt.

 

 

I could see that the driver was hurt.  He was slumped over the steering wheel and apparently knocked out from the impact.  Safety workers came to his aid.  This was taking a long time.  There was no information coming from the P.A. system.  After 15 minutes they still had not removed the driver from the car.

 

 

At that point I had been at the track, inside the fair, for 2 ½ hours for a seven-car figure 8 event.  That was long enough.  I was facing a 3 ½ hour drive northward to Indianapolis.  It was time to boogie and I did.

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

Kentucky

 

The Bluegrass State

This evening I saw my 33rd lifetime track in the Bluegrass state, yes the Bluegrass state.  I like Kentucky.  Heck, I like all of our states.  I’ll be back.

 

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

Kentucky sayings:  Millions of people; 15 last names

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Dallas, TX (DFW) – 1,232 miles

Dallas, TX (DFW) – Nashville, TN – 630 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #1

Nashville International Airport – trip begins

Bowling Green, KY