Greetings from Mahnomen, Minnesota
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lifetime Track #1,878
Don’t miss my one-minute video preview of today’s trackchasing visit:
From the Mahnomen County Speedway
They had all THIS in Grand Forks, North Dakota?……………more in “The Details”. Why do I take nearly six months off from trackchasing?…………….more in “The Details”. America’s Taj Mahal? …………..details in “Trackchasing Tourist Attraction”. How do you run into a full-sized farm tractor? …………..details in “Race Review”. 220 tracks without a rainout! …………..details in “Race Review”. Grand Forks…more than I was expecting. I woke up this morning in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I went to bed in my rental car at the Wal-Mart in Bloomington, Minnesota.. This is what today looked like. Walking is a good exercise and I love walking. I’ve discovered that there’s lot to see in the small towns I visit along the trackchasing trail. I get to see more when I walk. Grand Forks, North Dakota offered more than I was expecting. The weather today in Grand Forks, North Dakota was as we like to say “San Clemente perfect”. Blue skies with white puffy clouds, 75° no humidity – just absolutely delightful. Some say that, and I’m one of them, where we live in South San Clemente California has the best climate in the world. How can you are argue with average high temperatures of 67-77° all year, an average of 10 inches of rainfall of which most of it occurs in five months, no humidity, no bugs and no tornadoes. If everyday were like this in Grand Forks I’m sure people will be flocking here by the thousands as they have to California over the years. My hotel was within walking distance of downtown. They’ve done a fantastic job of redeveloping this area. The city is located along the banks of the Red River of the North. I walked along the new boardwalk that parallels the river. On this morning they were having a huge farmers market with live music. The place was jammed with people. As a broad generalization I just wouldn’t expect the quality amenities that I saw today in a place like Grand Forks, North Dakota. To top off the downtown area Grand Forks has a convention center that seats 21,000 people. Cher performed in front of her biggest crowd ever here. There was time to explore this city gem. Tonight’s racing location was just an hour and a half away. That meant I had plenty of time to explore the local area. I started out with a visit to the local Cabela’s outfitter store. If you’ve never been to a Cabela’s you’re missing a treat. When you do go I hope you’ll visit one of their largest Midwestern located stores. They’re a tourist attraction in themselves. Then I was off to an afternoon movie in one of the most unusual western motif theatres I had ever seen. Grand Forks is a hidden gem. How many towns the size of Grand Forks, with a population of about 50,000 people, have the entertainment facilities they do? The Alerus Center sports arena seats 13,500 for football and 9,500 for basketball. UND had the third highest average football attendance in NCAA division II when the Alerus Center opened in 2001. By the way 13,500 might not seem like a lot but in these parts if you get a crowd of 13,500 you’ve done something. Wow! What a place. Finally, I stopped off to take a look at the University of North Dakota’s hockey arena. Wow! What a place. I’ve never seen anything like it on the college level. I wouldn’t be surprised if I make it back there for a hockey match sometime in the future. Don’t miss the photos of the above. It was all pretty unique stuff. Grand Forks, North Dakota and its sister city East Grand Forks, Minnesota are hidden gems. I suspect the only thing that holds them back is the harsh winter climate, which I’m sure can be severe. That’s one of the benefits of my trackchasing. I visit these places, most of the time, when their weather is good. That was certainly the case today. Why do I take nearly six months off from trackchasing? I’m on the 12th day of what will be a 14-day outing. Truth be told if I didn’t have a family I could do this every day for months and years at a time. However it’s important to not get too involved in your pleasures that may exclude your family, friends and loved ones. That’s why I have a goal of taking nearly 6 months of weekends off from my trackchasing hobby. I’ll see as many tracks as I can in the allotted weekends I have for trackchasing. When I reach my allocation for the year I won’t do anymore trackchasing. One other unusual note: With city and state cutbacks often times I will drive around the city for a day or two and never see a police officer. In Grand Forks I must’ve seen patrol cars 6 to 7 times in the day that I was here. That really surprised me. Maybe I was just seeing one patrol car lots of times! TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home. I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day. America’s Taj Mahal? North Dakota is one of the most popular states for ice hockey in the U.S. Maybe that’s why a place like the University of North Dakota has a professional quality facility that seats 11,643 fans. It took $104 million dollars to build this place. They call it the “Taj Mahal” of hockey. The concourses of the arena feature granite flooring. Each seat is trimmed in cherry wood and covered with leather upholstery. The arena has been called “one of the finest facilities of its kind in the entire world” according to Wikipedia! In doing some post research on this facility I found that Ralph Engelstad threatened to withdraw his financial support if the university’s athletics nickname, the Fighting Sioux, was changed in the face of political pressure. A legal battle ensued. UND could not get both Sioux nations in North Dakota to endorse keeping the name. More court battles happened until the issue was brought to a vote by the people. They voted to discontinue the Sioux name. On October 12, 2012 construction crews removed the “Home of the Fighting Sioux” from the building. The school apparently has no nickname at this time but must come up with one by 2015. Since I don’t care much for politics of any kind I’ll plan to see a hockey match in this arena as soon as is practical. I might be able to make it out there this winter. Mahnomen County Speedway – Mahnomen, Minnesota Why? Tonight’s admission price for “honored citizens” was just seven bucks a three-dollar savings over the prices paid by people still trying to save enough money to retire. No, I don’t understand the rationale for senior discounts. Is it because “aged” people have more political clout than the younger set? Nevertheless, I invested my senior savings in a Bud Light and hog dog. I was all set on that front for the evening. A pretty well run program. I was using my race scanner to listen in on what the race director had to say about tonight’s program. Sometimes it takes me a while to find the channel on my radio that the track uses. Tonight it took me all of five seconds. By listening to the commentary over my radio I could understand the reasons for cautions and get the lap-by-lap standings as well. The national anthem went off at 6 p.m. with racing beginning at 6:20 p.m. Tonight’s one and only enduro stock car race was set to have 150 laps with an intermission at halfway. Of the 28 starters about half finished. The pit area tonight was located off turn four. Turns three and four were where most of the accidents happened. There was no crash wall around these turns. When cars approached too fast they simply slid up and off the track and then down an embankment out of sight. Then they would often emerge at full speed and join the racing down the front stretch. One driver elected to head full speed into the pit area. I guess he didn’t see the old farm tractor in the high brown weeds. That tractor looked as if it had been there for 30 years. It’s got a huge dent in it now. I’m sure the driver who ran into it has a sore neck! This incident brought out a red flag but there were no major injuries. Tonight’s track announcer was a woman. That’s unusual. She had limited communication with the crowd other than providing the race standings during yellow flag periods. What was the main cause of tonight’s yellow flags? Debris! Mainly front bumpers. 220 tracks without a rainout! This is day number 12 my 14-day trip. I’ve seen a new track every night except when I was racechasing at the Eldora and Peoria speedways. Earlier in the trip I had to drive through some ferocious Midwestern plains summer weather. However, it seemed as if it was always dry when I got to the racetrack. Tomorrow night’s weather in Ohio looks good. If it holds I’ll have a perfect weather record for this trip. I will also extend my rain free streak to 220 tracks without a rainout over a period of more than two years! As I have driven around the Minnesota area I’ve noticed the names of several ice track locations that I’ve visited over the past several winters. I drove past a the Shooting Star casino. That’s the site of where I spent the prize money I won last year at an ice race sponsored by Randy Van Hoof. I’ve raced in two of his events. Maybe I’ll get the chance to do that again. My ETA into the Minneapolis airport following tonight’s racing would be about 12:15 a.m. That Google Maps! ETA did not account for stops for food, gas and attention to required bodily functions. My flight leaves tomorrow at 7:50 a.m. I have to return my rental car by approximately 6:30 AM. Therefore there would be no time for getting a hotel. That’s the price I pay for trackchasing late into the night and leaving at “zero dark thirty” the next morning. My best option was to sleep overnight in the car. STATE COMPARISONS Minnesota The Gopher State This evening I saw my 67th lifetime track in the Gopher state, yes the Gopher state. Minnesota is home to the “NIMS” people. That’s why I like it up here….in the summer time. 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 Minnesota sayings: Not Sweden but we act like it.
TRAVEL ITINERARY 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 Indianapolis International Airport – 315 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins Rossburg, OH Peoria, IL Urbana, IL Indianapolis International Airport – 778 miles AIRPLANE Indianapolis, IN (IND) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 177 miles Chicago, IL (ORD) – Sioux Falls, SD (FSD) – 461 miles RENTAL CAR #3 Sioux Falls Regional Airport – trip begins Luverne, MN Eppley Field (Omaha) – 252 miles RENTAL CAR #4 Eppley Field (Omaha) – trip begins Arlington, NE Liberal, KS Beloit, KS Lincoln, NE Eppley Field (Omaha) – 1,191 miles RENTAL CAR #5 Eppley Field (Omaha) – trip begins Rugby, ND Mahnomen, MN Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – 1,131 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Southern Kentucky Fairgrounds – $13 Eldora Speedway – $40 (not trackchasing expense) Peoria Speedway – $13 (not trackchasing expense) Champaign County Fairgrounds – Complimentary Rock County Speedway – $9 Washington County Fairgrounds – $9 Liberal Fairgrounds Speedway – $10 Solomon Valley Raceway – $18 Lancaster Events Center – $13 Geographical Center Speedway – $8 ($2 senior savings) Mahnomen County Speedway – $7 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 350 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,878 Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 65 Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 5.10 That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
Ralph Engelstad Arena facilities tour – Grand Forks, North Dakota
Ralph wasn’t going to be politically correct.
How do you miss a full-sized farm tractor?
Did I have any other option?
AIRPLANE
3 comments
I was at this mahnomen enduro when I was a kid and the driver who crashed was my great great uncle. Something broke on his car but I dont remember what. I grew up in the town,and looking for history on the track and finding this is amazing I’m excited to show my family this.
Dorian, Very cool. Glad to help bring back some memories. If only these racetracks could talk! Best, Randy
My mom grew up in Larimore, North Dakota, so I visited Grand Forks when I was a kid. But of course the hockey arena wasn’t there then, and even if it had been we would have been unlikely to have visited it. I knew they were crazy for their hockey there, but had no idea they had invested over a hundred million to build that place!