Greetings from Cumberland, Maryland
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Allegany County Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #522 Reprinted with permission from my Thursday, October 4, 2001, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) this trackchasing adventure didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. This was during the 2000 trackchasing season. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with racing buddy Jim Sabo at the Screven Motor Speedway in Georgia). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org I hope you will take the time to imagine in your mind what it took to make this trip from SoCal and understand the fun I had doing it. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link: If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! FOREWORD Thursday, October 4, 2001. Greetings from Cumberland, Maryland, Today’s race event called for a 4:26 a.m. wake-up call. I was out of the driveway at 4:41 a.m. Arrival at the airport came at 5:07 a.m. The flight was scheduled to depart at 6:45 a.m. and did leave the runway until 7:17 a.m. Just 12 hours and 17 minutes later I was greeting Jim Sabo in the top row of section C of the Allegany County Speedway grandstand. That’s how it often happens in the world of trackchasing. I seem to have two types of readers. I’ll classify the first as “not active race fans”. These folks can’t understand why I do this. Why would anyone get up that early and travel that far to go watch a car race?? The other group I’ll classify as “active race fans and/or hardcore trackchasers”. These folks are saying, “What’s the big deal? He didn’t drive all that way as we would have. He probably even slept most of the time and got free peanuts!!” Whichever camp you fall into, I’m just happy to be able to count you as friends in either of these groups. I also appreciate the comments folks send back following these racing summaries. This weekend’s race trip is going to be real simple. It’s drive, watch races, sleep. If I’m not doing one of those three things, I’m off-plan. I’ll also on a recognizance mission in preparation for Carol’s “Fall Colors” trip next week. I would like to welcome jillybean51 to the vast group of sophisticated, urbane and international subscribers. See if you say anything positive I add you to the list. Like computer spam, once you get it, you’ve got it and it’s hard to escape. At least the price is right. I landed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The big landmark coming into this airport is the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. You can’t miss it. Surprisingly, the temperature was 82 degrees when I landed at about 5 p.m. That’s pretty warm for October back here. The warm temps would not last throughout the weekend. As I traveled through rural Pennsylvania I was treated to one football talk show after another. I even caught the Joe Paterno show. Much more attention is given to college football here than in California. I also went under two major tunnels as I entered the Blue Mountains. The combined tunnel time at 60 M.P.H. was two minutes and 45 seconds. That’s a lot of tunnel time! As always I enjoyed my favorite….country music. Every time I hear the song “Where I come from”, I can’t help but think of my southern-born friend, George Robertson who hails from the Tar Heel state. As the song goes, “where I come from it’s cornbread and chicken, where I come from it’s a lot of front porch sittin”. George, is it like that? The Rock – Allegheny County Speedway is my 522nd different track. It’s a classy 5/8 mile dirt oval. The admission price was a steep $25 for a MACS late model 50 lapper. The main grandstand is a slightly updated fairgrounds covered seating area. They also have a huge rock mountain as a backdrop. Although it was night and I couldn’t see “The Rock” too well it is both imposing and beautiful. Several UDTRA drivers raced the MACS program. This included Donnie Moran, Davey Johnson, Rick Aukland, Rick Eckert and Steve Francis. Francis was the winner driving for a different car owner than the car he owns. There was a fair amount of passing and this was an enjoyable event. Jim and I both took advantage of the “Big Kahuna” tee shirt and hat sale. For $12 we couldn’t pass it up. The cheesesteak sandwich was marginal and the fresh-cut fries too greasy. The funnel cake toward the end of the night was much better. The lighting at this track is outstanding. The announcer is good but the P.A. could use some help. The track is well run and they keep the races moving. Will, we ran into the fellas who sat behind us at East Smethport. They recognized me and came over to say hi. They were interested in where the trackchasers had been going recently. Billboard of the day: Plan ahead. Noah built the ark before it started raining! Travel tip of the day: I used my AAA Visa card to secure a free ticket for this trip. They offer a free ticket within the 48 contiguous states for just 16,000 points (1 dollar = 1 point). If you order two at the same time it’s only 15,000 points per ticket. Most major airlines charge 25,000 miles for a ticket so this is a major saving. Rental Car update: The National Rental Car racing Chevy Impala will be tested during this multi-state trip. 482 Savannah Speedway, Savannah, MO (no web site) 492 Painesville Speedway – (oval track), Painesville, OH (http://members.tripod.com/pspeedway/) 493 Painesville Speedway – (figure 8 track), Painesville, OH (http://members.tripod.com/pspeedway/) You might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. Back in 2001, I had not yet begun producing YouTube videos from my trackchasing adventures. Nevertheless, here’s a good video that will give you an idea of what the racing looked like at the Allegany County Speedway. 
TRAVEL/PEOPLE NEWS
RACING NEWS
New racetracks visited in 2001
