Greetings from Wampum, Pennsylvania
(Wampum High School – Class of 1953 above)
.
.
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
.
.
BeaveRun Motorsports Complex
Asphalt road course
Lifetime Track #759
.
.
BeaveRun Motorsports Complex – Wilson Circuit
Asphalt oval
Lifetime Track #760
.
.
Pittsburgh International Race Complex
Asphalt road course – 2.8M – Full Circuit
Lifetime Track #2,327
THE EVENT I have had the opportunity to follow my trackchasing hobby all over the world. As this is written I have seen racing in 74 countries. My lifetime track total exceeds 2,300. Each and every year I will trackchase in 25-30 states. At track #1,040 I moved into the “World’s #1 Trackchasing” spot. I’ve seen racing at more than 100 tracks in six states. No other trackchaser can come all that close to that stat. Pennsylvania is one of those states. My other century states are California, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. I’m proud of that level of penetration given that five of my “century” states are nearly 2,000 miles from where I have lived for much of the last 50 years. My hobby is not only about racing. Trackchasing for me centers around three things. The racing part is pretty obvious. However of equal importance is the logistics of trackchasing and the opportunity to see the world. I live in Southern California. The vast majority of tracks are located in the Midwest and East. It takes a good deal of logistical planning to get from where I live to where the tracks are. For the past 15 years I have traveled about 175 nights each and every year. Surprisingly to some, more than half of those overnights were not part of trackchasing. Then there’s the travel just for the fun of seeing new things. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page on my website at www.randylewis.org. That will give you some understanding on how important seeing the world is with my hobby. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the 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 I’ll start this Trackchaser Report at 4:10 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday morning. I left last night’s track, the Chandler Motor Speedway, at 11 p.m. central time. I have been on the road for a little bit more than four hours on my way up to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, Pennsylvania. I had previously been to the PIR track, then called “BeaveRun” in 2004. Back then, on August 14, I saw racing on their less than full road course configuration and their tri-oval track. I probably never would have returned to this road course had it not been for a rules proposal submitted about five years ago. This new rule was suggested by Belgium trackchaser Roland Vanden Eynde. Roland thought it would be a good idea if trackchasers could count two different variations of a road course when they overlapped. The trackchasing voter group agreed with him. What did Roland’s new rule mean? It meant that if two road course variations varied by a minimum of one straight and three turns then each of the two configurations could be counted. I wasn’t a big fan of this rules proposal and approval. I didn’t vote on it either way. I’m pretty sure I had excused myself from the group when current trackchasing commissioner Guy Smith became the group’s leader AND before Roland’s proposal was submitted. Here’s what I don’t like about counting two road course configurations. As a spectator I have a very difficult time even knowing that the competitors are racing on one configuration or the other. That is definitely not the case when two oval tracks are seen at the same facility. Nevertheless, in order to remain competitive with other trackchasers I try to stick to all of the rules of trackchasing including this newest addition. As with most of my recent new track additions managing the logistical challenges are of upmost importance. Last night racing had ended in Indiana at 11 p.m. central time. Today’s afternoon road racing would commence at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. There were only going to be two races all day at the track. I didn’t want to miss the first one. That meant I had about 13 1/2 hours to drive 510 miles. Waze told me that without stops I could cover 510 miles in about seven hours and 40 minutes. Yes, that would by boogying. However, I would need to stop a few times. I would allow myself as much sleep as I could get that would still let me reach my destination in Wampum, Pennsylvania by race time at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon. I would have to stop when nature called as well as for gas one time during the journey. As I moved along in a Northeast direction I kept all of the variables and parameters in mind. This morning I kept driving until the sun came up over the eastern horizon. I continued along my path until 6:30 a.m. or so. The sun had been up for almost two hours by now. My 5-Hour Energy drink was beginning to wear off after about…wait for it… five hours or so! I came upon a highway rest area near St. Clairsville, Ohio. That’s where I would stop. I set my alarm for 3 1/2 hours of slumber. If I slept that long I would still get to this afternoon’s track an hour ahead of race time. However, after just two hours of sleep I was awakened by a decidedly hot sun streaming through the windows of my rental car. I had to pee as well. This wasn’t exactly like staying at the Marriott. However, the bill wasn’t the same either. I should try to clear up a major point if this point is not already clear. I do NOT sleep in highway rest areas or airports to save money. Some trackchasers had that as part of their model in the past. I will get a hotel every time except when there is not enough time to get 7-8 hours of sleep. On this trip I didn’t expect to get a hotel on ANY night. The transportation plan was that tight on this adventure. Off I went for another couple of hours of driving to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex located in Wampum, Pennsylvania. From the rest stop in Ohio I drove through West Virginia before getting into the Keystone State. Who drew up these state lines? I did make a brief touring visit to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. That little town had some “historical significance”. What was the big deal about Beaver Falls? A fellow named “Willie” came from Beaver Falls. I know what you’re thinking, “Willie Mays”! Wrong!! Joe Willie Namath aka “Broadway Joe” hailed from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania before he became a National Football League folk hero. And now you know the rest of the story. THE RACING Pittsburgh International Race Complex – Wampum, Pennsylvania This would not be the first time I had been to the rodeo at PIR. The facility is premier and hosts lots of different motorsports related activities. I had been here in 2004. That was thirteen years ago. The facilities’ name had changed. That likely suggested a change in ownership. Most people sell racetracks because things are not going well. That is not always the case but it is most of the time. Often the original builder constructs a “Taj Mahal” type place. Then when they can’t make money, because the place cost too much in the first place, they end up selling for pennies on the dollar relative to what they built the place for. I’ve seen this time and again. Then the new owner, with lower costs, can frequently make money with a slick looking race facility bought at the right price. I’m not saying that happened at the PIRC but it very well might have. It was a gorgeous blue-sky day with temperatures in the mid-70s and a mild breeze. It was “San Clemente beautiful”. I like San Clemente beautiful. Today the NASA racing group was running the show. I’ve seen several of their programs. They seem to be very well organized. However, they don’t race very much. Much of the activity during the day is driver education, lapping and other forms of what I would consider to be practice. The best thing about seeing road course racing for the fan is having the ability to walk all over the paddock area. Spectators can get up close and personal with the racecars. I did that today. You won’t want to miss my photo album. I walked all over PIR. I stopped to watch some very professional looking kart racing. Don’t miss their section in my video. I took a picture of a group of karts all lined up inside a tent. A fellow came over and asked if I was taking photos of their race setups! I told him that I wouldn’t know one set-up from another. That seemed to satisfy his innate baked in his soul natural East coast skepticism. There was only one source for track food and drink concessions that I saw. It was a freestanding trailer. However, the line was so long I couldn’t even buy a bottle of water unless I wanted to wait for 20 minutes. I didn’t. There are significant differences between road racing as a genre and local oval track racing. Road racing programs stick to a strict time schedule. Oval tracks general have a policy regarding a time schedule as…. “Time schedule…what’s a time schedule”? The girls that frequent oval tracks and road courses are little bit different as well. At a road racing event you’re going to see tattoo free pale skinned runway model looking type ladies. At stock car tracks you will not see that. Nevertheless, I like to watch the ladies that visit all the racetracks……from a distance of course. Today there would be two feature events. My plan was to attend only one of them. It was to begin at 1:30 p.m. PIRC is like many permanent road courses of its ilk. From any one spectating space you can only see a small amount of the entire track. I did move around today quite a bit. By the end of the day I had met my 4-mile walking goal! I found a hill that allowed me to have a great vantage point albeit somewhat far from where the cars raced. From there I got lots of panoramic photos and videos. From what I could see there were three classes in today’s 1:30 p.m. “race”. They were separated at the green flag by 20 or 30 seconds or so. That meant I actually saw three feature races today. The first two had rolling starts. The last one took the green flag from a standing start. I was doing pretty well considering I had driven through the night and slept for only two hours in a highway rest area this morning. I figured if I could walk 4 miles, explore every nook and cranny of PIRC and then see three feature events I had done pretty well. Today there was no spectator admission charge. I think that is the policy with NASA Racing. I like that policy. I did have to sign a liability release form though. AFTER THE RACES On Thursday night I slept in the Portland airport. Last night, Friday night, as mentioned I drove until early morning and slept for a couple of hours in the car. There’s a very good chance tonight I will not have time to get any formal lodging either. As Carol might say I was starting to feel a little “ripe”. I hadn’t taken a shower for two days and I had been out in some hot and muggy weather. I was thinking I might have to pay 12 bucks and grab a shower at one of the interstate truck stops. That was before I visited one of the men’s restrooms in the Pitt Race Event Center at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex. I noticed they had showers in the building. I thought that would work just fine for me. By the way I thought it was interesting to compare the event center from today to when it was under construction back in 2004. There was something sort of “weird” about the shower’s location. The podium presentation for the race winner’s was located just on the other side of a concrete wall from where I was showering. As the winners celebrated I took a shower. So close but yet so far! There were a couple of details with the showers that were minorly problematic. To me “minorly problematic” was a big effing deal! I don’t have to worry about this stuff at home. First I had not thought to bring a towel. That wasn’t going to be a major problem. When I was in the Marines they taught us to towel off with a washrag. Of course, I didn’t have a washrag either! I got everything situated with all of my new clothes and toiletries ready and turned on the shower. There was just one little problem with that idea. The water was ice cold. After a few minutes it wasn’t getting any warmer. What could I do? I was already there if you know what I mean. I stuck my head under the ice cold water flow and shampooed vigorously. I was committed to taking an ice cold shower even though I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was at this point in time that the water turned warm. Luckily I was able to continue with what I would consider a normal shower at that point. Whew! When I was finished I stood in the shower for a minute or two using the drip-dry method. That particular process wasn’t going all that quickly. Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. I put my clothes on over a more than damp body. Nevertheless, it felt good getting a shower. I hopped into the National Car Rental Racing Chrysler 300. The car’s air-conditioning proceeded to dry me off just as if I had brought a towel along. I travel lightly. They’re typically isn’t room for towels in my luggage. I am not a deer hunter and I don’t know very much about deer. However during this time of year, May maybe early June, I have noticed a lot of deer road kill along the interstate. I’ve seen my share of the dead deer in both Ohio and Pennsylvania this weekend. Maybe they are just sleeping along the side of the road and their mouths are still covered with ketchup from eating French fries….but I don’t think so. It does paint a graphic word picture doesn’t it? I’ve had a few deer encounters in my time and made contact with only one. I’d like to keep it that way. The folks at the Randy Lewis Racing Research Department had done an excellent job with planning this trip. They found an Ohio racetrack for me to visit this evening. It was just two hours and 40 minutes away. With an afternoon road course race already in the books I was off to Attica, Ohio in search of lifetime track #2,328. Good afternoon from Wampum, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania The Keystone state This afternoon I saw my 101st lifetime track in the Keystone state, yes the Keystone state. I’ve seen more than 100 tracks in 6 separate states. 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 Pennsylvania definitions: Scrapple What it means everywhere else: A misspelling of the popular spelling game “Scrabble.” What it means in Pennsylvania: A combination of pork scraps, cornmeal, and flour formed into a loaf and fried. QUICK 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 590 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 20 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Reprinted with permission from my August 14, 2004 Trackchaser Report SPECIAL NOTE I have a special confession to make regarding my trackchasing strategy. You will not want to miss it in the “Rental Car Update” section of my August 21 trackchaser report. I will also be making a special announcement regarding my remaining 2004 trackchasing plan in the last report of this trip. You won’t want to miss that one either. Believe it or not, I’m working on a special effort with the golfer, Arnold Palmer. I’ll have more to report on that in the final trackchasing report of the trip. PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS There was very little people action in the 85-mile drive up to Wampum. I did spend some time talking to a father of a nine-year-old boy who races go-karts. They race at Naugle Speedway. He said they have about $3,000 in their kart. This gentleman was very interested in the trackchaser hobby and promised to check things out on my website. RACING NEWS This afternoon’s trackchasing turned out to be much more productive than I had originally planned. I had been to the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex earlier this year. However, on that occasion they did not have any countable racing on the road course (driving school only) and did not have any countable karts racing on the Wilson Circuit. I was only expecting to see SCCA road racing today. I knew the karts were racing but did not expect to see any champ karts based upon my previous experience. But, jumpin’ Jehovah, what did I find with the kart class? You guessed it! There were five senior champ karts in the pit area. I talked to one of the senior champ kart drivers and learned the class is for drivers aged 15 and up. This driver was sponsored by www.sweeneyphotos.com. That was great. The rest of the kart’s planned program was not so great. Editor’s note: As a reminder to all worldwide trackchaser readers, trackchaser rules generally do not count go-karts. One exception to that rule is that “champ karts” are countable. You can think of a champ kart as a regular looking go-kart (somewhat) but with a roll cage, that protects the driver in case of a rollover. First, there were 20 classes of karts in attendance and only one class, the senior champ karts, was countable under trackchaser rules. Although I arrived at 12 noon, practice for the karts had started at 11 a.m., according to the schedule. Practice was going on when I reached the kart track, which is called the BeaveRun Motorsports Complex – Wilson Circuit. Following practice, each kart would get two laps of time trials and each class would run a feature event of 15 laps. The bad news….the senior champ kart class would roll off as the 17th feature event of the day. With my countable kart class not running for some time, I turned my attention to the “August Madness – Double Regional – Steel Cities Region”, SCCA event. Like most races of this type, they had a whole potpourri of racecars. I saw Miatas, Porches, BMWs, open-wheeled formula cars, full-bodied stock cars and a few other combinations. I believe the participants in these road-racing shows have a blast. However, it’s not much of a spectator sport. Actually, my favorite class is “Group 1”. After Group 1 runs their feature event; I’m usually headed for the exits. O.K., I exaggerate to share a point but the exaggeration is not by much. Today’s races were running a bit behind schedule, which allowed me to walk all over the grounds including the pit area. One advantage to road racing is you can get into the pits and get up close and personal with the cars. Group 1 was a 20-lap race for Miatas, BMWs and other similar cars. On a typical lap while standing at the start finish line I could see the cars for 10 seconds, then they went out of view and around a hill for about 25 seconds, then they came back into view for 10 seconds and finally went out of view for about 25 seconds. That meant I could see actual racing for 20 seconds out of a 70-second lap. Believe it or not that’s better than we could see at the Indy 500 and we had excellent seats at Indy. Anyway, after group one finished their race my 759th track was in the books. Even though the forecast for rain today is only 20%, it’s a very overcast day and there were some mean looking clouds rolling by. The go-kart group doesn’t exactly run an efficient show. It would be more accurate to say they drag their collective feet. With my countable class not running until the 17th race out of 20, I did feel some concern. Apparently, the go-kart management felt the same way as I did about the weather. Because they were concerned the rain might come and cancel some races, they decided to shorten the length of the feature events. Here was their plan. Classes with only one car in their class would run by themselves for just a green, white and checkered flag for their race. That means they would run two laps. Classes with two or three cars in their class would run eight laps. Classes with more than three cars would run 12-lap features. The senior champs would race twelve laps because they had five karts today. It seems like these kart drivers are racing for national points and must run at least a green, white and checkered flag to get their points. See, even nationally pointed go-kart racers don’t have to race many laps to get full credit in their organization. Overall, I would say I enjoyed the go-kart racing more than the SCCA racing. The reason I say that is because I could see the go-karts 100% of the time compared to seeing the SCCA cars only about 35% of the time. In addition, the go-karts raced hard and close which is not seen that often in amateur road racing these days. The senior champ karts are nothing more than flat karts with cages. At this stage in the game, I think we should simply count all go-karts classes and not just champ karts. There are several people who agree with this, but not enough to get a rule change passed. I’m sure, when the trackchasers who oppose karts figure out they have to drive a day and a half just to get a new “currently countable” track, they might be more amenable to adding go-karts to the world of trackchasing. Go-kart racing is much more competitive than probably half of the car types we currently allow in trackchasing. The karts raced on an all left hand turn modified oval. I found one spot where I could see both tracks racing at the same time. Now, I have tied Will White in this category. I had paid five dollars to get in, so I will allocate $2.50 as an admission charge for each track. The BeaveRun Motorsports Complex – Wilson Circuit track was my 760th lifetime track. Getting the extra track was definitely a bonus and could help me reach my season ending goal and save me $500 – $1,000, which I might not have to spend on the last trip of the year. If that is the case, I will be very happy that five senior champ karts showed up today. RACE TRACK FOOD They had a wide selection of foods at the track served from a catering wagon. I went with the chicken basket and fries for $6 and a Diet Coke for $2. The hot mustard was really hot, like you might find in a Chinese restaurant. Later in the day, I went with a $2 lemonade. The drink came in a 12 oz. cup. The contents were lemon juice, water, ice and one-quarter cup of pure granulated sugar. That seemed about right. RENTAL CAR UPDATE The National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix provides a nice sanctuary from the elements during the delays these types of events incur. ED ESSER & P.J. HOLLEBRAND UPDATE As of August 2, 2004, the battle for positions 7-10 in the worldwide trackchaser standings is as follows: At the end of this trip, I’ll give you a recap of where I stand against both P.J. Hollebrand and Ed Esser, trackchasers who are just above and below me in the rankings. CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES Pittsburgh International Airport – trip begins Butler Farm Show – 48 miles Pocono Intl Raceway-East Road Course – 279 miles Wayne County Fairgrounds – 481 miles Cuyahoga County Fair – 804 miles Motordrome Speedway – 1,191 miles BeaveRun Motorsports Complex – 1,285 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES (U.S. DOLLARS) Butler Farm Show – $6 Pocono Intl Raceway-East Road Course – Nada Wayne County Fairgrounds $10 including fair admission Cuyahoga County Fair $13 including fair admission Motordrome Speedway – $18 BeaveRun Motorsports Complex – Road Course $2.50 BeaveRun Motorsports Complex – Wilson Circuit $2.50 Randy Lewis That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average. 14-Aug ASA Stock Cars Jennerstown Spdwy Jennerstown, PA 15-Aug Champ Karts Blanket Hill Spdwy Blanket Hill, PA 15-Aug Regular program Sportsman Speedway Knox, PA **Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, June 12 **Charleston Speedway, Charleston, Illinois, May 22 **Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3 **Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20 Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure. From my 2017 visit to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex A great day to see the scenery and the Pittsburgh International Race Complex! . . . From my 2004 visit to the BeaveRun Motorsports Park now known as the Pittsburgh International Race Complex BeaveRun Motorsports Park – 2004 
Greetings from Wampum, Pennsylvania,
Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)
Racetracks visited in 2004 (** not the first time to visit this track)
