Greetings from Brainerd, Minnesota
.
.
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
.
.
Brainerd International Raceway – Donnybrooke course
Asphalt road course – 3.1-mile
Lifetime Track #1,043
.
.
Brainerd International Raceway
Ice road course
Lifetime Track #1,307
.
.
Brainerd International Raceway – Competition course
Asphalt road course – 2.5-mile
Lifetime Track #2,164
THE EVENT Today’s undertaking was just one of more than 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. I’ll try my best to respond. Thanks! I’ve been to the Brainerd International Raceway property on three different occasions. My visits were in 2006, 2008 and 2015. In 2008 I went trackchasing during the middle of the winter on their frozen lake ice track. Ed Esser joined me there. In 2006 I first visited their 3.1-mile Donnybrooke road course. Nine years later I returned to see racing action on the 2.5-mile Competition course. Separately, I’ve seen racing at the North Central Speedway (track #511) also in Brainerd. I guess you could say the small town (population: 13,487) has been a very productive trackchasing location. Greetings from Brainerd, Minnesota and then Canby, Minnesota I woke up in Superior, Wisconsin this morning. This is what transpired today. PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS The Strategy I’ve mentioned many times previously how important information is in trackchasing. Information is power. I am often incredulous as to how poorly racetracks communicate their activities to the public. Let me give you a case in point. I noticed there was going to be some afternoon road racing at the Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota this weekend. I got this information from the track’s website. There were no starting times or any other information other than “SCCA” would be racing. SCCA, in the world of road racing, stands for Sports Car Club of America. The SCCA is the nation’s premier road racing organization. They are very professional, always start and stay on time and usually bring plenty of cars to the track. I emailed the track to get more information. There was no response. That’s not unusual. I would estimate that less than 50% of my information requesting emails that I send to racetracks is answered. My next step was to call them. I called about two weeks before the scheduled event. I reached a woman named Sandy. Although she didn’t have much information, she tried to be helpful. Brainerd is primarily a drag racing operation. Road racing usually takes a backseat when the facility’s main revenue generator is an oval or a drag strip. Sandy agreed to find out more information about the scheduled road-racing event. She called me back a few days later. Sandy told me it really wasn’t the SCCA racing. It was an independent group within the SCCA and not a sanctioned event. She had no other details. I told her I needed starting times at a minimum. She agreed to call me back. She never did. A couple of days before the event, I called B.I.R. Could I speak to Sandy? No, Sandy wouldn’t be back for 10 days or so. Great! I was talking to a young woman who obviously didn’t have much enthusiasm for her job. Every time I asked her a question, she asked me to hold and then came back on the phone with little or no real answers to my questions. Finally, I asked if I could speak to the person she kept talking to while she put me on hold. Her answer to that question was to put me on hold again! She came back with, “You need to call back tomorrow and someone will be here to answer your questions.” Without a starting time, I would be flying in the dark. Carol and I attended two road course events last weekend. I figured they would both race on both Saturday and Sunday. It turned out both just practiced on Saturday and had countable racing on Sunday. I couldn’t drive all the way to Brainerd and find out they weren’t racing on Saturday at all. I called back the next day. I talked with “Mark.” He acted as if he was in charge. Actually, he acted as if he had a hard time handling the power of his position. Yes, he told me a “Private group” was renting the track. No, he could not tell me who was renting the track. Could he give me a phone number or website? No, he couldn’t. Could he leave my phone number with the racing organization in the hopes they would call me back. No, he couldn’t. He was simply too busy to make a phone call he told me. I thanked him for his time. Mark and the young woman I spoke too certainly shook my faith in Minnesotans. You know that I feel the personality triangle of Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota have the nicest people in all of America. I’m going with the belief that Mark was simply visiting from the East coast, which explained his surliest. I decided to drive out to the track and go with potluck. I picked a 1 p.m. arrival time. I was guessing they might practice on Saturday morning. These types of road racing events usually go to lunch from noon to 1 p.m. They are very predictable. I showed up at 1 p.m. to find the very first race of three for the day was starting at 1:20 p.m. Perfect! The racing organization was the National Auto Sport Association (NASA). As far I know they have absolutely nothing to do with the SCCA. Thanks for nothing Brainerd. My evening track was the Canby Speedway. They were scheduled to start racing at 7 p.m. Due to my own negligence, I got lost and didn’t get there until 7:30 p.m. Not a problem! They had over watered the track on a sunny 92-degree day. They would not turn their first lap of racing until 8:32 p.m. It’s difficult to employ effective trackchasing strategy when I’m dealing with such poorly prepared organizations. Of course, their systems give them exactly the results their systems are designed to produce. Actually, I guess that a major part of the trackchasing strategy element is overcoming the unpredictability of the racetrack’s organization. The trip I was just cruising around in the middle of Minnesota’s back roads, when my inattention to detail had me making a wrong turn. This mistake cost me about 90 minutes. Overall, I didn’t really mind. It was a nice day and the scenery was beautiful. I saw buffalo grazing at one farm and crossed the famous Mississippi River, which wasn’t that wide where I crossed it. I also saw several gas stations selling Ethanol. With corn being such a large crop here in the Midwest, it’s not surprising that Ethanol is so popular. Gas prices are lower in this part of the country. I paid an average price of about $2.70 per gallon. California is currently at about $3.30 per gallon. Ethanol sells for about $2.20 per gallon but can only be used in specially outfitted vehicles. On my way from Brainerd to Canby I noticed a few stock cars on trailers sitting in a very wooded area. I immediately stood up straight in the seat and did a double take. Could this be some small group of renegade racers getting ready to hold a race in the woods ala the Empty Jug? Upon further investigation, it was simply cars arriving early to the North Central Speedway in Brainerd for their Saturday night racing action. I had been to North Central a few years ago. I can still remember the announcer trying to guess my occupation after he learned I had the time to go everywhere with my trackchasing hobby. What did he guess? Teacher. The People My experience with the people who represented the Brainerd International Raceway shook my faith in Minnesota people. However, I’m hoping it was just an aberration, which I suspect it was. RACE TRACK STATS: BRAINERD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, BRAINERD, MINNESOTA – TRACK #1,043 – 5/27/06 This was my 30th track to see in the Gopher state. CANBY SPEEDWAY, CANBY, MINNESOTA – TRACK #1,044 – 5/27/06 This was my 31st track to see in the Gopher state. This moves me up from 7th place to 6th in Minnesota. Jack Erdmann leads Ed Esser 62-49 for the state lead. RACE TRACK NEWS: BRAINERD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY According to a flyer I found at the track, today’s N.A.S.A. racing event was the “Donnybrook Road Racing Revival.” That sounds pretty formal compared to the description I got from the track that “This is just an independent group of SCCA racers renting the track for the day.” I arrived at 1 p.m. and was more than pleasantly surprised to see the first scheduled race of the day was for vintage cars at 1:20 p.m. I’ve really grown to enjoy vintage racing although I must admit my knowledge of these types of car’s history is not very good. There was no charge to get into the track. All I had to do was sign a liability waiver and put a wristband on. It looks to me like the track caters to the drag racing crowd mainly. Road racing at this point appears to be an afterthought. Here’s what the track’s website had to say about the road course: “The road course is 3.1 miles long, has ten turns, and is quite wide around its entire length — the main straight is 60 feet wide. There is essentially no elevation change. Brainerd is a very high-speed course; Vehicles will reach speeds near 160 MPH and take the slowest corners around 80 MPH. There are wide runoff areas at most of the corners. “ Overall, I didn’t find this track very entertaining. The best way to explore the course itself is in your car. If you try to walk it, bring a lunch. There is a huge, I mean huge, campground in the middle of the track. The paddock area (pit area for you oval fans) is actually located on the outside of the track. There is no announcing which is normal for this type of event. The best viewing spot is seen by ascending 4-5 floors of steps to the rooftop of the B.I.R. press box/scoring tower. I was just happy to see a countable racing event, since they don’t seem to run many on their road course and the track’s management is somewhat clueless as well. I’m knocking off the traditional road courses in the U.S. at a rapid rate. That means just one thing. I’ll have to start bringing my golf clubs along to fill up the daytime hours that will be available in my future trackchasing schedules. CANBY SPEEDWAY I had driven through the small town of Canby last year on the way to a race in Minnesota. The Canby Speedway just returned to active racing in the last year or two. I’m glad they did, as the track’s location was a perfect segway from the Brainerd road course to tomorrow’s outing in Iowa. Due to my own inattention, I took a wrong turn that put me 60-90 minutes behind schedule. I arrived 30 minutes after the scheduled start time to see the entire grandstand crowd standing. Could there be something really exciting on the track that motivated everyone to rise to his or her feet? No, they were standing for the National Anthem. That meant they were behind schedule. Why would they be behind schedule? Maybe, because the program is run by short track auto racing promoters? Yes, that’s it. They had put too much water on the track. Even though the high temperature today was 90+ degrees and the sun shown brightly on a very breezy day, they had dumped too much water on the banked quarter mile dirt oval. They would not get this problem corrected until 8:32 p.m. Actually, this could be a very racy track. A quarter mile dirt track with the right kind of racing is my favorite. The car counts were low. Here’s what they looked like, Pure stocks (5), Street stocks (8), Midwest modifieds (6), Mod fours (6), Super stocks (7) and Wissota modifieds (15). All of the classes ran just one heat except for the Wissota mods. When they finally did start an hour and one-half late, the track was still very muddy. The lap time for the pure stocks in the first heat was about 34 seconds. That’s nearly twice as long as if the track were in normal racing condition. The most disappointing thing about the entire affair, I hope, from the promoter’s point of view was this was “Fan appreciation night.” I don’t think this was a very good way to show appreciation toward the fans. For the most part the nearly packed grandstand of 300-400 people didn’t seem to mind. I was listening to the track’s official radio communication over my race scanner. Here are a couple of quotes I heard, “We got people yelling at us in the grandstand.” This was in response to their poor track prep. “The flagman never showed up.” Pretty self-explanatory. At one point a wrecker towing a disabled racecar from the track got stuck trying to drive up a small grade to get the car back to the pit area that was located outside the oval. They did cut the heat race distances from eight laps to six to keep the program moving. A highlight if you can call it that was the intermission entertainment. They put a series of orange cones on the front stretch creating a miniature temporary oval. Could I be in for a new track? Actually, a track of this nature is countable. Unfortunately, they did not race a trackchaser countable class of racecar on this new track. They raced go-karts which had a bar stool attached for the driver to sit on. They had 10 of these vehicles and raced two heats and a feature. The crowd liked it and so did I. When the fifth of six features took to the track, it was time for me to bid the Canby Speedway farewell. I think I just caught them on a bad night. I doubt I’ll be back again to give them a chance for redemption. WEATHER CONDITIONS There was rain off and on in the Midwest. Several times during my trip, I would see large puddles of rainwater sitting beside the highways. I am trained to bypass rainy weather. I must have been successful, as a raindrop never touched my windshield during my entire six-day trip. Many bugs did though! RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car Company Racing Chevy Impala is a good trackchasing car. There can’t be that much that goes wrong with them when I pick the cars up with less than 5,000 miles on the odometer. That’s probably the best mileage amount to have on a domestic car unless you’re looking for trouble. LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis The World’s #1 Ranked Trackchaser Eat all your sandwiches. You’ll need them for the pursuit. CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES: AIRPLANE Santa Ana, CA – Denver, CO – 844 miles Denver, CO – Omaha, NE – 470 miles RENTAL CAR Omaha Airport – trip begins Jefferson, South Dakota – 115 miles Superior, Wisconsin – 620 miles Brainerd, Minnesota – 758 miles Canby, Minnesota – 1,030 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES: Park Jefferson Speedway – $18 Superior Speedway – $20 Brainerd International Raceway – Free Canby Speedway – $10 I’ve now seen tracks in South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota on this trip. I hope to travel to Iowa and Kansas on the final two days of this trip. 1,000. Auburndale Kartway, Auburndale, Florida – February 10 1,001. Ocala Speedway (asphalt oval), Ocala, Florida – February 12 1,002. Speedworld Speedway, Surprise, Arizona – February 19 1,003. Lowe’s Motor Speedway (1/5 mile asphalt oval), Concord, North Carolina – February 25 1,004. Concord Raceway, Concord, North Carolina – February 25 1,005. Antioch Speedway, Antioch, North Carolina – February 25 1,006. Green Valley Speedway, Gadsden, Alabama – February 26 1,007. East Bay Raceway (inner oval), Gibsonton, Florida – March 17 1,008. Volusia Speedway Park West (1/6M oval), Barberville, Florida – March 18 1,009. Speedway Park, Fruitland Park, Florida – March 18 1,010. Sand Mountain Speedway (road course), Fort Meade, Florida – March 19 1,011. Anderson Motor Speedway, Anderson, South Carolina – March 31 1,012. Westminster Speedway, Westminster, South Carolina – March 31 1,013. East Lincoln Motor Speedway, Stanley, North Carolina – April 1 1,014. Margarettsville Speedway, Margarettsville, North Carolina – April 2 1,015. Sunny South Raceway, Grand Bay, Alabama – April 7 1,016. Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama – April 8 1,017. Coldwater Raceway, Coldwater, Alabama – April 8 1,018. Talladega Short Track, Talladega, Alabama – April 8 1,019. Ballymena Raceway, Ballymena, Northern Ireland – April 14 1,020. Oulton Park, Little Budworth, England – April 15 1,021. Somerset Rebels Banger Raceway, Rooks Bridge, England – April 16 1,022. Mendips Raceway, Shipham, England – April 16 1,023. Oval Raceway, Angmering, England – April 17 1,024. Arlington Stadium, Eastbourne, England – April 17 1,025. Southside Speedway, Midlothian, Virginia – April 28 1,026. Motor Mile Speedway, Radford, Virginia – April 29 1,027. Wythe Speedway, Wytheville, Virginia – April 29 1,028. Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point Circuit, Summit Point, West Virginia – April 30 1,029. Old Dominion Speedway – inner inner oval, Manassas, Virginia – April 30 1,030. Shenandoah Speedway, Shenandoah, Virginia – May 4 1,031. Bridgeport Speedway (inner oval – front), Bridgeport, New Jersey – May 5 1,032. Empty Jug, Hawley, Pennsylvania – May 6 1,033. Oakland Valley Race Park, Cuddebackville, New York – May 6 1,034. Thunder Mountain Speedway, Center Isle, New York – May 6 1,035. Motocross 338, Southwick, Massachusetts – May 7 1,036. Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, Fultonville, New York – May 7 1,037. Calumet County Speedway, Chilton, Wisconsin – May 19 1,038. Grant County Speedway, Lancaster, Wisconsin – May 20 1,039. Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Rockton, Illinois – May 21 1,040. The Milwaukee Mile (Road course), West Allis, Wisconsin – May 21 ** Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – May 21 (new track Carol only) 1,041. Park Jefferson Speedway, Jefferson, South Dakota – May 25 1,042. Superior Speedway, Superior, Wisconsin – May 26 1,043. Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minnesota – May 27 1,044. Canby Speedway, Canby, Minnesota – May 27 DAY 3 – LET’S JUMP ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TRACKCHASING TOUR TODAY’S HEADLINES Today I was responsible for one of our leading trackchasers having the time of his life on the ice track……………….more in “The People”. How did I go from sipping a Jack Daniels to sleeping overnight on the floor of the Denver airport is less than an hour? …………..details in “The Trip”. There are just five trackchasers who will compete so hard that they will go trackchasing every weekend if left unfettered. …………..details in “The People”. Greetings from Brainerd, Minnesota. I woke up in Brainerd, Minnesota. I went to sleep in he Denver, Colorado airport. On Monday morning I returned to San Clemente, California. This is what transpired today. PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS The Objective I am somewhat famous in the trackchasing community for putting together both exotic and complex trackchasing itineraries. I guess this trip, which included new tracks in Missouri, Georgia and Minnesota on consecutive days, would qualify as “somewhat complex”. Couple the geographical diversity with the time of the year (February) and this trip becomes even more unusual. My guess would have been that this trip would never have come off as fully planned. Why would I say that? Because nearly 100% of my trips do not!! I love planning the trip. Carol says I like planning the trip more than I like TAKING the trip. I’m not sure I agree with her. I really do like planning the trip. However, I like taking the trip as well. The Trip Yesterday was a very long travel day. It found me starting from Springfield, Missouri, spending most of the day in Atlanta and then taking a late night flight to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis, I drove more than 140 miles up to Brainerd, Minnesota. I arrived at just before midnight. I thought that making it all the way up to Brainerd (today’s track location) was a good idea. Since the first race today was not scheduled to begin until 11:20 a.m., I could sleep in, a rare treat on the trackchasing trail. Following the event, it was another 140+ mile trip to the Minneapolis airport. From there I flew to Denver and then onto Orange County. It was nice to get first class seats on both flights on the way back home. I always find it amazing that I can be trackchasing in a place like Northern Minnesota in the afternoon and be home sleeping on my Tempurpedic mattress that evening! I wrote the above paragraph as I was sipping on a Jack Daniels and 7-Up in seat #2A of the first class cabin. Yes, my 8:45 p.m. departure had been delayed for one hour to 9:45 p.m. That had the potential to prove problematic. The Orange County Airport has an 11 p.m. curfew. They won’t allow any planes to land after that. The pilot assured us we would get to Orange County before the curfew. Soon, we pulled away from the gate and I was headed for home. For some reason the plane stopped when we were just 50 yards from the gate. We didn’t move for several minutes. Finally, the pilot came over the P.A. and told us there was a problem with the plane. He pointed out that safety was his main concern. It wasn’t long after that when he told us, this plane wasn’t going to fly. We returned to the terminal. It was now past 10:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. Brainerd Ice Track time). The airline had found another plane. The new plane was smaller than the plane that had just canceled. That meant everyone would have to stand in line to get a new seat on this smaller plane. Many folks grumbled but nearly everyone got in line. I must say it is situations like this where many inexperienced passengers behave poorly. I was most pleased when I again got a first class seat, #2A. We would no longer be landing in Orange County however. When flights can’t make the late night curfew, they divert to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). LAX is some 40 miles north of the Orange County Airport (aka John Wayne Airport or Santa Ana Airport). That wasn’t good, but it was better than staying in Denver for the night. I had to be in L.A. by 3 p.m. on Monday to get my vaccinations for an upcoming trackchasing trip. My second plane left the terminal. We were about ready to take off. Then……..we paused. Just like before the plane stayed stationary just 50 yards from the terminal. Nothing happened for a very long time. Then, the pilot keyed the P.A. This plane had a malfunction as well! We would not be taking it to California. This flight was canceled! My fellow passengers and I filed out into the boarding area. It was now 1:55 a.m. in Denver (2:55 a.m. Brainerd Ice Track time). Airline employees were booking the passengers on Monday morning flights. Of course, by now, “Monday morning” flights were just five hours away! Each passenger was being given a $150 travel certificate for their trouble. Most passengers were also being given a travel voucher for a hotel for the night. As a standby passenger, I had no status or priority. I didn’t expect to get anything. As it turned out, I was given the $150 travel certificate even though I had not paid anything for my ticket. That seemed awfully generous. The 150+ passengers on the cancelled Orange County flight were being rebooked. These passengers along with the existing Monday morning customers would make getting to Orange County or anywhere in Southern California on Monday morning very difficult on a stand-by basis. It is times like this that I am thrilled that I was in the Marine Corps and completed their infamous boot camp training. It was this training that reinforced with me that no matter what happens I will make it through. In boot camp, the objective was simply to make it through the day. They exercised us to death, they yelled at us and they physically beat us. None of it mattered. You simply took what you got and tried to move forward if only an inch at a time. As many passengers were now throwing tantrums as well as their bags, I found a quite spot in the corner of the terminal. I went on line and searched availability on another airline. I found an early morning flight (6:55 a.m.) to LAX. This flight had plenty of seats. I booked it. It was now 3:05 a.m. Denver time (4:05 a.m. Brainerd Ice Track time). I hopped on the airport’s shuttle train so I could change terminals. When I arrived there, I found my planned 6:55 a.m. departure was delayed to 7:55 a.m. I didn’t know if that was good or not. I could sleep an extra hour, but I would get into LAX an hour later. Whatever, I didn’t have any choice and I couldn’t exert any influence over the situation. I accepted my fate. I found a spot to camp for the night. I used my computer security cable to lock my computer and camera to an airline seat. I pulled out a snow boot and wrapped it in my long underwear. This would be my pillow. My winter UCLA jacket would be my mattress. Yep! It was just like when my family and I would campout in our Starcraft popup camper…….sort of….but not really. My position was directly between two flat screen TVs that continuously broadcast CNN news. Now I now exactly what they talked about in the Clinton-Obama debates. The CNN audio was supplemented by periodic announcements that the airport security level was “orange” and that any bags left alone would be subject to confiscation. I used my racing earplugs and Bose noise-canceling headset to offset the unwanted noise somewhat. When passenger traffic began to pickup on Monday morning, I was awakened. I had slept just under three hours. From there it was on to LAX. I grabbed a Super Shuttle van to take me the 40 miles to the Orange County airport. I must say that I would prefer a root canal to having to ride the Super Shuttle. They cram 7-8 people in a van and stop 7-8 times on the way to the final destination. Please pass the Novocain! Then, after I picked up the Carol Lewis owned and Life of Virginia sponsored Lexus LS 430, it was another 30 miles back home. I arrived into my driveway at just a few minutes before noon on Monday. Yes, it had been a long night, but that’s the way it goes on a trackchasing trip sometimes. I still love it. The People Nowadays, I rarely run into other trackchasers on the trackchasing trail. There are a number of reasons for this. One of those reasons is that I trackchase so frequently and go to so many diverse locations. I am just as likely to be in one part of the U.S. on the first day of the trip and on the other side of the country by the end of the trip. Most trackchasers don’t have the time or resources to keep up with that schedule. Additionally, trackchasers rarely go back to tracks they have already visited. I would estimate that amongst the top 20 trackchasers, they see less than 10% of all of their tracks a second time. That’s just the nature of the hobby. There are just a handful of trackchasers who take the competition seriously. These folks trackchase nearly every weekend as they attempt to improve their positions in one particular category or another. I would categorize the most competitive trackchasers as (in no particular order), Ed Esser, Guy Smith, Roland Vanden Eynde, Mike Knappenberger and myself. There are several others close on the heals of this group as well. Last year, I visited 160 new tracks. At only eight of those tracks did I run into any other top 20 trackchasers. As I have mentioned in the past, my running into other trackchasers is going to get more rare as time passes. In 2005, I believe I saw Wisconsin’s Ed Esser twelve times. In 2007, I saw Ed at just three different venues and we both went to more than 260 tracks. I meet up with those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers” even less frequently. I won’t run into them much in the East because they have seen nearly all of the Eastern area tracks. Therefore, when I head east they won’t be at the track. Most of the Easterners don’t travel very much outside of their region, so I don’t run into them much when I’m in the West or Midwest. However, I expected to see Ed Esser at today’s track. Why? He had mentioned he was going to be trackchasing in Minnesota this weekend in his last track report. By the way, Ed is the only other trackchaser to host his own website for the purpose of sharing his experiences at new tracks. You can check it out at www.2arace.com. I also knew that Ed had never visited today’s ice racing location. This was only the second time, to my knowledge, that any group member has ever ice raced at Brainerd. My suspicions were confirmed when I went to sign the liability release form. Ed’s name was right above mine! Ed travels on a limited budget. He spends the night in his Chevy Blazer on almost every one of his trips. He describes himself as “cheap”. I call him “thrifty”. We have some “cheap” trackchasers, so I know the difference. I also know that he trackchased in Minnesota yesterday. Ed went trackchasing yesterday up in Erskine, Minnesota. This was a track I discovered for the very first time just last week. Yes, this is the nature of the hobby. When one person finds a new track, others follow shortly. I did not mind Ed following my lead. I have followed his many times. Nevertheless, this meant that Ed had stayed overnight in Minnesota. The low temperature last night was right at 10 degrees or so. I forgot to ask Ed if he slept in the Blazer last night. I’m betting that he did! I had two presents for Ed today. First, I met up with the International Ice Racing Association (IIRA) announcer Renee Anderson upon my arrival at the track. I gave her Ed’s trackchasing information. Renee was nice enough to give Ed a very generous trackchaser welcome to the IIRA sanctioned event over the P.A. system. Secondly, the IIRA folks had arranged for me to have a “ride along” during today’s lunch break. In preparation for my ride, they asked me what size helmet I wore. “Do you have a very big head?” they wanted to know. I simply replied, “Carol says I do”. With that, they went to retrieve a helmet. I’ve done these “ride-alongs” a few times, most recently at Barnes Lake up in British Columbia last month. They are an absolute blast. I asked Ed if he had ever done anything like that. No, he had not. Great! I talked with the IIRA folks and convinced them to let Ed take my place. Soon Ed was fastening the strap on his helmet and being fitted with a four-point airplane regulation seat belt. Dick Nordby would drive him in the car #1 VW Rabbit. Prior to this outing, Dick entertained Ed and me with his stories about USAC stock car racing at the Milwaukee Mile back in the last 60s and early 70s. The names of Jack Bowsher, Don White, Norm Nelson, A.J. Foyt and Ramo Stott were tossed about. It wasn’t long before “Fast Eddie”, as he is called in some circles, was on the track. Today’s road course track was about one mile in length. To me, it was a better track than the IIRA road course layout I saw last week in Garrison, MN because it was much closer to the spectator area. There was one other car on the track with Ed and his driver. It would have been very easy for the drivers to space the cars out a good distance for this exhibition run. They didn’t do that. They ran nose to tail for the entire 15 minutes they were on the track. They swapped the lead several times. I think Ed had the time of his life. I believe I had just as much fun watching Ed take a very wild ride. They were sideways through most of the turns and within inches of the other car on the track most of the time. STATE RANKINGS Minnesota Today’s track was my 41st lifetime Minnesota tracks. I hold a third place ranking in the “Land of 10,000 lakes”. Jack Erdmann and Ed Esser are in control of the top two positions here with 66 and 58 tracks, respectively. A rather large number of 48 trackchasers have seen at least one track in Minnesota. I have now seen 14 ice tracks in my trackchasing career. This puts me into a tie with the ice racing legend Rick Young, who hails from Maxville, Ontario, Canada for 6th place in the lifetime ice standings. Guy Smith has a commanding lead in this category with 43 ice tracks to his credit. RACE REVIEW BRAINERD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY ICE TRACK (ROAD COURSE), BRAINERD, MINNESOTA Today was a fun day of ice racing. Recall that Carol and I pulled into this very same location just one week ago only to find out that there was no ice racing at the Brainerd International Raceway. It was good to be able to come back in just seven days to cross this track off my list. When I went into the track office to buy my ticket I had to sign the normal track liability release. That’s when I noticed that Ed Esser’s name was the last one on the list. Good! It would be nice to have someone to talk too during the races. I have now seen three different International Ice Racing Association events in the past 12 months. The folks in IIRA are beginning to think of me as a regular. Renee Anderson does a nice job with the P.A. work. Most ice tracks that I have visited don’t even have an announcer or P.A. system. I had talked to Renee’s husband, David, during the ice races in Balsam Lake, Wisconsin last winter. David recognized me today and couldn’t wait to offer me a ride at lunchtime in one of the group’s racing machines. There “ride alongs” are a real “kick-ass” time. You can imagine how I felt when I decided to approach David with the idea of giving Ed Esser my ride. I didn’t want to offend David who was willing to provide me with such a fun prize. I felt like I was “re-gifting”. However, David understood and, as described above, Ed went off on his ride. The IIRA group actually had arranged to have a small set of bleachers set up on the ice. I didn’t see refreshments being sold anywhere, but there were porta-potties on sight. Remember, we’re standing out in the middle of a frozen lake, so the normal conveniences are not always easy to come by. The temperature was about 20 degrees. There was a wind of 10 M.P.H. or so. From time to time, the sun went away and it got cloudy. I suspect the wind chill temperature was about 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit. The IIRA shows are two-day programs. On Sundays, like today, they race a sprint race for 30 minutes and an enduro. Today’s enduro was set for two hours and five minutes. There is a mandatory driver change in the middle of the race. Ed and I talked to several of the people working the race today. We met Jim Anderson who was the wrecker driver. His tow vehicle was actually a pickup truck with 1,000 (one thousand!) studs per tire. He didn’t have any problem getting traction! Jim seemed pretty impressed that people like us would do what we do. We also talked with Bob the starter. Bob has a frozen white beard that was partially covered with snow ski goggles, a racing headset and microphone and a stocking cap. He invited Ed and me out onto the track’s infield area for the start of the enduro race. For some reason, it was much colder out in the open with no protection from the wind. We watched the beginning of the enduro from there. After awhile, it was time to seek some shelter. At that point, Ed and I scampered across the ice, and the active raceway, on our way to my National Rental Car Racing Chrysler 300. We spent the next hour or so talking about the events of the day in relative warmth. There were just nine cars racing today. The enduro winner completed 103 laps at an average race speed of about 60 M.P.H. I was happy the IIRA folks stuck to the schedule. I will say this. The many IIRA folks that I came in contact with could not have been nicer. They provided a great P.A. mention about the trackchasing hobby, an in car “ride-along” and the ability to go out onto the track’s infield area for a better view. It doesn’t get much better than that. RENTAL CAR UPDATE Minneapolis – Saturday/Sunday I drove the National Rental Car Racing Chrysler 300, 339 miles in the one-day I had it. I paid an average price of $2.97 per gallon. The Chrysler gave me 26.7 miles per gallon in fuel mileage at a cost of 11.1 cents (U.S.) per mile. The car cost 12.0 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser Walking is easy, when the road is flat. TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Orange County, CA – Denver, CO – 845 miles Denver, CO – Springfield, MO – 634 miles RENTAL CAR – SPRINGFIELD, MO Springfield-Branson National Airport – trip begins Ozark Empire Fairgrounds – 4.5 miles Springfield-Branson National Airport – 39.9 miles AIRPLANE Springfield, MO – Atlanta, GA – 563 miles RENTAL CAR – ATLANTA, GA None – private transportation AIRPLANE Atlanta, GA – Minneapolis, MN – 907 miles RENTAL CAR – MINNEAPOLIS, MN Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins Brainerd International Raceway – 156 miles Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – 319 miles AIRPLANE Minneapolis, MN – Denver, CO – 679 miles Denver, CO – Orange County, CA – 845 miles Total Air miles – 4,473 miles (6 flights) Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 4,884 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES: Ozark Empire Fairgrounds – Free Atlanta Motor Speedway – Free Brainerd International Raceway Ice Track – $10 Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $10 RANKINGS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Several trackchasers with one track. Tracks have been reported by 16 different worldwide trackchasers this season. LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS 2007 results have been posted. The ice-racing season in North America is short. It runs pretty much during January and February only. This means there are only 3-4 more weekends for ice racing. Most of the ice racing in the Northeast has been canceled due to lack of ice in the Northeast. That situation has forced me to search for hardwater in the upper Midwest and Canada to this point. Since ice tracks run so infrequently, it’s important to get them when I can. Fellow competitors should look for me to add to my ice racing totals before that season ends. 1,299. Barnes Lake Ice Track, Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada – January 13 1,300. Bira Circuit, Pattaya, Thailand – January 19 1,301. Cameron Lake Ice Track (oval), Erskine, Minnesota – January 26 1,302. Birch Lake Ice Track (oval), Hackensack, Minnesota – January 27 1,303. Mille Lacs Lake Ice Track (road course), Garrison, Minnesota – January 27 1,304. Mille Lacs Lake Ice Track (oval), Garrison, Minnesota – January 27 1,305. Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, Springfield, Missouri – February 1 1,306. Atlanta Motor Speedway (road course), Hampton, Georgia – February 2 1,307. Brainerd International Raceway Ice Track (road course), Brainerd, Minnesota – February 3 ON THE WAY TO THE RACES It won’t happen….ever. I woke up this morning in Indianapolis Indiana. I was hoping to go to sleep this evening in Austin, Texas. However I had a little trackchasing business to complete before all of that would happen. I’ve got to be honest with you. I don’t think anyone in trackchasing will ever replicate the itineraries that I’ve been able to complete while pursuing my hobby of Trackchasers. Why not? Yes, why not? There are really three reasons in my opinion. First, it takes a good deal of personal creativity to come up with the mix-and-match geographical trackchasing efforts that I employ. Secondly, you’re going to have to have the capability to move about from New York one day to Texas the next and Oregon on the final day of the three-day week as an example. Finally, you’re going to have to be willing to put your body through some contortions with lack of sleep etc. in order to pull off these crazy geographical combinations. Last night I trackchased down by Louisville, Kentucky. Then I went to sleep in Indy, woke up with just three hours of hotel sleep (I have no idea why I rented a hotel) and then I was off to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis I picked up a rental car and drove 2 1/2 hours north to Brainerd, Minnesota. Brainerd….visit number three. This would not be my first time to Brainerd, Minnesota. As is often the case when I pick up multiple tracks in one city or town I’ve had to go back for every track I’ve been able to count in that location. That is true for Brainerd. I first went to Brainerd in 2006 to see the “Donnybrooke course. I followed that up with a 2008 trop to see ice racing at Brainerd. Finally my third trip found me at Brainerd today for racing on the “Competition” course. Additionally I’ve driven through Brainerd many other times on my way to various Minnesota ice tracks in the middle of the winter. I never did find my rental car keys. I had a first-ever experience with my rental car in the Minneapolis airport. I was a bit rushed. When I found a nice looking Toyota Avalon I couldn’t pass it up. The Avalon would have satellite radio and provide a very comfortable experience. I wouldn’t be driving that far, only about 300 miles. When I rent from the National Car Rental Company I can simply go out into their parking area and select virtually any car I want. That’s why I end up with Sonatas as much as I do. However the Avalon is an upgrade from a Sonata. As long as the car has satellite radio and I’m not driving too far I can take the gas mileage hit. I often get 35–38 miles per gallon with the Sonata. When I sat inside the car for the first time I searched and searched and couldn’t find the keys. However, a Toyota Avalon has a pushbutton starting feature. I figured if the keys WERE in the car the engine would start. It did. I drove the car about 150 miles up to Brainerd and 150 miles back to the airport. I STILL didn’t have the foggiest notion where the keys were. That’s not a problem for me. In my life I try to limit my concerns to only the things that will REALLY affect my life. THE RACING Brainerd International Raceway – Competition Course – Brainerd, Minnesota Road course variations. Today I would be seeing a “road course variation” relative to the road course track that I saw back in 2006. A few years ago a rule was proposed and approved by the voting members of the trackchasing group. This new proposal allowed trackchasers to count “variations of a road course”. In order for one road course is to be considered “different” from a second the two configurations had to have at least three turns and one straight not in common. Today’s Competition course compared to the Donnybrooke course met the new requirement. Labor Day weekend. Today was the big Labor Day weekend of racing special at Brainerd. Labor Day is historically a popular weekend for auto racing. The SCCA Jack Pines sports car group would be racing on the 2.5-miles competition road course. Brainerd would also be having drag racing on their famous drag strip. Let’s not take advantage of the elderly. I was a little put off by the one day $25 admission price. However if you knew what it took to get here an additional $25 probably wasn’t going to break the bank. I reluctantly paid up. Yes, today I was seeing racing on the 2.5-mile Competition course. Lap times were in the one minute and fifty second range. Was this a dramatic difference viewing experience from when I had seen racing on the 3.1-mile Donnybrooke road course at Brainerd? You’re kidding with that question right? Absolutely no idea. I would not have had any idea if I just saw a few video clips of today’s racing whether or not the cars were racing on a 2.5-mile road course or the full 3.1-mile course. First of all I have very little remembrance of when I visited Brainerd to see racing on their larger track back in 2006. Even if I had seen racing on that track last summer I doubt very much I would’ve noticed any difference from one track to the next. This was a pure “numbers play” in order to pad my lifetime trackchasing total. What a lunch break! I saw racing before the lunch break. Then during lunch I was one of only three or four people who elected to take their car onto the track by themselves. There was a charge of $10. For this ten bucks a driver could drive around the track for as many laps as they wanted. I could drive the National Car Rental Racing Toyota Avalon around the track until the one-hour lunch break ended. If you are reading this and are part of the National Car Rental compliance and safety group….you should know that I sometimes tell bold face lies about what I do with your cars. Golly! I was little surprised at how fast the pace car driver wanted to go around the track. There was no way I wanted to take the National Car Rental Toyota Avalon around at those speeds. I drove in a comfortable no-racing pace simply to check out the scenery. You won’t want to miss the video. You will get the chance to see what a race driver sees when he competes at a famous road course like the Brainerd International Raceway. Touring the facility. I figured if I had paid my $25 to get into this place I should see what else was going on at BIR. What I did notice were some extremely huge rain puddles. They must’ve gotten a God-awful rainstorm last night. Some of the rain puddles were 50-75 feet on all sides in length. The track announcer told the crowd they would be shooting off some of the fireworks today. They had not been used because of the bad weather that came their way last night. As I was driving around the track they set off a couple of “bombs”, you know the ones that just explode one time at a very loud noise volume. I was probably 100 yards from where the explosion occurred. I could feel the concussive impact around my entire car. That’s how strong those explosions were. There wasn’t a whole lot of action happening at the drag strip. Nevertheless, most of the cars that were racing had parachutes to stop them at the end of the run. It was interesting to spend time in the drag racing pit watching the drivers maneuvering with their parachutes. AFTER THE RACES The last trackchasing day of the “Long and Arduous Mega Summer Trackchasing Trip of 2015” This is the last day I will be trackchasing on my 66-day trip. This has been a grand adventure. I could do this for many more days if there were tracks to see. Even though this is only day #63 my trackchasing portion of the trip will come to an end. I wrapped up the entire endeavor with 48 new tracks being seen. I had a couple of rainouts and one track didn’t have any countable cars when I showed up. Last year I did a 42-day trip seeing 36 new tracks. This year’s 66-day trip with 48 new tracks breaks all of my previous records. I can’t imagine doing anything bigger or better simply because there are not enough tracks to make it happen. However I’ve said that type of thing in the past and been proved wrong. I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong again. The last three days of the trip. My plan is to spend days 64, 65 and 66 down in Austin visiting with daughter Kristy her husband James and those grandbabies, Astrid and Mitch. On day #66 I will head home not having seen San Clemente in more than two months. Beach time? Will I just lie on the beach for weeks or even months in San Clemente resting up from this long trip? Not likely. I have a couple of tracks for next weekend that are bouncing around in my mind. Good afternoon. Minnesota The Gopher state This afternoon I saw my 81st lifetime track in the Gopher state, yes the Gopher state. I hold the #1 trackchasing rank in Minnesota now. I have seen 81 tracks or more in eight different 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 Minnesota definitions: Lutefisk. If you don’t know what this is, you’ve never been to Minnesota. QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles RENTAL CAR #1 O’Hare International Airport – trip begins London, KY Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 766 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins Bedford, KY Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 603 miles RENTAL CAR #3 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins Aitken, MN Morten, Manitoba, Canada LaGrange, IN Manchester, IA Oskaloosa, IA Bowling Green, IN Buncombe, IL Ionia, MI Osgood, IN Hemlock, NY Taylorville, IL Cambridge, MN Mora, MN Urbana, IL Bedford, KY Owenton, KY LeMars, IA Belleville, KS Grayslake, IL Brazil, IN La Grange, KY Grayslake, IL Sturgis, SD Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip ends – 11,379 miles RENTAL CAR #4 Washington Dulles International Airport – trip begins Martinsburg, WV Tazewell, VA Henry, VA Belmar, NJ Berryville, VA Washington Dulles International Airport – trip ends – 1,601 miles RENTAL CAR #5 Port Columbus International Airport – trip begins Croton, OH St. Louis International Airport – trip ends – 490 miles RENTAL CAR #6 St. Louis International Airport – trip begins Stockton, KS Bates City, MO Farmington, MO St. Louis International Airport – trip ends – 1,478 miles RENTAL CAR #7 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins Barnum, MN Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip ends – 252 miles RENTAL CAR #8 Victoria International Airport – trip begins Victoria, British Columbia Victoria International Airport – trip ends – 48 miles RENTAL CAR #9 St. Louis International Airport – trip begins Springfield, IL Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 48 miles RENTAL CAR #10 Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins Springfield, IL Scotland, SD Russellville, MO Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 2,215 miles RENTAL CAR #11 Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins Put-in-Bay, OH Kinross, MI Sitka, KY Campton, KY Terre Haute, IN Jeffersonville, IN Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 2,216 miles RENTAL CAR #11 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins Brainerd, MN Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip ends – 976 miles AIRPLANE Minneapolis, MN (MSP) – Austin, TX (AUS) – 1,045 miles Austin, TX (AUS) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 1,241 miles Total air miles – 7,355 (12 flights) Total rental car miles – 22,034 (11 cars) Total miles traveled on this trip – 29,389 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Laurel County Fairgrounds – $10 (not a trackchasing expense) Trimble County Recreational Facility – $10 Aitken County Fairgrounds (oval) – complimentary admission Aitken County Fairgrounds (RC) – $8 ALH Motor Speedway – complimentary admission LaGrange County Fairgrounds – $10 Delaware County Fairgrounds – $10 Mahaska County Fairgrounds – $5 Sandstone – $15 (include pits) HBR Raceway – $10 (included pits) Ionia Free Fair – $13 Ripley County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Hemlock County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Christian County Fairgrounds – $8 Isanti County Fairgrounds – $12 Kanabec County Fairgrounds – $10 Champaign County Fairgrounds – $6 Dirty Turtle Off-Road Park – complimentary admission Owenton County Fairgrounds – $10 Plymouth County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Belleville High Banks – $20 Lake County Fairgrounds – $8 Staunton MX – $15 Oldham County Fairgrounds – $10 Lake County Fairgrounds – $10 Buffalo Chip – $20 Berkeley County Youth Fairgrounds – $10 Tazewell County Fair Speedway – $10 Providence Raceway – $10 Wall Stadium Speedway – no charge Clarke County Fairgrounds – $7 Hartford County Fairgrounds – $7 Rooks County Speedway – $10 JSI Off-Road Park – No charge St. Francois County Raceway – $5 Carlton County Fairgrounds – $15 Western Speedway – $5 Canadian (about four bucks U.S.) Multi-Purpose Arena @ Illinois State Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Lonetree Creek Race Park – Complimentary admission Russellville Lion’s Club – $8 Put-in-Bay Airport – no charge Chippewa County Fairgrounds – $12 201 Speedway – $20 191 Speedway – $15 Cactus Jack – $15 Sportsdrome Speedway – Complimentary admission (pit pass) Brainerd International Raceway – $25 Total trackchasing admission charges – $379 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 500 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 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 Click on the link below to see the “Video Plus” 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. A tour of Brainerd International Raceway plus a visit with those grandbabies
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2006 (** not the first time to visit this track)
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2008 (** not the first time to visit this track)
