Greetings from Brockville, Ontario, Canada
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lifetime Track #341 – Outer Oval
Lifetime Track #1,898 – Inner Oval
Me car; Carol Marriott…………….more in “The Details”. My international gas strategy was being employed today…………….more in “The Details”. Let’s do the math….or if this trackchasing business was easy everybody would be doing it…………….more in “The Details”. Just carry a clipboard and don’t make eye contact…………….more in “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. What’s a Catamount? ……………more in “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. Dirt Demons or bust.………..details in “Race Review”. The worst track I ever visited (not Brockville!).………..details in “Race Review”. The most important employee at the track.………..details in “Race Review”. A special young man.………..details in “Race Review”. Me car; Carol Marriott. I woke up this morning in Colchester, Vermont. I went to sleep in my car at the Montreal airport. While I was doing this Carol was winging her way to the east coast. She would land quietly in Washington, D.C. and spend her evening in the comfort of the Marriott hotel at the Dulles International Airport (IAD). Yes, when she travels she gets the best even if I have to sacrifice a bit (tears being shed). This is what today looked like. Level playing field. I’ve heard a few people criticize the trackchasing rules that allow a chaser to “count more than one track at a single location”. Those folks say the rules are too “lax”. Yes, it does seem a bit odd that a trackchaser can sometimes see two or more tracks at one location. In the extreme I have seen three tracks in one stop. On that occasion I saw racing on a facility’s large oval, small oval and figure 8 track all during the same visit. It is true that the hobby of trackchasing is about seeing racing on different TRACKS so I guess the rules make sense. Before I ever heard of trackchasing I only counted racing at one facility ONE TIME even though I may have seen racing at more than one track as a single facility. However, the real benefit of a common set of rules is that it allows one trackchaser to compare his or her results with other people on a level playing field. As is frequently the case when I see more than one track configuration at a single facility I have to come back more than one time to do it. Back in 1998 I saw racing Brockville Ontario Speedway’s large “outer” oval. Today I was seeing racing on their inner oval. I’ll tell you all about it in the “Race Review” section of this report. TTAs the more the merrier. Today I also had the opportunity for a Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. That involved a campus tour of the University of Vermont in Burlington. I love touring college campuses. Highlights for me include seeing the basketball and football stadiums. I also enjoy going to the bookstore to see if they have any cool t-shirts. You are much more likely to see me at a racetrack wearing a college logo on my shirt than a racecar. I’ll tell you more about it all behind the “Attractions” tab. One of the very best ways to see things. I began my day with a 45-minute power walk. I should do that every day but I don’t. Why? It’s a two-word answer in most cases: Too lazy. However, when I arrive into my hotel past midnight and need to be on the road again at 6-7 p.m. exercise quickly falls off my list of “must do” activities. You won’t want to miss the photos from my morning powerwalk. Vermont is a pretty place. My international gas strategy was being employed today. I made a gas stop near the Canadian border at Swanton, Vermont before leaving the U.S. I paid $3.71 per gallon. I’ll be returning my car to the Montreal airport in Canada of course. I will be forced to return my rental car with a full tank of gas. At least by filling up in Vermont the amount of Canadian gas I need at more than $5 U.S. per gallon will be less. I figured I saved about ten bucks with this strategy. Ten bucks will buy lunch. My international GPS strategy. Today I would be using both of my GPS units. My iPhone GPS is used in the U.S. My Garmin GPS will guide me through Canada. In Vermont my iPhone projected a 30-minute earlier arrival using a new toll road in Quebec. Like Tim Horton’s I would use the Canadian toll road as an ATM. I give them U.S. funds and they give me my change in Canadian money. It’s a beautiful world isn’t it. Support from abroad. Trackchaser Rick Young had provided some information about today’s racing. I met Rick during our 1999 tour through Canada. Rick is an Englishman living in Canada. I asked him once if he might ever move to the U.S. He told me he couldn’t afford to give up his Canadian health care. Maybe with the new health care laws that will not be an obstacle for him in the future. After the races…… What would you do? Following the races I faced a two-hour drive from Brockville over to the Montreal airport (YUL). That put me into the airport at about 1 a.m. I had a 6 a.m. flight the next morning from YUL to Washington, D.C. Normally I need to be at the airport about an hour before departure. However, I would be clearing Canadian customs so I figured I it would require more time. Let’s do the math….or if this trackchasing business was easy everybody would be doing it. Let’s do the math. I was at the Montreal rental car lot by about 1 a.m. I needed to be at the airport terminal ready to go through that process by 4:30 a.m. or maybe even sooner. What did that mean? There was no time for a hotel. What did that mean? I would sleep in my car. I knew that the National Rental Car parking area at the airport was closed from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. I pulled in at about 1 a.m. I saw a National rental car employee just closing up shop for the night. I told him about my plan to sleep in my car for then next three hours. He smiled and walked away. Folks, if this trackchasing business was easy everyone would be doing it. 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. University of Vermont Campus Tour – Burlington, Vermont Just carry a clipboard and don’t make eye contact. I have definitely enjoyed my college campus tours during these types of trips. Today’s tour would be conducted under blue skies and a perfect weather day. Students were just returning to campus to begin their school year. I suspect that over the next nine months they won’t have many 75-degree days like today. I am surprised that I am able to get into so many buildings without much hassle on college campuses. I learned how to do this in the Marine Corps. In the Corps you simply needed to walk around with a clipboard, not make much eye contact and act as if you have a purpose. That approach worked then and it works today. However today I don’t use a clipboard. I was in Catamount territory. My first stop was at the Albert L. Gutterson Field House. The Vermont Catamounts play their hockey games there. Hockey in Vermont is big. What’s a Catamount? You’re probably wondering what a “Catamount” is. I’ll save you the trouble of Googling it. Catamounts are large wild cats that are also called panthers, cougars or mountain lions. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. That’s means they are either very cagey at not getting shot nowadays or extinct. I’m voting for the latter. Gutterson Field House was built in 1963 and seats 4,035 fans. I was surprised at how cold it was in the building especially on what amounted to a warm summer day. The Zambonis were working on the ice during my brief visit. With your busy life you might have missed the fact that on March 30, 2012 at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, President Barack Obama made his very first public appearance in the State of Vermont at the Gutterson Fieldhouse. Don’t miss the pictures. I’m talking about my visit and not President Obama’s. The Cats play their home basketball games in the Roy L. Patrick Gymnasium. The place seats 3,266 fans. This venue is home to the state high school division 1 playoffs and hosted the Boston Celtics training camp in years gone by. The University of Vermont has been in the NCAA tournament five times during the last decade. Brockville Ontario Speedway – Brockville, Ontario, Canada Dirt Demons or bust. My one and only reason for coming to the Brockville Ontario Motor Speedway was to see the “Dirt Demons” class race. I had traveled nearly 200 miles today across international borders to see them. I would end up sleeping in my car this evening and then traveling 500 miles by air just so I could fit them into my trackchasing schedule. Who does that? Me. V-Twin Dirt Demons. The Dirt Demons class is officially called the “V-Twin Dirt Demons”. They weren’t the only class racing on the dirt oval of about 1/8-mile in length tonight. There were also several classes of flat karts and lawnmowers. Trackchasing’s Founding Fathers long ago banned flat karts. By the way I am not a founding father of the hobby. The rules were well established by the time I came on the scene. The trackchasing hierarchy only recently banned racing lawnmowers. How it went down. I believe flat karts should have been considered a countable class since day one. I feel badly for trackchaser Mike Knappenberger. Mike supported the idea of adding flat karts to the trackchasing “approved” list. Then his riding partner Guy Smith did his damdest to effectively ban flat karts during an “impartial” vote. Once that was accomplished Commissioner Smith “recommended” that people not think about adding flat karts any time soon. I would look for Guy to change his tune in the next five years. When he does trackchasers will soon be chasing all over God’s green acres in search of flat kart racing. Remember you heard it here first. I have a ‘history’ with Brockville. I have a bit of a history with the Brockville Ontario Speedway. I was up here with my stepfather Bill Virt and my brother-in-law Bob Brown in 1998. To be precise we were in town on a Wednesday night, July 15 to see a big block modified special. Brett “The Corporate Jet” won the feature that night. I love that nickname. It comes Brett’s way because of his ability to attract corporate sponsorship. Good on Brett. I don’t have too many memories of that racing evening. However, I do remember we had special seating in plastic lawn chairs in the top row. For the life of me I can’t remember how we got those seats. However, I do remember the mosquitos literally gnawing on our bones until we couldn’t stand it anymore. The worst track I ever visited. Following our night at Brockville in ’99 we went on to the Can-Am International Speedway, Brewerton Speedway, Oswego Speedway, Glad Rag Raceway and the Utica-Rome Speedway. For years the Glad Rag Speedway held the title of the worst track I had ever visited. In reality it has never lost that designation although tracks in Ohio and California have tied it. The people made this night special. I arrived early tonight. The first person I wanted to find was Craig Revelle. Craig is a good friend of the above-mentioned Rick Young. He is in the website development business. I’m pretty certain he’s the brainpower behind the “Rick at the Races” website. Check it out at http://www.rickattheraces.com. Craig was able to give me the lowdown on tonight’s racing program. That was most helpful. Later in the evening Craig arranged for me to meet the track’s announcer Tim Baltz. The most important employee at the track. It’s funny but most “kart” tracks don’t have an announcer. If they do, in most cases, the person on the microphone simply announces which class will race next. I believe when they do that the track is missing out on a major entertainment opportunity for its fans. I have said many times that I feel the most important track employee from the fan’s perspective is the announcer. Why? The announcer can create drama. Drama is key to a fun evening at the races. The announcer can educate and inform the fan. The announcer is THE man and in some cases THE woman! Tonight’s announcer, Tim Baltz, was the best I have ever heard at a kart track. In fact he was one of the best I have ever heard at any track. He took the time to ask me a few questions about my trackchasing hobby. We did our interview in full view of everyone in the pit area. When that happens folks are much more likely to come up and say hello compared to my doing an interview out of sight from the fans and drivers. By the way if you would like to hear the highlights of our interview it’s on the backend of today’s racing action video from Brockville. A special young man. Tonight’s racing classes were for both adult and young drivers. Some folks would call those youngsters “kids”. I was standing in the pit area watching the last race of the night when one of those young drivers walked up to me. I’m going to guess he was about 12 years old or so. I’m sorry but I didn’t catch his name. He stuck out his hand and said something to the effect, “We’re really glad you came to our track tonight. You’ve been to so many tracks. We hope you have a good time. Thanks for coming”. Folks, life is really pretty simple. I couldn’t have said something like that when I was 12 years old to an adult. Heck, most of the adults I know couldn’t say that to another adult today. That young man has a very bright future ahead of him. I only wish I had recorded his name or taken his picture to give him the proper credit. The Dirt Demon bunch. During practice I sauntered over to where the Dirt Demon drivers were pitted. There I met Shane Bourgon and his crew. Shane’s company builds these little caged karts. These are pristine small racing machines. Shane told me they built just enough of them so they can race them and still have the time to go to work at their day jobs. They race the Dirt Demons at a couple of Canadian tracks and are looking to expand their production and racing locations. I did a quick search and came up with this Facebook page for the V-Twin Dirt Demons: I was impressed by how friendly the Dirt Demon bunch was. Nice folks! They build good-looking cars too. I’ll try to catch one of their shows at Cornwall in 2014 and maybe somewhere else where they might show up. I’ve got to give a “shout out” to the flat kart drivers and lawnmower racers too. Some of those lawnmower riders are big dudes. I wouldn’t want to go around a dirt track on two wheels in the turns at 30-40 M.P.H. on one of those things. I’m always impressed with the flat kart drivers. Everywhere I go they seem to be as competitive about their hobby as a driver in any other class of racing. It’s always cool to see them “fisting each other” before the start of their racing events. Overall, I had a nice time at the Brockville Ontario Speedway. Of course it helped a lot to meet up with folks like Craig, Tim and Shane and others. They’ve got a nice group of racers up Canada way. PROVINCE COMPARISONS Ontario The ‘Province of Opportunity’ Province This evening I saw my 56th lifetime track in the ‘Province of Opportunity’ province, yes the ‘Province of Opportunity’ province. If I had to guess my next stop in Ontario might be for an ice race. 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 Ontario sayings: Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes.
QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles Chicago, IL (ORD) – Detroit, MI (DTW) – 234 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Detroit Metro Airport – trip begins Belleville, MI Butler, PA Urbana, OH Union, KY East Moline, IL Marshall, MI Armada, MI West Branch, MI Midland, MI Detroit Metro Airport – 2,378 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Detroit Metro Airport – trip begins Greenland, MI Escanaba, MI Escanaba, MI (again!) Hudsonville, MI Greensburg, PA Abingdon, IL Brooklyn, MI Onekama, MI Detroit Metro Airport – 3,429 miles RENTAL CAR #3 LaGuardia (New York) International Airport – trip begins Oreville, PA LaGuardia (New York) International Airport – trip ends – 314 miles AIRPLANE Detroit, MI (DTW) – New York, NY (LGA)– 500 miles New York, NY (LGA) – Montreal, Quebec, Canada (YUL) – 324 miles RENTAL CAR #4 Dorval (Montreal) International Airport – trip begins Essex Junction, VT Brockville, Ontario, Canada Dorval (Montreal) International Airport – trip ends – 482 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Wayne County Fairgrounds – $10 Butler Farm Show – $12 (not trackchasing expense) Champaign County Fairgrounds – $12 Florence Speedway – Complimentary admission Quad Cities Speedway – $8 ($2 senior discount – not trackchasing expense) Calhoun County Fairgrounds – $10 Armada County Fairgrounds – $8 Ogemaw County Fairgrounds – $8 Midland County Fairgrounds – $10 Adventure Mountain Raceway – $8 Upper Peninsula International Raceway – $8 Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds – $5 Hudsonville County Fairgrounds – $9 Westmoreland County Fairgrounds – $8 Abingdon Fairgrounds – $10 Michigan International Speedway – $20 Manistee County Fairgrounds – 13 Oreville Kart Club – No charge Champlain Valley Expo – $16 Brockville Ontario Speedway – $5 Canadian 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 – 1,898 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 
Tonight’s racing would take place on what is commonly referred to as an inner oval. The mostly flat dirt track was quite racy. Admission allowed me full run of the pit area at no extra charge. In fact, the main grandstand to Brockville’s big track was closed for this event. This arrangement allowed up close and personal observation and interaction with the race cars and competitors. It was all done very well. I have just one suggestion for improvement. They are going to need a bit stronger fencing coming out of fourth turn. If one of the Dirt Demons or anybody else gets majorly out of shape someone is going to catch a race car, or lawnmower, in the teeth. That wouldn’t be good.
