Greetings from Brooklyn, Iowa
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Brooklyn Raceway
Dirt oval
Lifetime Track #586
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Brooklyn Raceway
Dirt figure 8
Lifetime Track #587
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! My visit to the Brooklyn Raceway came on Sunday evening, July 7, 2002. That afternoon I saw the IRL Indy Car race in the afternoon at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Just 263 miles to the Northeast of that track sits Brooklyn, Iowa. Brooklyn is home to the Brooklyn Raceway. This facility hosts both oval and figure 8 racing. Iowa has more permanent figure 8 tracks than any state in the country. Greetings from Brooklyn, Iowa, PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS July and August are the “dog days” of trackchasing. In the Midwest and East, you can go racing just about every day of the month and sometimes more than once in a day during these summer months. It is only a question of how much do you want to push your body and your pocketbook. In the past, I’ve tried to see how many different golf courses I could play. You can try to play a golf course pretty much 7 days a week from sunup to sundown. Most racetracks race just one time per week for a 3-5 hour period so your window of opportunity is much narrower when you’re trying to visit a racetrack. The weather also plays a major factor. A racetrack might rainout on an amount of rain that wouldn’t even cause you to seek shelter in golf. When I started the season, my goals were to move up from 12th to 10th in the worldwide standings and to reach my 600th career track. I’ve already gotten to 10th position and now the chase for 600 is on. If the weather cooperates, I will make it next weekend during my Boston/Washington, D.C. trip. The 8th and 9th place trackchasers are in the 650-660 range so I won’t be passing them this year. Each of those chasers is slowing down a bit so if I can get in the 620 range this year I’d have a shot of catching them next year. The Kansas Speedway race checkered at 1:55 p.m. today. Rand McNally says it’s a four hour and twenty minute drive from Kansas City to Brooklyn, Iowa. The Brooklyn races start at 6:30 p.m. You figure it out. With a 12-minute stop for a nap (I can be sleeping soundly when my alarm signals the end of a 12-minute nap) and a gas stop, I pulled into the Brooklyn Speedway at 6:29 p.m. Trackchasing during July and August consists of 1) drive, 2) eat (while driving), 3) watch races and 4) sleep. The next day is sort of like “Groundhog Day” and you start the whole process over again. When the driving distance isn’t too great, there’s time to see the sights and maybe play a round of golf. Tuesday of this week is my planned golfing day. RACING NEWS The Brooklyn Speedway oval track is my 586th track and the figure 8 layout is my 587th different track to see. There are approximately 1,200-1,400 countable racetracks in the U.S. I would estimate that less than 100 of them have two or more countable tracks at a single location. Brooklyn Speedway is one of those locations. I was originally scheduled to go to Brooklyn Speedway yesterday for a Saturday night show. They were rained out. In an unusual occurrence, they scheduled their rain date for just one day later, tonight, rather than the following week like most tracks would. This stroke of luck meant I wouldn’t lose the two tracks to the weatherman. The Brooklyn Speedway is located out in the country. It’s actually in a farmer’s field. The racetrack setup is similar to most in that they have guardrails, lights, grandstands, etc. The pit area is simply what would normally be called a pasture. The facility has a one sixth mile oval and a traditional figure 8 track. The races were scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. I arrived one minute early and the legends were completing their one and only heat race. The legends field was just five cars. After watering the track, the legends came out and ran their five-car twenty-lap feature and that was it for the oval track. Like the night before had I been 15 minutes late I would have missed the oval. There were about 50 cars in the figure 8 pits. This necessitated seven heat races of six laps in duration with 7-8 cars in each race. There was very little action at the “X”. When it looked like two cars were going to reach the “X” at the same time one of the cars would slow or come to a stop to avoid a collision. Of course, this was disappointing to the crowd who felt their $5 admission price guaranteed mountains of mayhem by the gladiators of figure 8 racing. I opted for a pit pass at a price of $10. The pits are located behind the oval front stretch. This is also, where the announcer is located. The spectator grandstands which only seat about 500 people are located along the backstretch. When the announcer acknowledged my trackchaser press release, he mentioned the highlights to the crowd and allowed that, “allow I haven’t met the fellow this seems like an exciting hobby”, for which the lady behind me muttered, “If you can afford it”. I didn’t’ identify myself to this financial pundit. Since I’d already done 6 hours of driving and seen four hours of racing in some awfully hot and humid weather AND still had a couple more hours to drive, I left after the fourth consie missing the A and B mains. It seemed like those races would be similar to the first 11 figure 8 races I saw and it looked liked the program was starting to drag. I pulled into the Motel 6 in Davenport, Iowa after having had a very full day of trackchasing. The three tracks in one day was a nice treat. Tomorrow I’ll take the six-hour drive (this was going to be a 12-hour drive until Saturday’s rainout rearranged the schedule) to Shawano, Wisconsin. The weather forecast is calling for an 80% chance of rain for what I’m predicting is to be the best race of the 9-day “reunion” tour. Only two days until the “little trackchaser” joins me. TRACK FOOD: When I’m trackchasing in Iowa, I always have to try “the other white meat”, pork. Today it was a BBQ pork sandwich. That was followed later in the event by the “macho nachos”. In order to get an alcoholic beverage you had to buy a white (beer) or blue (Smirnoff Ice) ticket from a special ticket booth. You could then redeem that ticket for your beverage. I chose the Smirnoff Ice. You definitely wouldn’t want to operate heavy machinery after consuming a few of these. That being the case I only had one but on a hot and humid night, it was good. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car racing Pontiac Grand Prix reached 851 miles when I arrived at Brooklyn Speedway and 947 when I pulled into Davenport, Iowa. That’s not bad since I just landed at O’Hare airport about 32 hours ago. TRACK RADIO FREQUENCY: I was too tired to use the radio. Editor’s note: These URLs were active in 2002. Do you think they are still working today? Do you believe in the tooth fairy? Give it your best shot. Planned upcoming races 
New racetracks visited in 2002
588
MON
8-Jul
UMP Summernationals
Shawano Speedway
Shawano, WI
Will White
589
TUE
9-Jul
Regular program
Riverside Raceway
Eagle River, WI
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590
WED
10-Jul
Regular program
Manitowoc County Expo Raceway
Manitowoc, WI
Carol, Will White
591
THR
11-Jul
1/4 mile oval
Wisconsin Intl Raceway
Kaukauna, WI
Carol, Will White
592
THR
11-Jul
Figure 8s
Wisconsin Intl Raceway
Kaukauna, WI
Carol, Will White
593
FRI
12-Jul
World of Outlaws
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, IL
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594
SUN
14-Jul
Winston Cup
Chicagoland Speedway
Joliet, IL
Carol
595
FRI
19-Jul
Featherlite Modifieds
New Hampshire Intl Raceway
Loudon, NH
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596
FRI
19-Jul
Regular program
Lee USA Speedway
Lee, NH
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597
SAT
20-Jul
American LeMans Series
RFK Stadium Circuit
Washington,D.C
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598
SAT
20-Jul
Figure 8s
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
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599
SAT
20-Jul
Oval
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
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600
SAT
20-Jul
Road Course
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
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601
SUN
21-Jul
Regular program 3 p.m.
Stonybrook Raceway
Stoystown, PA
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602
SUN
21-Jul
Regular Program
Latrobe Speedway
Latrobe, PA
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