Greetings from Urbana, Ohio
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lifetime Track #1,882
I retired more than 11 years ago. They’re still paying me?…………….more in “The Details”. Who stops at a gentleman’s club with the wife?……………more in “The Details”. A good policy for a second grader? …………..details in “Race Review”. Should this type of behavior be tolerated? …………..details in “Race Review”. Just day 3 of 27. We woke up this morning in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. We went to bed in Sharonville, Ohio. This is what today looked like. Today is day 3 of my 27-day trackchasing trip. Carol will be with me for a week. Then she’ll return home only to join me on the trackchasing trail for the final week of my longest trip of the year. When I travel with Carol we get upgraded. She deserves it and I benefit from her attendance. We awoke this morning in our Marriott junior suite. Before departure we had time for our complimentary hotel breakfast on the 15th floor concierge level. I’ve been traveling like this since I was 23 years old. Both experience and loyalty allow me to derive travel benefits not available to the less traveled individual. Despite being retired from Procter & Gamble for more than 11 years I had some business to conduct with them. The hotel’s business center provided the printer I needed. Can you believe those folks are still paying me after all these years! My rental car was a “dual-fuel” car. It could operate on regular gas or 85 ethanol. Ethanol stations are not easy to find but if you can find one you will save 15-20% on your fuel price. I found the location of an ethanol station using my iPhone. What can’t that thing do? At that station regular gasoline was selling for $3.65 U.S. per gallon. However, the 85 ethanol was priced at just $3.15 per gallon. I know many of my foreign based readers wish their fuel prices were this low. This would be my first experience with “corn gas”. What was my conclusion? I was most happy with the price of ethanol. Who wouldn’t like to save 50 cents per gallon on their fuel? However, it took forever to fill the tank and the mileage I got with ethanol was less than what I could get with regular gas. On a cost per mile basis each fuel cost about the same. Net, I wouldn’t go out of my way to use ethanol. From our overnight Pittsburgh suburb we were off towards Urbana, Ohio. Our interstate travel would take us through West Virginia to get there! Whatever. If the GPS tells me to drive across the Ohio River (without a bridge) then that’s what I will try to do. Along the way we stopped at “Jill’s Gentleman’s Club”. Have you ever stopped at a gentleman’s club along the interstate? If you drive a truck I suspect you have. However, if you were driving with your wife or husband maybe you wouldn’t make that stop. It was getting to be close to lunchtime and who wouldn’t like to be “entertained” at a gentleman’s club while they enjoyed a cheeseburger. However, Carol and I did not stop at Jill’s for a burger or to be entertained for that matter. You see we have some good friends who live in Northern California. Wes and Jill are there names. When Carol and I are about ready to check into a “dive” hotel we commonly ask each other, “What would Jill do?”. This is in reference to Jill’s slightly more cultured and refined personal tastes. Often times we conclude that Jill would NOT be willing to stay where we would end up staying. Then we agree we won’t ever tell her! I was hoping that Jill’s Gentleman’s Club would be selling souvenir t-shirts. They were. It didn’t matter the price, I had to get a “Jill’s Gentleman’s Club” shirt for Wes to wear on Saturday mornings while he washes that vintage Porsche of his. We did just that. I’m still waiting for a photo of Wes with his new shirt. As we approached Wheeling, West Virginia we stumbled across a Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. Check it out behind the “Attractions” tab. From there we motored on another three hours to our racing destination. 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. This would have been better on a clear weather day. Then under very rainy conditions we moved onto Wheeling, West Virginia for another trackchasing tourist attraction. What was it? The Oglebay Park mansion and glassblowing tour. We didn’t have enough time to stay for the glassblowing but we did have time while dodging raindrops to check things out. This is a 1,650 acre park that has been open since 1928. It’s the only self-supporting public municipal park of its kind in the country. The highlights were the mansion and greenhouse. Maybe we can come back on a better weather day. Champaign County Fairgrounds – Urbana, Ohio Lots of county fairs I visit have huge grandstands. Tonight’s grandstand had to seat 3,000 plus or minus. The place was packed to the gills. Most county fair grandstands aren’t used for much except during county fair time. These fairs normally last only about 5-6 days. I guess that goes to show you the government doesn’t mind building a very large infrastructure for something that will be used so little. I’m just sayin’. Such extremes! The weather was warm all evening at about 75 degrees. I find it kind of amazing that six months from now the temperatures on occasion will be 70-80 degrees colder than that. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me much. I grew up in Illinois. This was a large fair. Their food selections were outstanding. We settle on the Midwest’s famous pork tenderloins. Demo Derby….king or relic? Tonight’s main entertainment focus was demolition derby. Although figure 8 racing is coming on strong demo derby is still the king. Fans still show up in droves for DD. However demolition derby is not a countable format for trackchasing. I can agree with that. Nevertheless, at times demo derby can be very entertaining. Unfortunately, tonight’s DD was rather tame with not a lot of action. The program did begin with a lawnmower demo derby of all things! I had met the promoter of tonight’s event at a show in Southern Ohio a few weeks ago. He was a nice guy and really appreciated what I’ve been doing as a trackchaser. Tonight we came to the fair to see a figure 8 race. I had contacted the promoter a few days ago to confirm he was going to run that race. He told me he would race the figure 8 event no matter what. That was good enough for me. If someone tells me something directly I believe them. Then if they don’t follow through I have a very difficult, if not impossible, time believing them ever again. I’m especially strong on this point if I think they consciously lied. This may not be a policy you want to teach your second grader (and then maybe it is) but it seems to work for me. As the program continued on into the evening there was no mention of the figure 8 race. This was minorly concerning. Nevertheless, I’ve got to give promoter Tim Clark a lot of credit. With just two cars signed up for figure 8 race he could have canceled. However, Tim is a man of his word. He knew I was in attendance and that I had come to his event just to see a figure 8 race. Should this behavior be tolerated? Unlike Guy Smith and some other trackchasers I NEVER ask a promoter to run an event they weren’t planning to run just so I can add another track. I am pretty sure had I “added another $50 or $100 to the purse” a “new” track could have miraculously sprung up at so many locations. I don’t do that. I consider it a tremendous breach of trackchasing ethics. Some don’t. Shame on them. The field of countable racers was slim. The figure 8 race went off with just three cars and a small pickup truck. They raced for 15 laps. We had come all this way for just this race. Frankly, that was a bit demented. However we HAD been able to have an experience at Jill’s Gentleman’s Club. We had been able to visit the Oglebay Mansion as well. Additionally, seeing a “race” in Ohio tonight allowed us to better position ourselves for tomorrow nights very special event in Kentucky. It was all good. By the way, and I’ve seen this time and again, I believe the crowd, jammed into a packed grandstand, enjoyed the one and only figure 8 race more than they did the demolition derby activity. Maybe the promoter noticed that. I would love to see someone take control of the many California fairgrounds for figure 8 racing as they do in Michigan. That business is ripe for the picking. If only I were a little bit younger and needed the money more…. STATE COMPARISONS Ohio The Buckeye State This evening I saw my 69 lifetime track in the Buckeye state, yes the Buckeye state. I need a few more tracks in Ohio to bump up into the top 10. I’ll get to Ohio whenever I can. 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 Ohio sayings: Ohio – Center of the universe
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 TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Wayne County Fairgrounds – $10 Butler Farm Show – $12 (not trackchasing expense) Champaign County Fairgrounds – $12 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 – 1,882 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 
Have you ever used ethanol in your gas tank? Is it worth it?……………more in “The Details”.
They’re still paying me?
When is a bargain not a bargain?
Who stops at a gentleman’s club with their wife?
It’s always fun to give gifts.
Oglebay Park – Wheeling, West Virginia
Too much for too little?
A good policy for a second grader?
QUICK FACTS
AIRPLANE
3 comments
Hi Jerry,
Except in a couple of very unusual circumstances the minimum number of cars needed to make a race “countable” is two. However, the racing field cannot be LIMITED to two. That’s what eliminates drag racing as a countable race. As long as the racing field is not limited to two cars then a two-car field can make things a race.
Regarding your question about the photos I’m going to say it might have something to do with your computer. They show up correctly on my system. You might be able to get a different result using a different browser, i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.
Hi Randy In the ‘Photos’ section, all the pictures are 90 degrees out (on one side) …or is it my computer ?
Hi Randy Great photo, great report. Just thinking…What’s the minimum amount of cars needed for the event to be classed as a Trackchase…? I presume 4 as mentioned here in the fig of 8 ?