Greetings from Shelby, North Carolina
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway
Lifetime Track #2,092
THE EVENT ON THE WAY TO THE RACES Take me to Shelby, North Carolina. I woke up this morning at home in the “little city by the sea” San Clemente, California. I went to sleep at an interstate rest stop in Athens, Tennessee. Tonight I would trackchase in Shelby, North Carolina. This is how the day turned out. Tell me about Shelby. Shelby is a town of about 20,000 residents located in Western Carolina. The racial makeup of the city is about 57% white and 40% African-American. However, tonight’s crowd was virtually 100% white. What’s up with that? The Cleveland County Fairgrounds has been in existence since 1924. Parts of the movie series “The Hunger Games” were filmed in Shelby. Floyd Patterson, one of my early boxing favorites, was a native of Shelby. Patterson passed away in 2006 at the age of 71. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1952. Country music banjo player Ear Scruggs also hails from here. Sacrifice and the right mindset. In order to be a world class trackchaser one has to make some sacrifices and have a flexible mindset. If a person can’t do that then they had best search for another hobby. Heck, if a person doesn’t have a flexible mindset they are going to be two steps behind in life as it is. What’s a ‘classic’ trackchasing trip? My “classic” trackchasing trip has me seeing races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some trackchasers live so close to the tracks they visit they can leave home on Friday morning and be back home by Sunday night to accomplish what I do with one of my “classic” trips. However, for me, some 80% of all U.S. tracks are located in time zones some two and three hours ahead of where I live. Of course the tracks in other time zones are too far away to drive too. I must fly. It is very difficult to leave California on a Friday morning and arrive into a central or eastern time zone located track in time for the Friday night racing. Sundays. I encounter a similar situation on Sundays. If I were to see a Sunday night race there is no way I will get back to California on a Sunday night. This “California penalty” adds a day to most trips just trying to get home. Nevertheless, I’ve been paying this “California penalty” for 30 years in business and now for many years in trackchasing. An early start for this weekend’s trip. This morning my alarm came at 3:10 a.m. I was backing out of the driveway at 3:26 a.m. (shower no shave). I was planning to make a 6 a.m. flight from the Los Angeles International Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s a 65-mile drive from my house to LAX. However, at that time of day it’s normally a “cruise control” all the way drive. That was the case this morning. Going to the Box. Along the way I have discovered a quick way to get some breakfast. I like eating a “take-away” breakfast at Jack In The Box. I can exit the freeway, get my food and be back on the freeway in about five minutes. That’s what I did today. Say what? However, when I placed my order in the drive through lane I didn’t get the response I was looking for. “My system is down” the JIB worker told me through the drive through speaker. I’ll bet I’ve driven into fast food drive through lanes a million times (maybe two million). I can’t ever recall hearing the “my system is down” message. I assumed this meant they couldn’t charge me for my meal not that they couldn’t cook it. Nevertheless at 4:07 a.m. I was shut out. A bad omen? Was this a bad omen for this trip? Maybe. Nevertheless I was determined. I was quickly back on the freeway. I gave a fast command to my iPhone. “Take me to Jack in the Box”. I was soon being directed to a second JIB location. Shortly thereafter I was munching on a fully loaded breakfast sandwich (lettuce wrapped – no bread) at 71 M.P.H. Zip. Zip. Zip. When I got to the airport I quickly cleared security using my TSA Pre-Check capabilities. I was trying to fly standby on a plane from LAX to Charlotte (CLT). There were plenty of seats. The agent, noting my height, gave me an exit row seat. I was golden as we often said when I worked in the factories of the Caterpillar Tractor Company while earning enough money working summers to pay for my entire college education (supplemented by college jobs as well). Oops. Less golden. Soon I was “less golden”. I was on the plane but we had not left the gate. The pilot told us there was a small “problem”. That’s never good to hear. The “small” problem turned out to be a minimum of a two-hour delay. Everyone was directed to get off the plane. The line for “re-booking” was more than 100 people long. There was no way I was standing in that line. I sat down in an easy chair and assessed my options. I could try for a flight to Detroit. There was a race near there tonight. However, there was no way I could make it to a 9:45 a.m. race tomorrow morning along the Tennessee-Alabama state line. I didn’t have all that many Friday racing choices. Time was passing. If I waited much longer there was no way I could get to the Midwest or East in time for a racing event tonight. Wait. This might work! Then I noticed something that would save the day. At the very next gate there was a non-stop flight leaving almost immediately for Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (RDU). I didn’t even know there WAS a non-stop flight from LAX to RDU! I may have to use that to get me to the Southeast later in the year. I checked in to see if I could use my Charlotte ticket to take me to Raleigh. Yes, I could. Soon I was in ANOTHER exit row seat on a plane heading to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. When opportunity knocks what should you do? Answer the #$%# door! North Carolina Raleigh? I have been to North Carolina more than 100 times. Nevertheless, I could not remember where Raleigh was compared to my original destination of Charlotte compared to tonight’s racing destination of Shelby, North Carolina. It didn’t really matter. I had no better choice. If the Charlotte flight wasn’t going to go then I would not be seeing any racing in Shelby anyway. Even if Raleigh was going to be more out of the way (it was) I could still make it to Shelby to catch some of the racing. A quick education from Google Maps. As soon as I was settled on my flight I used Google Maps to re-educate me on North Carolina geography. My original destination, Charlotte, was going to be an hour’s drive from the race track in Shelby. Raleigh would be a three-hour drive to the track. Nevertheless, if we landed into RDU at 4:30 p.m. as planned I would still be in time to see some or maybe all of the racing. A new plane meant a new rental car. Of course, I would have to change rental cars. I quickly called the National Car Rental Company. They have some of the best and quickest phone service of any company I work with. In two minutes, from the plane, I had confirmed a new two-day one-way reservation from Raleigh to Nashville. I was also able to cancel my previous reservation from Charlotte to Nashville. So what would you pay for this service? What do you think a two-day one-way full-sized rental car reservation might cost? You know that one-way rentals are extremely expensive right? However, National Car Rental is one of my long-time trackchasing sponsors. Yes they would give me a full-sized car with unlimited miles. I could pick it up in Raleigh and drop it two days later in Nashville. The total charge for me would be $1.09 (one dollar and nine cents). How’s that for buying good things cheap? What was my overnight plan? Following tonight’s racing I would have a five hour and eight minute (5H8M) drive to South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. There was going to be a race there tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 9:45 a.m. There would be no time for a hotel tonight. I expected to get out of tonight’s races at about 10 p.m. Saturday morning’s race would begin about 12 hours later. With a 5-hour drive my only choice was to sleep for a few hours in my car. It was going to be a “5-Hour Energy” drink night. Could we pause for just a bit? Let’s pause for a moment. You might want to re-read some of the highlights of my day that began at 3:10 a.m. Is it any surprise that so few people pursue the trackchasing hobby? Not really huh? Nevertheless, there are about 60-80 people who have seen racing at more than 200 tracks. There are about ten folks who have seen racing at 1,000 tracks or more. However, there is no trackchaser who pursues the hobby week after week, month after month or year after year as I do. Maybe that’s why I have seen nearly 2,100 tracks up to this point. THE RACING Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway – Shelby, North Carolina I don’t do it like everybody else. O.K., I didn’t get to Shelby, North Carolina for some Friday night stock car racing like most trackchasers do. I’m used to that. Nevertheless, I did arrive just as fans were standing for the national anthem. Considering what I had gone through to get here I thought that was pretty good. So where is the “entertainment tax” spent? I paid my $11 general admission price. The ticket sign told me that $6.75 of that money went for an “entertainment tax”. I’m not sure I would want to advertise that fact if I didn’t have too. The fairgrounds was celebrating its 90th anniversary. That’s a long time. They did have a covered grandstand but not from WAY back in the day like some fairgrounds have. I absolutely love the old original fairgrounds covered grandstands. If only those grandstands could talk. The racing program had some blemishes. Tonight’s stand had a number of support poles holding up the roof. I’m all for keeping the roof in place. However, all of the poles majorly obstructed the view. The track really missed the boat in the one area I find extremely important. The track announcer could barely and rarely be heard over the Radio Shack like P.A. system. This was a real bummer. It’s not nearly as much fun watching a race without a good announcer providing background information and helping to create some drama. The track itself was a small dirt oval, maybe a quarter-mile in length. It was actually a very good track considering….the support poles blocked the view, the P.A. system was worthless and the main attraction was four-cylinder stock cars. I don’t care much about things I can’t control. However, you might need to know that I don’t really care if a track offers good racing or not. It’s out of my control. I try not to worry or have angst about things I can’t control. Of course I would LOVE to see good racing. However, if that were a #1 requirement I never would have stopped being a racechaser. Now I am just like any other red-blooded worldwide trackchaser. Just let me COUNT the track. If the racing program is lacking I’ll count the track and move on down the long and dusty trackchasing trail. I like drama. There was one moment of drama however. I had noticed a fellow who had a goatee beard. Protruding from his beard was a braided strand that fell more than a foot below his chin. I’m going out on a limb here but I’m guessing this guy was not a retired V.P. of Marketing from Procter & Gamble. This fellow must have been linked to one of the race teams….one of the race teams that had been “wronged” on the track. This mental giant proceeded to make the long walk from the pit area near turn one to the starter located in the track’s infield. He walked at a pace used by baseball managers when they are replacing their pitcher. The crowd cheered and jeered. A discussion took place as two local policemen headed toward the “action”. They kept a distance waiting to intervene if necessary. There were no fisticuffs. Then “Mr. Goatee” man walked all the way back to the pits to confront the driver who he felt had caused the problem. This entire process took about 10 minutes! I had my video camera, O.K., my cell phone, at the ready. However, there were no real fireworks. This was the highlight of the evening. The main racing was done by 4-cylinder stock cars. There was one class for front wheel drive and one for rear wheel drive. These classes had about eight competitors. There were five late models racing in their class and about five in another lower level stock car class. AFTER THE RACES 12 and 5. What did that mean? I stayed for the entire show tonight. It had taken so much to get here I figured I should do that. I was out of the track by about 10 p.m. I had a five-hour drive to tomorrow’s 9:45 a.m. racing location in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. I had 12 hours to get there and a five-hour drive. What did that mean? I wouldn’t waste the time and money getting a hotel room. I must adapt as times change. It used to be that the tracks I visited were just far enough from each other that I could have 8-10 hours in a hotel. That is changing. Now the tracks are getting further and further from each other. Often times I now have 3-7 hours that I could spend in a hotel and still make it to the next track. In those situations it doesn’t make good sense to get a hotel room. What is good sense? An argument could be made that it also doesn’t make good sense to try to see tracks that are so far apart that getting a hotel room in between is not a good idea. However, there is no real logic to the passion of trackchasing. I likely won’t cook out here. Just as I was heading out of Shelby I stopped at a “Cook Out” fast food restaurant location. I had seen a few of these driving over to the track. They looked interesting. However, I was for the most part disappointed in their serving size compared to the price. Maybe I will try one again to confirm my suspicions. Good night. A few hours down the road I found a suitable interstate rest area in Athens, Tennessee. I leaned the driver’s seat back as far as it would go and slept for about four hours. North Carolina The Tar Heel state This evening I saw my 50th lifetime track in the Tar Heel state, yes the Tar Heel state. I have now seen 50 or more tracks in 14 states. No one else comes close to that mark. Here’s where I have seen 50 or more tracks. California Florida Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Minnesota Missouri New York North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Texas Wisconsin 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 North Carolina thoughts: You know Cheerwine is not actually wine but one of the greatest carbonated beverages ever. QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU) – 2,236 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Douglas (Charlotte) International Airport – trip begins Shelby, NC TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Cleveland County Fairgrounds Speedway – $11 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 450 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 See the racing action from the Cleveland County Fairgrounds Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day: A quick trip down to North Carolina for some Friday night racing 
