Greetings from Cochran, Georgia
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Cochran Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #791 Reprinted with permission from my Friday, November 12, 2004, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) this trackchasing adventure didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. This was during the 2000 trackchasing season. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (trackchasing above in…Argentina). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org I hope you will take the time to imagine in your mind what it took to make this trip from SoCal and understand the fun I had doing it. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! FOREWORD Friday, November 12, 2004. Greetings from Cochran, Georgia, Editor’s note: Just as a reminder, I have tried to provide headlines for each section of the report. I hope this will help you find the information that is most interesting to you. AND THE READERS RESPOND Greg Z., comments below. Greg is a former Grafton, Wisconsin resident and University of Wisconsin attendee (he says he graduated but I have not seen his diploma). Greg proves that not all UW people are as gracious as UW trackchaser Ed Esser. Greg now lives in SoCal and is quite fond of mentioning the prowess of Wisconsin sports teams, but only when they are doing well. He also confirms that some UW people are not as refined as UCLA people are. Additionally, Wisconsin people appear to have unhealthy eating habits. Whatever, I’m hoping that Greg can continue to play golf long enough to some day have a personal best round that is lower than mine. I doubt it will happen. “UW vs. UCLA in Rose Bowls since 1984 3 – 0. Betcha can’t wait until UCLA makes it back to respectability so that you can try again. If the UW grad (Editor’s note: this refers to Ed Esser) has any gonads, he’ll be wearing his “&%$# ‘Em Bucky” t-shirt and will be enjoying ice cold Old Styles & bratwurst at our tailgate party, while you stodgy UCLA honks serve soft brie and a light chardonnay.” I also wanted to mention that Barb W. of Bothell, Washington correctly identified an incorrect statement that I made in my last trackchaser report. Of course, it was the Washington State COUGERS, not the Washington State Huskies who defeated our UCLA Bruins. Barb is a University of Washington graduate and wanted to make sure that UW did not get credit for a win they did not deserve. I will admit to intentionally misidentifying the Oregon and Oregon State teams (Ducks and Beavers respectively) on occasion. I love going up to a fan wearing an Oregon shirt and saying, “You guys are the beavers, right?” or vice versa for the OSU fans. This drives them crazy, makes Carol feel sheepish and I feel great. Of course, I would never do this with the Washington Pac-10 schools. Anyway, Barb wrote: “Randy, I do need to point out an error in your normally extremely factual recounting of your road trips. Your beloved Bruins did not play the Huskies on Saturday; they played the Cougars from Pullman, Washington. Harrison lead his team to an upset that no one saw coming and it pulled the Cougs out of a losing streak that made a lot of people up here very happy. Barb’s comment also shows what a compassionate person she is. She can be happy when Washington State wins, even though she is a Huskie alumnus. No one in my family could ever be happy if cross-town usc won in any sport and that’s how it should be. THE CHASE FOR THE 2004 CHAMPIONSHIP I have a 13-track lead over Ed Esser with seven weeks to go in the year. I’m not declaring victory yet, but I am starting to feel confident. I have three non-football weekends coming up and hope to nail down the 2004 title. Here are the 2004 leading trackchasers and number of tracks seen RANDY LEWIS, San Clemente, California – 109 ED ESSER, Madison, Wisconsin – 96 ROLAND VANDEN EYNDE, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 83 ANDY SIVI, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 66 ROGER FERRELL, Majentica, Indiana – 60 WILL WHITE, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 59 Since the last update, which was only four days ago there have been no changes to the 2004 leader board. I do know that while I’m down here in southern Georgia, trackchasers Will White and Mike Leone are basking in the Hawaii sun this weekend. They are out catching two different tracks on the island of Oahu. THE CHASE FOR THE ALL-TIME TRACKCHASER RECORD FOR NEW TRACKS IN ONE YEAR 6 to go! Just six more tracks to go to break the all-time new tracks in one-year record of 114. I’ve been keeping an individual record of each track I have attended since 1980. Prior to 1980, I saw countable racing at 71 different tracks. I do not have individual dates for the tracks I saw prior to 1980. Trackchaser rules permit you to add tracks that you have attended in the past, even though you may not know exactly what date or year you were at the track. I was reviewing my track history since 1980 (718 tracks). Going into this trip, I needed seven new tracks to break the all-time record of 114. I noticed that the most tracks I have ever seen in any one year after November 10 until the end of a particular year is…..three! I need seven and the best I have ever done with the time I have left is three? There are probably several reasons for this lack of production late in the season. There are very few tracks racing in November/December. I’m usually tired of racing by this time of the year. My other spectator hobbies of football and basketball are up and running in November/December. All of these limitations exist this year just as they do every year. However, as they say in the investment world, performance data shown represents past performance and is not a guarantee of future results. PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS I’m retired and, in certain situations, I am allowed to get a senior discount because I am now 55 years old. That being the case, I like to consider myself an “active senior”. The “senior discount” age varies depending on the vendor/retailer. When I legally meet the age requirements, I take advantage of the discount. While we’re on the subject of age, I found this interesting information from Vanguard. “On the first day of the 20th century, the average life expectancy was 47. On the last day of the century, it was 77. And that’s average life expectancy at birth. For a 65-year-old woman, (life expectancy is approaching 90). If you’re going to live to 90, when does old age begin?” Certainly not at 55! For those of you who would like to be retired, I offer this example of a day in the life of a retired trackchaser. This day’s objective was getting ready for this weekend’s trackchasing outing. Thursday 7:00 a.m. 45 minutes on the treadmill. 8:30 a.m. Chocolate chip pancakes prepared by the “littlest trackchaser” to erase any residual benefits of the treadmill. 9:15 a.m. An hour and one-half of therapy on my surgically repaired shoulder. By the way, I plan to begin hitting golf balls next week. I will be back at the club in December or January. I will consider myself fully rehabilitated after the first round that I break 80. 11:30 a.m. Final packing for the trip. Make certain all batteries are charged for the video camera (all the better to tape press release announcements), digital camera, racing radio, Palm Pilot, cell phone, laptop computer and Dictaphone. Maybe that’s how I got a bum shoulder carrying all of this stuff. 2:00 p.m. Head to Los Angeles for tonight’s UCLA basketball game. I’ll be meeting my son, J.J., for dinner and to beat rush hour traffic, I leave now. 4:00 p.m. Catch an afternoon movie during the time I’ve saved not driving during L.A. rush hour. Saw “Birth” starring Nicole Kidman. Strange and mildly entertaining, it could happen. 6:30 p.m. Have dinner with J.J. in Westwood. At every opportunity, I spend time with the kids although it’s hard to catch up with them and their busy lives. I hope that J.J. has learned a lot from me over time. I know that each time I meet up with him I learn something new. 7:30 p.m. J.J. and I watch the UCLA Bruins demolish a team from Mexico in a pre-season exhibition game. Since no member of the Mexican team was taller than 6’5” and we have a few 7-footers it was not a difficult game. It’s not how well you play but whom you schedule. 11:00 p.m. Arrive at J.J.’s apartment in Manhattan Beach. He and his two roommates have a better view of the ocean than Carol and I do. You can throw a softball, if your shoulder is OK, from the veranda to the sandy beach. I’ll stay at J.J.’s tonight since he lives so close to LAX. 11:30 p.m. Hit the sack. Even J.J., a bachelor who has his own history of primitive sleeping conditions (his “room” at the fraternity house in college for an entire year was in a hallway!), is surprised that I will “just sleep in my clothes” since I’ll only be at the apartment for a few hours. 3:00 a.m. Even though my alarm is set for 4 a.m., my cell phone rings at 3 a.m. The call is from American Airlines telling me my 6:00 a.m. flight is on time. I love technology. 3:45 a.m. Up and at ‘em. Let’s take on the day. Remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life and all that other B.S. 3:45 a.m. is early for me. I normally get up around 7 a.m. So, whatever time you normally get up, subtract three hours and 15 minutes and you’ll have some sense of how I felt. 3:55 a.m. Out the door. Even though J.J.’s apartment is just 10 minutes from LAX, I didn’t want to take any chances of missing the flight. The last time I was at LAX, I nearly missed my flight. 4:05 a.m. I am ready to drop my 46-pound bag with the American Airlines skycap. But…..it’s too early, they aren’t even working yet. Slackers! 4:15 a.m. Check into the “Parking Spot”. I parked on the roof to save three dollars a day. I guess this will prove to Wes M. that I’m not really a car person after all or I wouldn’t mistreat my car by leaving it outside. Maybe Wes will get me a car cover for my upcoming January birthday. 4:28 a.m. Check my bag at the airport and clear security. Now I have an hour and one-half to “relax”. 5:31 a.m. Board the flight for another weekend odyssey on the way to the trackchasing world record. 6:11 a.m. Wheels up! Lights out, it’s time to catch some sleep, because this racing trip is going to be challenging. Once on the plane, I found myself seated next to Sgt. E-7 Tyrone Jameson of Tallahassee, Florida. There were several Army personnel dressed in their desert camouflage uniforms on the plane. Sgt. Jameson has “been back, goin’ back”, which means he’s been back home and now he’s heading back to Iraq. He’s already been there nine months and has just six weeks to go before he expects to return to the U.S. at least semi-permanently. I was anxious to ask him questions about his experience. I would value his opinion much more than anything I might hear on CNN or Fox regarding the war. Sgt. Jameson has been in the army for 12 years. Here’s a summary of the questions I asked him. Remember, I’m not Mike Wallace, just a concerned citizen. Randy: How do you tell the good guys from the bad guys? Sgt. Jameson: In Fallujah, the good guys stay inside their houses and the bad guys come outside and fight. The rules of engagement have changed. In Fallujah, we can attack. Anybody who comes out of their house at this stage (after warnings to civilians to leave) gets killed. Randy: Why do the bad guys come out and fight? Sgt. Jameson: Because they’re stupid. They’ll come out with a rifle, we have three to four tanks sitting there, and they’re dead. Randy: Do the insurgents have much in the way of weapons? Sgt. Jameson: Not really. The worst weapons they use against us are RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). These things come in at us at around 600 m.p.h. All you can do is duck. I have seen them come in and hit a truck and just bounce off without exploding. Randy: Can we leave Iraq and have the Iraqis manage their own country. Sgt. Jameson: Ya, I think so. It’s going to take a while but the native Iraqis are gaining confidence as we take out more insurgents. Randy: I’ve heard we’ve beefed up the armor for our Humvees? Sgt. Jameson: Yes, we added armor to those vehicles, but they now have special explosives that will blow right through the new armor. Randy: Isn’t it scary which you get approached by local people when you don’t know if they are friend or foe? Sgt. Jameson: Yes. When we go through towns, the children line the streets. I don’t throw them candy. They already got too many cavities in their teeth. I give them stuffed animals instead. The other day I got out of my truck to give some kids these stuffed animals. There were about 20 kids and they were so excited they kind of mobbed me and began to sweep me away from my truck. I had to get control and get back into the truck for protection before I could give them the stuffed animals. Randy: Where do you get the candy and stuffed animals? Sgt. Jameson: Church groups and others send us Care packages. Randy: It was great talking to you. Thank you for what you’re doing for the country. Stay out of the way. Sgt. Jameson: Thanks. Happy belated Veteran’s Day to all of you folks who have helped protect our country. Traveling in South Georgia, you drive by an awful lot of churches. One of the Baptist churches had an interesting sign. “For a man shall leave ma and pa and cleave onto a wife”. That’s how I did it! RACE TRACK NEWS: Operation “Trackchase Shock and Awe” continues…….. The Cochran Speedway is my 791st track to meet or exceed all current trackchaser rules. This is my 109th track of the season. This track is my 12th countable track in Georgia and my first trip to the state for racing this season. This is my 20th different state to get a new track at this season. Guy, isn’t it just as exciting to see what location pops up in your email from one of my race trips, as it is to see in advance what my race plan is? I last visited Georgia for racing in 2002. On that trip, I brought along three of my fraternity brothers, Mike, Phil and Jim. We were in the area for the Masters’ Golf tournament and I coaxed them into attending. I think they were both amused and befuddled at the outing. Brother Jim, from Las Vegas, then hosted us following the races at one of Georgia’s finer nightclubs. A good time was had by all for the entire day. I was lucky to get this Friday night show in because of a low-pressure system that passed through the area on Thursday night and Friday morning. I had discovered that another track, the Georgia-Tennessee Speedway in Ringgold, Georgia was racing tonight. Although that track was not listed in the 2004 National Speedway Directory, I stumbled across the news that they were racing. Unfortunately, the Georgia-Tennessee Speedway was rained out. Had I been able to go there I would have saved 250 miles of driving. Oh, well. This track will be racing next Friday night, November 19. There you go Ed; I’ve given you a freebie. Whenever the weather has threatened, I always call the speedway to confirm they are racing. It’s much more reassuring to talk to a live person in this situation. Of course, when a live person does answer they have no problem whatsoever in misleading you regarding the track’s weather conditions. When I called Cochran Speedway, all I got was a recording. The recording stated in a strong southern drawl, “The races is on tonight!” With that bit of grammatical excellence, I put all of my trust in this unknown southern gentleman and headed south to Cochran. Along Interstate 16, a pickup passed me going about 90 m.p.h. The truck was pulling a trailer that held a four wheel ATV. A huge shotgun leather case was attached to the ATV. I guess somebody was goin’ huntin’. The recording had also said racing would start at 6:30 p.m. I arrived at 7:01 p.m. They were still hot lapping. Tonight is the first day of a two-day show. Time trials and heat races are on tap for tonight. The Cochran Speedway had a very creative amenity in their men’s room. You will have to trust me on this. I have seen some very unusual methods to dispose of human waste at rural racetracks. Tonight may have topped them all. In the men’s restroom, there were four kitchen double sinks. These sinks, stainless steel no less, were positioned about two feet off the floor. How could you be accused of missing your target when there was a DOUBLE sink as your target? The track became countable at 8:43 p.m. when the green flag was thrown on a seven-car pure stock heat race. The first yellow flag of the night did not appear for another nine seconds. Although the recording stated they would start at 6:30 p.m., the flyer handed out at the track said 6 p.m. Their inefficiency was noteworthy. The first heat race had a great battle amongst the first three cars. The driver in second place had two very enthusiastic fans seated just in front of me. I will assume they were his wife and sister. On the last lap, their driver, looked like he might take over first place, although he was also having a tough time maintaining second place. Just as they entered the third turn on the last lap, the leader blew his engine and a large trail of white smoke came from his car. The ladies in front of me went crazy with the prospect that their driver might win the race. However, with the leader’s smoke came the leader’s oil. The women’s favorite hit that oil and went directly over the embankment and out of sight. Now, the women turned (guys, have we seen this before?). They immediately began calling B.S. and even berated the track official as he tried to realign the race during the caution period. Some of the things these two relatively attractive ladies had to say made me blush, but the eight-year-old child with them seemed to take it all in stride. Racing can be just like golf. Right when you think you have it made….you don’t. This ended up being the most exciting race of the night. There were five classes racing tonight. They included the Pure Stocks (14), National Late Models (33), Super Streets (12) as well as the cadets and road warriors. In the middle of the program, they went with time trials for both the super streets and late models. The announcer had just about the biggest southern drawl I can ever recall hearing. When he received my press release, he became very excited, although I do not believe the program was held up any. It would have been hard to tell since they were already more than two hours behind schedule. I suspected he would have a hard time with the word, “San Clemente” and he did. The announcer did give a nice plug to trackchaser.com and even provided my email address to those assembled who number about 100. I would expect that at least four or five of these 100 people either have a computer, know someone who has a computer or have heard the word “computer” mentioned on TV. I’ll wait to see if I hear from anyone. One of the track’s major sponsors is “Fat Jack’s Septic Service”. I can only imagine. Maybe he is the idea man behind the kitchen sinks in the men’s bathroom. RACE TRACK FOOD: I ordered a large hot chocolate for $2. The server appeared completely at a loss on how the instant hot chocolate packet could be combined with hot water to prepare the drink. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: This weekend I’ll be driving the Hertz Rental Car Racing Mercury Sable. I scored an $18.95 per day rate from Hotwire.com. You can’t beat that. During my drive to the track, I passed the Ford Motor Company assembly plant where Ford Taurus’s and Mercury Sables are made. In all likelihood, the car I am driving was made at that plant. ED ESSER & P.J. HOLLEBRAND UPDATE: The battle for positions 7-10 in the worldwide trackchaser standings is as follows: P.J. hasn’t had any trackchasing activity during the past month or so. For the first time in a long time, Ed did not report any trackchasing activity. He, like me, if out of home football games, so I will expect three strong weekends from Ed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ed add 10 new tracks in the next three weeks. CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES: Atlanta International Airport – trip begins Cochran, Georgia – 129 miles Cumulative miles driven in rental cars for 2004 trackchasing trips – 21,641 Cumulative miles driven in friend’s car for 2004 trackchasing trips – 907 Cumulative miles driven in our personal cars for 2004 trackchasing trips – 3,729 Cumulative miles driven for all trackchasing trips – 26,277 Cumulative air miles flown for all trackchasing trips – 72,188 Cumulative cruise ship miles for all trackchasing trips – 6,431 (estimated) Cumulative miles traveled (car, air and ship) for all trackchasing trips – 104,896 Total miles driven in my personal car for all activities in 2004 – 8,912 TRACK ADMISSION PRICES (U.S. DOLLARS): Cochran Speedway – $10 That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average. I’m sorry that due to competitive reasons, I can no longer post my future trackchasing plans. My fellow competitors do not post their future plans which allows them to keep their trackchasing research results to themselves. I have been freely sharing all of my trackchasing research since day one. I even offer an Excel spreadsheet, which lists every new track racing date opportunity that I know of. I regret that I will no longer be able to advise my trackchasing peers of where “The California Outlaw” will be trackchasing. Effective January 1, 2005, I will return to sharing my future trackchasing plans. ** Anderson Speedway – Oval, Anderson, Indiana, September 24 ** Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, June 12 ** Charleston Speedway, Charleston, Illinois, May 22 ** Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3 ** Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20 You might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. 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 That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. I wasn’t producing YouTube videos when I first visited the Cochran Speedway. Nevertheless, I thought you might like to see what racing looks like at this track…in a video produced by someone else. 
Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)
Racetracks visited in 2004
(** not the first time to visit this track)
2 comments
Nice reading. The track was bought out and the new owner has replaced the sinks (oddly they work well) with genuine porcelain urinals. He also reworked or built new concession stands, resurfaced the track and a few other things. He kind-a spiffied up the place. And with these new conveniences it still offers some of the best racing around. Sorry you had to endure the bad language and even more I hate that its normal for the 8 year old. Our announcer is a preacher and does an excellent job I may add, he would sure hate to hear that also. Hope you can join us again. Happy traveling.
Just another race fan!
Hi Ray, Thanks for taking the time to write. As I look back on things my visit to the Cochran Speedway was all the way back in 2004. At the time the Cochran was the 791st track where I had seen racing. As of today, I have seen racing at 2,743 racetracks. A lot of water has run across the highway since then. I guess it’s important to note that when I review a track and my overall experience it’s only from the one day I visited. I try to make notes of the things I observe that were unusual and fall out of the norm. I’m glad to hear the new track owner is doing a great job. We need more folks like him in the racing business. All the best, Randy