Costa Rica – lifetime trackchasing country #22
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Greetings from La Guacima, Costa Rica
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Autodromo La Guacima
Asphalt road course
Lifetime Track #1,398
OVERVIEW Taking my trackchasing hobby to foreign countries creates the very best experiences. Long ago I moved into the #1 trackchasing position when it came to see racing outside of the United States. Yes, this was just one of more than 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. However, it was my first opportunity to see racing in a place like Costa Rica. Every one of my foreign country visits is extra special. This trip was no different. 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! DAY 1&2 – “I HAD NO IDEA I WOULD END UP IN COSTA RICA THIS WEEKEND” TRACKCHASING TOUR CHINA WINNERS!! I had a very nice response from several readers of my Macau, China Trackchaser Report. Of course, it pays to read the reports carefully and in their entirety. You can do the really important things in your life after a relaxing Trackchaser Report read, right? As you know, I offered a contest to readers of my Macau, China Trackchaser Reports. Contest winners were simply asked to tell me at least one thing they learned from reading about our adventure to China. Below you will find out what each person learned! Each winner will receive his or her prize soon. Thanks to everyone who played the game. FROM THE SOUTHEAST: “The new tunnel (in Hong Kong) is faster and better” FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION: “Learned about taking the train from airport to Hong Kong city is a good option as we are considering a trip there late this year” FROM SOCAL: “That the concierge at the hotel in HK knows how to make a good dim sum recommendation” FROM THE MIDWEST: “I learned many things from your last two (China) trackchaser reports. Here are two: As just rewards for being married to the World’s #1 Trackchaser, Carol has earned a special place in heaven. Come to think of it I knew that before reading your Macau report. I did learn that you can purchase four beers for the price of three at the end of the race in Macau. FROM THE SOUTHWEST: “One thing I learned from reading your reports is that you had dim sum several times” FROM NEW ENGLAND: “Great reports on your China trip as always. One thing I learned was that you had to go through customs to get from Hong Kong to Macau. Weird. That would be like having to go through customs to get from ME to NH. Keep up the good work and keep sticking it to those dreaded east coast trackchasers. Congratulations to all of the winners. I hope I have not missed anyone who entered the contest. I tried not too. Contest prizes will be mailed to each winner by the end of this week. Coming soon! RANLAY Racing widens technology lead (I am anxious to tell you about this but there have been so many other important stories to tell. It won’t be much longer). How do fellow P&G retirees really think? TODAY’S HEADLINES After seeing 1,397 tracks, today’s venue had something I had never seen at a race location before…………..details in “Race Review”. This weekend’s trackchasing trip would accomplish two trackchasing statistical chores………………more in “The Objective”. Who makes the best Thanksgiving feast?…………..details in “The People”. Do you want to be in our nation’s airports during Thanksgiving weekend?…………..details in “The Trip”. ON THE WAY TO LA GUACIMA, COSTA RICA I woke up Friday morning in San Clemente, California. I went to sleep in seat #26E (exit row middle in coach) on Friday night. I overnighted in El Roble, Alajuela, Costa Rica on Saturday night. This is what transpired during the trip. What you are about to read is based upon a true story. THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP AND THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Objective My apologies! I must apologize to Will White (www.autoracingrecords.com) and to many of my loyal and ardent Trackchaser Report readers. I told you not long ago that I would not be trackchasing in any new foreign countries for the rest of the year. When I made that statement, it was true. However, trackchasing is “fluid”. Things change quickly. My original plan called for a Thanksgiving weekend full of turkey, family, golf and trackchasing on Sunday only. However, my original plan did not call for trackchasing in Costa Rica. A highlight of our traditional Thanksgiving meal was the arrival of two new visitors. Back in July our first grand babies, twins Astrid (above) and Mitch (below) came into this world. I am now called, “Gramps” and Trackchasing’s First Mother is “Grandma”! It don’t get any better than that. We did have plenty of turkey with family. That was the best part of the weekend. Golf was rained out on Thanksgiving Day, our very first rainout of 2008. Then there was trackchasing………. Carol and I were planning to trackchase at a street circuit race just across the border in Mexico. This was going to be our first ever trackchasing driving trip of 2008. However, just a few days before the race our Mexican friends canceled their event. What’s the REAL objective? What was I to do? I am trying to reach 100 tracks for the year. I needed just one more. I was raised to do things now, not later. O.K., that one is a bit of a stretch but I was raised to make sure I got things done no matter what it might take. When Mexico canceled, I noticed two foreign events on my proprietary RANLAY Racing schedule for this weekend. This is the super secret scheduling database that is developed by the staff at RANLAY Racing. One of those races was in Argentina and the other was in Costa Rica. Argentina seemed like it might be a long way from San Clemente. Costa Rica “seemed” closer but it reality not by much. As I write this, I don’t even know where Costa Rica is for sure. Is Central America in North America or South America? At this point, I didn’t NEED to know. I just needed to GET to Costa Rica. By the time I get there, I’ll have a better handle on where I’m going! Actually, this trip served a dual purpose. The best thing about this trip is that I will be able to kill two trackchasing statistical chores with one effort. First, I will be seeing my 100th track of 2008. This will be my fifth consecutive year of doing that. Only Ed Esser can match that record. He did it first. Secondly, Costa Rica will be my 22nd trackchasing country. This will be the 14th country where I have trackchased in 2008. Eleven of those were first time trackchasing efforts. I still trail the hobby’s leader in total countries by a large amount. That would be Roland Vanden Eynde of Vilvoorde, Belgium who has seen racing in 38 countries. I am in a friendly contest with Will White to see who can be the first to see racing in 30 countries. He had twenty, but I suspect he may be getting at least #21 this weekend or before the end of the year. The Trip Day 1 – Friday, November 28, 2008
I had a bad feeling about this trip. This started out as a wild and weird trip. Who in their right mind would be willing to leave their turkey dinner to enter the U.S. airport system during Thanksgiving weekend? This was possibly the busiest flying weekend of the year? I would! I do this so you don’t have too. If you’ve never been in an airport during Thanksgiving weekend, you might be wondering what it’s like. It’s not pretty and it’s not comfortable….unless your system is set up for it and mine is. It is a lot easier to read about what happened to me that to actually do it yourself. That’s why I say I do this so you don’t have too! Thanksgiving on Friday! We finished our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night at the Peters’ house (daughter Kristy’s family of four). There will be more on that in the “People” section. Dinner was delightful, but after an early evening walk with the Peters’ family and J.J., Carol and I had to get going. We were in Pasadena, California. We needed to drive south to San Diego for my flight’s departure. That would be a 128-mile drive on what is commonly called “Black Friday”. Of course, “Black Friday” is the busiest shopping day of the year as it is the day after Thanksgiving. With heavy shopping, comes heavy traffic. I had considered all five Los Angeles area airports for my departure. Whichever outbound SoCal airport I chose, I would have to connect somewhere in order to get on a plane to Costa Rica. You might imagine that fight availability on a standby basis on Thanksgiving weekend would be tough. If you had that thought, you would be right. However, if I could get to a connecting point, flights into Costa Rica were wide open. I guess they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving Day! San Diego it would be. Finally, I decided I would try to leave from San Diego. Our drive from Pasadena to San Diego would take us right past our house in San Clemente. Would I drop Carol at the house and continue on my own to San Diego? No. Strategically, that would not work. “Why is that” you ask? If I drove myself to San Diego, I would have to park my car there. Then I would have to return to San Diego on the way home. That would eliminate the opportunity, if needed, to fly home into any of the other Los Angeles area airports. It was at this point that I looked for support from my lovely wife, aka Trackchasing’s First Mother. She had been open to driving to Mexico as part of our original trackchasing plan. That wasn’t going to be a long drive. However, she drew the line at flying to Costa Rica. She had already been to both Guyana and China during the last month. She had a good point. She would stay home and do Christmas prep. However, if she went with me to the San Diego airport that would be a good thing. Then she could drive the Carol Lewis owned and Life of Virginia sponsored Lexus LS 430 back home after she dropped me at the airport. Yes, she would have to ride along for an extra two hours to help out. However, I would stand to benefit from her sacrifice by not being locked into returning to the San Diego airport. I would have five major airports to choose from on my return. I may never get home. Getting home could be a real problem. I was hoping to return home Sunday night either after the race or on Monday. Of course, I would be flying along with millions of other folks who were returning home after their holiday weekend. The return flights looked as bad for space availability as any I have ever seen. Just before Carol and I arrived in San Diego at 9 p.m. I got a call from son J.J. He was calling to tell me the San Diego flight was filling up fast. When I left Pasadena, it had five open seats. J.J. was now telling me the flight was now overbooked by seven! That’s the way standby travel goes. Many people book at the very last minute. I’m talking about the very last minute! The flight would not be leaving for two more hours. If Carol dropped me off now and went home, and I didn’t make the flight, I would be stuck in San Diego without a car. Carol had a second option. She could park in the airport’s cell phone parking lot for two hours to see if I made the flight or not. She had always sacrificed for me. However, this would be asking too much (that’s what she said). Carol left me with only a cell phone and my laptop. She dropped me curbside and bade me farewell. She was hoping to see me again before Christmas, I think. I entered the airport with cell phone and laptop in hand. I have the capability to use my laptop to see how many people are standing by for a flight, how many seats remain and who gets what seat……all on a live time basis before people even have their names called. I could tell you how all that works, but then I would have to kill you and what good would that do either of us? If I did NOT get on the San Diego flight, I would have to rent a car. It would be midnight. I would then drive north to San Clemente (our home) and arrive just before 2 a.m. My last flight option, if this trip was going to happen, would be leaving LAX (Los Angeles International) at 7 a.m. on Saturday. I would have to leave San Clemente at 4 a.m. (with two hours sleep) in order to drive the 65 miles north to LAX, return the rental car and clear security for my early morning flight. If this plan doesn’t sound too appealing to you, it didn’t to me either. This was a real nail biter! Getting on the San Diego flight was a real nail biter. As people checked in after I did, I could see my position on the standby list moving lower and lower. At one point there were three more people checked in than there were available seats. Out of nearly 30 standby passengers, I was ahead of just one hapless soul. Things did not look good. J.J. and I were furiously texting back and forth. He was looking at the same seat availability data, on his laptop, as I was. Almost every passenger had boarded the flight before I heard my name being called. I got the next to last seat on the entire airplane. Once again, I had beaten the system! This was also a most uncomfortable flight. However when I sat down in my middle seat in coach I wondered if I had really beaten the system? I felt like I was strapped into a race car seat. The armrests were immovable. My fat butt slipped in between them snugly. Had my butt been any fatter I would not be getting my 100th track of 2008 this weekend. My exit row seat would not recline. That was a major bummer for the four-hour overnight flight. Of course, the woman to my right continually tossed and turned in her sleep. I’m glad I’m not married to her! Suffice it to say it was one of the most uncomfortable seats I have had in a long time. At the very last minute, they made me check my bag. Because I was nearly the last person on the flight, they didn’t have any overhead storage for my carry-on rolling bag by the time I got on the plane. They required me to “gate check” the bag. They asked me where I wanted my bag checked too. The two most logical choices were Atlanta or San Jose, Costa Rica. I chose San Jose. That meant my bag was going to San Jose whether I get there or not. I hoped that was a good thing. Just before I gave them my bag at the plane’s door, I grabbed what I could from the bigger bag and put the stuff in my computer bag. I had less than 30 seconds to make my decision. I grabbed the power cord for my laptop and my cameras. This left me with the clothes on my back, my laptop, my cell phone and my cameras. I might never see my checked bag again. If I didn’t I could at least COMMUNICATE. Communication is power. Clean underwear, although good if you get in a traffic accident, is not power. Remember, I’m giving you nuggets. You have to be smart enough to bend over and pick them up. After my bag left my sight, I wondered if I had grabbed everything from it I needed. The only item I wished I had thought to take were the Thanksgiving goodies (Turkey and cookies) that Kristy had given me for the trip. I wouldn’t be seeing my treats for another 12 hours. My departure from San Diego to Atlanta had been one of the toughest standby situations I have encountered in more than 300 flights with my airline sponsors. Somehow, I knew that getting home might be even tougher. That’s O.K. I was connecting to a flight to Costa Rica with more than 70 seats open. Now I knew I would at least make it to my race. That was the sole purpose of this trip. I would worry about getting home once I got to Costa Rica. Day 2 – Saturday, November 29, 2008 I grabbed some sleep whenever I could get it. The flight from San Diego to Atlanta was about four hours long. During my flight I did find out that Atlanta is closer to San Jose, Costa Rica (1,628 miles) than it is to San Jose, California (2,113 miles). I got maybe two hours of very uncomfortable sleep on that flight. We landed at 5:40 a.m. Eastern time (2:40 a.m. San Clemente time). I can tell you this Atlanta is a busy airport but not so very much at 5:40 a.m. on a Saturday! My connecting flight was not leaving for another four hours. I grabbed a quick egg McMuffin and then found a quiet spot in the airport to set up camp. I plugged in both my laptop and cell phone to recharge. Then I made the best bed out of a couple of airport chairs that I could. I set two alarms to wake me before my next flight. This process gave me another two hours of sleep. Once on the flight to Costa Rica, I grabbed another two hours. Now I was good to go! It was rainy cats and dogs as I slept in Atlanta. I was glad I wasn’t trackchasing in Georgia this weekend. This looked like a real soaker. Little did I know that I would pay the price in Costa Rica for the rain in Atlanta. I wouldn’t be in Costa Rica very long…..I didn’t think. I expected to be in Costa Rica for just one night, Saturday night. My race was on Sunday afternoon. I hoped to fly to either Atlanta or Houston after the race. If I got really lucky, I might even get back to SoCal late Sunday night, although that hope was a stretch considering I would be traveling on Sunday following Thanksgiving. Would you travel some 7,000 miles round-trip for a one-night stay in a foreign country? I don’t think most people would. For some reason I have a lot of energy for these trips. I can go and go and go. When I get home, it takes me about a day to rest up and I’m ready to go again. Since mid-September, I’ve traveled some 85,000 miles to Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Guyana, China and now Costa Rica among other places. I like to think of myself as an “active senior”. How much “prep” was involved in this trip? Almost all of my preparation time (10 + hours) was spent trying to find flight combinations from my airline sponsors that would get me from SoCal to San Jose, Costa Rica. This is fun and it is challenging. It’s definitely a “brain-teaser” for me. When I land upon a combination that works, it is very satisfying. What had I done and what still needed to be done? I don’t like to go to a foreign country for just one day. One of the most fun (O.K., THEE most fun) parts of any international trackchasing adventure is seeing the country and observing the people. There would not be much time for that on this trip. I did have some consolation in knowing that Carol and I had visited Costa Rica a few years ago. On that trip, we were able to tour the city of San Jose and go out in the country to see the coffee plantations. That made being in Costa Rica for just 24 hours on this trip a little easier to take. I spent about 30 minutes on line learning as much as time permitted about Costa Rica. I use www.tripadvisor.com. Their forums are great. The users are really good at scoping out tourist attractions, hotel accommodations as well as how to get around to all of the places in our great world. I picked up a few good travel hints in what I expected to be only a 24-hour stay on the ground in Costa Rica. Should I get a rental car or use taxis on this trip? I arrived at the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) International Airport at 1 p.m. on Saturday. I did not have a hotel reservation. I had no local currency. I did have a rental car reservation but I wasn’t sure I was going to use it. I had reviewed track’s website. It was in Spanish. Even though I have the electronic capability of translating most languages, I didn’t find it all that helpful. I used Google Earth to find the airport and the track’s location. This confirmed what I had been told. These two locations were only five miles apart. That was perfect. On the one hand, I wanted to use taxis exclusively on this trip. I figured a few short taxi rides would be equal to or less than $35 I would spend renting a car for one day. With a taxi, I wouldn’t have to worry about directions (Tonto takes a break in Central America) or traffic woes in this part of the world. On the other hand, a rental car might prove to be invaluable. First, it would provide a safe place to store my luggage and electronics while I was at the race. If I took a taxi, I would have to lug my luggage and laptop (which is about like carrying a bowling ball and bag) with me to the racetrack. I did that in Thailand and didn’t like it at all. Additionally, I could get off the beaten path (notwithstanding my limit of 24 hours in the country) with a rental car. Yep, I would rent a car. At the last minute, I made contact with a local. I was happy to hear just before I left on the trip from a contact at the track. It’s always fun and productive to have that “local” help when I’m traveling internationally. I communicated with “Renger” in both Spanish and English. I think he appreciated my trying to communicate in his native language. In the end, we were emailing back and forth in English. Renger told me he had set up “track accreditation” for me. Perfect! That would likely give me greater access at the track. Was Costa Rica going to be expensive? My research told me that a decent hotel near the airport might cost about $50,000 Costa Rican colones. You might wonder how I can afford all of this travel. Many people do. Again, if I told you I would have to kill you. It’s better if you just wonder about it. Onto more pleasant things….the view as we landed was gorgeous. I will tell you this. I didn’t have $50,000 colones. I didn’t have ONE colon. By the way, did you know the Costa Rican currency is named after Christopher Columbus? However, I was hoping that an airport ATM would solve part of that problem and my Visa card would take care of the rest. By the way, at current exchange rates, one U.S. dollar will buy about 517 Costa Rican colones. So, you see, it’s not really THAT expensive to do what I do. Visiting a foreign airport is always an exciting part of the trip. The San Jose Airport is modern. In most foreign airports that I have visited, the first piece of business is clearing customs. That isn’t the case here. When we deplaned everyone went into the airport’s terminal just as you would when getting off a plane in the states. Beyond the terminal was one of the biggest gift shop areas I have ever seen for an airport of this size. I’ll catch that on the way out of Costa Rica. Clearing Costa Rican customs. Clearing customs was a breeze. For some good reason, entering a foreign country, customs wise, has gotten much faster in recent years. That’s good! Today, I received my passport stamp on page 21. My passport only has 24 pages. This leaves just three clear pages in my entire passport. Soon, I will have to add pages to my passport. I had better start figuring out how that is done. I am already in the pre-planning stages for 2009 foreign travel. How will I pay for things? I expect to pay for as much of my trip on the ground as I can with credit cards. I’ll use MasterCard for my rental car. That card offers free insurance. I’ll use my Visa card for everything else. Visa offers a lower “foreign transaction” fee than my MasterCard. U.S. dollars are accepted here as well. I know that some of you wonder why I go into such detail in my Trackchaser Reports. It does add to the length of the reports. There are several reasons. First, I am retired and need something to do. Secondly, my trust fund check pays by the word. All kidding aside…..I know that some of you will be traveling internationally to the countries I visit. I’m hoping you might pick up a hint or two that will make your trip more fun. I also share this information in the hopes of helping my fellow trackchasers. Not many of them travel outside of their home geographical region in the U.S. Additionally, as you have seen very few of our U.S. based trackchasers have traveled much outside of the states and almost never to countries where English is not the main language. Still others are picked up at the airport, driven around the country and dropped off back at the airport. That’s not very adventuresome is it? I just wish this type of informational detail had been available to me when I began my foreign country trackchasing in such a serious fashion. Getting some local currency. When I travel internationally, it’s always a good idea to carry some local currency. I went to one of the official moneychangers in the airport (there are at least three) to get some Costa Rican colones. There is always a difference between “buying” and “selling” foreign currencies at places like this. If I wanted to buy colones I would get about 475 per U.S. dollar. If I was “selling” colones it would take 517 of them to get one U.S. dollar. I quickly exchanged $40 U.S. for enough colones to take care of miscellaneous stuff. Now it was time to get my rental car. I had debated whether to get a rental car or not. My three main points of travel would be the airport, hotel and racetrack. I knew the maximum distance from any one of those points to the next would be 10 miles. In reality, it was even less. A mid-sized car with National Rental Car on Orbitz was only $35 U.S. When I checked with National directly they wanted $85 U.S.! It pays to shop around. I figured I could probably hire a taxi for about the same money as one day’s rental car charges. However, I wouldn’t have as much flexibility to get off the beaten path with a taxi nor could I use the rental car as a store unit for my computer and other valuables. Getting the rental car took some time. When I made the online reservation I was told the rental car location was “in the airport”. I took that to mean that cars were AT the airport and I wouldn’t have to ride a rental car bus to some off-airport location. Returning a car directly to the airport is always easier than trying to find some remote rental car location that is not at the airport. National does have a counter at the airport, but that’s about it. When I arrived at the counter I was directed to follow another fellow outside to wait for the rental car bus that would take me to the remote car pickup location! I waited about ten minutes for the National/Alamo bus to pickup six other passengers and me up. Of course, we had to off-load the Alamo passengers at one location and then me at the National location a few blocks away. I would have to factor these delays into my departure plan. Once at the rental car counter I passed up the opportunity to rent an SUV. I wanted the security of a car’s trunk as my first line of defense for my “stuff”. I selected a plain little Toyota. I declined all insurance but was told there would be a $7 charge for “liability” that was “mandatory”. According to the rental car agent, the government was the mandatory. My own GPS unit does not have Central American maps. I could already see that navigating around Costa Rica might be difficult. Therefore, I went with a Garmin GPS unit for the rental charge of just $8 per day. That was the best eight dollars I spent on the entire trip. The GPS unit had the rental car location and the racetrack location already pre-programmed in it. The rental car agent left me with two more warnings. First, if I was stopped for speeding I was not to “pay for my ticket” by giving money to the police. I should return to the rental car office and they would pay the fine. That didn’t give me much confidence in the local law enforcement folks! Secondly, I was given a four-color brochure telling about a scheme used by local thieves. Apparently, they try to puncture your tire near the airport. When you drive away, the thieves follow you. When your tire goes flat, they stop and offer to help. Then they rob you! It must be a pretty serious problem if they have to print up a color brochure to warn you about it. We checked the tires on my 5-speed Toyota Corolla before I left the rental car lot! Now it was time to find a hotel. I still did not have a hotel for the night. My buddies at www.tripadvisor.com had offered several ideas. The main recommendation that I liked was the Hotel Brilla Sol. I had that hotel’s name in my computer but by now, I had no more battery left to retrieve the name. I had also neglected to print out the information. Luckily, the small rental car office has a “tourist” desk. There, a cheerful and helpful young woman was willing to help. All I could tell her was that the hotel I was looking for had a “B” in its name. She offered several ideas until she laid down a brochure for the Hotel Brilla Sol. That was it. I wanted to stay there. Before I left on the trip, I searched out this hotel’s web site. Many foreign hotels of this type have web sites but do not offer the capability of reserving a room on line and paying for it via credit card. Just like Guyana, the best I could do was send them an email requesting a room. When I did that, they never got back to me. I assumed they didn’t have any rooms. Today, my National Rental Car travel desk helper gave them a call. When I had looked at their website they offered single rooms, with breakfast for $60 U.S. That seemed more than reasonable. However, when the agent called them today the rate had changed. Wouldn’t you know it!! However, the rate she was given was just $50 per night including breakfast. Yes, I am a “lucky duck”. I took it. Now it was time to find my hotel and then find the racetrack. The hotel’s location was not pre-programmed in the GPS unit that I had rented. The rental car agent recommended I have the hotel’s shuttle bus come to the rental car location. Then I could follow the bus from there to the hotel that was just 10 minutes away. I had never done that before but they made it seem like a good idea. It was. Soon the hotel bus arrived. I followed him. This was my first introduction, in a very long time, to Costa Rican roads. Some of them are treacherous with potholes. I’m talking about “road to Hana” type potholes that the rental car companies tell you are off-limits to rental cars. Had I not followed the hotel bus, I might still be looking for the hotel! After some heavy traffic delays on small two-lane side streets we found the place. It is small with just 18 rooms. There is a huge solid steel guard gate and high walls protecting the property. At check-in, a young woman told me there would be a 7% charge to use a credit card to pay for my room. However, I could pay in cash (U.S. or Costa Rican) and avoid this up charge. I paid in U.S. dollars. I was given room #15. My room was on the second floor of a building surrounded by lush vegetation. My room is clean and large. It has both a queen bed and a twin bed in it. There is a standard TV and a clean bathroom with a large enclosed shower. For the price as well as the proximity to the airport and racetrack this is perfect. However, this is not the quietest of locations where I have ever stayed. The hotel is located directly under the airport’s flight path. They don’t have that many planes landing but for those that do, I think I could look up into the arriving passengers eyes! There are also an array of dogs barking and chickens crowing. This is supplemented by the occasional deep base thumping from passing cars and a gunshot (or fireworks) just to keep me on my toes. It was time to visit the racetrack. It was now about 4 p.m. on Saturday. The wheel-to-wheel racing activity that drew me to Costa Rica would not be happening until tomorrow. However, I had another two hours of daylight so I figured I would find the track. This might make it easier to get there tomorrow. I’ll tell you more about my racetrack adventure in the “Race Review” section. After visiting the track, it was time for dinner. When I had checked into my hotel the clerk told me they served dinner in their garden restaurant. At the time I wasn’t interested in having dinner at the hotel. First, I would be eating breakfast there in the morning. Secondly, I almost never eat dinner in U.S. hotels, just because I want to experience what the city I am visiting has to offer “off-site”. However, when I returned to the hotel in the dark I began to notice what I had not noticed before. The track was less than two miles from the Hotel Brilla Sol but in that distance I did not see any formal restaurants. This was mainly a rural residential area. There was lots of pedestrian traffic in the neighborhoods but no place to eat. After sampling some of Kristy’s delicious “fruit cake/carrot cake/date bread” that tasted more like cake, I headed down to see what the hotel had to offer for dinner. The restaurant was located outdoors with a roof in a garden like setting. There were about eight small tables, three of which were occupied. The fellow I had followed in the hotel bus would be my server. That didn’t seem like a good idea to me. I’ve never eaten in a gourmet restaurant where my waiter was also the restaurant’s bus driver! The menu offered several entrees of chicken, steak and sea bass. Prices were very reasonable with the most expensive thing on the menu being just nine dollars U.S. There was also a few selections like “cheeseburger and fries” available for the gringos in the bunch. I hope I never have to read a trackchaser’s track report from a foreign country where they ate “cheeseburgers and fries”. I’ll read it, but I won’t like it! After much deliberation, I chose the cheeseburger and fries. Just kidding!! I went with the “chicken and rice”. The service wasn’t the fastest, but I enjoyed my canned Pepsi Light while I listened to CNN on the overhead TV being broadcast in Spanish. Soon I was served my chicken and rice. It was a large portion and served in a “Chinese fried rice” fashion. I’m here to tell you it was absolutely delicious! Although the portion was good-sized I could have eaten more. This entrée exceeded my expectations by a large margin. From dinner it was off to bed. It was not even 9 p.m. However, I had just flown overnight to get here and a good night’s rest seemed like a great idea. I’ll follow up tomorrow with the final part of my two-part Costa Rican Trackchaser Report. RACE REVIEW AUTODROMO LA GUACIMA, LA GUACIMA, COSTA RICA I started out in this business as a “racechaser”. When it became more fun to see races at new tracks rather than returning again and again to the same tracks, I became a “trackchaser”. Now I can see it’s a lot more fun to trackchase in foreign countries where the experience is so much different than trackchasing at the same old track formats, again and again, in the United States. However, there aren’t that many countries where I can trackchase. By my count the top four foreign country trackchasers (Vanden Eynde, Lewis, White and Economaki) has seen racing in 54 different countries. After tomorrow, I will have seen racing in 22 of those places. When the green flag falls on tomorrow’s race I will remove Costa Rica from Will White’s “exclusive” list. My Autodromo La Guacima contact had directed me to go to the office at gate 2 to pickup up my track credentials. I did not ask for any credentials. I never do. However, during the course of our email communication this special courtesy was offered. I was very much appreciative for the favor. When I arrived on Saturday afternoon all on-track activity for the day had ceased. Race teams were packing up and relaxing after a day at the track. I met up with a person operating the entrance gate to the racetrack. After trying to explain in English that I needed to find “gate #2”, the Spanish speaking guard finally gave up and motioned me through. I have Senorita Corngiebell from my freshman and sophomore years at East Peoria Community High School to thank for my prowess in Spanish. Actually, I can’t put all the blame on her. She didn’t have a very motivated student. Once inside the track property I could either walk around and take photos on my own or seek out my racetrack contact. I chose the latter. I was looking for “Renger Infante”. Renger works full-time for the track in the Public Relations department and helps out with their TV productions. Over time, he has been a frequent visitor to my website. It didn’t take me long to find Renger. It’s always pleasant meeting someone whom you have “talked with” via computer. I sensed that Renger felt the same way. Renger (right) showed me around the pressroom and explained how I could pick up my credentials for tomorrow’s race. He also explained where the food and drink would be! From there Renger gave a call to his boss, General Manager, Gustavo Pachecco. Gustavo was happy to see someone who had come all this way to see his racetrack. He took me under his wing for the next hour. First we hopped in Gustavo’s car for a tour around the track. If you can get it, this is a great way to see a road course. Gustavo gave me the history of the track. It was built back in 1973. Gustavo first started working here in 1990 so he has seen the track grow. From time to time we stopped along the track and Gustavo pointed out special points of interest. He told me he was expecting a crowd of 10,000 people tomorrow. Ticket prices were reasonable. General admission was just $8 U.S. V.I.P. type seats were $13 U.S. and admission to the pits was $20 U.S. Of course, I have translated all prices from Costa Rica colones to make it easier for my U.S. dollar based friends. We stopped at one of the television towers to get a view of the track from an elevated location. Gustavo explained that tomorrow’s race would be shown on South American “Speed” TV from the tip of South America to the top of Central America. Then he came through with this topper. He wanted to have me interviewed about my trackchasing hobby for the broadcast. If that comes off, this will be the greatest exposure that the trackchasing hobby has ever had by a multiplier of hundreds. Our tour continued to include something I have never seen in the 1,397 previous tracks I have visited. On the property of the Autodromo La Guacima they have a……………….bull ring!! Yes, they have an operational bullring just like the one that J.J. and I visited on a Sunday afternoon in Tijuana, Mexico. No, there would not be any bull fighting on the track’s property this weekend. However, in the bullring this evening there was going to be a major “rave” party beginning at 9 p.m. Gustavo went on to explain that the track sees itself as a major entertainment venue and not just a racetrack. They had “Duran Duran” and other major musical acts play to here to crowds of 60,000. My time spent with Gustavo was outstanding. He advised me of upcoming races in El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. I promised him I would be visiting those places as soon as I can find a place on my trackchasing schedule for them. Gustavo offered to help sponsor my trips when I come. Gustavo, thank you very much for your Costa Rican hospitality. After my visit with Gustavo I returned to the press building. Renger took over with the rest of my track tour. We spent some time over at the bullring. If you’ve never seen a bull fight, I recommend it just to say you’ve done it. I can’t convince Carol to go though. Renger took me under the grandstands to show me where the bulls are “staged”. This is a dark and narrow area that very few people ever get to see. Of course, as a loyal and ardent reader of the RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report, your subscription will take you there. Don’t miss the photos of this Costa Rican trip. They are some of the best I have ever taken. Your full subscription price will be refunded if you don’t agree. Renger was a great guy and helpful in my overall enjoyment of this weekend’s trackchasing experience. I will be forever grateful for his help. Thanks, Renger!! I’ll have news about the racing portion of my trip in Part 2 of my Costa Rican Trackchaser Report. COUNTRY COMPARISONS I’ll have news about the “country comparisons” portion of my trip in Part 2 of my Costa Rican Trackchaser Report. RENTAL CAR UPDATE San Jose, Costa Rica – Saturday/Sunday I will be driving the National Rental Car Racing Toyota Corolla on this trip. This might be the shortest distance I have ever traveled during an entire trip with a rental car. I went to just three points: rental car office, hotel and the racetrack. I needed a GPS unit to do that! No one ever said I showed up to the party unprepared or didn’t adapt to today’s technology. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE San Diego, CA – Atlanta, GA – 1,869 miles Atlanta, GA – San Jose, Costa Rica – 1,628 miles RENTAL CAR Juan Santamaria (San Jose, Costa Rica) International Airport – trip begins To be continued……………………… DAY 3 – “I HAD NO IDEA I WOULD END UP IN COSTA RICA THIS WEEKEND” TRACKCHASING TOUR – PART 2 Editor’s note: It appears that someone has started a rumor that I have not been reporting all of the tracks that I have seen this year. The rumor seems to purport that I will be submitting more than 75 tracks on the very last day of the year. When asked about this rumor via phone at RANLAY Racing headquarters, I had only this to say, “No comment”. It is a strict policy at RANLAY Racing not to comment on rumors of any kind. Contest Winner! Did you know that RANLAY Racing not only offers reader contests in the pages of several RANLAY Racing reports but also on my website? Yes, that’s right. From time to time questions will be asked in the photo pages of one report or another. Colin Herridge from England is an eagle eye. He spotted this in my China report – Part 2, “The person who can best describe what these eight signs are trying to explain gets a Chinese prize”. This caption was posted under the picture of a sign that showed EIGHT things listed that folks weren’t supposed to do. Here is how Colin described the situation: “The sign (said) no washing, graffiti, fishing, allowing dogs to poop, loud music, dumping, rubbish, walking on the grass or picking the flowers”. Of course, these are the same rules that Carol imposes upon me. Colin’s prize is winging its way to jolly old England as you read this. Coming soon! RANLAY Racing widens technology lead (I’m anxious to tell you about this but there has been so many other important stories to tell. It won’t be much longer). How do fellow P&G retirees really think? TODAY’S HEADLINES What should one do when there is an underwear problem? …………..details in “The Trip”. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you………………more in “The Trip”. There was a lot to see and do at the track, even though the weather didn’t cooperate…………..details in “Race Review”. Why won’t I do any more international trackchasing in 2008?…………..details in “Future Trackchasing Plans”. GREETINGS FROM LA GUACIMA, COSTA RICA I woke up Sunday morning in El Roble, Alajuela, Costa Rica. Somewhat incredibly, I went to sleep at home in my own bed in San Clemente, California on Sunday night! I was on the ground in Costa Rica for just 24 hours. This is what transpired during the trip. What you are about to read is based upon a true story. THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP AND THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Objective This trip covered two statistical categories with one effort. The primary objective of this weekend’s international trackchasing effort was to see racing in my 22nd different country. If was just coincidental that this was also my 100th new track of 2008. In the entire history of trackchasing dating back to when the first ever auto race was contested in the early 1900s, only five trackchasers have ever seen 100 new tracks or more in one year. Up until today, only one trackchaser had ever seen 100 new tracks in five different years. Now, two people can say they have done it. The first was Ed Esser. The second was “Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser”. Who will be the first trackchaser to say they have seen more than 100 tracks in five different seasons? I’m not really certain if anyone will ever see 100 tracks or more in six seasons. I can tell you this I don’t expect to ever do it. It will be a long time, if ever, before anyone matches the current record of five seasons with 100 or more tracks. Here is a summary of those trackchasers who have seen 100 or more tracks in a single season. The Trip Day 3 – Sunday, November 30, 2008 I liked my hotel but it was loud! It’s funny. My hotel was located in such an idyllic and lush location I never would have thought that external noises would have bothered me. For some ungodly reason, my next-door neighbors had the DIESEL powered hotel shuttle bus idling right below my window at 4:30 a.m. I don’t know if you hang out at truck stops or not. In the world of trackchasing many of us do. Big trucks and their diesel engines left to idle can be annoying after a while. Beyond the idling engine, I had to hear one of those aforementioned neighbors yell at the top of his lungs, from our second floor balcony, “I need ten more minutes”. It was 4:30 in the #$%$^# morning! This is why handguns should be restricted. If that weren’t bad enough, some more hotel guests left via the DIESEL powered shuttle bus at 5 a.m. and again at 6 a.m. I do my best to not invade other people’s space. I am not a big fan of folks who invade mine. The food at the Hotel Bella Sol was excellent. Breakfast was included in my $50 U.S. room rate. Although my DIESEL powered shuttle bus friends had awakened me time and again, I didn’t go down to breakfast until 8 a.m. like a civilized person would do. Breakfast was simple. It consisted of fresh fruits, French bread and cold cereal. This part of the breakfast was supplemented with eggs cooked to order and a rice dish of some sort. I was just happy with the value I was receiving from the total hotel package. After breakfast I checked out by simply returning my key. There was no paperwork involved at all. I grabbed a business card from the hotel. There was a chance I would not be able to get on a flight out of San Jose today. If I did not I would hop on the DIESEL powered Hotel Bella Sol shuttle bus and stay here another night. I hoped I wouldn’t have to do that but it would not be the end of the world if I did. This is an underwear story…..read at your own risk. At this point, I’m going to describe to you something that some might consider gross. Others might have different descriptions for it. Nevertheless, I am obligated to you, the loyal and ardent reader of the RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report, to give you a FULL description of these trackchasing adventures. Carol and I had left our home in San Clemente, California on Friday morning bound for Thanksgiving dinner in Pasadena, California. Following dinner, we drove directly to the San Diego airport. From there I took a late Friday night flight into Atlanta where it was pouring down rain when I landed. From there I took an early Saturday morning flight into San Jose, Costa Rica. When I landed, I was busy with clearing customs, getting my rental car and finding my hotel. Then I spent the late afternoon at the track before returning back to the hotel for a delicious dinner. After all of this activity I hit the sack somewhat early on Saturday night. I had been traveling nearly non-stop for the past 48 hours. What I am about to tell you know, may or may not gross you out. If you decide to read further do so at your own risk. This was the problem/opportunity. I had not had time to change my underwear from the time I left home on Friday morning until I went to bed on Saturday night. To me, this is perfectly understandable and explainable. Of course, Carol couldn’t understand my logic. Nevertheless, I woke up on Sunday morning well rested. I took a shower and a shave and opened my bag to get my first change of underwear on this trip. Surprise!! Several articles of clothing in my rolling luggage bag (that I had been forced to check at the door of the airplane in San Diego) were soaking wet. Actually, just three pieces of clothing were sopping wet, most everything else was dry. What were those three pieces? They were the three extra pair of underwear that I had brought on the trip. Someone must have left my bag out in the driving rain when I connected in Atlanta. Now I was faced with a dual dilemma. First, what was I to do? Should I go with two-day old underwear for a THIRD day or put on nearly ringing wet underwear on a damp and humid day in Costa Rica when there was no chance they would dry? My second dilemma was how I was going to be able to explain all of this to you. I’ve probably told you more about this situation that I should have……or that you wanted to know. I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to what I did. At this point, I headed to the racetrack. I will tell you all about my day at the races in the “Race Review” section of the RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report. Following the race, it was a mad dash to return the car and get to the airport. The rental car location was less than six miles from the racetrack. With my GPS unit, I had no problems finding it. If I had not had my GPS it would have been much more difficult to find it on the first try. The eight bucks for a day’s worth of GPS rental was easily the best eight dollars I spent on the trip. Would I get home tonight? Would I get out of Costa Rica tonight? These were important questions. I was interested in what the answer to those questions would be myself. This was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This travel day is one of the most popular all year. One of my airline sponsors restricts “buddy pass” travel on just five days during the year. This is one of them. However, I am not affected by this restriction. I approached the airline ticket counter with some trepidation. I had no idea how many people might be standing by for this flight. I had no idea how full the plane was with paying passengers. I received some good news. The flight was one seat overbooked with fare paying passengers. There were just four people standing by for the flight. I was fourth on that list. I was asked to return in thirty minutes. They would tell the “standbys” is they were getting on the flight at that time. I know that some of you, O.K. I’m just talking about those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers” are beside themselves that I have this trackchasing sponsorship. Hey, there’s nothing preventing them from going down to their local airport and getting a job “throwing bags”. If they did that they would have an even better sponsorship than I have. I returned to the ticket counter as instructed in thirty minutes. The agent had boarding passes for each person on the standby list. Great! She began to hand them out to eager, sponsored, travelers. Just as the woman was about ready to give me my boarding pass, an evil woman airline agent next to her (possibly an undercover agent funded by those Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers) reached over and grabbed my boarding pass. With that she said to the younger agent, “Wait just a minute. This flight is tight. Let’s hold his boarding pass until the top of the hour and see if any more paying passengers show up”. Now I KNEW she was sent here by those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers”. I asked her what time she had. “I’ve got two minutes before the hour” she replied coolly. I waited patiently as all sponsored airline trackchasers do. I looked around, hoping not to see some disheveled, unorganized boob running to the ticket desk to take my seat. No one did. I was on the flight to Atlanta. I had no idea where I would be sleeping tonight, but I hoped it would be in the United States. Ultimately, those two minutes passed and I made the flight. Some folks wonder how I can handle all of this travel. For one thing, my computer laptop brings me a good deal of entertainment. Most of my time spent on airplanes is with my laptop on my, well, lap! However, my computer battery will last only a bit more than an hour. On international flights that isn’t much. When my battery went dead, it was movie time. As soon as I landed in Atlanta, I text messaged son J.J. I asked him what the flight loads looked like from Atlanta to San Diego, Orange County and Ontario. I already knew that flights into LAX were well overbooked. Recall I had planned ahead. Carol had dropped me off in San Diego, so I didn’t have to leave my car there. Now, I could fly back into any of several SoCal airports. J.J. wasn’t near a computer but answered my phone text immediately. Then he “texted” some friends who were at their computers for the information I needed. Before I left the plane, I had an idea what my potential flight loads looked like for the rest of the evening. I might make it home tonight. It’s about a mile’s walk from where international planes land in Atlanta to customs. As most of your know returning passengers from international locations to the U.S. must clear U.S. customs. I was in a rush. I had noticed that a 6:30 p.m. departure to Orange County had been delayed until 7:40 p.m. It was about 7 p.m. when we had landed in Atlanta. I had 40 minutes to clear customs and get to that plane and find out if there were in any open seats. As luck would have it, I was stuck behind a young woman who was receiving the “third degree” from the U.S. customs agent. Finally, to avoid this bottleneck, I had to switch lines. From my new position I cleared customs in less than 30 seconds with another stamp in my passport. Passengers, who had checked their luggage (not me), had to reclaim it. Then they had to carry it over to have the bags rechecked to their final domestic location. From there everyone, including me, was required to go through security with whatever bags they were going to carry on the flight. This was a chaotic scene on the Sunday night following Thanksgiving. I had thought that the procedure of clearing security was unique to Atlanta when returning from an international flight. However, J.J. rightly explained to me that all international passengers must do this when they land in one U.S. airport and are connecting to another. Time was moving fast when I finally cleared the long line at security. From there I rode a series of escalators up and then down until I reached the airport terminal train. I was coming from the international terminal and traveling to the domestic terminal A, the longest ride in the airport. Could they make this anymore difficult for an international trackchaser? I came running up to the delayed flight to Orange County. The flight was in the final stages of boarding. The flat screen TV indicated there were five seats open but nine passengers standing by. I almost gave up at that point, but then I never give up until the game is over and the buzzer has sounded. I walked up to the agent. She asked to see my boarding pass from the flight from Costa Rica to Atlanta. That would give her the information she needed to put me on this flight’s standby list. I couldn’t find my boarding pass!! She was nice and let me slide with just a PPR number. I could tell you what that is but then I would……oh you know the drill. To make a really long explanation only a sentence of two shorter, not everyone showed up from the connecting flights. All of the standby passengers got on the flight. As we all filed past the agent she told each person, “take any seat in coach, take any seat in coach”. When I passed by she said, “take any seat in first”. The recap. Let’s recap. I was trying to fly home on the Sunday night following Thanksgiving, one of the busiest times of the entire year. Not only was I lucky enough to get on a flight that was delayed (had this flight gone out on time, it would have left before I reached Atlanta) but they gave me a first class seat! With no computer battery power left I had a leisurely first class dinner, watched movies and slept. When I landed in Orange County Carol was waiting to pick me up. Sometimes the bear eats you and sometimes you eat the bear! The People Day 3 – Sunday, November 30, 2008 The people are always great when I visit a foreign country. That’s right. I always am treated like royalty when I tour abroad. That reminds me to treat visitors to our country royally when they come here. The entire process is something akin to the Olympics. Everyone just seems to “get along” when that might not always be the case otherwise. RACE REVIEW AUTODROMO LA GUACIMA, LA GUACIMA, COSTA RICA It was race time! Yes, it was race time! I was about ready to see racing in country #22. I had come to Costa Rica on about three days notice. The fact that the Autodromo La Guacima road-racing track was in operation today brought me here. My hotel was less than two miles from the track. My rented GPS unit assured me that I wouldn’t get lost going there. I knew there were two ways to get to the track. The GPS unit wanted to take me the shortest way. However, this route included one of the roughest roads I have traveled on in the last five years. It was nearly a mile long and unpaved. The potholes were 1-2 feet deep in some spots. But, then I remembered I wasn’t driving MY car. The weather was warm at about 75 degrees. However, it was heavily overcast and beginning to sprinkle rain. My San Jose forecast for today had not mentioned much about rain. Road course racing goes on rain or shine so I wasn’t worried about the weather canceling the event. When I approached the entrance gate there was a hubbub of activity. Various people were standing in the street handing out promotional materials and selling tickets, I think. Of course, the entire dialog was in Spanish. I found very little English being spoken during my brief trip here. I had never received a “freebie” like this before at a racetrack. I rolled down my window and accepted the materials being handed out. The most unusual of which were three different “girlie” magazines sealed in their clear plastic wrappers. I’m pretty sure if I keep on trackchasing that I will see every unusual thing there is to see…..ever! I had been instructed to go to gate #2 to get my “press accreditation”. I saw what looked like what might be the building I needed at what I thought was gate #2. There was a group of people getting what seemed to be complimentary admissions to the event. I wedged my way in and tried to tell the young woman that my name was on the list. I knew it was on the list because Renger had shown it to me the day before. However, today my name could not be found. After several unsuccessful attempts to communicate with each other in our own language, she gave up and gave me a wristband. This was nearly the same experience I had gaining admission to the track yesterday. Southern California does not have a monopoly on plastic surgeons. I was early and have plenty of time to scope things out. Tracks in this part of the world are big on showcasing pretty young girls to promote a sponsor’s product. I am under contract to show you everything I see on these trips. So if you want to see young pretty girls don’t miss the photo album. Please be advised that SoCal does not have a monopoly on plastic surgeons. It wasn’t long before I ran into my contact Rengar Infante. He had arranged for my track hospitality. As you can imagine on race day he was very busy…..and it was beginning to rain. He mentioned that due to the rain and some changes in the schedule they would not be able to do my trackchasing interview on the South/Central American Speed TV broadcast. That was a bummer. I’m now a jersey-carrying member of the fourth estate. Rengar did give me a “Prensa” shirt. This was a special blue jersey of sorts that identified me as a working member of the press for the day. I could position myself anywhere at the track that I wanted as the cars would drive by me. Yes, I was now a member of the “drive by media”! The weather could have been a lot better. The only real drawback for the day was the weather. It was now raining quite steadily. I never bring an umbrella with me. I figure that if it rains hard enough at most of the tracks that I visit to need an umbrella, then the race will be canceled and I won’t need an umbrella. I also neglected to bring my golf rain hat since I lost the last one in Guyana. I didn’t have any rain protection other than the UCLA shirt on my back. When I had entered the track I was given a small plastic case in the shape of a racing tire with a string attached to it. The race sponsor’s brand name, “Kit” was on the case. I had no idea what “Kit” meant. Since it the package was sealed I figured I might bring it back to pawn off, I mean offer as a future contest prize. As I was sitting under one of the paddock overhangs watching it rain, I wondered what this promotional item could be. I opened it to find a rain poncho! It was of the trash bag quality but it would do the job. I donned my new plastic trash bag raincoat and began to brave the elements. The race track food choices. My walk took me past the food concessionaires all located in small trailers or temporary enclosures. They were selling pupusas, drinks from “Mr. Mango”, TCBY yogurt, pizza from Pizza Hut, tacos from Taco Bell and even had a “Pipo’s Dog” outlet. However, I was saving myself for lunch at the track’s restaurant. I did try to get into the V.I.P. grandstand but was refused admission for not having the proper wristband. That would have been a great place to watch the race under the covered grandstand. There were multiple classes racing today. Each class would run two 30-minute heat races. The overall best finisher of those two races would be the champion for the day. This was also the last race of a four-race championship series that had been run in El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica. The main class of the day was the GT1 class. The group included Mustangs, Corvettes and Toyotas among other makes. The GT2 and GT3 classes were also of professional quality. The final group of autos was what seemed to be a lower level entry class. They featured some “down home” versions of American and foreign made machines. Motorcycles were also on the card. By now the rain was pouring. It felt best to me to hang around the paddock area. There was some shelter in this spot and this was where most of the non-racing action was going on. I had brought only one pair of shoes with me on this trip, my deck shoes. They were already soaked from the rain and venturing out further didn’t seem like a good idea. I spent the morning hours watching each class race. My view was limited to primarily along the front straight because of the rain. When those races were finished it was time for lunch. I headed for the track’s restaurant. It was time for lunch. When I travel internationally I want to sample the local cuisine. The restaurant and bar were very busy. Standing at the bar I tracked down a waitress. However, she couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Spanish. One of the bartenders saw what was happening. He summoned someone from back in the kitchen who spoke English. I placed my order with this gentleman. First, I went with a “tamale”. Believe it or not, I used to eat tamales back in East Peoria, Illinois in the 1950’s. An old heavy-set white-haired woman ran a small stand out of a little silver airstream trailer. Her business was called, “Buehla’s”. I haven’t thought about her in more than 20 years. I bought tamales from her and baseball cards. One time I saved up and bought an entire carton of baseball cards. This was during a time when a single package of cards came with a huge slab of bubble gum and six cards for a nickel. I had one of the best baseball card collections of anyone. It was the beginning of compulsive behavior that would lead to a very successful trackchasing career! Have you ever paid “27,500” of anything for lunch? However today’s Costa Rican tamale was not like Buehla’s or any other tamale I’ve ever had for that matter. There was no filling in this tamale it was just cornmeal with a couple of dime-sized peppers baked in. It was tasty but I needed more. Next, I went with a “mini-burrito”. The burrito was buried in a mound of green lettuce. The mini-burrito was 2-3” inches long. After these two entrees I surely wasn’t stuffed but there was more racing to see. My bill, including a Pepsi Light, came to $2,750 colones. Don’t miss the pictures of this food. I don’t think they will show what you are not likely imagining in your mind. Costa Rican trackchasing interview. From there I headed back into the paddock area. A Costa Rican journalist cornered me for a trackchaser interview. He didn’t speak much English. Nevertheless, he had several questions and scribbled my answers down in his soggy notebook. He promised to send me the contents of his write-up and if he does I will share it with you. By now the hood of my plastic rain poncho had split. That reminded me that it was about time for me to split. I had no idea if I had a chance of getting home tonight or not. I might make it and I might not. If I didn’t make it home today, I really had no idea when I would see SoCal again. I am very happy that I stopped by the track when I arrived on Saturday afternoon. This gave me plenty of time to meet up with my gracious contact Renger and the track’s GM Gustavo. They were both wonderful hosts. I also had the opportunity to see everything at the track in good weather. I would have enjoyed spending more time in Costa Rica. I was sorry I had only 24 hours to be on the ground in Costa Rica. International trackchasing, for me, is not meant for that short of a stay. However, Costa Rica was not in my original weekend plan until a Mexican track cancelled on very short notice. It was also good to have a previous Costa Rican experience with Carol under our belts. Thank you to my Costa Rican hosts. I would like to say thank you very much to both Renger and Gustavo. You have a beautiful racing facility in La Guacima. You should be very proud of it. I would also like to thank all of the other Costa Ricans that greeted me and made me feel welcome. Thank you very much!! Keep me posted on other racing activity in Central America and I will be back as soon as I can. COUNTRY COMPARISONS Costa Rica This afternoon I saw my 22nd lifetime trackchasing country. That’s a pretty good international total. Only five trackchasers are in double figures in this category. One of those five is “Trackchasing’s First Mother”. Will White is the only other trackchaser to have pursued the hobby in Costa Rica. By the way, I am indebted to Mr. White for providing such an informative trackchaser report when he visited Costa Rica in 2006. I was able to gather a few tips from him that I used in my own trip. I am thankful to all trackchasers who share the details of their trips with others. RENTAL CAR UPDATE San Jose, Costa Rica – Sunday/Sunday I will be driving the National Rental Car Racing Toyota Corolla on this trip. This might be the shortest distance I have ever traveled during an entire trip with a rental car. I went to just three points: rental car office, hotel and the racetrack. I needed a GPS unit to do that! No one ever said I showed up to the party unprepared or didn’t adapt to today’s technology. I drove the National Rental Car Racing Toyota Corolla just 14.7 miles. I didn’t use any gas (from a record keeping point of view). The car cost about three dollars per mile to rent, all taxes and insurance included. I figure I got the security “safe” for free! Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser The best always have an unfair advantage. TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE San Diego, CA – Atlanta, GA – 1,869 miles Atlanta, GA – San Jose, Costa Rica – 1,628 miles RENTAL CAR Juan Santa Maria (San Jose, Costa Rica) International Airport – trip begins La Guacima, Costa Rica – 7 miles Juan Santa Maria (San Jose, Costa Rica) International Airport – 14.7 miles AIRPLANE San Jose, Costa Rica – Atlanta, GA – 1,628 miles Atlanta, GA – Orange County, CA – 1,919 miles Total Air miles – 7,044 miles (4 flights) Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 7,059 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES: Autodromo La Guacima – No charge Total racetrack admissions for the trip – Zip COMPARISONS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS After the most recent updates (November 1, 2008), my lifetime NGD lead sits at 16 state position points. That’s not bad but I will have to focus on this for the remainder of the year. A few months ago, I never thought I would see 100 tracks in 2008. I simply had too many other commitments for my available time. However, the weather has been more than kind to me this year. For the entire season I have had only TWO rained out trackchasing days. That’s the best I’ve ever done in managing rainouts. This is really unusual considering, as I see more and more tracks, I don’t have any backups for many of the days I trackchase. In the old days, when I had not seen many tracks, I could always go in a different direction if the weather threatened. I guess I have only one more trackchasing goal remaining for 2008. That would be seeing my 1,400th lifetime track. As recently as a few years ago, there’s probably not a trackchaser alive who could have predicted someone would see that many tracks ever, let alone by 2008. There’s no special reason to accomplish this by the end of this year. However, it would be nice to get #1,400 by January 23, 2009. On that day I will turn sixty years old. Yes, I am accepting presents. I’d like to reach this trackchasing milestone before I turn sixty. Time is beginning to run out. On my birth date I figure I will have only 30-40 good years of trackchasing left in me! By the way, I REALLY don’t expect to see any more new trackchasing international countries for the rest of 2008. I know I’ve said that before but this time I think I mean it. Why can I be so confident in this statement? I just sent my passport in to the National Passport Processing center in Philadelphia to have more pages added to it. I won’t be trackchasing internationally anymore in 2008, but I’m not adding pages to my passport for no reason. You can figure out the rest. 1,299. Barnes Lake Ice Track, Ashcroft (road course), British Columbia, Canada – January 13 1,300. Bira Circuit, Pattaya (road course), Thailand – January 19 1,301. Cameron Lake Ice Track (oval), Erskine, Minnesota – January 26 1,302. Birch Lake Ice Track (oval), Hackensack, Minnesota – January 27 1,303. Mille Lacs Lake Ice Track (road course), Garrison, Minnesota – January 27 1,304. Mille Lacs Lake Ice Track (oval), Garrison, Minnesota – January 27 1,305. Ozark Empire Fairgrounds (oval), Springfield, Missouri – February 1 1,306. Atlanta Motor Speedway (road course), Hampton, Georgia – February 2 1,307. Brainerd International Raceway Ice Track (road course), Brainerd, Minnesota – February 3 1,308. Bay of Green Bay Ice Track (road course), Marinette, Wisconsin – February 9 1,309. Lake Speed Ice Track (oval), Tilleda, Wisconsin – February 9 1,310. Shawano Lake Ice Track – North Shore (oval), Shawano, Wisconsin – February 10 1,311. Cecil Bay Iceway (oval) – Cecil, Wisconsin – February 10 1,312. Mototown USA (oval) – Windsor, Connecticut – February 15 1,313. Moosehead Lake Ice Track (oval) – Greenville Junction, Maine – February 16 1,314. Clarence Creek Ice Track (oval) – Clarence Creek, Ontario, Canada – February 17 1,315. Durban Grand Prix (road course), KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – February 24 1,316. Lake La Biche Ice Track (road course), Lake La Biche, Alberta, Canada – March 1 1,317. Rice Lake Ice Track (oval), Rice Lake, Wisconsin – March 8 1,318. Ashland Ice Track (oval), Ashland, Wisconsin – March 9 1,319. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez (road course), Mexico City, Mexico – March 16 1,320. Hartwell Motor Speedway (oval), Hartwell, Georgia – March 22 1,321. Lavonia Speedway, Lavonia (oval), Georgia – March 22 1,322. Dover Raceway (road course), Brown’s Town, St. Ann, Jamaica – March 24 1,323. Lake Country Speedway (oval), Ardmore, Oklahoma – March 29 1,324. Swainsboro Raceway (oval), Swainsboro, Georgia – April 3 1,325. Screven Motor (oval), Sylvania, Georgia – April 4 1,326. Centerville Super Speedway (oval), Centerville, Arkansas – April 5 1,327. Central Arkansas Speedway (oval), Plumerville, Arkansas – April 5 1,328. Clinton Country Speedway (oval), Alpha, Kentucky – April 6 1,329. Pleasant Valley Raceway (oval), Boise, Idaho – April 20 1,330. Bremerton Raceway (road course), Bremerton, Washington – April 26 1,331. Port Angeles Speedway (oval), Port Angeles, Washington – April 26 1,332. Evergreen Speedway (1/5-mile oval), Monroe, Washington – April 27 1,333. Virginia Motor Speedway (oval), Jamaica, Virginia – May 1 1,334. Natural Bridge Speedway (oval), Natural Bridge, Virginia – May 2 1,335. Sturup Raceway, Malmo (road course), Sweden – May 10 1,336. Ring Djursland, Tirstrup (road course), Denmark – May 11 1,337. Nisseringen, Naestved (road course), Denmark – May 12 1,338. Valentine Speedway (oval), Glenrock, Wyoming – May 17 1,339. Gillette Thunder Speedway (oval), Gillette, Wyoming – May 17 1,340. Phillips County Speedway (oval), Holyoke, Colorado – May 18 1,341. North Pole Speedway (oval), North Pole, Alaska, – May 22 1,342. Tanacross Airport (road course), Tok, Alaska, – May 24 1,343. Mitchell Raceway (oval), Fairbanks, Alaska, – May 24 1,344. North Star Speedway (oval), Wasilla, Alaska, – May 25 1,345. Capitol Speedway (oval), Willow, Alaska, – May 25 1,346. Elk City Speedway (inner oval), Elk City, Oklahoma, – May 30 1,347. Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex (oval), Sweet Springs, Missouri – May 31 1,348. Central Missouri Speedway (oval), Warrensburg, Missouri – May 31 1,349. Lucas Oil Speedway (road course), Wheatland, Missouri – June 1 1,350. Ark-La-Tex Speedway (oval), Vivian, Louisiana – June 5 1,351. Monticello Speedway (oval), Monticello, Arkansas – June 6 1,352. Paris Motor Speedway (oval), Paris, Texas – June 7 1,353. Grayson County Speedway (oval), Bells, Texas – June 7 1,354. Prowers County Motorsports Park (oval), Lamar, Colorado – June 13 1,355. Moler Raceway Park (oval), Williamsburg, Ohio – June 20 1,356. La Junta Raceway (road course), La Junta, Colorado – June 21 1,357. El Paso County Speedway (oval), Calhan, Colorado – June 21 1,358. York County Fairgrounds (figure 8), York, Nebraska – June 22 1,359. Black Hills Speedway (oval), Rapid City, South Dakota – June 27 1,360. Heartland Speedway (oval), Rapid City, South Dakota – June 27 1,361. Newcastle Speedway (oval), Newcastle, Wyoming – June 28 1,362. Jackson County Sports Park (oval), White City, Oregon – July 11 1,363. Great Basin Raceway (oval), Ely, Nevada – July 12 1,364. Lovelock Speedway (oval), Lovelock, Nevada – July 13 1,365. Saratoga Speedway (oval), Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada – July 19 1,366. Saratoga Speedway (figure 8), Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada – July 19 1,367. Alberni Motorsports Park (road course), Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada – July 20 1,368. Scotia Speedworld, Halifax (oval), Nova Scotia, Canada – August 1 1,369. Centre for Speed (oval), Grand Barachois, New Brunswick, Canada – August 3 1,370. Penticton Speedway (oval), Penticton, British Columbia, Canada – August 9 1,371. Penticton Speedway (road course), Penticton, British Columbia, Canada – August 9 1,372. Tri-Oval Speedway (inner oval), Fountain City, Wisconsin – August 22 1,373. Tri-Oval Speedway (outer oval), Fountain City, Wisconsin – August 22 1,374. Genesee Speedway (oval), Batavia, New York – August 23 1,375. Limerock Speedway (oval), Caledonia, New York – August 23 1,376. Wyalusing Valley Motorsports Park (oval), Wysox, Pennsylvania – August 24 1,377. Utica-Rome Speedway (inner oval), Vernon, New York – August 24 1,378. Hebron Fair (figure 8), Hebron, Connecticut – September 5 1,379. Shadybowl Speedway (oval), Degraff, Ohio – September 6 1,380. Beamsville Fair (figure 8), Beamsville, Ontario, Canada – September 7 1,381. Automotodrom BRNO (road course), Brno, Czech Republic – September 13 1,382. Lambrechten Stock Car Track (road course), Lambrechten, Austria – September 14 1,383. Sherman County Speedway (oval), Goodland, Kansas – September 26 1,384.Thirty-Five Raceway (oval), Frankfort, Ohio – September 27 1,385. Oakshade Speedway (oval), Wauseon, Ohio – September 28 1,386. Big Island Oval Track (oval), Hilo, Hawaii – October 11 1,387. Mountain Raceway Park (oval), Maryville, Tennessee – October 19 1,388. Tipperary International Raceway (oval), Rosegreen, Republic of Ireland – October 26 1,389. Waterford Raceway (road course), Dungarvan, Republic of Ireland – October 27 1,390. South Dakota Circuit (road course), Timehri, Republic of Guyana – November 2 1,391. New Jersey Motorsports Park – Thunderbolt Raceway (road course), Millville, New Jersey – November 9 1,392. The Guia Circuit (road course), Macau, Republic of China – November 16 1,393. Texana Raceway Park (oval), Edna, Texas – November 21 1,394. Gator Motorplex (oval), Willis, Texas – November 22 1,395. Grand River Speedway (outer oval), Urich, Missouri – November 23 1,396. Grand River Speedway (inner oval), Urich, Missouri – November 23 1,397. Grand River Speedway (figure 8), Urich, Missouri – November 23 1,398. Autodromo La Guacima (road course), La Guacima, Costa Rica – November 30 Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure. A whirlwind trip to Costa Rica!
100-TRACK TRACKCHASING SEASONS
NAME/HOMETOWN
#
YEAR
TRACKS SEEN
ED ESSER
5
2003
114
MADISON, WISCONSIN
2004
100
2005
132
2006
105
2007
105
RANDY LEWIS
5
2004
127
SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA
2005
182
2006
147
2007
160
2008
100*
ANDY SIVI
2
2000
100
CLAIRTON, PENNSYLVANIA
2001
101
MIKE KNAPPENBERGER
2
2006
106
READING, PENNSYLVANIA
2007
163*
ROLAND VANDEN EYNDE
1
2007
105
VILVOORDE, BELGIUM
* SEASON NOT COMPLETE
SOURCE: WWW.AUTORACINGRECORDS.COM AND RANLAY RACING TRACKCHASER REPORTS
COUNTRY COMPARISON BY TRACKCHASER
COUNTRIES VISITED
OVERALL WORLD RANKING
NAME*
INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES VISITED
38
13
ROLAND VANDEN EYNDE
AND
ARG
AUS
AUT
BEL
CAN
CHE
CSR
CZE
DDR
DEU
DNK
ESP
EST
FIN
FRA
GBR
GRC
HRV
HUN
IRL
ITA
LTU
LUX
LVA
MCO
MYS
NLD
NOR
NZL
POL
PRT
ROM
SVK
SVN
SWE
TUN
USA
22
1
RANDY LEWIS
AUS
AUT
BEL
BRB
CAN
CHN
CRI
CZE
DEU
DNK
FRA
GBR
GUY
IRL
JAM
MEX
NLD
NZL
ZAF
THA
USA
ZAF
20
12
WILL WHITE
BHR
BEL
CAN
CRI
DEU
DNK
DOM
FRA
GBR
GTM
GUY
IRL
JAM
LUX
MLT
MEX
NLD
NOR
CHE
USA
19
33
CHRIS ECONOMAKI
AUS
AUT
BEL
BRA
CAN
COL
CUB
DEU
ESP
FRA
GBR
HUN
ITA
JPN
MCO
MEX
NLD
PRT
USA
12
28
CAROL LEWIS
AUS
CAN
CHN
DEU
DNK
GBR
GUY
MEX
NLD
NZL
SWE
USA
8
39
SPIKE RIXON
BEL
CAN
DEU
FRA
GBR
IRL
NLD
USA
7
2
GUY SMITH
AUS
CAN
GBR
JAM
MEX
NZL
USA
7
52
PETER BURGE
BEL
DEU
FRA
GBR
IRL
NLD
USA
6
51
MARK KELLY
AUS
BEL
GBR
NLD
NZL
USA
5
4
GORDON KILLIAN
AUS
CAN
GBR
NZL
USA
5
16
PAUL WEISEL
AUS
CAN
JAM
NZL
USA
5
21
PAM SMITH
AUS
CAN
GBR
NZL
USA
5
41
STEVE KINSER
AUS
CAN
MEX
NZL
USA
5
46
COLIN CASSERLY
BEL
GBR
NLD
NZL
USA
4
6
RICK SCHNEIDER
AUS
CAN
GBR
USA
4
30
TOM SCHMEH
AUS
CAN
NZL
USA
4
38
SAMMY SWINDELL
AUS
CAN
NZL
USA
3
3
ALLAN BROWN
CAN
GBR
USA
3
9
P.J. HOLLEBRAND
CAN
GBR
USA
3
19
BRUCE ECKEL
CAN
GBR
USA
3
20
PAT ECKEL
CAN
GBR
USA
3
22
PAPPY HOUGH
ARG
CAN
USA
3
24
NANCY BROWN
CAN
GBR
USA
3
27
KEN SCHRADER
AUS
CAN
USA
3
49
ALAN SKINROOD
CAN
IRL
USA
2
7
ANDY SIVI
CAN
USA
2
8
JACK ERDMANN
CAN
USA
2
11
NORM WAGNER
CAN
USA
2
14
PAUL WEIDMAN
CAN
USA
2
15
DALE O’BRIEN
CAN
USA
2
17
ROGER FERREL
CAN
USA
2
18
MIKE KNAPPENBERGER
CAN
USA
2
23
ELEANOR WEIDMAN
CAN
USA
2
25
JOHN OSOWSKI
CAN
USA
2
26
KEVIN ECKERT
AUS
USA
2
29
MAX ALLENDER
CAN
USA
2
31
DWIGHT BUCKS
CAN
USA
2
34
GARY JACOB
CAN
USA
2
35
BING METZ
CAN
USA
2
37
JOHNNY GIBSON
AUS
USA
2
40
DALE DANIELSKI
CAN
USA
2
42
ANDY RITTER
CAN
USA
2
43
VIRGINIA SCHULER
CAN
USA
2
44
BRIAN HICKEY
CAN
USA
2
45
DON MCAULEY
CAN
USA
2
47
BERNIE HARLAN
CAN
USA
2
48
MARK MANNING
CAN
USA
2
50
TOM SIVI
CAN
USA
1
5
ED ESSER
USA
1
10
JOHN MOORE
USA
1
32
RON RODDA
USA
1
36
BOB SCHAEFER
USA
* TRACKCHASERS WITH 200 OR MORE OVERALL TRACKS
COUNTRY KEY:
AND
ANDORRA
ARG
ARGENTINA
AUS
AUSTRALIA
AUT
AUSTRIA
BEL
BELGIUM
BHR
BAHRAIN
BRA
BRAZIL
BRB
BARBADOS
CAN
CANADA
CHE
SWITZERLAND
CHN
CHINA
COL
COLUMBIA
CRI
COSTA RICA
CSR
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
CUB
CUBA
CZE
CZECH REPUBLIC
DDR
EAST GERMANY
DEU
GERMANY
DNK
DENMARK
DOM
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ESP
SPAIN
EST
ESTONIA
FIN
FINLAND
FRA
FRANCE
GBR
UNITED KINGDOM
GRC
GREECE
GTM
GUATEMALA
GUY
GUYANA
HRV
CROATIA
HUN
HUNGARY
IRL
IRELAND
ITA
ITALY
JAM
JAMAICA
JPN
JAPAN
LTU
LITHUANIA
LUX
LUXEMBOURG
LVA
LATVIA
MCO
MONACO
MEX
MEXICO
MLT
MALTA
MYS
MALAYSIA
NLD
NETHERLANDS
NOR
NORWAY
NZL
NEW ZEALAND
POL
POLAND
PRT
PORTUGAL
ROM
ROMANIA
SVK
SOLOKIA
SVN
SLOVANIA
SWE
SWEDEN
THA
THAILAND
TUN
TUNISIA
USA
UNITED STATES
ZAF
SOUTH AFRICA
SOURCE: WWW.AUTORACINGRECORDS.COM
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2008 (** not the first time to visit this track)