Greetings from Bucyrus, Ohio
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Crawford County Fairgrounds – dirt figure 8 – Bucyrus, Ohio
Lifetime Track #1,983
Joliet – Ohio – Joliet. Some background on the Culver’s chain. No In N Out Burgers for Indiana. My tech machines pay for themselves many times over. Chinese food at a county fair? Alpacas! It was a 5-hour Energy drink night. Podcasts! A very entertaining option to commercial radio. National Geographic Diversity…a very important trackchasing goal of mine. Moving closer and closer to #1 in two more states. Get me back to the NIMS people! Joliet – Ohio – Joliet. I woke up this morning at home in Joliet, Illinois. I went to bed in Joliet, Illinois. In between my two Joliet “stops” I spent the evening in Ohio. Today was the eighth day of my 42-day mega trackchasing trip. Today was unique in the fact that I was able to stay in the same hotel for two consecutive nights. After last night’s races in Knoxville, Iowa I faced a four-hour drive back toward Chicago. Much of that time was listening to Merle Haggard belt his many #1 hits including…The bottle let me down….The fighting side of me….and I’m a lonesome fugitive. Some background on the Culver’s chain. On the way over to the fair tonight I stopped at a Culver’s restaurant. I love Culvers. I spoke with the store owner, He owned three Culver’s stores. The man told me what a great company Culver’s was. He told to me the founder of Culver’s is 62 years old and five foot seven. I’m not exactly sure why he used that combination of descriptors. Culvers just went over 500 stores. All of their stores are franchised. The store owner told me he can call Mr. Culver anytime he wants. He was proud of that. No In N Out Burgers for Indiana. I mentioned I was from California. The storeowner told me he had talked to the founder of In N Out Burgers in the hopes of getting the Indiana franchise for In N Out. However the wife of the original founding couple told him, “You seem like a nice young fellow but we don’t franchise”. Too bad for Indiana! As you know I use my iPhone for everything. Tonight I listened to several podcasts streamed from my iPhone. My entertainment options were nearly endless. All I had to do was sit back relax and move on down the trackchasing road. My tech machines pay for themselves many times over. I use Google maps on my iPhone to avoid toll roads whenever possible. When I made the decision to avoid a toll road it’s based upon a “time and money” strategy. I judge how much extra time and distance is required to avoid the tolls and then decide whether it is worth it or not. The Racing. Crawford County Fairgrounds – Bucyrus, Ohio Not a great $ value but a great NGD value. Tonight’s Crawford County Fair in Bucyrus, Ohio charged first a five-dollar fair admission and then a five-dollar grandstand admission. What did I get for my ten dollars? Below average figure 8 racing! Tonight they were racing pick up trucks only. There were two classes of trucks racing tonight. To keep it simple I will call those classes small and large. In some ways this was as much a demo derby as a figure 8 race. There was lots of hitting at the expense of pure racing. However with just 4-5 cars in each heat race the hitting made the show more entertaining. Chinese food at a county fair? I did make a brief stop on the midway for Chinese food at the fair. In the past that was a good idea. Tonight it was not a good idea. However I did talk to the Chinese couple running the concession. They told me they do this all summer at different fairs. It was really an odd feeling eating shrimp fried rice with a plastic spoon. I never ever eat Chinese food without chopsticks. No one should be forced to eat Chinese with a plastic spoon. Alpacas! There was a small crowd in the old county fair covered grandstand. I’m guessing there were probably less than 200 people watching. The announcer spoke over a stout PA system and kept the crowd informed and somewhat entertained. Following the races I took a brief tour of the fairgrounds. The most interesting activity was seeing a barn full all alpacas. Don’t miss the pictures. Tonight’s event was a rather long walk for a short slide. It was a five-hour drive each way for an hour and a half of fairly lame (O.K. very lame) figure 8 racing. However if that’s what it takes to maintain my position as the world’s #1 trackchaser so be it. After the races…….. It was a 5-hour Energy drink night. This is the eighth day in my 42-day mega trip. When I go to bed tonight I will have driven 3,500 miles in eight days. That averages out to more than 400 of driving every day. Tonight I would take a 5-hour Energy Drink. It coincided perfectly with my five-hour drive back to Joliet, Illinois. I like renting Hyundai Sonatas because of the gas mileage and satellite radio. However the headlights. especially the bright lights, on my rental cars are not anywhere close to the quality and effectiveness of my Lexus RX 350. You get what you pay for. Each night on my drive back to the hotel I call Carol to share the events of our day. We do this every night until she will join me in a few days for trackchasing in the far west. Podcasts! A very entertaining option to commercial radio. I used my Tune-In Radio app to listen to podcasts on a variety of subjects on the ride home. Tonight I listened to a 90-minute interview with comedian/actor Ray Romano. The podcast was both entertaining and informative. National Geographic Diversity…a very important trackchasing goal of mine. Today’s racing is a big day on the National Geographic Diversity front. I will be seeing my 72nd Ohio track. This moves me up into a tenth place tie in Ohio with Ed Esser. With this move into the top ten I avoid the five NGD penalty associated with trackchasing poor performance in an individual state. Moving closer and closer to #1 in two more states. Later in this trip I hope to see tracks in both Iowa and Nebraska. Those track visits will help in moving me closer to a #1 position in those state. If and when I make it those will be the first Midwestern states where I’ve seen more tracks than any other fellow competitor. Get me back to the NIMS people! While traveling through Indiana I noticed that the Indiana state police are using black Ford Mustangs as speed control police cars. The truck traffic is beyond heavy in eastern Chicago and northwest Indiana. People driving cars in this area are some of the rudest and aggressive I have seen anywhere. Get me back to the NIMS people! I also see more accident injury attorney billboards in this part of the country that anywhere I travel. Why is that? Do those billboards represent the “get something for nothing” attitude that might go along with irresponsible and aggressive driving? Ohio The Buckeye state Tonight I saw my 72nd lifetime track in the Buckeye state, yes the Buckeye state. This was an important track to see because of the National Geographic Diversity scoring system. I have now gained a tie for 10th place in Ohio. That removes the five-point NGD penalty for poor trackchasing performance here. That will certainly help when it comes time to compute my lifetime NGD score. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member Ohio sayings: I hate Michigan. Next question? QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles RENTAL CAR #1 O’Hare International Airport – trip begins Charlotte, MI Cortland, OH Davisburg, MI Davisburg, MI Mechanicsburg, IL Harlan, IA Primghar, IA Knoxville, IA Bucyrus, OH TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Eaton County Fairgrounds – $10 Trumbull County Fairgrounds – $4 Oakland County Fairgrounds – oval – $10 ($10 to park!) Oakland County Fairgrounds – figure 8 – $10 ($10 to park….again!) Ealyville Speedway – Complimentary pit pass Shelby County Speedway – $5 Primghar Raceway – $5 Knoxville Raceway – No charge – Ticket given to me by race sponsor Crawford County Fairgrounds – $10 LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS The three most important trackchasing comparisons to me are: Total lifetime tracks seen Total “trackchasing countries” seen Lifetime National Geographic Diversity results Total Lifetime Tracks There are no trackchasers currently within 400 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see what tonight’s county fair figure 8 racing experience looked like: Pickup truck figure 8 racing from Ohio 
