Greetings from Croswell, Michigan
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
.
Lifetime Track #1,966
Flexible is the key needed to open the door to the kingdom. Without a good consistent strategy a trackchaser won’t do very well. . Extended Stay America properties seemed to have replaced Motel 6 as my “go to” budget hotel chain. Bedbugs! Not the best ambassador for the Extended Stay Hotel chain? . Yes Bed bugs! I just got back from the dentist and can’t speak very well. My fellow competitors are missing out on the challenge. Arrest this impersonator. . You can’t beat seeing a race on a Thursday night. This was a huge purse for just 10 figure 8 racers at such a small county fair. If you’re going to do this you’re going to have to be flexible. I woke up this morning in Cleveland, Ohio. I had flown overnight night to Cleveland from Los Angeles. I went to bed for the night in Dearborn, Michigan. This is what the day looked like. My original travel plan called for me to take a 6 a.m. flight from LAX to Detroit. Had that plan worked out I would have gotten up a 3 a.m. in San Clemente and been out the door just 15 minutes later. With a three hour time change from the west to the east and an 85-mile drive up to Northwestern Michigan I would have had just enough time to make it to the Croswell County Fair located in Croswell, Michigan. Flexible is the key needed to open the door to the kingdom. Yes, the only good plan is a flexible plan. It was dinner time at the Lewis household the night before my trip was to begin. I was checking the next morning’s flights from LAX to Detroit (DTW). What had looked so promising over the past few days for available airline seats no longer looked so. The last thing I wanted to do was get up at 3 a.m. and then NOT make the flight to Detroit and NOT make the figure 8 race at this tiny county fair. You can understand that right? Leaving six hours earlier than planned would make all the difference in the world. It was time for a change of plans. I would leave six hours earlier than planned. Rather than leave at 3 a.m. tomorrow I left at 9 p.m. tonight. I grabbed a midnight flight to Cleveland. Flights like these are called “red-eyes” for obvious reasons. I landed at 7 a.m. Cleveland time. That would be 4 a.m. San Clemente time. After “sleeping” on the plane it was time to start my day! It would be a two-hour drive over toward Detroit where I expected to get a hotel room. From there is would be almost two hours northward to Croswell. Without a good consistent strategy a trackchaser won’t do very well. I don’t expect most of you to ever become world-class trackchasers. However, there is a lot to be learned and re-applied from these Trackchaser Reports. Can you imagine anything that you are involved in working well without a consistent strategy behind the idea? My trackchasing hobby is nearly 100% application of strategy. The proper strategies save time, money and create enjoyment. Who wouldn’t want the best strategy. Today that meant sleeping on some airline chairs for two reasons. First, I needed the sleep. I had not slept a wink on the plane last night. Secondly, if I picked up my rental car a bit later I could return it later when that time came. My world is much about “24-hour rentals”. Extended Stay America properties seemed to have replaced Motel 6 as my “go to” budget hotel chain. I did some Priceline.com work to get my hotel. I soon learned that for the next two nights I would be staying in an “Extended Stay America” property. This chain provides lodging for people who are staying temporarily in an area for weeks or months. The rooms come with full cooking privileges, refrigerator, etc. These properties are usually new or near new as well. I was surprised to see that the best rate for this hotel was $99 U.S. I paid just $45 via Priceline and was happy about that. A smart person once told me you have to spend money to make money. Bedbugs! Not the best ambassador for the Extended Stay Hotel chain? I would be checking in at about noon. As I was just about ready to enter the hotel’s front door a stranger popped up in the parking lot and asked me, “You staying here?”. That seemed like an unusual question. Here I was rolling my luggage behind me into the front door of a hotel. Wouldn’t most folks deduce that I WAS staying here? Yes Bed bugs! I replied that I was indeed planning to stay at this Extended Stay America. The man said two more words, “Bed bugs”. “This place has bed bugs. I just spent the entire morning washing all of my clothes” he said. Other than “The hotel is on fire” I can’t imagine less pleasant words to hear upon entering my night’s lodging location. I kept walking but the very first question I asked the young desk clerk was “Does this hotel have bed bugs”. I just got back from the dentist and can’t speak very well. She looked at me as if I was speaking Swahili. I asked again. “Does this place have bed bugs”. She was back peddling now with a bit of a stutter. “I just got back from the dentist and can’t speak very well” she told me. Oh my. I’ve got to give here credit that WAS an original comeback. She wasn’t very convincing but she did manage to mutter, “Orkin comes out every week to inspect”. I applied my bed bug identification training. I was tired and looking forward to a short nap. My options appeared limited. I went to my room. However once I got there I put my “bed bug identification” training to work. I pulled the sheets back from the mattress and inspected the seams of the mattress itself. It all looked clean but I felt myself itching more than what seemed normal after laying on the bed. However, I did not get any “bites” as I have a time or two before. With a wee bit of rest I hopped into my rental car. I would be heading up the highway toward a sign that read “Bridge to Canada”. I was not going to Canada but I would get pretty close. Croswell is less than 30 miles from the border. It was time to go trackchasing. THE RACE. Croswell County Fair – Croswell, Michigan Who does this? Who flies from Southern California to a remote part of Northern Michigan to see a small town county fair race ten figure 8 cars? Answer? I do. My fellow competitors are missing out on the challenge. Why? It’s the “wow” factor. I truly wish my fellow competitors lived 2,000 miles from most of the tracks they visit. They are really missing out on the challenge it takes just to get to a track which is much of the fun. This was a ‘ma and pa’ county fair. I was early as I am on most occasions. That gave me time to roam the fair. This was a very small fair. I’m told it is “family run” like most fairs are in Canada. I paid a $2 “gate admission” to the fair. The main attraction that seemed to be getting the most people was an animal demonstration. The animals looked to be several species of Orangutans and the like. I listened for a moment but this didn’t have much appeal to me. There were only a couple of very small carnival rides here tonight. They looked as if they might have been on the lot when the first ever carnival came to town….ever. Nevertheless, some small children were having fun at the fair. Arrest this impersonator. I selected some Mexican tacos from one vendor. In all honesty the seller should probably be arrested for impersonating Mexican food. Later I came across a “value” menu. I like those. They were selling a bottle of water for a buck and a medium sized ice cream sundae (butterscotch) for just a buck and a half. There are not a lot of green leafy vegetables on the trackchasing trail. It was just about time to move into the classic old covered county fair grandstands. I love those places. I paid another eight dollars to watch the races. You can’t beat seeing a race on a Thursday night. I had never heard of racing at this location until the research staff at Randy Lewis Racing came up with this race date a few days ago. Nevertheless, a Thursday night race date would lead me very well into racing that would take me to four OTHER states during the next three days. The weather was perfect. The crowd was small at maybe 75 people. The announcer told me two interesting things. This was a huge purse for just 10 figure 8 racers at such a small county fair. First there were only ten cars in the pit area. That wasn’t many. He also surprised me by saying these drivers were racing for a $2,000 purse with the winner getting $700 U.S. That wasn’t exactly what is called a “Dolly Parton” purse. What’s a Dolly Parton purse? It’s a race purse where almost all of the money goes to the winner. It’s called “top heavy”. Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting much. This was an entertaining show. Even though there were just ten figure 8 cars they put on a very entertaining show. Don’t believe me? Check out my YouTube video from Randy Lewis Racing Films. These were high-powered 500 horsepower V-8 powered clunkers. They were loud, they chewed up a lot of dust and debris and never “spared the rod”. That meant that even though they were told this was a race and not a demo derby they did a lot of hitting. There were just four races. The first three (two heats and a consi) sent two drivers to the main event. The main featured those six drivers racing for a very large purse. In and Out. The entire program was wrapped up in a little more than one hour. Considering I slept on an airplane last night I was happy for that. It was also good to get a Thursday night show in the books. STATE COMPARISONS Michigan The Wolverine State This evening I saw my 107th lifetime track in the Wolverine state, yes the Wolverine state. California is the only other state where I’ve seen more than 100 tracks. 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 Michigan sayings: It’s called “pop” not soda QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Cleveland, OH (LCE) – 2,050 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Hopkins (Cleveland) International Airport – trip begins Croswell, MI TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Croswell County Fairgrounds – $8 ($2 fair admission) 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 
