Greetings from Muncie, Indiana
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Delaware County Fairgrounds Dirt oval Lifetime Track #1,229 . Delaware County Fairgrounds Dirt figure 8 Lifetime Track #1,230 Reprinted with permission from my Wednesday, July 18, 2007, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) it didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with Slim my racing buddy from Tunisia). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Well, you made it this far. You might as well pour yourself a cold one and take your Trackchasing 101 class. When you finish you’ll have your trackchasing diploma and can then teach your friends about the hobby. Let’s get started. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Let’s do this by the numbers. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org you’ll get three pieces of entertainment. First, my Trackchaser Report will be an in-depth essay on how the trip went from A-Z. Yes, I’ll cover the racing aspect of things. But you will also hear about what it took to pull off the trip, the special stops that made the trip fun and the obstacles that needed to be overcome. Secondly, you’ll get a YouTube video of the racing action I saw. These are normally short 3-6 minutes highlights of the racing. My YouTube channel is named, “RANLAY”. I have nearly 2,000 subscribers to my channel. Currently, I have posted more than 1,300 videos and my channel has more than 1.2 million views! Finally, I’ll share a captioned photo album using a photo-sharing program called SmugMug. Normally, there will be anywhere from 50-200 photos from each trip I take. Sometimes more! My website is linked to hundreds of thousands of photos from all of the trips I have taken. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. A common question I get about my hobby is, “Why?”. I’m a curious fellow. I’m an adventuresome fellow. My hobby is about seeing and experiencing the things that most folks walk right past. Below is a link to a special video. It shows a small town in Missouri that I visited on one of my trips. In this video, I’ll share with you exactly what I mean. This video might just make your day. Trackchasing….this is exactly why I do it Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link: If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! FOREWORD Wednesday, July 18, 2019. MONSTER MIDWEST TOUR TODAY’S HEADLINES Which two worldwide trackchasers did I happen upon tonight?……………….more in “The People”. Trackchasing doubles are the height of efficiency. How many doubles do I have this year?………………..details in “The Strategy”. AND THE READERS RESPOND From time to time interested readers write to me about one thing or another. Many times, I feel that all my readers would be interested informed and/or amused by the comments I get. When I wrote this: Do you consider this comment racist?……………….details in “Racetrack Stats – Concessions”. Concessions: I had fried rice and an Oreo ice cream flurry. I must admit that I will go out of my way to avoid either Chinese or Mexican food prepared by white people. Call me a racist, but white folks just can’t get it done in these two arenas. A reader from England wrote this: “not at all racist old boy, but what I can’t understand is how the chinese make such darn good fish and chips but the english can’t grasp chinese.” Greetings from Muncie, Indiana, I woke up in Allentown, Pennsylvania this morning. I went to sleep in Muncie, Indiana. This is what transpired today. PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS The Strategy. Doing more in less time is always a good idea. This was my 92nd new track of the year in just 65 days of trackchasing. That’s 27 trackchasing doubles, a very strong efficiency rate. The Trip. The trip is what makes trackchasing so interesting. The mental gymnastics of “what if” is sometimes just about more than I can handle. Let’s look at what happened today as a case in point. I left the track in Hughesville, Pennsylvania at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. I needed to be in Muncie, Indiana the next day (Wednesday) by 6:30 p.m. These two locations are about 550 miles apart. What would be the best way to handle this trip’s logistics? I had three workable options, some with more limitations than others. The first option was to drive from Hughesville, PA to Muncie, IN. That was the safest option to ensure getting into Muncie on time. The safest option to use when you want to get something done right is to do it yourself. When you give me a few minutes and a laptop I can usually identify all of the options. Then it’s just a process of picking the best option. However, this option came with some serious drawbacks. First, it would require about 10 hours of driving and some $75 in gasoline. Secondly, National Rental Car would not rent me a vehicle in Harrisburg, PA to be dropped off in Cincinnati. I didn’t ask Budget Rental Car (the company I ended up renting from) because I had decided against this option. My second option was to return the car to the Allentown, PA airport after I had picked it up in Harrisburg, PA. I wanted to return the car to Allentown because their flights back to Cincinnati were more open than the flights from Harrisburg to Cincinnati. This second option included standing by for a 6:30 a.m. flight to Cincinnati. This option had two serious drawbacks. Who in the world wants to be at the airport at 5:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. San Clemente time) standing by for a flight, especially after I reached my hotel at just past midnight the evening before. The second drawback was that the flight was already overbooked by one seat. I might go out to the airport at 5:30 a.m. and NOT get on the flight. Frankly, this option sucked! My third option was the one I picked. This was a 2 p.m. flight from Allentown, PA to Cincinnati. I would land at 3:40 p.m., get my rental car from the long-term parking lot and make the two-hour drive over to Muncie. I figured I would pull into the Delaware County Fairgrounds at just past 6 p.m. more than 30 minutes before the races were scheduled to start. I picked this option. Normally, this would have been a perfect choice. However………..yes, there is always a “however”. The flight from Allentown was delayed. It seems the plane had started out in New York where they encountered bad weather. This had put the plane behind schedule all day. After much concern, the flight finally transported me from Allentown to Cincinnati some 90 minutes behind schedule. We landed at 5:30 p.m. I picked up my rental car from the long-term parking lot at 5:55 p.m. I was looking at a two-hour drive over to Muncie. After a couple of restroom/snack breaks, I arrived in Muncie at 8 p.m. My GPS unit does not pick up county fairgrounds locations for some reason. I ended up calling the fairgrounds to get directions. Those directions didn’t work for me. I stopped in a neighborhood where two black guys were just about ready to mow their lawn. They did their best to help. Although when you ask two people the best way to get someplace, they often try to outdo each other. I thanked these folks for the info they did give me and soon found the place. It was now 8:10 p.m. I was more than one and one-half hours late from what I thought was the starting time. It’s not unusual for some of these county fair figure 8 shows to wrap up in an hour or so. The entire program could easily have been completed by now. Even though the website said the race would begin at 6:30 p.m., it actually began at 7 p.m. They were still racing when I arrived. Tonight’s program included racing on both a figure 8 track and an oval track. It is very unusual for a county fair to race on two different kinds of tracks in one evening. I walked up and bought a ticket. I asked the ticket taker how much of the program remained. He didn’t know for certain but thought they were finished racing on the oval. At that point, I really didn’t mind. I figured getting one track was better than nothing. As I entered the grandstand, I noticed two prominent trackchasers already seated. Ed Esser and Roger Ferrell were among the spectators along with Roger’s lovely wife, Brenda. They soon informed me that although 5-6 races had already been completed, racing remained on both tracks. It had been a LONG day and the racing was just starting for me. I was most fortunate to see two new tracks tonight. I had taken the easy option (sleeping in) and let my destiny be in someone else’s (airlines) hands. That almost cost me. However, there’s always a however, things worked out as they almost always do! The People. Tonight I spent some time talking to two leading worldwide trackchasers, Ed Esser #7 and Roger Ferrell #18. These guys are tried and true Midwesterners. They are as tight with their racing information as any trackchasers I have ever met. I even offered to trade them a “date you don’t know about” for one of theirs. They declined. I think they thought they already knew every race date there was to know and that I could not add any information that would be new to them! Of course, they were wrong. They both realized that anything they say to me could end up being printed in a Trackchaser Report unless they expressly state their comments are off the record. That being the case, I learned several things from these boys. Ed seems to be softening his position about seeing Canadian tracks. To date, Ed has seen just over 1,000 tracks and has never seen one outside of the United States. Ed also stated that European trackchasers might have an advantage trackchasing in Europe. Ed has a website (www.2arace.com) where he shares information about his trackchasing. I asked him why the race dates on his website have a ZERO correlation to where he actually goes. He tried a few lame excuses and then just smiled. I did too. Roger feels the age limit for countable racing should be lowered to 12-13 years old. I do too. Roger also feels the rules are inconsistent. He would like to see several changed. The rules are not going to change in any major way. My strategy is simply to work within the rules rather than to worry about changing them. I asked Roger why I had not received an email from him notifying me about tonight’s racing. He told me he figured I would know about this trackchasing double opportunity on my own. Was this a completely truthful answer from Roger? Er……Er……? STATE RANKINGS This track was my 58th to see in the Hoosier state. My Indiana total is my fifth highest state total trailing only California, Illinois, Iowa and Pennsylvania. I currently hold an eighth-place ranking just two tracks behind Andy Sivi. Roger Ferrell has a more than comfortable lead over Jack Erdmann 112-78. RACE REVIEW – DELAWARE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS (FIGURE 8 AND OVAL), MUNCIE, INDIANA It’s a real treat to get two new tracks at one county fair. That almost never happens. Tonight they ran 17 different races between the three classes of cars racing on the oval and figure 8 tracks. Most cars ran on both tracks. After a while, it was a little confusing. Overall, there couldn’t have been more than 25 cars in total. The Delaware County Fair is medium-sized. They offered lots of food choices, but restrooms were hard to come by. I did not even learn of tonight’s event until a couple of days ago while doing internet research. RACE TRACK STATS: DELAWARE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS (FIGURE 8 AND OVAL) – TRACKS #1,229 & #1,230 Track details Website: None Weather: It was a warm evening. The chance of precip was estimated to be 50%. Although this was concerning, it did not rain until three hours after the program ended. Track type: figure 8 and oval tracks. Length/Surface: 1/4 – mile dirt oval and traditional, relative to the oval, figure 8 track. Grandstands: Large covered grandstand with ample seating. P.A.: Average. Announcer: Non-descript. On time: I arrived seventy minutes late, so I don’t know if they started on time. Pit area: Located beyond turns one and two of the oval. Classes: FWD and RWD stock cars. Same cars raced on both the oval and the figure 8 track. Radio Frequency: Didn’t use the radio. Concessions: After the races, I settled on strawberry shortcake that sold for three dollars, a good value. Scoreboard: No, there are very few scoreboards at county fair tracks. Extras: The woman seated behind me had her son racing. She knew and used nearly every four-letter word, I’ve ever heard as she and her 10-year old son watched the action! RENTAL CAR UPDATE St. Louis – Friday-Monday (10 days) I picked up my main rental car (rented in St. Louis) from the long-term parking lot in Cincinnati. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of millions who, when within the grasp of victory sat and waited and waiting died. AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – St. Louis, MO – 1,591 miles RENTAL CAR – ST. LOUIS (1st RENTAL CAR) St. Louis International Airport – trip begins Troy, Missouri – 71 miles Pittsfield, Illinois – 132 miles Newton, Iowa – 403 miles Osage, Iowa – 583 miles Scottsburg, Indiana – 1,289 miles AIRPLANE Cincinnati, OH – Grand Rapids, MI – 268 miles RENTAL CAR – GRAND RAPIDS (2ND RENTAL CAR OF TRIP) Gerald R. Ford International Airport – trip begins Hastings, MI – 25 miles Gerald R. Ford International Airport – 59 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE Grand Rapids, MI – Cincinnati, OH – 268 miles Cincinnati, OH – Harrisburg, PA – 429 miles RENTAL CAR – HARRISBURG, PA (3rd RENTAL CAR OF TRIP) Harrisburg International Airport-Olmstead Field – trip begins Hughesville, PA – 95 miles Lehigh Valley International Airport – 231 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE Allentown, PA – Cincinnati, OH – 503 miles RENTAL CAR – ST. LOUIS Cincinnati – Northern Kentucky Airport – trip resumes Muncie, Indiana – 1,511 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Lincoln County Fairgrounds – $20 Pike County Speedway – $Free (normally $3 for fan 55 & older) Iowa Speedway – $30 Mitchell County Fairgrounds – $15 (pit pass) Scott County Fairgrounds – $8 Barry County Fairgrounds – $14 (Fair-$5 & Figure 8 race-$9) Lycoming County Fairgrounds – $13 (Fair-$3 & Figure 8 race-$10) plus $2 parking Delaware County Fairgrounds – $5 RANKINGS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Tracks have been reported by 37 different worldwide trackchasers this season. LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS 2007 (current thru 6/29/07)** **Until the end of the year, NGD rankings are unofficial. Rankings are affected not only by the leader’s activities but also by other trackchaser’s impact on the leader’s position in each state. These are the dog days of July and August. It’s best for me to just keep my head down and keep adding tracks to my list. 1,139. Meremere Dirt Track Club, Meremere, New Zealand – January 1 1,140. Meeanee Speedway, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand – January 1 1,141. Top of the South Speedway, Richmond, New Zealand – January 2 1,142. Woodford Glen Speedway, Christchurch, New Zealand – January 3 1,143. Robertson Holden International Speedway, Palmerston North, New Zealand – January 5 1,144. Taupo Motorsports Park, Taupo, North, New Zealand – January 6 1,145. Waikaraka Park International Speedway, Auckland, New Zealand – January 6 1,146. Angels Stadium of Anaheim (inner oval), Anaheim, California – January 13 1,147. Angels Stadium of Anaheim (outer oval), Anaheim, California – January 13 1,148. West Valley Speedway, Surprise, Arizona – January 14 1,149. Sandia Motorsports Park (road course), Albuquerque, New Mexico – January 28 1,150. Grand Prix De Lanaudiere, Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada – February 3 1,151. Ste-Eulalie Ice Track, Eulalie, Quebec, Canada – February 4 1,152. St Guillaume, St Guillaume, Quebec, Canada – February 4 1,153. Caldwell Rodeo Arena, Caldwell, Idaho – February 10 1,154. Balsam Lake Ice Track, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin – February 18 1,155. Northeast Pond Ice Track, Milton, New Hampshire – February 24 1,156. Lee Pond Ice Track, Moultonborough, New Hampshire – February 25 1,157. New Hendry Country Speedway, Clewiston, Florida – March 3 1,158. Florida Sports Park, Naples, Florida – March 4 1,159. Honeoye Lake Ice Track – Road Course, Honeoye, New York – March 10 1,160. Houston Raceway Park, Baytown, Texas – March 16 1,161. Houston Motorsports Park, Houston, Texas – March 16 1,162. Dawgwood Speedway, Chatsworth, Georgia – March 17 1,163. Toccoa Speedway, Toccoa, Georgia – March 17 1,164. Tazewell Speedway, Tazewell, Tennessee – March 18 1,165. Malden Speedway, Malden, Missouri, Tennessee – March 23 1,166. Dacosa Speedway, Byhalia, Mississippi – March 24 1,167. Swinging Bridge Raceway, Byram, Mississippi – March 24 1,168. Florence Motor Speedway, Florence, South Carolina – March 25 1,169. Foothills Raceway, Easley, South Carolina – March 30 1,170. Mileback Speedway, Gray Court, South Carolina – March 30 1,171. Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida – April 1 1,172. Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas, Nevada – April 8 1,173. Huntsville Speedway, Huntsville, Alabama – April 13 1,174. Low Country Kartway, Aynor, South Carolina – April 14 1,175. Dillon Motor Speedway, Dillon, South Carolina – April 14 1,176. Valley Dirt Riders, Berthoud, Colorado – April 15 1,177. Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Lancaster, California – April 22 1,178. Sertoma Speedway, Tularosa, New Mexico – April 27 1,179. Sandia Motorsports Park (outer oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28 1,180. Sandia Motorsports Park (inner oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28 1,181. Hollywood Hills Speedway, San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico – April 29 1,182. Meridian Speedway, Meridian, Idaho – May 11 1,183. Diamond Mountain Speedway, Vernal, Utah, Idaho – May 12 1,184. Rocky Mountain Raceways (oval), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12 1,185. Rocky Mountain Raceways (figure 8), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12 1,186. Modoc Speedway, Modoc, South Carolina – May 18 1,187. Possum Kingdom Super Speedway, Belton, South Carolina – May 19 1,188. Laurens County Speedway, Laurens, South Carolina – May 19 1,189. Fairplex at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, Pomona, California – May 20 1,190. Lowes Motor Speedway (inner oval), Concord, North Carolina – May 24 1,191. Lowes Motor Speedway (road course), Concord, North Carolina – May 24 1,192. Madison International Speedway (inner oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25 ** Madison International Speedway (outer oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25 1,193. Thunderbird Stadium (figure 8), Bremerton, Washington – May 26 1,194. Thunderbird Stadium (oval), Bremerton, Washington – May 26 1,195. Whispering Pines Motorsports Park, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada – May 27 1,196. Magic Valley Speedway, Twin Falls, Idaho – May 28 1,197. Owyhee Motorcycle Raceway Park, Boise, Idaho – June 1 1,198. Race City Motorsports Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,199. Edmonton International Raceway, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,200. Castrol Raceway, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,201. Hidden Valley Motorsports Park, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,202. Boyd’s Speedway, Ringgold, Georgia – June 8 1,203. Fayette County Fairgrounds, Washington Courthouse, Ohio – June 9 1,204. Brush Creek Motorsports Park, Pebbles, Ohio – June 9 1,205. Brown County Speedway, Russellville, Ohio – June 9 1,206. Vinton Speedway, Vinton, Ohio – June 10 1,207. Hilltop Speedway, Millersburg, Ohio – June 10 1,208. I-70 Speedway – dirt (outer oval), Odessa, Missouri – June 13 1,209. L A Raceway, La Monte, Missouri – June 14 1,210. Valley Speedway, Grain Valley, Missouri – June 22 1,211. Jamaica Raceway, Jamaica, Iowa – June 23 1,212. Calhoun County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Rockwell City, Jamaica, Iowa – June 23 ** Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City, Iowa – June 23 (new for Carol only) ** Iowa Speedway (outer oval), Newton, Iowa, Iowa – June 24 (new for Carol only) 1,213. Butler Motor Speedway, Butler, Missouri – June 24 ** Peoria Speedway, Peoria, Illinois – June 25 1,214. Kart Kanyon Raceway, Aztec, New Mexico – June 30 1,215. Aztec Speedway, Aztec, New Mexico – June 30 1,216. Sunvalley Speedway, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada – July 1 1,217. Georgetown Speedway, Georgetown, Delaware – July 6 1,218. Delmarva Motorsports Park, Middleford, Delaware – July 6 1,219. Hunterstown Speedway, Hunterstown, Pennsylvania – July 7 1,220. Shippensburg Speedway, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania – July 7 (Randy only) ** Hagerstown Speedway, Hagerstown, Maryland – July 7 (new for Carol only) 1,221. Blanket Hill Speedway, Whitesburg, Pennsylvania – July 8 1,222. Lincoln County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Troy, Missouri – July 13 1,223. Pike County Speedway, Pittsfield, Illinois – July 13 1,224. Iowa Speedway (road course), Newton, Iowa – July 14 1,225. Mitchell County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Osage, Iowa – July 14 1,226. Scott County Fairgrounds (oval), Scottsburg, Indiana – July 15 1,227. Barry Expo Center (figure 8), Hastings, Michigan – July 16 1,228. Lycoming County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Hughesville, Pennsylvania, Michigan – July 17 1,229. Delaware County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Muncie, Indiana – July 18 1,230. Delaware County Fairgrounds (oval), Muncie, Indiana – July 18 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 late arrival….still yielded two Indiana tracks 
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007
(** not the first time to visit this track)
