Greetings from Raeford and then Dublin, North Carolina
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Rockfish Motorsports Speedway – Dirt Inner Oval – Track #1,944
Rockfish Motorsports Speedway – Dirt Outer Oval – Track #1,945
Dublin Motor Speedway – Dirt Oval – Track #1,946
Editor’s note: I visited the Rockfish Motorsports Speedway and the Dublin Motor Speedway on the same day. You will find the details of those visits combined into one Trackchaser Report. This was going to be a busy day! To find the most interesting people you’ll have to look for them If you’re willing to take the time most people have a pretty interesting story Was it the south? The nicest people were coming onto my radar screen To best way to see the NASCAR Hall of Fame is through the pictures There are two ways to ‘participate’ when a trackchaser visits a track This is the “Bible belt” Water was the least of the problems tonight Why do people roll out the red carpet for a simple trackchaser visit? There’s nothing wrong with a little personal productivity SATURDAY This was going to be a busy day! I woke up this morning in Charlotte, North Carolina. I went to bed in Greensboro, North Carolina. This is how the day went. Rental car management. The day would begin with some “rental car management”. I had dropped my car back at the rental car lot last night to save $50 U.S. That meant I would ride the hotel shuttle bus back to the airport to rent a new car this morning. This was no big deal and well worth the extra effort. To find the most interesting people you’ll have to look for them. I “convinced” the hotel shuttle driver to take me to the rental car lot rather than the airport. When folks go out of their way to help as I travel the trackchasing road I want to reward them. Often that reward is a financial one. On the way over from the hotel to pick up my rental car I found my driver to be a most interesting fellow. Although he didn’t look old enough he told me his son was going to college at “A&T”. During the course of our conversation it also came up that my driver had just purchased a new Chevy Malibu. Well, it was “new” to him anyway. He had paid $300 for a 1998 Malibu. Who pays three hundred bucks for their car? This is how folks can learn the value of a dollar. He also shared an interesting story about his first car. He “bought” it from his father. The car was a 1978 Camaro. The price was $800. The man’s dad told him he would accept $50 every other week until the car was paid for. When the car was paid off his dad would not put the car’s title in the son’s name. However, there was a positive end to this story. A bit later in time, when he thought his son was ready, the father took his son to the DMV, changed the title and gave his son his eight hundred dollars back! I try to pay these favors forward. Once I reached the National Car Rental lot I searched for a hybrid model. I asked one of the lot guys if any were available. “Nope” he told me there were none out at that point. Just as I was about to pull out with a gas powered Hyundai Sonata that same car lot attendant stopped me. He had found a Hybrid Sonata in the back of the lot. A regular gas powered Hyundai Sonata will give me 35-37 M.P.G. However a Hybrid Sonata will get about 10 miles more per gallon. I expected to drive the car about 600 miles. The difference in my gas bill with a hybrid compared to a gas only car would be about $13 U.S. I gave the attendant most of that as a tip just for being a good guy and getting me this car. If you’re willing to take the time most people have a pretty interesting story. All it takes is a little time to spend with people getting to know them to hear some very interesting stories. Sometimes it might seem easier or more convenient not to take this time with people. I get that. However, just about every time I’ve taken that extra step I’ve found it to be very worthwhile. Was it the south? The nicest people were coming onto my radar screen. Earlier this week I gave a phone call to the Rockfish Motorsports Speedway. I had heard about this track before from previous trackchaser visits. However, I would be attempting to do something no other trackchaser had ever done. I was going to see both of their oval tracks race in one day. At the time of my phone call I didn’t get the name of the gentleman I was talking too. However, during the course of our conversation he asked to whom he was speaking. I told him my name and why I wanted to come to his track. The man thought that trackchasing was an interesting activity. As we wrapped up our conversation I gave him my website address and we said our good-byes. You won’t want to miss what that conversation developed into once I reached the track. You’ll find it below in the “Race” section.. TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home. I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day. NASCAR Hall of Fame – Charlotte, North Carolina I love Hall of Fames and this is one of my favorites. Charlotte is famous for being the home to NASCAR racing’s race shops. Those are fun to tour as I did yesterday with Michael Waltrip’s huge racing headquarters. However, an equally fun entertaining and educational stop in Charlotte is the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Today I was making my second stop to the HoF that opened just a couple of years ago. The hall is located in downtown Charlotte. I found a free parking spot on the street on an absolutely beautiful Saturday afternoon. There wasn’t much vehicular or people traffic in the city on this weekend. I had three hours to see everything just a little bit closer than I did during my first visit. I’ll come back again but it will likely be to show Carol the place. To best way to see the NASCAR Hall of Fame is through the pictures. I won’t go into a lot of written detail regarding today’s visit. Your best bet is to take a look a my Picasa photo slide show. I tried to take a photo of just about everything….and I believe I did. If you get the chance and you like NASCAR and/or stock car racing history just a little bit then you will love this Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. I hope you make time to stop. Rockfish Motorsports Speedway – Raeford, North Carolina A hidden gem. I would find the little Rockfish Motorsports Speedway to be a hidden gem. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting but the track exceeded whatever expectations I had. Those expectations began to be exceeded within seconds of my walking into the pit area. I had paid my $10 admission price. That ten bucks included entrance to both the grandstand area AND the pit area. That’s the best of all worlds. This was not a special deal just for me. Everyone who enters Rockfish gets this V.I.P. treatment. And, for anybody who is wondering, they have liability insurance for everyone purchasing a pit pass. Are you Randy? I was just getting my bearings when a fellow came up to me and said, “Are you Randy?” Folks, as far as I knew I didn’t know anybody at the track. I didn’t have my name on my shirt. Who could be calling my name? It was a fellow named “Brownie”. As day passed into night I would learn a bit more about my new friend. Brownie is an entrepreneur. Among many things he owns the Rockfish Motorsports Speedway. I think he also owns the huge Bingo palace (that used to be or still is the home of a flea market) next to the track. His name is on the local towing service as well. Later in the evening I told I had heard that he owned most of the town. He looked up, smiled and asked, “Who told you that?” These southerners are modest folks. If all of that wasn’t enough Brownie drives an entry in the Pro Go-Kart racing division. This class is open to drivers 13 years or age and older. Another go-kart division allows drives 8-12 to compete. Brownie welcomed me to the track and introduced me around. Brownie welcomed me to his track. He gave me a few details and began introducing me to his friends and track V.I.P.s. I was first introduced to “Mr. Autry”. He owns a local dirt moving company. I suspect it was Mr. Autry who did most of the construction work on the track. Next up was a meeting with Bill Dolbier. Bill is the president of the local race group. He ran the driver’s meeting and kept the show moving. Bill could not have been nicer. He welcomed me and offered drinks and chicken sandwiches. You gotta love these southerners. They are really nice people. All of the track officials were wearing bright yellow shirts with the track’s logo emblazoned across the front. What was the logo? The “Rock of Hoke”. Like I said I’m not from around here. I’m not exactly sure what that means. Tonight was a special night, a ‘tribute’ night. Tonight was a special “tribute” racing program for a local legend named Larry Long. It was Larry Long day today! Larry is a veteran track announcer. He also publishes a racing newspaper in the area. I had the chance to talk with Larry when he also asked, “Are you the guy from California?” I asked him it was true that “I didn’t look like I was from around here”. He just laughed. Above is a photo of Larry accepting his long deserved recognition on his special day. Next up was a meeting with a reporter who worked for the local general interest newspaper. We had a nice chat. He gave me some background on the track and its desire to grow with support from the local community. I also had the chance to meet several other fans that all laid down the welcome mat for me. There are two ways to ‘participate’ when a trackchaser visits a track. Let’s think about something for just a brief minute. Let’s say you’re a trackchaser and you show up, buy your ticket and sit in the grandstand to watch the race. That’s one way of doing it. However, if you are a trackchaser like me you are much more likely to have an experience like the one detailed above. There’s a lot of value in doing things that way. You can never know enough people. What were they racing tonight? The two go-kart classes raced on the smaller oval. I’m guessing its dirt surface covers 1/8-mile or so. The larger track, about 1/5-mile in distance, handles the racing for the mini-sprints (270 and 600cc) and legends. Both tracks share turns one and two in common. The first race of the night was for the Pro Go-Karts. Those drivers race on the smaller of Rockfish’s two ovals. There were about six in each class tonight. This division looks like it would be a lot of fun. The inner oval at Rockfish will be perpetually remembered as track #1,944. A little while later the 600cc mini-sprints took to the large oval for their heat race. That soon made the Rockfish outer oval officially track #1,945. I love getting “same location” trackchasing doubles. As you will soon see I would get another trackchasing double later in the evening. More on that a little later. They’ve done a nice job building this track. The Rockfish track has been very well built. I was given special permission to watch the races from the “crow’s nest”. This large platform was directly above the flagman and announcer. Most of my video work was done from this location. Don’t miss the video. The outer crash wall was made from huge concrete barriers. They were painted red and white. The track even has it’s own built in sprinkler system. How many tracks can say that? There are a series of small grandstands at Rockfish. I’d love to have seen those constructed in a place where the fans didn’t have to stare directly into a setting sun. However, on the far side of the track, where there is no spectator seating, sits a large water pond. That pond supplies the water for the track surface but apparently prevents any spectator seating on that side (backstretch) of the track. This is the “Bible belt”. This area of the country is part of the country’s “Bible belt”. While driving around North Carolina this weekend I saw more churches than at any time and anywhere I can remember. Don’t get me wrong. Frequently tracks offer prayers for the racer’s safety and the country’s military. I’m not exactly sure what I think about praying to God for our military. Don’t get me wrong. I served honorably in the United States Marine Corps. However, is God going to take a position on which side is right in a war? Of course, as Americans we always think our position is right. Nevertheless, I’m guessing the other side thinks THEY’RE right too. Is God supposed to make a ruling on the rightness of war? If so does he protect the side he supports and not so much the side he doesn’t like. Regardless, it’s a question to ponder. Tonight a minister shared the track prayer. I could tell he was quite an evangelist based upon his enthusiasm for the Word. This approach is something unique to racing in the south. I liked it because it came from the heart and wasn’t like some track prayers that conveniently get the sponsor’s name in the prayer! The driver’s meeting followed. Drivers were told they needed to keep up with the program because of a 10 p.m. curfew. Tonight they were using a “three spins and you’re out” rule. I like that type of rule but would limit the offender to just two spin outs in a single race. You won’t starve at the Rock. I stopped by the concession stand to check things out. They had a sandwich called “Chick filet”. I had one and it was tasty. All concessions were reasonably priced. After a short intermission to handle the ceremonies from the Larry Long tribute it was time to go feature racing. The Pro Go-Kart main event went off without too much trouble on a wet track that had been watered during intermission. Then the 600cc Mini-Sprints came onto the bigger track for what I thought would be their feature. Their track was wet too but it seemed manageable. However, during their warm-up laps cars would spin from time to time. I would guess they ran twenty practice laps or so. Finally, the cars were pulled off the track. I didn’t really know what was happening at this point. Water was the least of the problems tonight. However, that situation was rendered somewhat moot when the generator powering the brand new light standard malfunctioned. It was now dark. Without lights there would be no racing. I had no idea how long the lights would be out. Remember they had a 10 p.m. curfew. It was already dark. How much longer could they wait for the lights to start working again with a fairly early curfew. What were my options at this point? It was at this point that a trackchasing executive decision needed to be made. Another track, the Dublin Motor Speedway, was just 40 miles away. They were racing tonight. How did I know that? Sleuth detective work. I maintain a proprietary (that means I only share it with close racing friends) list of the tracks I have not seen along with their racing dates. Those tracks are sub-categorized into several categories. One of those categories is for inactive tracks. These are tracks that have raced in the past but where I have no definitive information that the track no longer actively races. The Dublin Motor Speedway was in the “inactive” category. However, I had some spare time earlier this week so I decided to see if a search might turn up the fact that an inactive track might have come back into the racing business. Bingo! The Dublin Motor Speedway had closed sometime in the past but they were returning to racing this year. Halleluiah! If they don’t answer I don’t come. From the Rockfish track I gave Dublin a call. Often times a track does not answer their phone on race night. I have no idea why that would be a “norm” but it is. Who ever heard of a business not answering their phone when they are open for business? However tonight they answered the phone. I was on the other line! I was calling at about 8:30 p.m. My Dublin phone contact told me they were still practicing and getting ready to have time trials (qualify). He told me racing would come after that and they might likely race until midnight. What did that mean? In “promoter speak” it meant they might race til 2 a.m.! That assured me I had plenty of time to see the Rockfish racing and then drive over to Dublin. However, when the lights went out that sped up my Rockfish departure plan. I took the opportunity to seek out Brownie, my Rockfish contact. I was happy I had come here tonight. Brownie was happy I had come too. Why do people roll out the red carpet for a simple trackchaser visit? I’ve been doing this a long time. I have discovered why people roll out the red carpet when I visit. In reality they are welcoming a guest into their home. They are proud to show visitors what they have created. It’s their “baby”. They are more than willing to treat their guests like kings and have them enjoy what they have built. That’s exactly what happened tonight at the Rockfish Motorsports Speedway. I was glad I was able to meet so many people who were so proud of what they had built together. Dublin Motor Speedway – Dublin, North Carolina And off into the night I went. Using my Apple Maps GPS app it was easy to find the Dublin track. Of course it didn’t hurt that a racetrack’s lighting is easy to see in the dark of the night. I found a parking spot near the entrance gate. I noticed how sandy the parking lot was. That was the case back in Rockfish as well. I guess we weren’t too far from the beach. Two things were just a little bit different here. It was now about 9:30 p.m. The track was no longer collecting admissions. That was good for this retired pensioner. I walked right in and immediately noticed two things. First, it was quite a bit colder here than at Rockfish. I figured I was that much closer to the Atlantic Ocean. I also noticed this was going to be a dusty affair. The wind was blowing a heavy dose of dust directly toward the fans. The direction of the wind makes or breaks the viewing experience at these dirt tracks. Although I almost always wear cargo shorts (comfort and lots of pockets) I did have to go to my golf windbreaker for warmth against the wind and coolness of the night. I pulled out my best set of racing goggles just for this eventuality as well. It was feature racing for me. I arrived in the midst of the modified feature race. Later I would see the Super Streets, Late Models and U-Car feature races. In all I saw nearly 100 laps of main event racing. With trackchasing doubles the tracks add up about twice as fast. My visit to the Dublin Motor Speedway would be the second half of a “Day/Night” trackchasing double. The first half of this double was the Rockfish Motorsports Speedway race on their outer oval. How did this qualify as a day/night double? The Rockfish racing was scheduled and did begin at 5 p.m. making that event a daytime race. Dublin, obviously was the nighttime part of the double. Where did they go? This was a poorly lit track. A few months ago I waited for well over an hour at a Georgia bullring when one of the lights went out. Tonight they were racing in turns three and four as IF the lights were out! It was very difficult to see the cars racing in turns three and four. Last week this track raced six divisions with just a handful of car in each class. Tonight’s car counts increased some but not much. There was very little passing as most cars hugged the low groove of the semi-banked smallish half-mile dirt oval. I did enjoy the track concessions. I can never pass up a bologna sandwich. Could you? There’s nothing wrong with a little personal productivity. As I sat in the grandstand I marveled at one thing. I was likely going to see five tracks in just three evenings of racing on this trip. Considering I have seen nearly 2,000 tracks now that’s pretty remarkable. As most of you know once you’ve taken almost 2,000 “pins” off the map the remaining pins are fewer and further apart. Importantly, as you can see from these reports, I wasn’t doing the “one heat race and run” trackchasing approach to achieve this productivity. However, I can’t expect to see this many tracks in so few days that much any more. Following the late model feature most of the fans headed for the exits. However, I wanted to see what the U-Car division of small 4-cylinders had to offer. The answer was not much. They would have been more productive on a smaller track. Maybe they’ll get one someday and I’ll be back to Dublin, North Carolina to see it. State COMPARISONS North Carolina The Tar Heel state This afternoon and evening I saw my 45th, 46th and 47th lifetime tracks in the Tar Heel state, yes the Tar Heel state. If nothing else that should insure I won’t lose any National Geographic Diversity points. Tomorrow I’ll move onto a state where I have had a limited amount of trackchasing penetration. 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 North Carolina sayings: A step above South Carolina. QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Dallas, TX (DFW) – 1,256 miles Dallas, TX (DFW) – Atlanta, GA (ATL) – 713 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – trip begins Concord, NC Charlotte Douglas International Airport – trip ends – 325 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Charlotte Douglas International Airport – trip begins Raeford, NC Dublin, NC TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: The Dirt Track At Charlotte – $15 Rockfish Motorsports Park – $10 Dublin Motor Speedway – No charge 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 375 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 Racing at the Rockfish Motorsports Speedway Racing at the Dublin Motor Speedway 
