Eagle Track Raceway

 

 

 

THE EVENT

 

Today’s undertaking was just one of more than 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link:

 

 

Randy’s Complete Track List

 

 

If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report.  It’s very easy to do.  I’ll try my best to respond.  Thanks!

 

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

 

Editor’s note: I first began writing my famous Trackchaser Reports at about lifetime track #430. This was one of the first written reviews I ever did. Although the content remains the same from the year 2000 the appearance has been updated to more modern standards.

 

 

Dealing with life on the road.

As I made the drive from my overnight stop in Moses Lake, WA to Republic, WA I felt this was not going to be as lucky of a day as yesterday. Gas was a “reasonable” $1.54 per gallon in Moses Lake.

 

 

I still suffer minor frustration at Burger King’s inability/unwillingness to provide anything other than a SQUARE milk carton type of Orange juice container. Undaunted I began the three-hour one-way drive.

 

 

Say what?

The map I had showed a body of water to cross, but nobody said anything about taking a ferryboat. Of course I did have to take a ferry but it turned out to be free and I was the last car on so the wait was minor.

 

 

Note to CPL aka Trackchasing’s First Mother: I did speak briefly to a Canadian who was aboard the ferryboat. I asked him, as I do all Canadians, how he felt about the Canadian National health care program. He said it was great. He admitted some people have to wait for elective health care and some people do go to the U.S. (Canada still pays) when the system gets behind. He really liked it because it was free and said the press the program gets in the “states” is unwarranted.

 

 

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Eagle Track Raceway – Republic, Washington

 

 

Randy Lewis? Randy Lewis?

I arrived at Eagle Race Track at 12:30 p.m. for the start of time trials. As I entered the track and was finding an in car viewing parking spot (trackchasers know what that is) the announcer was paging my name.

 

 

I had been in e-mail correspondence with one of their representatives and he wanted to meet me. I went up to the announcing booth and met some very nice people who run the track. The track is on public land and is run by volunteers. There are no lights and no water. They offer porta potties and race about every two weeks.

 

 

Secret codes and stuff.

Because I know the secret code that Allan Brown uses to identify tracks he has personally visited and ones he has not visited (if I told you what it was I’d have to kill you) I know he has not been to this track. Allan, here are some more detailed directions to get to the track: ½ mile South of Republic on Route 21, then right on PENDRY ROAD to the track.

 

 

Highlights: The in car viewing was nice as it allowed me to type this summary pretty much live time. They sang both the Canadian and U.S. national anthems. I always like that even though I was seated in my car for both songs. The weather was beautiful with very blue skies, white puffy clouds and warm temps. The scenery is as beautiful as you will see at any track. Republic is just 20 miles South of the Canadian border. I’m told the town of Republic has just one blinking light and that is the ONLY traffic light in the county!

 

 

Racing and food.

The modified class had about 15 cars of which half were IMCA style modifieds and the balance were old coupes. I don’t get to see the coupes run very often and enjoyed them.

 

 

Refreshments were good with a Chili Dog/Soda combo going for just $2.50. When I went back for an order of nachos they only had crumbs. Nevertheless, they “fixed em up” and gave them to me free. Nice people.

 

 

Lowlights: These folks were in no hurry to move the program along. They had three classes with about 8-9 cars in the street stock and about 15 in the modified group. They had two laps of time trials for each car and still did not start until 2:35 p.m. Since I’m headed for West Richland, WA for a 7 p.m. start and it’s a 3-4 hour drive this was not what I was looking for. The warm weather didn’t help the dust conditions. Although they watered the track frequently dust was a problem.

 

 

They had a large amount of lucky ticket number drawings but because this was not my lucky day I couldn’t find my ticket stub at first. One of the prizes was a carburetor tool kit. I’m glad I won the Brian Harris Used Car t-shirt!

 

 

The schedule called for each class to be split in half for dashes and then for all cars in each class to run a heat and a feature. The features were 50 laps each. That seemed like a lot of laps for a dirt track on a windy and sunny day with warm temperatures.

 

 

Overall rating: I’ll give the racing a 3. Dirt tracks in the day are tough. Due to a one groove track on the low side there was very little passing and the late start didn’t help. The coupes in the modified class were a plus. The facility/ambiance rating was a 4.5. The scenery rated a 10 but was counterbalanced by the limited refreshment selection, crude restrooms facilities (which don’t bother me that much) and limited grandstand seating. The admission price was very reasonable.

 

 

 

 

 

Washington

 

 

The Evergreen state

This afternoon I saw my 10th lifetime track in the Evergreen state, yes the Evergreen state.

 

 

 

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

Washington sayings: The sun: What it means everywhere else: The big ball of fire in the sky that you see almost every day. What it means in Washington: The big ball of fire in the sky that peeks out on occasion. IT BURRRRNS! Don’t worry, it won’t last long.