Greetings from Mechanicsburg, Illinois
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Ealeyville Speedway (Dirt Oval)
Lifetime Track #1,979
Randy – circa 1955 about the time of my first ever visit to the Peoria Speedway When I last left Illinois as a boy it was hot and humid in July….it still is. Trackchasing can be more about driving than watching races. Flash flooding warning! I need Mexican! Need to raise some cash? It does that in the Midwest. Build it and they will come. I want to be the #1 trackchaser in Illinois. Racing in a bean field! There often is a simple answer to most questions? And now you know the rest of the story about Ed Esser and his 99 tracks in Illinois. They built it; I came. Ealeyville Speedway. ‘Feels like’ 103 degrees! I could feel the love from the Ealyville Speedway. What if? Today was a good day. When I last left Illinois as a boy it was hot and humid in July….it still is. I woke up this morning at home in Lansing, Michigan. I went to bed in Williamsburg, Iowa. Today was the sixth day of my 42-day trackchasing trip. From Michigan I was off to central Illinois near where I was born and raised. The weather was going to be hot and humid as it often is during July in the Midwest. This morning a huge thunderstorm roared through the area. By noon it had headed off toward Indianapolis. From the looks of things I had dodged a bullet with the weather. Trackchasing can be more about driving than watching races. I was facing a bit of a drive on today’s trip. The driving distance from my hotel this morning (Lansing, MI) to Mechanicsburg, Illinois would be 388 miles. Google Maps told me it would take a bit less than six hours without stops. I sat back in my National Car Rental Hyundai Sonata and munched on kettle corn from last night’s Michigan county fair. In some ways trackchasing is more about driving than watching races. I definitely drive many more hours than I sit in a grandstand watching races. That’s why I require a rental car with satellite radio. Flash flooding warning! The rains had been heavy in Illinois this morning. At about 1 p.m. I received an emergency “flash flood” warning on my iPhone. I don’t get many of those! I need Mexican! As I powered through Bourbonnais, Illinois (southwest of Chicago) I had a hankering for Mexican food. I checked Yelp! They recommended a semi-fast food Mexican eatery called “El Burrito Loco”. As a young boy I could never have imagined today’s tech world. If I had I would be rich by now. Who would have thought I could be driving along, have a graving for Mexican food, then ask an electronic device what was the best Mexican place nearby and then have another electronic device tell me how to get there! Heck, when I was a boy I had never ever TRIED Mexican food. O.K., it wasn’t the best Mexican food….but then I am from San Clemente, California which has more good and great Mexican restaurants than any place north of the border I have ever seen. Need to raise some cash? Next door was a “Cash loans on car titles” store. I have never put up my car title in order to get a loan. However, if I had too I probably would. It does that in the Midwest. By the time I entered Mechanicsburg, Illinois, home to the Ealyville Speedway, the cloudy and overcast day had turned to blue skies. It does that in the Midwest. It didn’t even look as if it had rained here. That was despite some of the worst weather radar I had seen flying through this area in the morning. It does that in the Midwest. After the races…. Show radar Take a look at the radar. At 9:54 p.m. the “green stuff” was just about ready to move over the Peoria Speedway. However, Peoria starts their races early because of a city imposed curfew. By 9:54 the racing was finished at the Peoria Speedway. Today was a good day. Yes, today was a good day. I had seen a track that no trackchaser had ever visited before, the Ealyville Speedway. Then I took the opportunity to return to my all-time favorite track in time to catch their exciting features. Now I was headed up to the Quad Cities to get positioned for tomorrow’s racing. This 42-day long trackchasing trip was going very well. Then at 12:20 a.m. Central time, with it raining cats and dogs along I-74, a text popped up on my iPhone. There was another flash flood warning in effect! Ealeyville Speedway – Mechanicsburg, Illinois Build it and they will come. You’ve probably heard of and/or seen the movie “Field of Dreams”. Kevin Costner builds a baseball field in his backyard corn field using the theory that if he “builds it ‘they’ will come”. As you might have guessed my trackchasing hobby has taken me to the Field of Dreams location in Dyersville, Iowa. Visitors can play baseball on the real field used in the movies. So what does the above have to do with the Ealyville Speedway? The guy built a racetrack in his backyard! That’s right. The Ealy family built the racetrack. When it was done they called it “Ealyville”. To get there you turn down the driveway and go between the house and the garage! No, I didn’t believe it either until I did it. I want to be the #1 trackchaser in Illinois. I am always on the lookout to see racing at Illinois located tracks. I grew up in Illinois. I’m trying to catch up with Ed Esser’s state leading total of 99 tracks seen. There’s a good reason that Ed didn’t make it to 100 Illinois tracks during his lifetime. I didn’t tell him about the track that would have allowed him to reach #100. That’s right I didn’t tell him. Racing in a bean field! It just turned out that my brother-in-law was racing in a local bean field a few miles outside of my hometown of East Peoria, Illinois. They had about ten, street stock type cars that would get together on Sundays in the fall. They’d only been doing it for a year or two and nobody knew about it. However, my sister Lynn kept telling me “You’ve got to come see Ed race in the bean field”. Who could turn down an invitation like that? Racing in a bean field….River Bottom Speedway The bean field was generously called “River Bottom Speedway” in Deer Creek, Illinois. I went there on Sunday, October 2, 2011. My other sister Becky and her husband Bob joined Lynn, Ed (brother-in-law) and me on that day. However, trackchaser Ed Esser wasn’t there. I didn’t tell him about the track? So you might want to ask, “Randy, why didn’t you tell Ed about the race in the bean field? If you had then he would have seen 100 Illinois tracks.” There often is a simple answer to most questions? There is a very simple answer to your question. I didn’t tell Ed because we had an agreement. Neither of us shared track information with the other even though we met up at tracks more than thirty times during his lifetime. He lived in Wisconsin, I live in California. However we met along the trackchasing trail in such faraway places as Washington, Florida and Texas just to name a few spots. Ed came along to help celebrate my 1,000th track visit in Auburndale, Florida. Over the years Ed had dinner with my family and shared a hotel room with me more than once. He and I even went together for his first ever international trackchasing trip to Ontario, Canada. Four days after that trip Ed passed away. Ed and I each respected the other’s trackchasing capabilities. However, we were “independent” trackchasers. We didn’t need or really want the “team” approach employed by so many Eastern-based trackchasers. The team approach is primarily based on cost-sharing. If you’ve got the money you can be part of the team. Randy, Carol, Ed and Jim Holland – sports reporter Rapid City Journal And now you know the rest of the story about Ed Esser and his 99 tracks in Illinois. Ed and I liked finding that “new obscure” track. When we did we reported our findings AFTER we saw it. Then you could just about bet the next time that track raced I would be visiting a track identified by Ed or Ed would be traveling to a unique track that I had found. If you look back at the trackchasing logs you will rarely, if ever, see Ed sharing track information. I loved that aspect about him. I figured if he did the research to find the track he had the right to see it first. I would be happy seeing it second. And now you know the rest of the story about why Ed Esser’s track total is 99. They built it; I came. Ealeyville Speedway. On this day I would be seeing caged kart racing on a nicely prepared 1/6-mile (or so) dirt “kart” track. The track had just one light pole in the center of the infield. A series of lights pointed in all directions from the top of that pole. Today I was seeing racing in the late afternoon/early evening so lights would not be needed. ‘Feels like’ 103 degrees! Today I ended up seeing my 88th lifetime track in Illinois. I’m just 11 behind Ed’s total. At 4:32 p.m. it was 93 degrees in Mechanicsburg, Illinois. The “feels like” temperature was 103 degrees! Folks, that’s hot and humid. Don’t miss the photos and videos of today’s racing. You’ll see what a great job the folks who built the Ealeyville Speedway did. There were 14 classes listed today on the “race order” form. Heat races were scheduled for 8 laps. Feature events would race 12-16 laps based upon class. Spectators watched from a small grandstand near the start/finish line. Others watched from just beyond turns three and four in lawn chairs. The concession stand offered four hot sandwiches. The lead item was the pulled pork sandwich priced at a reasonable three dollars. Hot dogs were just a buck and a quarter. I could feel the love from the Ealeyville Speedway. About midway through the program the track’s management offered me a complimentary pit pass. Those are difficult to turn down. Being in the pits allowed me to get some close up photos of today’s competitors. I also took the opportunity to talk with owner and promoter Tony Ealey. He was happy to have a California based trackchasing at his track. I spoke with a few other drivers as well. I always like talking to the winged kart drivers about potential tracks that I may not know about. True to form I picked up TWO new track opportunities. When will you hear more about them? After I scope them out and feel comfortable about recommending these new unknown to any trackchasers venues you’ll be the first to know. What if? Toward the end of today’s late afternoon racing I got to thinking. My all-time favorite track, the Peoria Speedway was just 83 miles from Mechanicsburg, Illinois. Could I sneak up there in time for the features? You never know until you try. There was one problem beside the driving distance. A major rainstorm was about ready to hit Peoria. Would it hold off long enough so I could drive up there and see some racing? Illinois The Illini state This afternoon I saw my 88th lifetime track in the Illini state, yes the Illini 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 Illinois sayings: Seventy-five years ago I was born in Tampico, Illinois above the bank building. We didn’t have any other contact with the bank than that – – Ronald Reagan. 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 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!) Ealeyville Speedway – Complimentary pit pass 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 425 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 how they built a little go-kart track in their backyard: A day at the Ealyville Speedway 
2 comments
Russ – I’ve obviously had a crush on Texas for a very long time! Randy
Nice shirt you’re wearing in the 1955 photo, Randy. Obviously you began to develop your impeccable fashion sense at an early age.