Greetings from Fredericks, Maryland
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Fredericks Fairgrounds
Dirt figure 8
Lifetime Track #2,378
THE EVENT I have had the opportunity to follow my trackchasing hobby all over the world. As this is written I have seen racing in 75 countries. My lifetime track total exceeds 2,300. Each and every year I will trackchase in 25-30 states or more. At track #1,040 I moved into the “World’s #1 Trackchasing” spot. Here’s the funny thing about that. I was perfectly content to remain in about seventh place in the worldwide trackchasing standings. Then I had rotator cuff surgery, which knocked me out of golf for about six months. With no golf and time on my hands I turned up my trackchasing by a notch or two. I discovered I liked MORE trackchasing and LESS golf. It didn’t take all that long to move up to the top of the world trackchasing standings at that point. I don’t get to trackchase in Maryland very often. I would be seeing only my 5th lifetime track in the Old Line state tonight. This was only my second TC visit in the past 16 years. I hadn’t originally planned to stop here. However, when a foreign trip ended up being cancelled it put Maryland into play. I rarely know where I’m going to be a week in advance and often times even a day in advance! My hobby is not only about racing. Trackchasing for me centers around three things. The racing part is pretty obvious. However of equal importance is the logistics of trackchasing and the opportunity to see the world. I live in Southern California. The vast majority of tracks are located in the Midwest and East. It takes a good deal of logistical planning to get from where I live to where the tracks are. For the past 15 years I have traveled about 175 nights each and every year. Surprisingly to some, more than half of those overnights were not part of trackchasing. Then there’s the travel just for the fun of seeing new things. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page on my website at www.randylewis.org. That will give you some understanding on how important seeing the world is with my hobby. Today’s adventure was one more of the 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: 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 I woke up in Richmond, Virginia this morning. The day’s objective was simple. I just needed to transport my ailing body three hours up to Chantilly, Virginia where I was staying the night. Due to my potential food poisoning (I didn’t go to medical school but I really DID stay in a Holiday Inn last night) my original touring plan had to be adjusted. Rather than driving far out of the way to visit the capitol building in Dover, Delaware I would do that another time. Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist another Trackchasing Tourist Attraction that popped up on my drive northward. I passed a simple sign that read, “Stonewall Jackson Shrine”. No, I couldn’t pass that up. The attraction was at the same exit off of I-95 as the Dominion Raceway. I’ve been to the DR twice in the past three or four years. Although I was close to the SJS on those visits I had never heard of it until today. My visit to the Stonewall Jackson Shrine was a bit weird. The U.S. National Park Association runs it. The only building at the shrine is a small house that was part of a civilian farm during the Civil War. I read the placards outside to get some background on what I was going to see. Then as I walked up onto the porch and prepared to open the front door the door opened for itself. Inside stood a park ranger. Before I could say anything more than hello he went into his blurb about Stonewall Jackson, the Civil War and lots of other related things. It was really weird. All I said was hello and I was now 10 minutes into a Civil War diatribe. As I entered the building another couple was just leaving. It was just me and the park ranger now. When he paused to take a breath, which didn’t last for long, I was able to get in a couple of questions. I meet a lot of people in my “line of work”. My day job was to observe and judge a lot of people during my business career. I have never been fond of the person who responds to most comments with “No” and then proceeds to modify your original statement by about two degrees. I might say the sky is blue and it’s a nice day. The “always no” person feels obliged to point out the one small wispy cloud way off in the distance as “proof” that the sky is truly not blue. It doesn’t take me long to go way out of my way to avoid folks like this. Today’s ranger was a little bit of an argumentative guy. I didn’t want to be rude. It was only he and I and he was trying to do his job. I listened politely making a comment whenever I could get a word in edgewise. I wondered what it was like to have his job? It didn’t seem very attractive to me. I feel that way about lots of people’s jobs. He did tell me that he rotated between Virginia and California based upon the season. His post in the Golden state was the Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the country. You probably thought it was Yellowstone didn’t you. That’s what today’s ranger told me that most people think! I continued on and would end up tonight in Frederick, Maryland for trackchasing. I was headed to the great Frederick Fair. Tonight I would be seeing figure 8 racing in Maryland. I’m not sure anybody has ever seen figure 8 racing in the Pelican state. THE RACING Frederick Fairgrounds – Frederick, Maryland I planned to arrive by 6 p.m. an hour before the official start time. I’m glad I started early. It took me thirty minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic simply to get parked. Last night I purchased parking, fair admission and saw a figure 8 race down in North Carolina for ten dollars. Granted, they only had two cars. Tonight they had eight cars registered for the figure 8 demolition derby promotion. I guess it only made sense that I would pay nearly 4 times what I paid in North Carolina given the fact that were four times as many cars right? When I finally did get parked I had paid seven dollars for parking and eight dollars to get into the fair. It was still early so I figured I would check out the pit area. Tonight’s racing was being organized by R&R Promotions an outfit out of Kentucky. There’s also an organization doing demolition derby promotions by the same name in Iowa. Small world isn’t it? I struck up a conversation with the owner of R&R. I handed him my business card. He seemed genuinely impressed that someone had come all the way from California to see his show. However, he wasn’t impressed enough to offer a free pit pass….but he was impressed. Since I had parked near the pit area, in the horseshit filled “Equine Arena”, I could see much of the pit area. That might be a good place to hang out tonight. First, I confirmed they would be having figure 8 racing tonight. I’ve been to shows in the past, especially when there is not a history of F8 racing, where no F8 cars showed up and they don’t have a F8 race. Last night was a good example. With no good F8 history in Kinston, North Carolina they only drew two F8 cars. Tonight they confirmed they would be having figure 8 racing. Truth be told I trackchase on a budget. Grandstand tickets were selling for $23 U.S. with another three bucks tacked on as a convenience fee. Who was that convenient for? I was a bit surprised with the grandstand pricing situation that a pit pass was only $20 U.S. That was a bargain! I could still get into the fair with my pit pass. Heck, I could have sat in the empty seats of the grandstand with a pit pass. I figured I didn’t have six dollars to waste so a pit pass it was. It is decisions like this that have allowed me to retire early, let Carol be a homemaker for more than 40 years and still have us being able to pay the mortgage on our modest seaside cottage each month. Like I always say, “Six bucks is six bucks”. At just about every event I attend I see something that I’ve never seen before despite having seen racing at nearly 2,400 racetracks. It happened again tonight. It was very very unusual. What in the world could be? They required every driver in the figure 8 and demolition derby divisions to come up and take a Breathalyzer test administered by the local police. Yep. I’ve seen racing at 2,378 tracks and I have never seen such a thing. It appears that everyone passed. Those folks up in the stands, having paid those premium prices, were none the wiser. I can learn so much more about a racing program by attending the driver’s meeting. I would love to hear the driver’s meeting discussion broadcast over the PA so the fans could get the behind the scenes insight. Tonight the guy running the meeting told everyone that the figure 8 race had to have “contact”. If the driver didn’t make any contact they might not be scored. There would be two F8 heat races. They would be “timed” events. That concerned me for just a brief second. However, tonight “timed” simply meant the race would go for a certain amount of time until the checkered flag flew. No one ever mentioned how long the time for the race would be though. At county fairs, the crowd comes to see the demolition derby at shows like this. There were five classes of demos running tonight. The groups went all the way from four cylinders through pickup trucks and vans. I watched four of the demo derby events. I thought they were fantastic. The crowd loved them. During a break in the action I scooted out to the fairgrounds to take a look. I missed one of the derby heats. I didn’t see anything that was too impressive with the fair itself. I did need supper. I wasn’t feeling great and wasn’t sure tonight’s food offerings would help my situation. Nevertheless, I would have to go with the flow. I chose a jumbo corndog ($6), and a large Diet Coke in a souvenir cup ($5). I could get a refill for two or three dollars from any vendor at the fair. Finally I couldn’t resist the ice cream and hot apple dumplings ($5). Tonight’s dessert will never replace my all-time fair favorite, strawberry shortcake. It was a beautiful weather evening with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s throughout most of the night. They ran each event efficiently with one after another. Well done folks. The crowd had come to see the demolition derby. The demo boys and girls did not disappoint. They put on a great demo. Don’t miss my video! The last event of the night would be the figure 8 feature. I was actually glad to see that. This would tell me who the real F8 racing fans were. Granted most of the folks in the stands were here for the demo derby. Nevertheless, very few people left before the last race of the night. Yes, there were a few. Even though they had paid a dear price they weren’t interested enough in the F8 racing to watch the feature race. Seven of the original eight figure 8 cars started the feature. Somewhat surprisingly only one figure 8 car was running at the finish of this race. Heck, with only two cars in the field last night they had twice as many finish as what did tonight! I was back in the Avis Rental Car Racing VW Passat at 9:23 p.m. I was happy to see a figure 8 race in Maryland. I scanned the crowd and didn’t see anyone else pursuing the trackchasing hobby anywhere at the fair. Maybe I was the only trackchaser in attendance? AFTER THE RACES It was a bit of a walk in the dark back to my car that was parked in the equine arena. I did have to be careful not to step in the horse droppings. I hate it when that happens. It was all around like a Vietnam minefield. This had to be one of the most difficult county fairs to get into. It wasn’t too bad exiting. Compared to all of the cars in the parking lot not that many of the patrons paid $23 to watch the demolition derby. THURSDAY Today I would pay the “California” penalty. My wake up call came in at 6:20 a.m. By 6:42 a.m. I was headed to the airport. By 6:58 a.m. I was returning my rental car. My nonstop flight from Washington Dulles airport would leave at 9 a.m. bound for Los Angeles. If you want to know what time any of the above was in “California words” simply subtract three hours. Last night racing finished up at 9:20 p.m. Eastern time. I pulled into my driveway at about 6 p.m. Eastern today. I have one final question for you. What percentage of trackchasers, in entire history of the hobby, get home nearly 23 hours after their last race of the trip finishes on a routine basis? I do! Good day from Frederick, Maryland. Maryland The Old Line state This evening I saw my 5th lifetime track in the Old Line state, yes the Old Line state. I’ve only seen fewer tracks in Rhode Island (3) and the District of Columbia (2). 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 Maryland sayings: Lacrosse The state’s official “team” sport is lacrosse so, naturally, everyone is a laxer, brah. When you arrive in Maryland thinking you know what’s what about lacrosse, you get a rude awakening. Don’t believe me? Go to any Johns Hopkins lax game and see for yourself. QUICK FACTS 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 600 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 20 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 the video production from the racing action today. 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. Stonewall Jackson and an unusual night of figure 8 racing in Maryland 
