Henry County Fairgrounds

 

 

 

THE EVENT

 

 

My trackchasing hobby takes me all over the world. Each year I will visit 25-30 American states and several foreign countries.  Long ago I moved into the #1 trackchasing position in both the number of different racetracks seen as well as the number of countries where I’ve seen racing.  

 

 

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:

 

 

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.  Or you can visit me on Facebook.  Thanks!

 

 

Randy on Facebook

 

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

 

 

FRIDAY

It was nice being able to stay in the same hotel for two days in a row. It was also a good thing to have a spacious hotel room with a full kitchen. My breakfast, a couple of huge tamales, from The Tamale Place in Indianapolis was prepared in my room.

 

 

Tonight’s track was just 2 1/2 hours from the hotel. That meant I could relax in my hotel and avoid the hot and humid summer weather. That is what I did.

 

 

However, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of “background” work that goes into my hobby of trackchasing. Last night I received some news from a track promoter that would alter the course of this summer Midwestern trip.

 

 

I learned that the racing at the track I had planned for next Tuesday would not meet trackchasing’s somewhat stringent rules. If a track does not meet the rules you are not likely to see a trackchaser in the grandstand. That is true for me as well.

 

 

Tuesday’s situation would call for me to change my plan in two ways. First I will get to go home a day early. That’s always a good thing. However, I was already out here. I would just as soon have stayed out one more night to get one more track. That’s how I roll.

 

 

Currently I hold a #1 trackchasing ranking in 20 states. Next Tuesday was going to move me into a tie for the Kentucky trackchasing lead. Since Tuesday was now off the agenda I would try to see a track in Kentucky tomorrow night.

 

 

Seeing one track in Kentucky on tomorrow night would knock me out of the opportunity to see two tracks in Indiana tomorrow. That was part of the original plan. I learned long ago that each part of my plan is dependent upon the items that surround it. When one thing changes lots of things change.

 

 

In a way that’s one of the things that I like about trackchasing the most. It keeps me in a very flexible mindset. The overall trackchasing objective is to see is many tracks as I can. As soon as one part of the plan doesn’t support that overall objective it must be replaced and substituted with something else that does achieve the objective of maximizing the number of tracks I can add to my lifetime totals. I guess I’m the Jack Welch of trackchasing.

 

 

However, the desire to add one more #1 state ranking called for a slight deviation from the above objective. As you know rules are rules. Nevertheless, there are times when the rules must be abandoned.

 

 

In order to get a smoking hot rate on my hotel in Indianapolis I prepaid for two nights. I felt like I had already gotten two nights of usage out of my hotel. I was allowed to check in at 7 a.m. on day one and got to sleep almost immediately. Then that evening I used the hotel again. That was “two sleeps” with just one paid day. I would not sleep in this hotel on day two, even though I had paid for it.

 

 

A third outcome of having my master plan change was that I now needed a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky tonight and not Indianapolis, Indiana. If I were willing to drive an additional 280 miles I could have made the Indianapolis hotel work. However that didn’t seem worth it.

 

 

Priceline got me a hotel rate for about half the normal price in Lexington. Nevertheless, tonight I was paying for both my hotel in Indianapolis and my hotel in Lexington Kentucky as well as the mortgage on our modest seaside cottage in San Clemente, California. As a retiree with no company pension and only our modest savings to rely on that wasn’t a good plan. However, I WAS going to add another #1 state ranking!

 

 

I also spent some of my afternoon finalizing travel arrangements to one of the most unusual trackchasing countries where wheel to wheel racing is held. Right now I’ve seen racing in 72 different countries. There’s a reasonable chance I will see country #73 and country #74 before the end of the year.

 

 

Soon I was walking out of my Extended Stay America hotel in Indianapolis. I was headed to Kentucky. Tonight’s destination would be the Henry County Fairgrounds in Eminence, Kentucky.

 

 

I’ve become a big fan of the Top Dog Promotions sanctioning group. They organize races for what they call “circle track” cars as well as demolition derby.

 

 

 

John, the Top Dog promoter, keeps me well informed as to which tracks will be running and what types of classes will compete. This is down-home racing at the most basic level. I love the fact that several of their shows are contested during the week. This gives me a chance to trackchase on days that would normally be idle for me.

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Henry County Fairgrounds – Eminence, Kentucky

 

 

I had a difficult time finding the fairgrounds. None of my GPS programs could pick up the location. I had to stop on two different occasions and ask people for directions. Even with that it took me some time to get to the fairgrounds.

 

 

This area has received a good amount of rain lately. Nevertheless, the NASCAR Sprint cup series is racing at the Kentucky Speedway this weekend. Tonight’s little dirt track and the big NASCAR events are only 38 miles a part.

 

 

Tonight’s very rural and small fairgrounds was damp and muddy. It was also hot and humid. Nevertheless there was no rain planned for this evening. They would be racing per their plan.

 

 

I arrived just in time to see the kid’s power wheels exhibition. I’m not a big fan of this activity. However, its popularity is sweeping the demolition derby promoter world. I’m sure if my grandkids were doing it I would appreciate it much more.

 

 

As that activity wrapped up I walked over and listened in on the drivers meeting. I learned there were 22 circle track cars in attendance. That meant there were more oval racers at the track tonight than demo derby cars.

 

 

The circle track cars draw for positions. There’s none of that silly time traveling that the high dollar stock cars and their owners want to do.

 

 

There would be five heat races for the circle track machines. Four and five cars would start in each of the heat races. Only the winner would advance to the feature race. All of the second-place cars would compete in a consolation event. The winner of the consolation would go to the feature as well.

 

 

This is where Top Dog Promotions’ takes a detour from regular racing. They would hold two feature events. Six cars would qualify through the heats and consolation race. Those six cars would race in two features.  That’s right. Each feature race would have three cars.

 

 

It is extremely rare, it happens less than 1% of the time, when a planned feature event will have fewer cars than the number that raced in the heat race. I’m not sure I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen that other than with Top Dog Promotions.

 

 

They run the two features so the prize money is spread around more evenly. As John said at a previous driver’s meeting, “Getting $100 for third place is a lot better than getting zero dollars for sixth place.” I cannot argue with his logic.

 

 

I paid $10 to get into the fair. There was no additional charge to watch the racing. There was no charge for parking. All of this seems like a reasonable value to me.

 

 

The track was moist and tacky. There was no dust. The entire oval track fit nicely into a “ring”. Of course the ring is not really a ring. Tonight it was a square or possibly a rectangle. They still call it a ring.

 

 

Inside the ring were two concrete blocks. They were positioned about 75 feet apart. The racers would run around those two blocks in order to complete a single lap in an oval track configuration.

 

 

Sometimes I think about how many extra tracks I could have added to my lifetime totals if I was willing to “encourage” a promoter to run on a configuration that wasn’t originally planned for. Would Top Dog promotions accept a “sponsored $100 bill” in order to run a five-lap figure 8 race around these concrete barriers. I didn’t know for sure and I wasn’t going to find out. In the past several of my fellow competitors have been part of this type of “encouragement process” to get a promoter to do something that wasn’t part of the original plan. I’ve never done that and never will.

 

 

There was no mistake about it this. This was “novelty racing” when compared to traditional stock car or open wheel competition. Nevertheless, it is still wheel-to-wheel competition on a trackchasing approved configuration of a road course, and oval or a figure 8 track.

 

 

Despite driving racecars that have a market value of $100 or maybe even less these racers are as serious about what they are doing as Roger Penske, Jimmie Johnson or Steve Kinser. Good on them.

 

 

They are not racing for much money. Their trophies are a little smaller. Their financial outlay and probably their financial reserves are a bit less than the normal NASCAR driver. Nevertheless they are having as much fun as anyone else and maybe more. Their friends and family are watching them compete on their own individual stage.

 

 

Truth be told I have as much fun at these kinds of races as I do it most. I know before I get there what I’m about to see. This type of racing activity takes me to places that I don’t get a chance to visit all that often. I am most appreciative and pleased with that process.

 

 

Tonight’s demo derby action was entertaining. Earlier in the night they had a demo derby for lawnmowers!  See the video for that.  The DD event I liked best after the circle track racing featured six cars. They were all heavily steel reinforced and beat each other into submission.

 

 

In a way demo derby action is a bit like boxing. The fans come to watch one competitor beat the brains out of another. It all seems to be part of human nature’s survival of the fittest attitude. I like seeing some good demo derby action. It’s very popular with the fans. More county fairs run demolition derbies then any other kind of motor sports event, probably on a combined basis.

 

 

Following the racing action I took a brief tour through the fair. The sun sets very late in Kentucky at this time of year. The actual sunset lasted for a long time. It was one of the prettiest I’ve seen at a county fair.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

When I left the Henry County Fairgrounds I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had seen my 41st lifetime track in the Bluegrass State. I trail my nearest fellow competitor, Rick Schneider, by just one Kentucky track.

 

 

If the weather cooperates I might get that extra track tomorrow night. If I do move into a number one ranking Kentucky I will proudly have a trackchasing #1 ranking in twenty-one states.

 

 

From the fairgrounds it was a shortish one-hour plus drive down to Lexington, Kentucky. On the way down I stopped at McDonald’s and got a late night snack re-ward. Soon I was leaving with a large Diet Coke, still priced at a buck, as well as a chocolate sundae. The chocolate sundae goes for $1.49. That’s a price that has certainly put a damper on Dairy Queen’s business.

 

 

Soon I was checking into the Comfort Suites Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky. I would have some time tomorrow for a possible trackchasing tourist attraction before I headed down in Isom, Kentucky. It had been a good day on several fronts despite my master plan being somewhat turned inside out.

 

 

Good night from Eminence, Kentucky.

 

 

 

Kentucky

 

 

The Bluegrass state

This evening I saw my 43rd lifetime track in the Bluegrass state, yes the Bluegrass state. I have a #2 trackchasing ranking in Kentucky. I’ve seen 43 or more tracks in 15 separate states.

 

 

 

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

Kentucky sayings: Praise the lord and pass the gravy? AKA possibly a quick prayer before putting gravy on other food.

 

 

 

 

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 550 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,242

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 72

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.47

 

 

 

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.

 

Circle track racing with a beautiful sunset from down in Kentucky