Kellogg Arena

 

 

 

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

 

 

Why would I do it?

It is a rare occasion when I leave the far west region with the intention of seeing just one new track. However, that was the case this weekend. Why would I do that?

 

 

For the last few years I’ve known about this indoor racing venue in Battle Creek, Michigan. They race here a time or two each year. Quite frequently the race dates are in the middle of January.

 

 

No ice?

January and February are typically reserved for ice racing. However in early January often times the ice has not formed well enough to have ice racing on frozen lakes. This winter has gotten off to a slow start ice-wise. It looks like it might pick up but there is no ice racing in most parts of North America through the second weekend of January.

 

 

Logistical opportunities.

That being the case, this weekend, I would opt for an indoor show. It wouldn’t be canceled for lack of ice or bad weather for the most part. Logistics were going to be an issue however. Logistics are almost always an issue.

 

 

I didn’t want to commit my time and money resources toward just a one track eastern time zone opportunity. I had a plan in place that was going to help me out in that regard.

 

 

Battle Creek, Michigan is 2,186 miles from San Clemente, California where I live. Racing would begin at 7 p.m. Saturday night in the eastern time zone. I would have to expend some effort getting from our modest seaside cottage to the indoor Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.

 

 

Out Friday; Back Sunday.

I would have time for a nicely prepared dinner by Trackchasing’s First Mother on Friday evening at home. With any luck I might be able to take her out to dinner in San Clemente on Sunday night.

 

 

 

Carol takes a pass. Did she have a better option?

Carol had opted to bypass this “opportunity” of going to Michigan on a weekend when it was going to snow, rain and present heavy fog. Why would she pass up this chance? She had bigger fish to fry in just a couple of days.

 

 

I try to treat Carol well, really well. Why wouldn’t I? That’s the responsibility and commitment of a good husband isn’t it?

 

 

Yacht night? Really?

On Tuesday after I return from this trip I have rented a yacht for Carol and me. That’s right a yacht. We’ve done this a couple of other times. It’s a grand overnight adventure.

 

 

There’s a company in Long Beach, California called Dockside Boat and Bed. They have an inventory of five yachts. They rent them out on a night by night basis to couples like us.

 

 

We would arrive on Tuesday afternoon at Long Beach Harbor armed with a couple of bottles of wine. We would be just across the way from the downtown street course home to the Long Beach Grand Prix and in the shadow of the Queen Mary.

 

 

During the late afternoon we will sit out on the deck of our 55-foot yacht and watch the world go by. Later that evening we would walk (remember…we had brought a couple bottles of wine) to an upscale restaurant for a nice dinner. We would spend the night on the yacht and be served a beautiful continental breakfast the next morning. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more unique way to celebrate with your spouse or significant other.

 

 

The lowly usc Trojans.

Following our “yacht night” our plan had us heading up the San Diego Freeway for an evening of UCLA Bruins basketball. They would be facing the lowly usc Trojans. Do you know why anyone connected to UCLA despises usc? Me neither but they just do.

 

 

Any questions?

You can’t be both a UCLA fan and a usc fan. If you say you are that simply tells a true UCLA fan that you are NOT a UCLA fan. If you don’t think that’s true you really do not understand what being a UCLA fan is all about. Sorry. You are clueless. Are there any questions?

 

 

So when you see me summarizing our trackchasing activities for the year and Carol’s totals seem to be a little “light” you’ll know that she has choices in life. Quite frequently she chooses something other than trackchasing. Sometimes “yacht night” trumps trackchasing.

 

 

A simple travel plan.

My travel plan for this trip was simple. Yes, it was simple but require some commitment and concentration to undertake. Don’t worry. I am the undertaker.

 

 

I will begin with a late night flight into Seattle, Washington. Those flights are usually lightly booked. If I wanted to chance it I could land in Washington as late as 2:44 a.m. I chose a flight that would get me into Seattle a little past midnight.

 

 

The world was my oyster.

Once I was in Seattle the world would be my oyster. From Seattle I could take all kinds of early-morning flights to the Midwest or East. This is my new “go to” airline trackchasing strategy for getting cross country.

 

 

I arrived at LAX with little or no late Friday night traffic in Los Angeles. Then I made my normal 18-minute power walk over to the terminal. I spent a few minutes relaxing in the Alaska Airlines Board Room before I hopped on my flight to Seattle.

 

 

Airplane time…not the way it used to be.

I used to spend most of my time on airplanes typing out my Trackchaser Reports. However with my tech capabilities I now dictate those reports into my iPhone. This frees up my airplane time to watch iTunes movies on my Apple MacBook Pro.

 

 

What the heck is “bench” sleep?

Once in Seattle I would grab a quiet place in the airport and get about 3 1/2 hours of overnight “bench” sleep. I’ve done this a few times. It’s a very convenient way, in my somewhat distorted way of thinking, to get the trackchasing job done.

 

 

When I woke on Saturday morning my plan was to fly from Seattle to Detroit. I would rent a car there and drive west toward Battle Creek. Later during my one-day rental on Sunday afternoon I would catch a University of Detroit Mercy basketball game. They were playing Valparaiso.

 

 

 

The grand plan….doesn’t always work.

This was a grand plan. However I have come to find out that not all grand plans work out that well. While I was flying up to Seattle six more people listed for the flight to Detroit.

 

 

This made making it to Detroit a little dicey. I had one other option that might work. I could fly into Chicago’s O’Hare airport. However that plan came with some shortcomings. That’s why it started out as my second choice.

 

 

The plusses and minuses of plan #1 and plan #2.

The flight into Chicago had more seats available than the Detroit flight. It looked as if I would make it without too much trouble. That proved to be true.

 

 

However driving from Chicago to Battle Creek would increase my driving distances, compared to driving to Detroit, by about 150 miles. It would also blow my opportunity to see the college basketball game on Sunday afternoon.

 

 

I didn’t much like the idea of having to drive through downtown Chicago either. Chicago and Boston have the worst city traffic of any place I visit in the country. However if I were going to do that Saturday afternoon was about the best time to try it.

 

 

The extra 150 miles of driving would increase my gas expense. However, at today’s gasoline prices that would be only about ten bucks. I was able to rent a car in Chicago for just $31 compared to the $51 fee from Detroit. Often times Chicago is one of the most expensive rental car markets in the country. I couldn’t believe my good fortune at getting a full-sized car at such a low price.

 

 

 

Good night from the SeaTac International Airport.

I camped out in a nice place in the Seattle airport. Then I set my iPhone alarm to ring inside my Bose noise-canceling headphones at exactly 5 a.m. Why 5 a.m. when my flight wasn’t until 8:30 a.m.? At 5 o’clock the Alaska Airlines Board Room in the SeaTac airport opened up. I could sleep there, relax and grab some breakfast at no charge in the Board Room.

 

 

I did have to sit in a middle seat all the way from Seattle to Chicago but that wasn’t a problem at all. Alaska Airlines, the best airline going, has lots of legroom in coach. Each seat has it’s own AC electrical outlet and USB port. Despite the weather conditions deteriorating rapidly in Chicago we arrived on time. Arriving on time today was important.

 

 

I would just make it…I hoped.

I picked up my rental car at 3 p.m. central time. Race time was going to be 7 p.m. Eastern time. Google maps told me the driving time would be two hours and 52 minutes. I would lose an hour moving from the central time zone to the eastern time zone.

 

 

Without any stops whatsoever I would arrive into Battle Creek at 6:58 p.m. local time exactly 2 minutes before the feature races were to begin. However I knew I would have to make at least one stop for food and beverage. I figured if traffic wasn’t too bad I might make it to the racing event by 7:15 p.m. or maybe 7:30 p.m. at the latest.  However, even if the traffic wasn’t bad on a late Saturday afternoon the weather was terrible.  It was raining, sleeting and snowing.  Welcome to Chicago.

 

 

 

Chicagoland is toll land.

Chicagoland, as they call the land around Chicago, is beset with toll roads and told plazas. Over the years electronic tolls have become popular. With the electronic toll system you don’t have to stop and pay cash to a real person. You just keep driving and the “system” bills your toll account. However if you don’t have an electronic toll pass you pay twice the rate that folks that have the pass pay.

 

 

This was a good value.

The National Car Rental Company has a nice toll pass feature. They charge you $7.99 per day for unlimited toll usage. Lots of other places charge you a daily fee for the toll pass PLUS you have to pay the tolls. The only convenience there is you don’t have to stop at each tollbooth and pay cash.

 

 

There are a lot of tolls between Chicago and Battle Creek depending upon which route is used. A fee of only $7.99 was going to be a bargain. The one-way told charges today were six dollars. I actually thought they would be more but I didn’t drive through the “loop” on the way to Michigan this time.

 

 

As an executive member of the National Car Rental program I quickly selected a Hyundai Sonata. The Sonata is been my favorite rental car for a few years now. I used to pick it because it offered great fuel mileage and Sirius/XM satellite radio.

 

 

However during the past year National has begun charging $5.99 per day to get the satellite radio feature turned on in the rental car. Heck I only pay about $10 a month for satellite radio in my personal car.

 

 

I passed on the satellite radio option. I now have a new feature, which is included in my $10 a month satellite feed. It allows me to listen to satellite radio on my iPhone. What will they think of next?

 

 

Perfect timing.

The UCLA-Arizona State basketball game would be broadcast at 4 p.m. central time on satellite radio. This was perfect timing. The game would be finishing up just as I pulled into the Kellogg Arena parking lot in Battle Creek.

 

 

Listening to the game on satellite radio on my iPhone would use up some AT&T data. But I manage my data wisely. In all likelihood there would be no incremental expense whatsoever to listen to the game on my iPhone. That is what I would do.

 

 

Saving….with a commitment.

Using the Chicago option rather than the Detroit flight option would also save me a night’s hotel expense. I really didn’t have any choice but to accept this hotel saving. Following the racing tonight I would have to turn around and drive back to Chicago. With any luck I would arrive into the Windy City at about midnight or a little bit later.

 

 

I would hop on an 8 a.m. Sunday morning flight from Chicago back to Seattle. That flight was wide open. Given these time constraints there was no time to get a hotel. That would make it TWO consecutive nights of sleeping in an airport and/or the car. I don’t recommend this but I can do it.

 

 

The poor Sun Devils.

The UCLA basketball Bruins were victorious over Arizona State as they usually are. In 84 meetings ASU has won only nineteen times. After a brief stop along the roadway at Wendy’s, I love their chili, I arrived at the Kellogg Arena in downtown Battle Creek, Michigan at 7:25 p.m.

 

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Kellogg Arena – Battle Creek, Michigan

 

 

The Kellogg Arena? Tell me about it.

Feature race time was scheduled to be 7 p.m.   Considering I had flown into Chicago from Seattle in the middle of winter, rented a car and driven three hours I was pleased to be only 25 minutes late.  This would have been a long long way to come to suffer a delayed flight, traffic or weather problems and miss the racing. The racing brought me here.

 

 

Kellogg Arena is a 9,800-seat multi-purpose arena located in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was built in 1980. It seats 4,675 for basketball games, 4,859 for ice shows, 4,433 for the circus, 1,500 for theatrical shows and concerts, 6,200 for end-stage concerts and 6,500 for center-stage concerts.

 

 

The arena is home to the Battle Creek Knights basketball team, as well as the former home for the Battle Creek Crunch, of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League. It seemed much newer than its reported age of thirty-five years.

 

 

Let’s get a ticket.

I paid five dollars to park my car. There were three levels of ticket pricing for spectators. I could choose a general admission seat for $16, a reserved seat for $19 or a “front row” seat for $24.

 

 

I went with the least expensive option. I’ve been to a large number of indoor shows. I pretty much knew I could end up sitting about anywhere I wanted. That was the case tonight.

 

 

Really good racing tonight.

You won’t want to miss the photographs and videos from tonight’s racing action. Overall it was an excellent program. The PA system was one of the best ever for an indoor program. The announcers did a great job of entertaining and informing the crowd of about 300-400 people. I’m guessing on the crowd size.

 

 

When I sat down in my seat the announcer was just telling the crowd there were only a couple of heat races left. Heat races? That meant they were running behind schedule as they were supposed to complete the heat racing in the afternoon. Feature racing was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. On this rare occasion I was actually pleased they were running behind.

 

 

What was the track like?

The track itself was an oval. I’m guessing the track’s length might have been a tenth of a mile. Again, that’s just a guess. They would race on a concrete slab surface. A concoction of “Coke syrup” was applied to the concrete to increase the grip for tonight’s racing machines. 

 

 

2,187 tracks and I had never seen this before.

I did see something tonight I had never ever seen before even after visiting 2,187 venues previously. That is not unusual. I almost always see something I’ve never seen before.

 

 

By the way I couldn’t easily have forgotten some of the things that I tell you I am seeing for the first time. That doesn’t bother me in the least. If I have forgotten seeing something then I AM seeing it for the first time!

 

 

Duct tape to the rescue.

Tonight it appeared that a small hole was developing at the exit of the second turn on the oval track. Track officials had a unique way of repairing the problem. They used several short strips of duct tape to cover the hole! Yes duck tape will fix just about anything.

 

 

What kind of racers were here tonight?

There were about eight classes of racers. There were some flat karts. They had a couple divisions of quarter midgets, some really racy lawn mower classes as well as a great senior champ kart group. One of the most entertaining classes was the mini- cups. Finally the main event of the night, and last race, was for the mini-sprints. After watching all of these small car races the mini-sprints looked like full-sized midgets when they hit the track.

 

 

It was difficult to tell how many competitors there were in each class. I did see some heat races and a couple last chance events. I couldn’t tell for sure how many cars were eliminated in the heats before the features began.

 

 

I had not seen quarter midgets race in a long time. These racecars are for kids only. I was a little surprised at how quiet the cars were.  It was interesting to see the driver’s pitch their heads and helmets to the left to help with weight distribution through the turns.

 

 

Really good flat kart racing.

The flat kart racing was some of the best I had ever seen. It reminded me of another event, being held this very same weekend. That promotion, called the “King of the Concrete,” is held in Williamston, North Carolina. I saw racing there several years ago. It still ranks as one of my top indoor flat kart racing experiences. For the life of me I cannot understand why trackchasing’s founding fathers excluded flat kart racing from the hobby.

 

 

The senior champs did an excellent job. The 15-car mini-cup feature might have been the best race of the night. Most features were 20 laps. The mini-cups raced for 30 laps. I texted video clips to several friends and family of the mini-cup action.

 

 

An 800 lapper?

The track announcer told the crowd they had seen about 800 laps of racing today. It didn’t take the racers long to make a complete circuit. This track was fast. Maybe that’s why turn number two was wearing out.

 

 

The final event of the night was a 50-lap race for the mini-sprints. A large field of 14 starters began this race. The mini-sprints almost seemed to be too big for this track. Nevertheless, they put on a good race.

 

 

The racing purses for tonight’s events were posted on the group’s website. The mini-sprints paid the best with $500 going to the winner.

 

 

Midwest Indoor Racing Series….they did a very good job.

The Midwest Indoor Racing Series sanctioned tonight’s racing. The announcer told everyone they had big plans for the future. Tonight was their last race of the winter season.

 

 

The grandstand side of the house might have brought in $6,000-8,000 in ticket sales. There was a large crowd of people in the pit area. I’m sure they paid a premium. And yes, sponsors added to the revenue generation as well.

 

 

So what are the economics?

It’s really difficult to understand the economics of a show like this. I’m sure it is expensive to rent and prepare an indoor arena. However I have learned one thing in life. If you don’t know the answer to a question follow the money.

 

 

Promoters would not run these races twice if they were not making money. Maybe that’s why so many of these special races end up being one time only! Nevertheless, the Midwest Indoor Racing Series is coming into their fifth season. That tells me the crowd is accepting of their racing model. They make enough money to keep things running.

 

 

Bump and run.

It was most difficult to pass on tonight’s little track. However that did not prevent people from passing. The “chrome horn” was frequently used. That means the bumper was needed and used to move people out of the way.

 

 

Often times this resulted in the leader being spun out. To the race officials credit they put both the spinner and the “spinnee” to the back of the pack following any incidents. I thought that was a good idea. If they didn’t do that the person (there were lots of women racing tonight) in second place would just continually knock the leader out of the racing groove.

 

 

Bad air = bad lungs.

Traditionally, one of the drawbacks to indoor racing is the bad air. Thinking about it they don’t recommend you run your car’s engine inside your garage with the doors closed do they? Leading lung doctors probably don’t put indoor auto racing at the top of their entertainment lists.

 

 

The air quality was not the worst I’ve ever experienced. That award probably goes to the famous Chili Bowl race in Tulsa. Nevertheless after 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before in an airport tonight’s air-quality made me a little bit woozy. When I left the arena at a little bit past 11, my eyes burned like they used to when I worked in downtown Los Angeles in the 70s. Back then the air-quality there was really bad. Today it is much improved.

 

 

So was it worth it?

Was a round-trip to Battle Creek, Michigan from San Clemente a long schlep? Yes, it was. Nevertheless I am a Midwest boy at heart. I love the fact that I can make a trip like this in the middle of the winter even if it was the only racing event on the weekend agenda.

 

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

 

No time for a hotel. There were two options.

I was out of the track at a little bit past 11 p.m. Eastern time. During my three-hour 193-mile drive back to Chicago I would gain an hour as I moved into the central time zone.

 

 

It had been raining in the greater Battle Creek area the entire time I had been in town. Temperatures were in the mid to high 30s. Overnight it would get colder with the rain turning to snow.

 

 

Without stops I didn’t expect to arrive in Chicago until about 1:30 a.m. My Sunday morning flight would depart at 8 a.m. There would be no time for a hotel. I have a couple of options.

 

 

Option #1 – Just keep driving.

I could drive straight through. I would hope that when I reached Chicago’s O’Hare airport I could clear security. However if I could not clear security at that early hour (1-2 a.m.) I would have to sleep outside of airport security. I didn’t think that was a good choice.

 

 

Option #2 – Stop driving. Lean the driver’s seat back.

My other option was to bed down for four hours or so in an interstate highway rest area. That was the option I chose. Overnight the temperature would get down to about 20-25°. From time to time I ran the car’s heater to keep warm.

 

 

I always like to have multiple options. Without more than one option there is no decision-making to be made. I use my many years of experience to choose the option best for me. Isn’t that the way everyone does it? Tonight sleeping overnight in my car was the best option compared to the uncertainty of sleeping overnight in the airport.

 

 

 

Why not the Ritz-Carlton?

Some might not think these were the very best options at all. Why not just make a reservation at the Ritz-Carlton they might ask?

 

 

However I’m trying to maximize my entertainment at a reasonable expense. Recall that I have been retired and have not had a paying job for 14 years. That might make what I do even more remarkable.

 

 

Carol was skeptical.

Carol is rarely an active supporter of some of my trackchasing sleeping arrangements. She quite frequently recommends an option that I do not consider acceptable based on the time and/or money plan that I have. Her suggestions might be an option for a more affluent husband but not so much for me.

 

 

I came prepared.

Overall the idea of sleeping in my car worked out just fine. I brought my Tempurpedic travel pillow with me. I also had my foam rubber gardener’s pad to soften the edges of my Hyundai Sonata’s interior.

 

 

I set my iPhone timer for four hours. That would wake me at about 4:15 a.m. From time to time I was pleased that I had saved my large Wendy’s plastic drink cup. You’ll have to figure that one out on your own.

 

 

Out into the cold and icy night.

I was on the road and leaving the interstate rest area by 4:15 a.m. During the night the wind had been so strong as to rock the car. It rained/snowed during my entire time in the rest area. My remaining drive time to Chicago would be an hour and a half. Driving through Chicago is best done at about 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning!

 

 

Flying time.

It all went as planned my flight from Chicago to Seattle would be about four hours in the air. I would have a one-hour layover in SeaTac. The flight from Seattle to Los Angeles would be two hours. The process of getting my car and driving home would take another two hours or so.

 

 

I am thankful for my sponsors.

As you know I work with an airline sponsorship. Because I don’t have the large travel budgets of the Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers I couldn’t do this without my sponsors. I am thankful for that.

 

 

If there is an open seat on the airplane and no one has a better status than me I will make the flight. The flight to Seattle from Chicago this morning had plenty of open seats.

 

 

Flip flops or gym shoes?

However the connecting flights from Seattle to Los Angeles were much tighter. I could end up getting back to San Clemente by 5 p.m. on this Sunday or as late as 2 a.m. on Monday morning. No, trackchasing is not easy from a remote location like San Clemente. However, it is where Carol and I hang our flip-flops. Actually, I have never liked wearing flip-flops and as a result never did. Carol is a “gym shoe” person herself.  It’s a metaphor!

 

 

Getting more for less with tech.

The cheapest gas prices right now in San Clemente are about $2.95 a gallon. I have seen prices as low as $1.75 during this weekend’s drive. That’s a huge difference. I am told majority of that differences is do to state gasoline taxes and the proximity to oil refineries.

 

 

I paid $7.99 for an unlimited toll pass. That turned out to be a good idea. Without the pass my tolls would have cost twelve dollars. Illinois has a lot of tolls. The other states I drove in, Indiana and Michigan do not.

 

 

Salt trucks were out in force to control tonight’s wintry mix. At 5 a.m. the car’s thermometer recorded a low temperature for the trip of 19°.

 

 

I was able to use my iPhone with the Hyundai Sonata’s Bluetooth wireless audio system. This allowed me to listen to all of my iPhone podcasts there the car’s speakers.

 

 

I subscribe to several Apple sponsored podcast programs. These podcasts automatically download when I have an iPhone Wi-Fi connection. I can listen to several broadcasts of national programs without commercial interruption and at no charge whatsoever. This is a great feature and helps offset the six-dollar per day rental car charge for satellite radio.

 

 

On this trip I used Google maps as my GPS directed system from my iPhone. For some reason I couldn’t get the server to work with my “go to” GPS program, Waze.

 

 

All of my photo and video recording was done with my iPhone as well. I have absolutely no idea how I lived my life before I got my iPhone. I frequently divide my life into two broad categories….before my iPhone and after my iPhone.

 

 

I’m able to download my airline boarding passes on my phone as well. I simply show my boarding pass from my phone to the TSA security agent and I am permitted to pass.

 

 

Of course I have the TSA pre-check program. That means I don’t have to remove my shoes or my jacket or take my jels and liquids out of my travel case or remove my laptop computer from its case. The lines are a lot shorter with TSA pre-check and I can be through security in 30 seconds or less.

 

 

Annoyed by travel?

A lot of people are annoyed with the hassles of travel. By using all of the things that I frequently tell you about I am rarely if ever annoyed by the travel experience.

 

 

Long ago I understood that if I were going to enjoy an evening of indoor auto racing at a place like Battle Creek, Michigan while at the same time living in San Clemente California, I was going to have to travel. I wanted those entertainment opportunities. I figured I had best figure out the best easiest way to travel. That way I wouldn’t end up being annoyed as others sometimes are.

 

 

As I approached the airport at 5:30 a.m. this morning my iPhone told me where the cheapest place to get gas was. I use the “Gas Guru” iPhone app for this purpose.

 

 

This must be non-intuitive.

There is one very interesting non-intuitive aspect about “tech”. A lot of people don’t have the best tech stuff because they think it’s too expensive. In reality having the right tech equipment, and importantly knowing how to use it, will save many times whatever has been spent on the best tech products. Some people don’t understand that. I do. 

 

 

It’s really all about buying good things cheap. I have long had a system for selling back my Apple computers and phones, after a period of 2-3 years, for about half the price I paid originally. Customers of competing Apple products can’t do that.

 

 

Apple products, like foreign cars, may cost a little more to begin with. However they retain their value remarkably well. In the long run Apple products are actually less expensive than Windows-based machines and the reliability and ease of use is better. Sorry, there I’ve said it and I can’t take it back.

 

 

By the way I use the Evernote app to dictate the contents of my Trackchaser Reports into my iPhone. That way I don’t forget all the details that you might find interesting. Later on I will email the complete contents of my dictation to myself. I’ll copy and paste the content into a Microsoft Word file. Yes, I still use Microsoft Word and Excel even though I am an Apple user. When I finish “massaging” the Word text I will again cut and paste everything into my WordPress website program.

 

 

I paid a $1.99 for fuel on Ogden Avenue about 15 miles outside O’Hare. My 387-mile round-trip driving distance consumed 12.5 gallons of gas. The Hyundai Sonata gave me 30.96 miles per gallon.

 

 

These factors needed to be considered.

That’s pretty good when you consider two additional factors. I drove over to Michigan and back at speeds of 70-80 MPH not exactly in the most fuel efficient speed range. Additionally I probably let the car idle for an hour or more while trying to keep warm overnight in the interstate rest area.

 

 

How did I ever live here?

When I got out of the car to refuel in the Chicago burbs the temperature had fallen to 19° with a slight wind. I grew up in Illinois. By the grace of God I was relocated to California once, left for Connecticut and then Chicago and finally demanded a relocation back to California. I have absolutely no idea how I got through the Illinois climate. I grew up there! I will never ever live in a cold weather climate again.

 

 

The longest line in years.

The line for people clearing airport security this morning was the longest I’ve seen in a couple of years. There must’ve been 200-300 people or more in the queue. However I quickly bypassed all of that mumbo-jumbo with TSA pre-check in a minute or two.

 

 

I then made a beeline to the Chicago O’Hare American Airlines Admirals club. There I could relax for an hour get something to eat and drink and be ready for my long journey back to our modest seaside cottage in San Clemente.

 

 

 

 

Michigan

 

 

The Wolverine state

This evening I saw my 117th lifetime track in the Wolverine state, yes the Wolverine state. I’ve only seen more tracks in the state of California. Michigan is one of four states where I have seen 100 or more tracks. The others are Illinois, Iowa and the aforementioned California.

 

 

 

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

Michigan sayings: Directions In Michigan Are As Simple As Using Your Hand

 

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Seattle, WA (SEA) – 958 miles

Seattle, WA (SEA) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,761 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #1

O’Hare International Airport – trip begins

Battle Creek, MI

O’Hare International Airport – trip ends – 387 miles

 

AIRPLANE

Chicago, IL (ORD) – Seattle, WA (SEA) – 1,761 miles

Seattle, WA (SEA) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 958 miles

 

 

Total air miles – 5,438 (4 flights)

Total rental car miles – 387 (1 car)

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 5,825 miles 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Kellogg Arena – $16

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $16

 

 

 

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

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,188

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

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

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 70

 

 

 

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 Plus” 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.

 

 

 

Kellogg Arena – indoor racing – the photo album