Greetings from Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Kent Raceways
Dirt oval
Lifetime Track #517
Reprinted with permission from my August 26, 2001, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) it didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often times a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 430 tracks. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER My name is Randy Lewis. I live in San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Before you discovered my site had you ever heard of trackchasing? Maybe not? So….what the heck is trackchasing? Sit back, take a read and you’ll be an expert on my hobby of trackchasing when you’re finished. Here’s my best explanation. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Trackchasing fills the need for all of the above. The racing part of my trackchasing has me trying to see wheel to wheel auto racing at as many different racetracks as I can all over the world. Yes, all over the world. So far things are going pretty well. As this is written, I’ve seen racing in 85 countries at more than 2,500 tracks. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen racing at more tracks than anyone else in the world. Equally important to me are the things I get to see and experience over the “long and dusty trackchasing trail”. I call these adventures “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page. Here’s the link: Trackchasing Tourist Attractions or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page, Sports Spectating Resume on my website at www.randylewis.org. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. As a matter of fact, my average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many other cultures, spend time in their homes and meet their friends is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. It takes a good deal of planning to do the above and not spend my entire retirement portfolio. I enjoy the challenge, the travel and every other aspect of “trackchasing”. In reality, my trackchasing hobby is a lot like being with the carnival. I breeze into town, stay a little while and then head on down the road. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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 Sunday, August 26, 2001. Greetings from Agassiz, British Columbia, Today’s travel plan called for a border crossing from Washington State into the province of British Columbia in Canada. I chose a rural crossing area at Lynden, Washington. I was a little concerned about how to answer the question about where I was from. I hold a Hawaii driver’s license but live in California. It seemed like whichever way I answered this question could be wrong and I would be put in prison for 10 years to life. Carol has trained me to feel these guilt pangs ever since I got the Hawaii license nearly four years ago. I’ve never had any problems up to now but the “big one” must be coming and if and when it does Carol will WIN! As it turned out after confirming that I, indeed, did not possess any alcohol, tobacco, mace or pepper spray I was allowed to cross the border without incident. The entire process took less than a minute. I quickly found the Canadian National Highway 1 and headed out toward Agassiz which it turns out is the corn capital of British Columbia. The track is in a rural location. Here are the National Speedway Directory directions from Highway 1. 0.9 West of highway 9 on highway 7, then 0.8 miles north on Hot Springs Road, then 1.6 miles west on McCallum, then 0.4 miles north on Cemetery Road, then bear right, go 0.4 miles to Alum Park, then left. Of course, most of the roads did not have road signs and I was out in the middle of nowhere. But, I made it. I walked up to the pit area pay window and bought my pit pass for $20 Canadian. That’s about $12-13 American. General admission was just $7 Canadian. As I was filling out the pit paperwork one of the ladies exclaimed to the other, “Look, he’s wearing shorts”. At first, I thought this was a Canadian pickup line. Alas, it turned out no was allowed in the pit area wearing shorts. I’ve run into this problem in the entire state of New Jersey and at the NASCAR race in Bristol, TN. At Bristol, I taped two towels to my shorts and they let me in. Once in the towels were tossed and I went about my merry way. Today I would have to switch to long pants which I did. Luckily, I had carried one pair of Dockers with me for this trip. My next encounter was with the pitman in charge of letting people go from the outside of the track into the center of the track where the cars were pitted. Since they were time trailing when I got there I had to wait for several minutes. My conversation encounter with this gentleman was priceless. Excerpts of our conversation included the following: Randy: I came up from California to see your races Pit Man: When did you leave? (As in maybe earlier that morning?? It’s 1,419 miles from San Clemente to Agassiz!) Randy: I’m a trackchaser and have been to more than 500 tracks. Pit Man: Holy Crow! (not holy cow!) Randy: Who’s the hot dog (faster driver)? Pit Man: Ever who’s fastest! Randy: Do you race twice a month? Pit Man: No, every second Sunday (his way of saying every other Sunday). This guy has a career awaiting him on Saturday Night Live!! It was a glorious day for racing. The ¼-mile semi-banked asphalt oval sits in the middle of a huge Evergreen forest. In fact, the town sits in the middle of a huge Evergreen forest. The track also features snow-capped mountains just off the backstretch. This is one of the prettier settings you’ll see for a racetrack. During this trip, I’ve seen three of the tops of the most beautiful mountains in the U.S., which were Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. With clear blue skies all weekend every one of them offered a picture postcard view. I learned there is no prize money for the drivers. This surprised me. Each class does have one race at the end of the season that pays $1,000 to win. During the season they just race for trophies. This is club racing. Whenever a car would drop oil on the track workers would stop the race and put concrete dust on the track to soak up the moisture. Then just about every pit crew member would bring out a push broom to brush the dust away. I counted 19 different push brooms on the track at one time. The classes consisted of mini stocks (12), street stocks (13) and sportsman (9). Each class ran a 5-lap dash, two heat races (all cars in each heat) and 30-40 lap features. The program started at about 1 p.m. and was over by 3:30 p.m. They inverted the cars based upon time trials and there was lots of good two and three-wide racing with passing. I’d much rather see a show like this than a $32 World of Outlaw freight train. The grandstand was 8 rows high and would probably seat 1,000 people. Today the stands were about half full and most of the seats were in the shade. With no other track to go to or plane to catch it was a very relaxing day in perfect weather conditions. Restroom facilities consisted of permanent outhouses! I know the ladies always enjoy the amenities offered at short track racing venues. I remember outhouses at both Lincoln and Lernerville Speedways. My friend, Jim Sabo (above second from left), once left his new sunglasses in the Lernerville outhouse! The PA system was good and the announcer solid. Refreshments were somewhat limited to hamburgers and hot dogs. I settled for a cheeseburger, dream sickle and two grape sodas. Many thanks to Will White for offering up this racing opportunity. My Southern Oregon choice of Worden Speedway was canceled. I asked my trackchasing friends to offer up a Sunday afternoon choice within 500 miles of Portland, Oregon. Will suggested Agassiz. Agassiz was a good Sunday choice that then dictated a Saturday night change of venue. Net, Will’s advice gave me the opportunity to get an additional track. Kent Raceways was my 517th-lifetime track and 51st new track of the season. As a matter of fact, British Columbia was my 23rd different state or province visited racing this season. Restaurants of the day: A nice dinner was had at the Great River Restaurant in Everett. Joe and Donna, this looked like the restaurant we ate at on our somewhat ill-fated pre-cruise luncheon and border crossing fiasco on the way to Alaska. Can this be? Burgerville…stopped here to sample the Oregon Blackberry Milkshake. It was worth it and the cheeseburger was good as well. Canadian Musings: Canadians smoke a lot. Why would a young person, who isn’t hooked yet, ever smoke? The evidence seems pretty overwhelming that it’s a bad thing. 90%+ of adults who smoke/smoked say it is/was a big mistake. Don’t understand this one. Golf is big in Canada. You can hardly go by a freeway exit without a sign directing you to a golf course or driving range. I heard a Canadian radio station giving the headline results of this weekend’s PGA tournament. They mentioned the two or three leaders and noted that Mike Weir (above) was in 24th place. Of course, Mike is one of the few Canadians on the tour. I couldn’t resist the duty-free shop at the Canadian/U.S. border. I went in looking for a Canadian golf hat and came out with a large decorative bottle of Crown Royale bourbon whiskey. I’ll get the hat next time! Airport Sightings: Ran into my golfing buddy and former Navy SEAL, Charlie Garrett and his wife at the Portland Airport. They were on their way home after a short trip to Bend, Oregon. The websites listed below were operational in 2001. Do they still work today? Your guess is as good as mine. 482 Savannah Speedway, Savannah, MO (no web site) 492 Painesville Speedway – (oval track), Painesville, OH (http://members.tripod.com/pspeedway/) 493 Painesville Speedway – (figure 8 track), Painesville, OH (http://members.tripod.com/pspeedway/) British Columbia The Beautiful British Columbia province This afternoon, in 2001, I saw racing at my first-ever racetrack in the Beautiful British Columbia province, yes the Beautiful British Columbia province. As this classic Trackchaser Report is being posted (2019) I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in BC. I’ve now seen 25 tracks up here. Who is the second leading trackchaser in British Columbia? That would be the World’s #3 Trackchaser, my wife, Trackchasing’s First Mother, Carol Lewis. She has seen racing at six BC tracks. The next leading trackchaser in British Columbia has seen TWO BC tracks. Two? Yeah, two! Folks, I’m not smart enough to make this stuff up. Why only two? You would have to ask the other non-performing trackchasers. By the way the best any trackchaser can do who lives east of the Mississippi is one BC track. Yes, for most trackchasing is a regional hobby. Nothing wrong with that. 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 QUICK FACTS…..as of 2019 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 725 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries The nearest trackchasing competitor has seen racing in 30 fewer countries compared to my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
TRAVEL/PEOPLE NEWS
RACING NEWS
New racetracks visited in 2001
British Columbia sayings: I find this amooseing!
