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I first visited Kinross, Michigan in 2011.  Kinross is located way up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  On this evening I was here to see racing at their 1/4-mile asphalt oval track.  Because the area is so remote this track seems to have gone in and out of business a few times.  Along the way I had the chance to see the locks at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.  I even flew into the tiny Chippewa County International Airport.  How many people get to do that?

 

 

 

Then during the late summer of 2015 I returned to Kinross, Michigan.  They were having their annual county fair.  Part of the fair included some figure 8 racing on a makeshift figure 8 track right in front of the sold out grandstand.  On the way up to Kinross I stopped at one of my all-time favorite Trackchasing Tourist Attractions, Bronner’s Christmas store.  This is the largest Christmas store in the world.  I visit every chance I get.

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You won’t want to miss the stories, photo albums and videos from each of these far north track visits.  If you get the chance to visit Michigan’s Upper Peninsula do it.  You’ll hear about “trolls” aka the people who “live under the bridge” and lots of other cool things.  Don’t miss the U.P. and the tabs in this post that will entertain you.

Reprinted with permission from my June 17, 2011 Trackchaser Report.

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DAYS 1-2 – “THIS BUSINESS MODEL WON’T BE REPLICATED” TRACKCHASING TOUR

 

 

 

TODAY’S HEADLINES

Looks as if I will be traveling a lot in the Midwest and East this summer…………..details in “The Objective & The Strategy”.

 

 

The ‘three options’ for most trackchasing trips………………more in “The Objective & The Strategy”.

 

 

 

Asti & Mitch – Age Three!…………..details in “Where have you been?”.

 

 

 

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

I last trackchased some thirteen days ago (Indonesia). The weekend of June 10-12 was my EIGHTH weekend off from trackchasing this year. I am perfectly on schedule to meet or exceed my goal of taking at least 18 weekends off from the hobby in 2011. My fellow competitors continue to “beat the pavement” almost every weekend of the year. It’s amazing that I can keep up.

 

 

Our season of major league baseball has begun. Each year we get tickets to about 10 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim games. This year our regular contact for tickets dropped the ball. Therefore, we picked out a series of games that will offer two things, 1) free gifts and 2) fireworks. Every Friday home game offers free fireworks when the game is over.

 

 

Unfortunately, the Angels have fallen on hard times. Due to injuries and players who can no longer perform to their previous capabilities they have no offense. There offensive production is terrible. It’s going to be a long season.

 

 

However, the real highlight of this weekend was our grandbabies birthday party. They turned three. We will always have a mid-June weekend off from trackchasing now. About 50 people showed up for the party. Then the immediate family spent the afternoon at the Rose Bowl. No, we didn’t see a football game. We went to “Kid’s Space (Kidspace). We wrapped up the evening with some family time together. It was a pleasant way to spend this weekend. If you’re interested in seeing Asti and Mitch at age three check out this video:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greeting from Kinross, Michigan

 

 

 

THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE

 

 

 

The Objective and the Strategy  

 

 

The objective.

 

Conflicting objectives. 

My trackchasing objective remains the same. However, my strategy will be modified somewhat over the next couple of months. My main plan is to see racing at as many tracks as possible while spending the least amount of time away from home. Yes, you’re right. Those are conflicting objectives.

 

 

  

The strategy.

 

I must travel further and further every week. 

In order to remain competitive in this hobby I’m going to have to travel further and further from home. I will pretty much have to travel to Chicago and beyond to get a trip started. The most new tracks remain in the Midwest and East for me.

 

 

I’ve seen nearly every countable track in the Far West and New England. There isn’t much left to see in the south either. That area is limited because they don’t race on Sundays and there are very few Friday night tracks in the south left to see. This leaves the Midwest and the East.

 

 

 

My ‘classic’ trip is being modified. 

My “classic” trackchasing trip has me leaving on Friday and returning home on Sunday or Monday. This type of trip will normally yield 3-4 tracks. That means if I trackchase over 34 weekends I should end up with 75-100 tracks. That will keep my fellow competitors at bay for as long as I can do that.

 

 

 

I have three options for initiating a trip that normally begins on Friday. You decide which of these three choices might be the most preferable to you.

 

 

 

Option #1 

This would have me leaving on Friday morning. Although this option is the most preferable (it means the most time at home), it is fraught with peril. First, in order to catch a 6 or 7 a.m. flight I have to get up at 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning. That’s not good.

 

 

Additionally, the morning flights are the most crowded. That makes flying standby difficult if not impossible. I have to catch that very first flight if I’m going to beat the west to east time zone change and make it to the track on time.

 

 

Option #2 

This option has me leaving home a little earlier than option #1. With option #2 I would plan to take the “red eye” flights. These flights normally depart from 9 p.m. to midnight. Somewhat unbelievably, these flights are very crowded as well. They may be nearly as jam-packed as the early morning flights. Remember, my “airline sponsorships” only work if there is an unsold seat for me to use. Finally, this can be a good option, since I don’t have any hotel expense for the evening. Of course, the downside is that my airline seat becomes my “hotel room”.

 

 

Option #3 

I see this option becoming the most popular in the near term. It involves me leaving on these trips in the late afternoon of the day before my first race. That means leaving on Thursday afternoon of a “classic Friday” trip.

 

 

During the summer, the most “open” flights seem to be in the late afternoon. They are not “wide open” but more open that early morning flights or “red-eyes”.

 

 

Most of my trips involve two flights from Los Angeles. First I fly into one of my sponsor’s “city hubs”. That includes about ten major cities in the Midwest or East. Leaving in the late afternoon from LAX will only get me to the hub. Then on Friday morning, I will have to get the “second flight” from the airline hub to the smaller city where my race is nearest.

 

 

Option #3 has me leaving home about 12-14 hours earlier than option #1. Since I now have at least eighteen weekends away from trackchasing, leaving a half-day early on 10 trips or so each year isn’t too bad.

 

 

The only real incremental expense is the need for an extra night’s hotel room in one of my “hub cities”. Sometimes circumstances (like this weekend) don’t even involve an extra night’s hotel expense.

 

 

 

 

The Trip

 

 

THURSDAY

 

 

This week I begin using my ‘summer strategy’. 

For this weekend I would be using my new “summer strategy”. First, I surveyed all of my Friday night track options. I have less than 25 tracks remaining to be seen that race regularly on a Friday night. During July and August county fairs will pop up as Friday night options.

 

 

Weather for this Friday night was a problem. Racers in America are spoiled. They won’t race in the rain (road courses excepted). Rain seemed to be almost everywhere this Friday night. I won’t go anywhere where the rain probability is 40% or more. Thirty percent worries me. Weather forecasts of 20% or less are what I require to travel long distances.

 

 

This weather strategy led me to Kinross, Michigan. Kinross is not that easy to get too. The little town is in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It’s 340 miles north of Detroit! That means that if I flew into Detroit I would be looking at a nearly 700-mile round-trip drive. That’s fifteen hours and the better part of a hundred dollar bill for fuel.

 

 

I had to consider all my options. 

My best flight options were to leave Los Angeles for Detroit, Minneapolis or New York City. I preferred the Detroit flight but it became oversold at the last minute. My next option was New York’s JFK airport. With JFK I wouldn’t even need a hotel room. My LAX flight landed at JFK at 1 a.m. Friday and my “connecting” flight left for Detroit just six hours later.

 

 

I would sleep at JFK. I consulted www.sleepinginairports.com. The folks over there quickly pointed out that JFK is one of the “ten worst” airports to sleep overnight it. At least I wasn’t trying to do this in the worst, Moscow, Russia.

 

 

The Minneapolis flight left an hour and one-half after the New York flight. Its overnight accommodations would have me in a hotel room for only six hours. In the “airline standby” game, one must go with a “bird in the hand rather than two birds in the bush”. That means when you have two flight options, you take the one that leaves first!

 

 

Although not my must comfortable trip ever, it was my best option. 

My situation would not be the most comfortable airline experience I had ever had. I received a middle seat in coach for the flight out to New York, a flying distance of 2,485 miles. Because I was boarding last, I had to check my carry on bag at the door of the plane. That was bad for me.

 

 

 

I did see a great movie on the plane called “Company Men”. It starred Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner. It was about corporate managers enjoying all the trappings of success (house, car, trips) and then being laid off in the economic downturn. In several cases they had to sell everything, piece by piece, to get by. Excellent movie.

 

 

 

FRIDAY

 

 

Even the best laid plans….. 

Having to check my bag meant when the plane landed I would have to leave security to get my bag at 1 a.m. I wouldn’t be able to get back into the secured area until a couple of hours before my 7 a.m. flight to Detroit. That screwed up my “terminal three sleeping plan”.

 

 

Nevertheless, just outside security, I found a group of four people sleeping in chairs with a footrest to use. There was one open chair. I grabbed it. However, soon I elected to sleep on the floor of the JFK airport. That wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do but there were two bright points. First, I only had to do it from about 1:45 a.m. Eastern time until 5 a.m. Secondly, it helped out my travel budget numbers.

 

 

With very little quality sleep I was up in plenty of time for my 7 a.m. flight to Detroit. I checked the “back numbers” and found out I would have missed the LAX-Detroit flight yesterday by one seat. Therefore, it was good “strategy” to fly to New York. This morning’s flight to Detroit was open. I even got a first class seat. However, I was too tired to enjoy it. I slept through the entire flight!

 

 

 

The People

 

 

When will these people stop? 

My fellow competitors just won’t stop. Don’t they realize they should just give up?  Since I am likely the “most underfunded” of any of them this makes it difficult for me.  I don’t want to ruin their self-esteem.

 

 

We have a new second place chaser. 

First, during this past week Guy Smith passed Ed Esser for second place in the worldwide trackchasing standings. Guy now leads by a single track, 1,378 to 1,377. On the one hand I feel badly for Ed. He does all of his own trackchasing. Guy uses a “team approach”. If Guy didn’t have other people doing the driving and covering much of the expense he wouldn’t be anywhere close to Ed.

 

 

On the other hand, if Ed can make multiple round-trip drives from Wisconsin to New Mexico with today’s higher than historically normal gas prices then I guess he must be “loaded”. I hesitate to use the word “rich guy” but I’m just sayin’. I will also say this. I was concerned to see Ed passing up two Badger midget races this month. One was at my home track of Peoria Speedway. I would have liked to have seen that show at the ¼-mile high-banked bullring. Has the competitiveness of the trackchasing hobby affected one of the last bastions of trackchasing purity? When Ed Esser starts passing up Badger midget races, we are getting about as competitive as we can get.

 

 

These guys just won’t give up! 

Finally, we come to European trackchaser Roland Vanden Eynde. This month he saw racing in his 48^th different country, Iceland. This is the last European country, where Roland had never been, and at least one other trackchaser had seen racing. More than 75% of Roland’s country visits have come in Europe. For him to stay competitive in the “country’s race” he’s going to have to leave his comfort zone.

 

 

How much longer can they spend this kind of money? 

I can see how much these guys are spending on trackchasing. If they continue to do that, I will not be able to remain competitive. I could not nor would I spend the kind of money these guys do on their hobby. Of course, everyone has to do what they think is right. I just don’t have those kind of funds being a retired pensioner living on a small fixed income…..or whatever.

 

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION 

I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home. 

 

 

I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day.

 

 

Soo Locks – Sault Ste Marie, Michigan 

The Soo (pronounced Sue) Locks allow ships to travel between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes. More than 10,000 ships pass through the locks each year. I was lucky to see a ship moving through during my short visit today.

 

 

The Soo Locks are the #1 tourist attraction in the area. Admission is free. It was a picture perfect day weather wise. The Army Corps of Engineers operates the locks. They have a huge two-story viewing area where spectators can see the ships move slowly through the locks in both directions. This was a fun way to spend an hour or so and learn something new.

 

 

 

  

RACE REVIEW

 

 

KINROSS INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY – KINROSS, MICHIGAN

 

 

 

There were more TSA employees than passengers.

I flew 3,278 miles to get here. Then I found the track was just 1.8 miles from the Sault Ste Marie Airport. Using the term “airport” is a bit of a stretch. They have just two flights in and two flights out all day!

 

 

My rental car came from Thrifty Rental Car today. I was given a Ford Focus. If Carl Edwards of NASCAR fame is really driving a Ford Focus at Daytona like this one he had better increase his life insurance.

 

 

What a job! 

The Thrifty Rental Car office at the airport is open for just one hour (1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.) each day. The rest of the time they are available “by appointment only”.  This sounds like the work schedule of some of my fellow competitors. Wow!

 

 

My car comes with a 100-mile limit per day. Anything over that will cost me 25 cents per mile. Luckily, I will be able to come in under that limit. Although the track and the airport are both in Kinross, Michigan the nearest hotel is 15 miles or more away in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. Going from the airport to the hotel to the track, back to the hotel for the night and finally back to the airport racked up about 90 miles of driving.

 

 

All tracks should have ‘graduated banking’. 

The Kinross International Speedway is a quarter-mile banked asphalt oval. It was built in 1995. This was one of the first tracks to have “graduated banking”. The track is banked three degrees on the inside and twelve degrees on the outside. That did allow for some good side-by-side racing but the inside lane is the preferred way around the track.

 

 

In 15 years or racing there have been five operators at this track. That’s pretty much the norm for short track racing. Sometimes the turnover is even greater.

 

 

Can you spell S-K-I-N-N-Y? 

Tonight’s car counts were microscopic. There were four classes racing including 4-cylinders (6), pure stocks (4), factory stocks (4) and modifieds (4). Normally, I would complain to the high heavens about such small numbers of cars. However, the racing was surprisingly good. Each division ran a 4-lap trophy dash, 10-lap heat and 20-lap feature. Every race saw 2-3 cars battling for the win. Those races just didn’t have 10-12 cars behind the top three!

 

 

The Kinross International Speedway is located at the Chippewa County Fairgrounds. They have one of those classic old county fair covered grandstands. There are not many of those still around.

 

 

Job well done on all fronts! 

The P.A. system was loud. The announcer was a young 16-year old woman who wasn’t afraid to speak. She did a nice job giving drivers names and describing the action during the races. I’m sure this announcing experience will serve her well later on in life.

 

 

The races started on time at 7:30 p.m. with the singing of first the Canadian national anthem and then the U.S. song. Did you here what I said? They STARTED ON TIME!!

 

 

When one race was finished they had the next one ready to go. The entire program consisted on 12 races and 136 laps of racing. There were few yellows. However, when any car did get just a little out of shape the yellow was quickly displayed. I guess with such small numbers of cars they didn’t want to have any of them go missing.

 

 

The announcer gave me a nice mention for visiting the Kinross track. She told the crowd where I had been trackchasing recently and that I had slept overnight in the New York JFK airport last night in order to get here tonight. Then she asked me to stand and be recognized in front of the 200 people on hand tonight. I wasn’t hard to spot since I was wearing a “UCLA” t-shirt.

 

 

Following the races a few fans stopped to say hello. They reminded me that the Michigan economy is hurting badly. This is likely responsible for the small numbers of cars racing tonight.

 

 

The weather was warm most of the evening. The show was finished by about 9:45 p.m. Even at that hour it was probably light enough to finish the 18^th hole.

 

 

Everybody’s been here. 

This track is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Kinross is less than twenty miles from the Canadian border. I figured that no trackchaser excepting Michigander Allan Brown had ever been this far north to see a race in Michigan. I was surprised to see the top eight Michigan trackchasers (now including me) had been to Kinross!

 

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

 

 

 

Michigan 

This evening I saw my 70th lifetime track in Michigan, the Wolverine state, yes the Wolverine state. I have now trackchased in 19 American states this year. I like to move around.

 

 

I have a fifth place ranking here well behind Norm Wagner’s 101-track total. P.J. Hollebrand brings up sixth place with 69 tracks. Allan Brown leads in his home state with 160 tracks!

 

 

I have seen seventy or more tracks in these states: 

California

Illinois

Iowa

Michigan

 

 

I still have an incredible 105 tracks remaining to be seen in Michigan. Some five of my 20-25 remaining Friday night tracks are up here. The rest of this large total are mainly one time per year county fair locations. That’s a lot of county fairs!

 

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features!

My review of the Apple iPhone trackchasing “app” Track Guide powered by the National Speedway Directory.

 

How is the transition going from unofficial trackchasing commissioner Will White to his successor?

 

 

  

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Michigan sayings: Even if you’ve been fishing for 3 hours and haven’t gotten anything except poison ivy and a sunburn, you’re still better off than the worm.

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – New York, NY JFK) – 2,485 miles

New York, NY JFK) – Detroit, MI (DTW) – 507 miles

Detroit, MI (DTW) – Sault Ste Marie, MI (CIU) – 286 miles 

 

RENTAL CAR #1 

Sault Ste Marie International Airport – trip begins

Kinross, MI – 1.8 miles

Sault Ste Marie International Airport – 91 miles – trip ends

 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: 

Kinross International Speedway – $7 ($2 senior discount)

 

 

  

COMPARISONS

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS 

 

 

There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,660

 

 

2. Guy “The Kid” Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,378

 

 

3. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 1,377

 

 

 

 

 

Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

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You might have remembrances of the Kinross International Speedway.  If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below.  If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com.  I’ll try to include them here.

 

 

Reprinted with permission from my September 2, 2015 Trackchaser Report.

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

 

Greetings from Kinross, Michigan,

 

 

Light at the end of the tunnel.

I woke up this morning at an Extended Stay America hotel property in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today is day #59 of my 66-day adventure.

 

 

I will admit that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this particular trip. However I will also tell you that if there were enough tracks to see and adventures to explore I could easily stay out for another 59 days.

 

 

I checked into my Extended Stay America hotel last night at about 10 p.m. I had purchased a one night stay here from Priceline.com. The fully inclusive price with taxes was $52. The lowest rate that Extended Stay America was selling their hotel rooms to “normal guests” was $105 with tax. Any questions?

 

 

Yes at $52; Maybe not at $105

This got me to thinking. I like Extended Stay America hotels. They always give me a large room which includes a full kitchen, laundry and a “grab and go” breakfast of peanut granola bars. Who could resist the allure of that? However, I like them a lot more at $52 rather than $105.

 

 

I would begin my trackchasing day at about noon today. The drive from Ann Arbor up to the upper Peninsula of Michigan carried a one-way driving distance of about 325 miles.

 

 

Here was my idea.

I figured tonight’s racing would end about 9:30 or 10 p.m. Following the races I needed to get down to Sitka, Kentucky for tomorrow night’s racing. The driving distance from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula down to Kentucky’s racetrack was about 679 miles or 11 driving hours. Here was my idea. After tonight’s racing in Michigan I would drive five hours back to Ann Arbor, Michigan. The plan was to stay for a second night at the Extended Stay America hotel in Ann Arbor.

 

Yes I would have to drive five hours after tonight’s racing. However isn’t that what 5-Hour Energy drink is for?

 

 

With this plan I would again get a great rate on my hotel…about half of what “normal” guests would be paying. Additionally I wouldn’t have to check out of my hotel this morning. I wouldn’t have to check into a different hotel tonight. I thought this was a wonderful plan so that’s what I did.

 

 

A busy trackchasing day.

Today’s trackchasing day had a variety of activities. I started off by taking a 45-minute power walk. At 10 a.m. it was already hot in Ann Arbor. I worked up a good sweat.

 

 

There was just enough time today to do my final set of washing and drying of my dirty trackchasing clothes. I’ve needed to do laundry about every eight or nine days for the first 59 days of this trip. Mind you in 43 years of marriage I can never ever recall doing any washing or drying in my own home. Please don’t judge me. I grew up watching Leave It To Beaver and never once did I see Ward Cleaver doing any chores. I’ll just leave it at that.

 

 

I guess I COULD do a chore at home if I had to. It’s just that I’m not really allowed to do any chores. This is a marital ruling that I don’t feel strong enough to challenge.

 

 

When all of my laundry was done it was time to hop in the National Car Rental Hyundai Sonata and head on up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I am so happy I can’t stand it to be driving a Sonata.

 

 

At different points on this trip I’ve been stuck with a Ford or Chevy. The cars they produce in the price range of the Sonata don’t compare very well.

 

 

I’ll take the Sonata.

If I were going to buy a car in the Sonata’s price range I think I would probably buy a Sonata. It is a smooth and quiet running car. The gas mileage is beyond phenomenal. I’m getting 38-40 miles a gallon with this four-door sedan. I often drive it 80 miles an hour with the air-conditioning going full song.

 

 

You all know that I highly value my Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I try to see and experience as many different touring genres as I possibly can. If you’ve ever had a chance to take a look at the “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” tab on the bottom of my website homepage you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Here’s a link if you want to go there now:

 

Randy’s Trackchasing Tourist Attractions

 

 

 

There are a few TTAs that I will go back time and again whenever I’m in that particular geographical area. One of those places is the Bronner’s Christmas store in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

 

 

Bronner’s….a don’t miss place.

Bronner’s is the largest Christmas store in the world. I love Christmas decorations. I can walk into Bronner’s 361 days a year and see more Christmas decorations than most people will see in a lifetime.

 

 

The funny thing about Bronner’s is that I drove by the place tens of times during all of my Michigan travels until about five years ago. I was like most people. I was just too busy to stop.

 

 

Finally one day I had a little bit of extra time. I stopped at Bronner’s and was simply “blown away” by the hugeness and beauty of their Christmas store operation.

 

 

I have now stopped here 5-10 times. Considering I live 2,000 miles from the store I guess you could consider me a frequent shopper. I’ve even had the chance to bring Carol here a couple of times.

 

 

Today I bought some Christmas related items for the grandbabies and for Carol. I hope you’ll be reading this trackchasers before Christmas. I can tell you that I bought Carol some clip on earrings that I think she will love. I’ll give them to her for her birthday in December.

 

 

This won’t spoil the surprise.

Do I worry that by mentioning this now I will ruin her birthday surprise? Not a chance. Carol doesn’t read my reports. She files them away ostensibly for viewing after my death. However she tells me “I get to live this so I don’t need to read all about it again.” That makes sense to me.

 

 

Following my 45-minute stop at Bronner’s it was time to head up Interstate 75 for another three hours or so. I would need to decide what I was going to have for dinner and beyond.

 

 

I don’t plan things very far in advance. When I do have a plan whether it’s for something in the next hour, the next day or the next week I am 100% open to changing the plan if a better idea comes along.

 

 

Just today I saw that one of my fellow competitors was talking about his plan for a couple of months from now. I have ZERO idea where I will be trackchasing a couple of months from now especially if I were to trackchase in the United States. I will certainly have a long list of racetrack dates to consider for future trips. However I won’t lock into anything until a couple of days before it’s time to leave sunny Southern California. Even then if the weather looks bad or I have a better chance of getting quality transportation to another location I’ll change the plan in a second.

 

 

I like billboards.

I must tell you I am easily influenced by billboard advertising. Often times when we travel to Europe we are frustrated because there are no billboards. Yes it might make the countryside a little better looking. However, if you were a consumer of things, and we are, without advertising how are you going to find what it is you want to consume?

 

 

Just as I was driving along thinking about a late lunch I came across a billboard touting “The Cheese Shop”. The store also goes by the name of the “Pinconning Cheese House”.

 

 

I will tell you this cheese house was no match for my all-time world favorite, the Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha, Wisconsin. However I was able to acquire a roll of Genoa sausage as well as two containers of refrigerated cheese curds. I went with the garlic as well as the onion garlic cheese curds.

 

 

DMD.

All of the above along with a liter of Diet Mountain Dew was had for about 22 bucks. I figured that would give me a late lunch for today, a lady evening snack after the races tonight and breakfast tomorrow. The food and drink sounded like a bargain to me.

 

 

I had just one more stop to make before I put the pedal to the metal for the last couple hundred miles up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I would be crossing the famous Mackinac Bridge. But first the Sonata would need some gas.

 

 

The car gets about 600 miles per tank. I haven’t had a car in recent years even approach that. The more miles I can get on a single tank of fuel the better.

 

 

I used my “Gas Guru” iPhone app to find the cheapest gas along my upcoming route. That turned out to be a Wal-Mart gas station selling fuel for $2.41 a gallon. Recall I paid just a $1.99 a gallon in St. Louis a few days ago. The difference in most state’s gas pricing is the amount of tax they put on a gallon of fuel. Obviously the federal tax rate on a gallon of gasoline is the same in all 50 states.

 

 

On my drive up to Kinross, Michigan it rained hard off and on. That didn’t bother me for two reasons. The rain forecast for Kinross was moderate. Even if it DID rain the type of racing I was seeing tonight would run rain or shine.

 

 

Somewhat disappointed.

I’m a little disappointed that my rental car’s SiriusXM system doesn’t include all of the channels that I’m accustomed to getting. Nevertheless I can supplement the satellite radio with my Apple “podcast app”.

 

 

There I can listen at my convenience to several of my favorite programs, which include the NBC Nightly News, APM: Marketplace, Meet The Press and this American Life among others. I might necessarily listen to these programs on TV but do enjoy the podcast version while driving. Another plus is there are no commercials. A 30-minute program can be covered in about 24 minutes.

 

 

A big plus with this app is it doesn’t use any of my cell phone data whatsoever. The programs are downloaded whenever I have a Wi-Fi connection. As mentioned, no commercials!

 

 

I had a sad feeling.

There was somewhat of a sad feeling in attending the Chippewa County Fair tonight in Kinross, Michigan. Why sad? Tonight was likely going to be my last county fair of the 2015 trackchasing season.

 

 

I would estimate that 60% of county fairs happen in July, maybe even more. Another 30% or so of the fairs are held during August. Just one in ten county fairs would happen outside of these two summer months.

 

 

Of course in Canada the fairs are held a little bit later. Most of the county fairs that I’ve heard about in Canada happen in September and October. I think up there the county fair started out as a celebration after the farm harvest coming in. From the folks I’ve talked to the lion’s share of “county” fairs in Canada are privately run. That’s a lot different than the United States where nearly all of the county fairs are government owned and operated.

 

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Chippewa County Fairgrounds – Kinross, Michigan

 

 

Junk car racing.

Tonight I would be seeing junk car racing on a figure 8 track. I have seen nearly 300 figure 8 racing venues. Most of them have been at county fairs.

 

 

I have also seen a large number of junk car in enduro races. They’re really not much different than junk car figure 8 races. An enduro would normally be contested on an oval configuration. I’ve also seen my share of stock car racing on traditional full-sized ovals at the county or state fair level.

 

 

County fairs….lots of ‘em.

I don’t have an official tally of how many races I have seen at county and state fairs. I’m going to guess it’s nearly 500. Back in the day I used to enjoy eating “fair food”.

 

 

Nowadays it seems like the selection of fair foods is a little bit smaller than it used to be. In some cases that is not true but I think it is more often than not. I rarely eat food at the fair is now. I prefer to eat before or after the fair. I know what I’m getting and won’t be disappointed in quality if I dine outside the fair. 

 

 

What is a junk car?

Here’s a quick note about “junk car” racing. What is a junk car? A junk car is essentially what others might call a “beater”. It’s a car that was on it’s last legs with its civilian owner before the car was dispensed to the junkyard and/or lower level used car lot.

 

 

In order to race a junk car the owner would strip the interior down to the bare metal. The glass would probably be removed. Possibly some steel support bars would be welded to the outside of the car’s side. This protects the driver and/or passenger from a side impact.

 

 

Sometimes the cars are painted and sometimes not. Any commercial lettering and the car’s number are usually crudely painted on the car. Sometimes the numbers are even spray-painted on. These are low-budget vehicles that often go to the crusher following their participation in the county fair junk car event.

 

 

USA Demo Derby.

Tonight I was seeing a race promoted and sanctioned by Michigan’s USA Demo Derby. I have seen 116 tracks in Michigan. Why is that number so high?

 

 

The state of Michigan has a normal amount of permanent oval tracks compared to other states in the Midwest. However they have an inordinate amount of county fairs with junk car races on ovals or figure eights.

 

 

Even though I have seen 116 tracks in Michigan I still have nearly 100 tracks, at mostly county fairs, still to see. On the other hand a neighboring state like Illinois has very few county fairs that offer racing. I can’t explain why.

 

 

Tonight’s racing was being called “autocross” racing by the USA Derby promoter. However with USA an auto cross race is almost always technically a figure 8 race.

 

 

Do you have a pen and paper?

Take a moment and draw yourself an eight as if you were trying to impress your grade school penmanship teacher. If done properly you will see that the eight crosses over itself in the middle of your diagram. That’s normally how a figure 8 auto racing track would look. The “X” or crossover is in the middle of the track.

 

 

However with most USA Derby promotions the “X” of the eight is at one extreme end of the track. With this group tracing one circle of the eight would be about 1/15 or 1/10 as big as the other circle of the eight.

 

 

Trackchasers rules call for counting tracks in three general configurations. One of those configurations would be an oval. Any form of an oval even tracks that are nearly circular are counted as “ovals”.

 

 

A road course is where a driver must turn both right AND left in order to navigate a lap around the course. If a driver turned both right and left that configuration will be defined as a road course except with this particular differentiation.

 

 

Essentially a figure 8 track is a road course that “crosses over itself”. A figure 8 driver must certainly turn both right and left when navigating a figure 8 configuration. However if the track crosses over itself on the same level it is a figure 8 track.

 

 

There is always an exception.

There is one exception to the above explanation. If a track is laid out to look like at eight but when the track crosses over itself it is done at an elevation (think of your remote control racing set as a kid) then it is a road course and not a figure 8 track!

 

 

Has my explanation cleared things up for you? Have I made you more confused than ever? The guy who wrote most of the “clarifications” of rule’s definitions is Will White.

 

 

Politics.

He did his very best to clarify situations whenever some interpretation problem came up. Quite frequently Will was dispatched to the drawing board by trackchasing’s “political hierarchy” based upon my interpretation and exploitation of the existing trackchasing rules.

 

 

I am a strong believer in adherence to rules all of my hobby. As a matter of fact I don’t think anyone has ever stuck to the rules more than me.

 

 

However, I don’t mind walking down the gray line of the rules but don’t want to step over the other side at any point in time. This is not exactly how all track chasers feel about the rules.

 

 

Sometime ago Belgium trackchaser Roland Vanden Eynde added, with the approval of the voting trackchasers, a new rule to allow road course variations to count twice. The rule is a little confusing but overall I guess I’m OK with it.

 

 

Looking the other way?

However when most trackchasers first saw a race on a road course they didn’t pay much attention to which configuration they might be watching. Sometimes these visits were 10-20 years ago. Therefore when Roland’s rule was added some trackchasers might not remember if the configuration they saw back in the day was really any different than what they might be seeing today.

 

 

One trackchaser told me that whatever configuration of a road course he might see today was “automatically” different from the one he may have seen 10-20 years ago. For him it was a “automatic” decision. He was just saying that no matter what the two track configurations were different whether they really were or not. I couldn’t buy into that strategy.

 

 

Crony capitalism.

Then you have a fellow like Guy Smith and some of his cronies who actually paid promoters to run an event on a track configuration that would add one more track to their totals. How exactly would that work?

 

 

Let’s say a small time racing operation, maybe even the county fair, was hosting a figure 8 race.  In that type of situation junk cars would race around a couple of tractor tires with a intersection in the middle where the track crossed over itself as mentioned above.

 

 

It really wouldn’t take much to go to the promoter and say, for $50-$100 “convince” (wink wink) the race promoter to also have an oval track “race” around the tractor tires. Get it? Guy Smith has attempted to do this more than once.

 

 

There is nothing in the rules that prevents a trackchaser from exerting this “influence”. However I believe it’s an ethical issue. It’s certainly an idea that I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with whatsoever.

 

 

I told you I’ve seen nearly 500 racing events at different county and state fairs. I probably have the resources to have “influenced” a promoter to add another configuration to the night’s racing activities for a fairly small amount of cash. I have never attempted to do that and I never would. I find the behavior of trackchasers who have attempted to bribe a promoter in this fashion to be despicable. Can I put that any more directly?

 

 

Tonight’s figure 8 racing.

There were about 25 cars racing tonight. That meant there would be for heat races with six or seven cars in each race. If a car finished in first or second place they would transfer to the main event. Cars finishing third or worse were done for the night.

 

 

The figure 8 track itself was small. The apex of the two outside turns was probably about 60-80 yards apart. Of course the racing surface was dirt as it is at 95% of the county fairs where this type of racing is held.

 

 

The heat races were contested over 12 laps. There seemed to be a large attrition rate. In most races only about half the cars finished the short events.

 

 

 

Sonny, the USA promoter, does the announcing at his events. He did a good job of informing and entertaining the fans. By the way the old county fair grandstand was packed with fans to the point where they even had to have some extra bleacher seating on one side of the covered grandstand. It was full too.

 

 

Tonight’s temporary figure 8 course was constructed between the grandstand and the venue’s permanent quarter-mile asphalt oval racing track. Back in June, 2011 I attended a race at the Kinross Race Park the asphalt oval. On that night I saw my 1,660th lifetime track.

 

 

Tonight’s feature event would start eight cars racing for 20 laps. Sonny told the crowd that tonight’s prize money for the autocross racing as well as the one heat of demolition derby for minivans was about $4,000. The prize money would come primarily from the $12 admission fee that adults paid to watch the racing tonight.

 

 

The main event would pay money to the top four finishers of the figure 8 feature. Only three cars were actually running at the end of the 20 laps!

 

 

The crowd liked it.

For what it was the racing was actually somewhat entertaining. The crowd seemed like it a lot. However, I wouldn’t want these comments to be taken out of context.

 

 

The story of a hot dog stand.

If I were to tell you that a hotdog stand is a great place to eat I would generally be comparing it to other eateries from this particular genre. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that eating at a even a good hotdog place would be on a par with eating at a upscale fine French restaurant. That makes sense right?

 

 

The racing started pretty much on time at 8 p.m. Tonight’s autocross racing finished up at about 9:30 p.m. At that point they were going to take out the concrete barriers that marked the centerpiece of tonight’s figure a track so they could have a demolition derby for minivans.

 

 

I enjoy a good demolition derby. I think it would have been fun to see some minivans beat up on each other. However I didn’t have the patience to wait for the track to be reconfigured.

 

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

 

Hell yes.

Following tonight’s race I needed to drive a little bit more than 300 miles to get myself back to my hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The drive will take me about five hours. I’ll be back at the hotel between 2-3 a.m.

 

 

If you’ve been following this narrative very closely you will now know that the round-trip driving time to see this county fair figure 8 junk car race was about 10 hours. Does that seem like a lot of driving for the reward? Most people likely answered, “Yes” or even “Hell Yes”.

 

 

However this was the only track that I knew about in the United States and Canada that was racing tonight that I had never seen before. When that happens my trackchasing choice is obvious. I will drive the 10 hours and call it a day.

 

 

This had actually been a very productive day. I had gotten in my 45-minute powerwalking effort, done my final laundry of the trip, made a return visit to the largest Christmas store in the world and now added track number 2,160. I thought it was a great day!

 

 

A drive perfectly suited for 5-Hour Energy drink.

In order to be safe as I piloted the National Car Rental Hyundai Sonata back to Ann Arbor I downed a serving of extra strength 5-Hour Energy drink. As I’ve mentioned in the past this stuff works really well for me.

 

 

Time for a midnight snack.

Then about midway in the drive back to the hotel I stopped at a gas station/convenience store. There I was intent on picking up a “midnight snack”. Some of you may raid your refrigerator at night. Carol never does that. That’s why she looks so good.

 

 

I will rarely eat late at night when I’m at home. However if I’m on the road I’ll normally get a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew. DMD has a greater than normal amount of caffeine and helps with my late-night driving. Tonight my caffeine laced diet soda was supplemented by a can of Vienna sausages and a package of pork rinds. How many of you are consistently adding these two items to your diet?

 

 

As I mentioned I’m a little saddened that this is my last county fair race of the season. I think I visited 20-30 of them this year. It’s fun to see the kids at the county fair and imagine they are enjoying the fair as much as I did as a child.

 

 

Tomorrow: Kentucky.

See you in Kentucky tomorrow.

 

 

Good night.

 

 

 

 

Michigan

 

 

The Wolverine state

This evening I saw my 116th lifetime track in the Wolverine state, yes the Wolverine state. Only in California have I seen more racetracks than I have in Michigan.

 

 

 

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 definitions: Pasty

 

What it means everywhere else: A dull, lackluster complexion or something you might encounter in a gentleman’s club.

 

What it means in Michigan: A delicious pastry full of beef, potatoes, and rutabaga, almost always accompanied by ketchup. This delightfully delectable dish is predominantly found in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

 

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #1

O’Hare International Airport – trip begins

London, KY

Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 766 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #2

Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins

Bedford, KY

Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 603 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #3

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins

Aitken, MN

Morten, Manitoba, Canada

LaGrange, IN

Manchester, IA

Oskaloosa, IA

Bowling Green, IN

Buncombe, IL

Ionia, MI

Osgood, IN

Hemlock, NY

Taylorville, IL

Cambridge, MN

Mora, MN

Urbana, IL

Bedford, KY

Owenton, KY

LeMars, IA

Belleville, KS

Grayslake, IL

Brazil, IN

La Grange, KY

Grayslake, IL

Sturgis, SD

Martinsburg, WV

Tazewell, VA

Henry, VA

Belmar, NJ

Berryville, VA

Croton, OH

Stockton, KS

Bates City, MO

Farmington, MO

Barnum, MN

Victoria, British Columbia

Springfield, IL

Scotland, SD

Russellville, MO

Put-in-Bay, OH

Kinross, MI

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Laurel County Fairgrounds – $10 (not a trackchasing expense)

Trimble County Recreational Facility – $10

Aitken County Fairgrounds (oval) – complimentary admission

Aitken County Fairgrounds (RC) – $8

ALH Motor Speedway – complimentary admission

LaGrange County Fairgrounds – $10

Delaware County Fairgrounds – $10

Mahaska County Fairgrounds – $5

Sandstone – $15 (include pits)

HBR Raceway – $10 (included pits)

Ionia Free Fair – $13

Ripley County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission

Hemlock County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission

Christian County Fairgrounds – $8

Isanti County Fairgrounds – $12

Kanabec County Fairgrounds – $10

Champaign County Fairgrounds – $6

Dirty Turtle Off-Road Park – complimentary admission

Owenton County Fairgrounds – $10

Plymouth County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission

Belleville High Banks – $20

Lake County Fairgrounds – $8

Staunton MX – $15

Oldham County Fairgrounds – $10

Lake County Fairgrounds – $10

Buffalo Chip – $20

Berkeley County Youth Fairgrounds – $10

Tazewell County Fair Speedway – $10

Providence Raceway – $10

Wall Stadium Speedway – no charge

Clarke County Fairgrounds – $7

Hartford County Fairgrounds – $7

Rooks County Speedway – $10

JSI Off-Road Park – No charge

St. Francois County Raceway – $5

Carlton County Fairgrounds – $15

Western Speedway – $5 Canadian (about four bucks U.S.)

Multi-Purpose Arena @ Illinois State Fairgrounds

Lonetree Creek Race Park – Complimentary admission

Russellville Lion’s Club – $8

Put-in-Bay Airport – no charge

Chippewa County Fairgrounds – $12

 

 

 

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

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,159

 

 

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 – 4.88

 

 

 

That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

 

 

 

You might have remembrances of the Chippewa County Fairgrounds.  If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below.  If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com.  I’ll try to include them here.

 

 

 

 

Click on the link below to see the “Video Lite” production from the figure 8 racing at the Chippewa County Fairgrounds.

 

The fun of trackchasing….a real great hobby 

 

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Junk car figure 8 racing from the Chippewa Count Fairgrounds

 

A picture is worth more than 900 words.

That’s right. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day.  Double click on a photo to begin the slide show or watch the photos at your own pace.  Hover over a photo to read the caption.

 

Kinross International Speedway plus Sault Ste Marie “Soo Locks” touring

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Chippewa County Fairgrounds plus lots of other interesting stuff