Greetings from Knoxville, Iowa
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
.
Knoxville Raceway – (Outer Oval)
Lifetime Track #71
Knoxville Raceway – (Inner Oval)
Lifetime Track #1,982
I first came here in 1979. I have a solid history with the Knoxville Raceway. As short tracks go Knoxville is as famous as you get. The track hosts the “Knoxville Nationals” every August. That race is one of the best-attended and richest paying purses of the year. Back in 1979 my stepfather and I watched Ronnie Shuman win his one and only Knoxville Nationals on my first visit to Knoxville. That was lifetime track #71. The next month we moved from California to Connecticut. I have since returned to Knoxville for the nationals in 1982, 1993, 1995 and 1998. In 2011 & 2018 I was here for the late model nationals held each fall. That’s a great show and gaining in national recognition each year. In 2014 I came here to see winged kart racing on a temporary inner oval located down toward turn four. I wonder how many Knoxville sprint car fans ever saw racing on that track? I’ve seen names like Sills, Kinser, Wolfgang, Lasoski and Haudenschild take the checkered flag at Knoxville. I’ve also visited the Sprint Car Hall of Fame located next to the Knoxville Raceway at the Marion County Fairgrounds. I’ve been there multiple times and highly recommend it. On one snowy December morning I stopped at the Hall of Fame. I was in the area (Iowa City) visiting the Procter & Gamble plant. Snow was on the ground and I was the only visitor. I got the “cook’s tour” of every nook and cranny of the place. That was special. These peopIe are RACE fans? Did you know that many leading trackchasers have never been to the Knoxville Nationals? They haven’t been to the World 100, Turkey Night or the Rockford Nationals either. However, a trackchaser is not a racechaser. I don’t even think that some trackchasers are even race fans. To them it’s all about the “track”. However, that is a discussion for another time. Greetings from Knoxville, Iowa . . From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” . . Knoxville Raceway Dirt oval (re-visit) Lifetime Track #71 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’s 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 Thursday, August 8, 2019. Knoxville, Iowa is the sprint car capital of the world. They’ve been racing sprint cars with their “Knoxville Nationals” race program since 1961. The event has grown by leaps and bounds since the beginning. I have a history with the Knoxville Nationals. I first went there for all four nights of their race program back in 1979. Arizona’s Ronnie Shuman was the Saturday night main event winner. I’ve been back to Knoxville a few times. I’ve seen racing there during the nationals in 1998, 1995, 1993, 1982 and as mentioned 1979. I’ve been to Knoxville two different times for the big fall stock car shows. I’ve even been to Knoxville once for their winged kart racing on a temporary oval located down by turn four. I wonder how many Knoxville “regulars” even knew they had that race? Tonight I was in the Midwest. I didn’t have anything going on trackchasing wise so I figured spending an evening in Knoxville would be a good racechasing activity. It was. I was staying in Clear Lake, Iowa. I had a decision to make regarding my race ticket. I knew there would be people selling extra tickets at the edge of the Knoxville Raceway property. They might or might not have a good seat location to sell. Since I hadn’t been to Knoxville since 1998 for the sprint cars and I was only going to be there for one night I wanted to make sure I got a good seat. That being the case I went online and purchased a ticket from the Knoxville Raceway itself. They have a very slick website, which allows the user to see which seats in their very large grandstands are available. I picked up a ticket in section E, row 32 for $47. That was an excellent seat location right behind the flagman. I would be more than three-quarters of the way up into the grandstand. I couldn’t have expected a better seat especially when I was buying it with less than 24 hours’ notice. THE RACING Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, Iowa I drove a little bit longer than two hours to get from Clear Lake down to Knoxville. Since I’ve been there many times I knew my way around. I saw people charging anywhere from $5-15 to park. I wouldn’t need to pay for parking. I parked on a side street maybe three blocks or four blocks from the raceway and walked on over. The Knoxville Raceway is a slightly banked 5/8-mile dirt oval. What makes it somewhat unique is that the tracks first and second turns with the outside fencing are only about 20-30 feet from the highway. There have been several sprint cars that have flipped over that wall and landed out onto the highway! I went to a seminar this past winter where lots of racing executives from all over the industry attended. One of the main topics was “track security”. This week has been marred by mass shootings in first El Paso, Texas and then Dayton, Ohio. Knock on wood, none of these mass shootings has been at an auto race…. yet. Despite hearing industry leaders say that security is a major concern and that they’re going to do something about it there was virtually no security at the Knoxville Raceway. Most of the fans, before the races begin, spend their time milling about outside of the grandstands. At this point they have not used their ticket to get inside the grandstand. They are simply looking at souvenirs, people-watching and having a bite to eat. There was ZERO security outside of the grandstand. Even the security when you hand over your ticket and walk into the grandstand seating area is what I would say is minimal. There are no metal detectors. Security people take a quick glance inside your purse or bag. Then you’re in. The demographic of the Knoxville Raceway attendees is decidedly male and older. I would say that women make up less than 20% of the fans at the Knoxville Nationals. I would also guess that the average age of these white people at Knoxville is somewhere in their 50s. There are quite a few people older than that. I have no idea how many of these people are “carrying”. Maybe that’s why the official security seems to be so lax. If someone were to try to “shoot up” the Knoxville Nationals they might be gunned down by several fans coming from all angles! I know it is difficult to secure these “soft targets” and still have a casual free society. However, I would hope to see something a little stronger than what I saw tonight just for the peace of mind of the fans if nothing else. Track souvenirs such as t-shirts and diecast racecar models probably sold at their peak in the late 90s or early 2000’s. I see very few tracks doing any kind of business on t-shirts or model cars nowadays. The Knoxville Raceway may be the exception. I haven’t seen racing t-shirts available at any other racetracks in years compared to what Knoxville was offering tonight. I didn’t actually see a lot of people buying the shirts while I was there. Nevertheless, if a fan wasn’t wearing a “World’s #1 Trackchaser” shirt they were in all likelihood wearing a Knoxville Raceway shirt. I even saw some fans wearing a Knoxville Raceway “tie-dye” shirts. For the longest time I supported the Knoxville Raceway with a tie-dye shirt and was proud to wear it. The Knoxville Nationals race program consists of four straight nights of racing. This is a one-class show. It’s for “410” sprint cars only. A driver earns points from his time trail qualification, his race results and feature finish. Drivers accumulate these points in qualifying programs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then the top drivers with the most amount of points accrued use those points to determine their starting position for Saturday night’s feature event. The purse for Saturday’s feature is the strongest sprint car purse anywhere in the world by a significant amount. Twenty-four cars start the feature race. Last place pays $10,000! The winner of the feature race gets $175,000. Consider that a local track might pay $2000 for a sprint car feature win and you can see exactly how big the Knoxville Nationals purse really is. I spent a good deal of time walking around the grounds watching people and seeing what was for sale. I listened in on a live radio show from the raceway with Steve “the post man” Post, one of the radio emcees. I’ve never met Steve but I did do a seminar with the young lady who is the Director of Marketing at Knoxville. She told me I had to meet the “Postman”. He was busy tonight doing his work but I left a business card with the cameraman. I hope the Postman gets it. My ticket told me that racing was scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. The weather was excellent. There were blue skies but it was a little warmer that I would’ve liked at 86° according to the temperature monitor outside the speedway. Nevertheless, by the time the feature took the checkered flag it was much cooler with temperatures in the high 60s. There were a lot of knowledgeable race fans at the track tonight. I was hoping I would get some interesting people to sit next to. When I went in my seat location what I saw put a damper on that idea to some degree. I had seat number seven in row 32. The fan seated in seat six looked like they could take up the space allocated to both their seat number six and my seat number seven. This wasn’t going to be good. I’m not a midget myself. Then during the races this fan got pretty loud. Everybody else around me was well behaved but this person was screaming and yelling whenever their favorite driver, David Gravel, was on the track. They were one of those fans that were using their hands and arms as if they could will their driver to go just a little bit faster. During the heat race Gravel had a battle for the lead. At one point it appeared that David Gravel might take the lead but he just didn’t have quite what it took. The fan next to me didn’t know when the checkered flag had flown on the heat race. On the cooldown lap this fan was still using both arms, like helicopter blades, to root on Mr. Gravel as if the race was still going on. It was just my luck to be seated next to an oversized loud Knoxville Nationals racing fan. That stuff can happen. I just hope she had a good time. For the first two nights of the Knoxville Nationals half of the drivers qualify through time trials and racing on Wednesday night and the other half race on Thursday night. I don’t follow winged sprint car racing that much anymore. But the 1980s I was a huge World of Outlaws fan. I’ve personally seen Steve Kinser win more than 50 World of Outlaws events. The fact is that now I had not even heard of well over 50% of the drivers racing tonight. When I go racechasing, like I was doing tonight, it’s a lot more fun if you know the drivers. Of the 50 cars racing tonight I might’ve known the names of 15 of the drivers. There are quite a few sons of the drivers I used to watch racing today. I guess my favorite driver at the track tonight was Rico Abreu. Rico is one of the fastest drivers on the circuit right now. He’s also one of the most popular drivers as the fans like his aggressive racing style. Rico is a “little person”. He probably only stands about four feet tall. Rico also seems like a really nice guy based upon what I’ve read and in my limited observations of him at the racetrack. Tonight‘s program consisted of five heat races and then a “C” main followed by a “B” and then the main event itself. They inverted the top eight qualifiers for each heat race. I don’t really like winged sprint car racing because there isn’t all that much passing. That was proven true tonight when six of the top 10 qualifiers, who all started in the fourth row of their five heat races, couldn’t make it into the top four which garnered an automatic starting position in the “A” main. That would tell you there wasn’t all that much passing. Knoxville is a fast track. During its history Knoxville has also been a very dangerous track. Several drivers have lost their lives at Knoxville. You won’t find a better short track racing facility than the Knoxville Raceway. Their PA system is perfect and the World of Outlaws announcing team led by Johnny Gibson is excellent. The lighting is state of the art. They didn’t have to do any work on the track tonight. There was very little dust. The huge grandstands have aluminum seats with backs. I didn’t find the concessions all that captivating but the prices were for the most part reasonable. The Knoxville Raceway is an outstanding racing facility. Tonight they did a good job of removing wrecked racecars. Sometimes tracks have a hard time with that and the delays can be significant. Knoxville probably had 30-40 push trucks helping out tonight. I’ve never seen so many trucks in my life. I would call tonight’s actual racing average at best. Nevertheless, I was certainly glad that I came back to Knoxville just to keep in contact with the type of racing I grew up with. I honestly don’t think I would need to see four nights of this. If I came down for a single night every three or four years that would be fine. I might like to see the Saturday night finale sometime in the future. When the races were finished, despite having a fairly long drive back to Clear Lake, I took the time to go down to the pit area. I made a complete walking lap around the track. I doubt that very many people who have been to Knoxville have done that. Then I headed back to the car, stopped at McDonald’s for frozen wild cherry slush, and drove back to the hotel. AFTER THE RACES Just like back in my racechasing days I got back to the hotel a little bit late at almost 3 a.m. Not a problem. I can sleep in tomorrow. Good evening from the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. Highlights from tonight’s inner oval visit. I hit the trifecta Welcome aboard Evernote Thanks to the ‘Okie from Muskogee’ Roadfood.com rocks These peopIe are RACE fans? Re-rack ‘em and re-stack ‘em I hit the trifecta. I woke up this morning at home in Clive, Iowa. I went to bed in Joliet, Illinois. Today was the seventh day of my 42-day mega trackchasing trip. I hit the “trifecta” with this trip. I was seeing a unique racetrack at one of the most famous short track racing venues in the world. I picked up an excellent Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. I also found the perfect place to have lunch if you like eateries that have been in business for more than 60 years. Welcome aboard Evernote. By the way, with the Knoxville Raceway visit tonight I began using the “Evernote” app to dictate the comings and goings of these adventures. I think it will make what I tell you more complete and timely. Thanks to son J.J. for turning me onto this valuable app. The Racing. Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, Iowa The Knoxville Raceway was having a very special race during the Marion County Fair in 2014. They had constructed a special track that trackchasers have come to call an “inner oval”. As I was walking up to buy my ticket a man approached me. He said he was sponsoring the event and had extra tickets. “Would I like one?” he asked. Of course. Thank you very much. Why no flat karts? Tonight I would be seeing caged kart racing along with a class of flat karts. Flat karts don’t count in the hobby of trackchasing. Why? Don’t ask me. Ask the “Founding Fathers” of trackchasing. There was only one class of countable caged karts driven by adult pilots. However, that was all I needed to count the track as #1,982. The track. The racetrack was built using a small section of the famous big track’s front straight. It felt very strange watching “inner oval” racing at a place like Knoxville. It was almost sacrilegious. In all candor the racing was not very good. Each race was plagued by a number of yellow flag delays. That gets old after a while. The “racing” was painful to watch. I would estimate the dirt oval was 100 yards in length tip to tip. It was slightly banked which was a nice feature of this temporary track. Fans sat in the grandstands toward turn four of the big track. Re-rack ‘em and re-stack ‘em. The announcer kept telling the crowd after each yellow flag that they would “re-rack ‘em and re-stack ‘em”. After about the fourth yellow flag this saying started to lose it’s uniqueness. The flagman looked inexperienced to me. He dropped the yellow at the slightest opportunity. A good flagman can keep the show moving by “holding” the yellow rather than displaying it at the smallest indiscretion. Tonight there were about seventy go-carts racing. I spent nearly 3 hours at the track with wind chills toward the end of the night in the high 50s. It’s the middle of July for gosh sakes! I couldn’t resist the tenderloins served at the Knoxville Raceway. I should have. They seemed as if they might have been a carryover from last weekend’s racing show on the big track! Iowa The Hawkeye state Tonight I saw my 92nd lifetime track in the Hawkeye state, yes the Hawkeye state. I’m closing in on Ed Esser’s state leading total of 94 tracks. Can we speak candidly? Let me be clear about two things. I likely wouldn’t be close to Ed’s total if he had not passed at a somewhat young age. Secondly, I’m pretty sure although I have no way of knowing that there’s an Iowa race fan out there somewhere who has seen racing at more than 94 tracks. There’s always some “local guy”, it would be rare for it to be a gal, who has seen a lot of racing in his home state. However, as someone once told me “You only know what you know”. As of right now I know that Ed Esser saw 94 tracks in Iowa. If and when I tie and and/or surpass him I will be proud of my Iowa trackchasing accomplishments. After the races…….. Thanks to the ‘Okie from Muskogee’. Much of my four-hour drive back to the greater Chicagoland area after the races was spent listening to Merle Haggard belt out many of his number one hits … “The bottle let me down.. The fightin’ side of me….and I’m a Lonesome fugitive”. I also listened to several podcasts streamed from my iPhone. My entertainment options were nearly endless. All I had to do was sit back relax and move on down the trackchasing road. 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. Iowa Hall of Pride – Des Moines, Iowa I’ll take other people’s word for it. When I head into town I’ll check Tripadvisor.com to see what there is to see. TripAdvisor is a reader driven site where folks give their reviews of local attractions. Long ago I learned the best way to get information is from unbiased people who just want to share their touring experiences. Ya, it’s kinda like what you will find on my website! Seventeen people had taken the time to review the “Iowa Hall of Pride”. Fifteen of them rated the experience as excellent and the other two as very good. Those reviews encouraged me to point my National Car Rental Racing Hyundai Sonata in the direction of downtown Des Moines. I love high school sports. I have always been a big supporter of high school sports. One winter while living in California and working in Iowa I stumbled across the Iowa boys high school basketball tournament. They were playing at Drake University in downtown Des Moines. I watched several games. I liked it so much I came back the NEXT YEAR to watch the tournament again. Who travels nearly 2,000 miles more than once to see a high school basketball tournament? What a fantastic place. The Iowa Hall of Pride specializes in telling the stories of high school athletes in all sports and school activities. This is a well laid out modern museum. If I get the chance I will come back again. The hall featured a major display on Iowa high school wrestler Dan Gable. Gable was probably the most famous college wrestler and college wrestling coach of all time. Iowa was one of the first states to focus on girl’s basketball. Did you know their girls played with a white ball from 1940-52? In 1984 a rule was passed allowing schools to play with a 5-girl or 6-girl team. Did you know that Iowa is the only state that plays their high school baseball season in the summer? Yep. Six Iowans led by Bob Feller have been inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Iowa is the only state to allow co-ed doubles tennis in their high school sports program. Metal bats were allowed in their baseball games beginning in 1975. Most outstanding stat of the 2014 trackchasing season. The most astounding statistic I came across was found in the girl’s high school basketball section. A girl by the name of Deb Remmerde of Rock Valley holds most of the 5-girl basketball records. Her team won three consecutive championships from 2001 to 2003. She made 353 three-pointers during her 3-year basketball career. During her senior year she made 83 of 84 free throw attempts. Her only miss came in the last minute of the state high school championship game. I find that utterly amazing!!!!! The museum covers agriculture too. Iowa has 55,875 square miles of land. More than 90% of that land is reserved for agriculture. Lots of famous people were born in Iowa. I’m talking about John Wayne, Glenn Miller, Donna Reed and George Washington Carver. Yep! I’ll be back here to take a second look as soon as I can. George the chili king A most unique place…don’t miss the pictures. I use a special website and database to identify the most “hole in the wall” of “hole in the wall” restaurants. It’s called Roadfood.com. I love the places they talk about. Roadfood.com rocks. Checking in with Roadfood.com turned me onto “George the Chili King’s” diner in Des Moines. I even got to meet 82-year old “George” who’s owned the place for more than 60 years. I went for the chili but couldn’t pass up the tenderloin. No one visiting Iowa should ever pass up a tenderloin. George’s serves food inside as a single counter that must have been there since day one. They also serve cars outside on a “drive-in” basis. These are the types of places one wouldn’t visit unless they knew something about the place’s history. If you go to Des Moines don’t pass this place up. Maybe “Tiny” will be doing the cooking! 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 Iowa sayings: My two favorite teams are Iowa and whoever plays Iowa State QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles RENTAL CAR #1 O’Hare International Airport – trip begins Charlotte, MI Cortland, OH Davisburg, MI Davisburg, MI Mechanicsburg, IL Harlan, IA Primghar, IA Knoxville, IA TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Eaton County Fairgrounds – $10 Trumbull County Fairgrounds – $4 Oakland County Fairgrounds – oval – $10 ($10 to park!) Oakland County Fairgrounds – figure 8 – $10 ($10 to park….again!) Ealyville Speedway – Complimentary pit pass Shelby County Speedway – $5 Primghar Raceway – $5 Knoxville Raceway – No charge – Ticket given to me by race sponsor 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 400 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Welcome to Knoxville and the 2019 Knoxville Nationals . . Knoxville Late Model Nationals and Late Model 101 Forum . . National Spring Car Hall of Fame & Museum #1 . . National Spring Car Hall of Fame & Museum #2 . . The night they ran on a real small track at Knoxville Another day spent at the famous Knoxville Nationals . . Click the link below to see what racing at Knoxville looks like on an inner oval PLUS Trackchasing Tourist Attractions: The OTHER Knoxville Raceway plus more Trackchasing Tourist Attractions 
