People often ask me how I got started in my hobby of “trackchasing”. It’s actually a pretty simple story. I grew up in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in East Peoria, Illinois. There were about 10 houses on our block. At three of those houses, a stock car racer was maintained. On Saturday morning it was pretty much like “gasoline Alley” in our neighborhood.
On two different occasions, I actually saw major fires coming from the race shops. At one location the stock car was stored and worked on in the home’s one-car garage. This car was the track champion. They had a fire and everything in the garage and much of the house burnt to the ground. At the second location, the garage was detached from the house. A spark from a welder ignited the vapors in a gas can. I saw the welder run out of the garage with his entire arm in flames. He rolled to the ground while others helped put out the fire. There was a lot of excitement in our neighborhood!
We didn’t have enough money to go to the Peoria Speedway every Saturday night. When we did go I remember my mother complaining about the charge for parking. How much to park? Twenty-five cents. Times have changed.
At the beginning of my time as a spectator, my interest in the hobby was fully dedicated to the racing aspect, and not so much the travel as it is now. I would drive all over the Midwest to see the biggest and best races where my favorite drivers were competing. I would even schedule my business appointments during the week when a major racing show was happening.
As time went by I continued to travel for business. I might stay over after a business meeting in some far-from-home location for another day or two on the weekend to see racing at tracks I had never visited. It wasn’t long before I started to enjoy going to a racetrack for the very first time more so than the 10th time.
I remember going to a business meeting. Everyone at the meeting was asked to share something about themselves that no one else knew about them. I was working in a culture that looked down on people who wiled away their time on hobbies and vacations. Few people ever told others what they did in their free time. I sheepishly told the group that I had seen racing at 327 race tracks.
I was also playing a lot of golf at the time. There came a point where I needed rotator cuff surgery. I would be out of golf for six months. Nevertheless, I could still travel to races. I reinvested my time on the golf course into seeing race tracks for the first time.
Somewhere down the line, I decided it would be a good idea to see as much “local stuff” as I could when I went to these races. That was the beginning of the “Trackchasing Tourist Attraction”. That way, when it was all said and done, I just didn’t have the experience of going to a race track in my memory bank. I had the experience of traveling all over the United States and soon the world to see things and experience different cultures.
I didn’t travel outside of the United States, for racing, until 1988. I went to Canada to see a race. Then I went trackchasing in Australia in 1989 and the United Kingdom in 1999 during one of their four-day bank holidays. It wasn’t until 2005 that I really picked up the pace of international travel and trackchasing.
There was a period from 2005 to 2014, in retirement, where I saw racing in 66 different countries for the first time. That’s 66 countries in ten years. During those 10 years, I saw racing at 1,243 locations. My hobby of trackchasing had slowly turned from a “racing only” activity to a “see a race but see more stuff” hobby.
This all brings us to today. For this trip, I would be seeing racing in the country of Kuwait. Kuwait would be my 87th different country where I have seen racing. There are 193 countries in the world. Not every country offers traditional auto racing. Right now, I have only identified two or maybe three countries that have racing that I haven’t been to.
That’s the background. Now let’s get started.
Kuwait – Part 2 – The Race…and More
Today I was going to see racing in a country for the first time. I’m 74 years old. I’ve only been able to make that statement on 87 different mornings.
In Kuwait, we were using the rideshare company called “Careem”. I’m sure you have commonly said I’m going to “order an Uber” or I will “Uber” over to midtown. This morning we were going to order a Careem. The drive from our Hyatt Residences condominium was going to take us about 45 minutes to get out to the Kuwait Motor Town racetrack. Oh! One more thing. Did you know Careem is owned by Uber? Of course, you did.
The Kuwait Motor Town facility was built and completed in 2018 for $162 million U.S. Further development around the circuit is set to take place, including an “Entertainment City” shopping center. In terms of international auto racing, the 24H Series was the track’s first event, held on December 2, 2022. That was just a year ago. Once a new international track hits my radar screen it doesn’t take long for me to darken their door.
The race we were planning to see today was a 12-hour endurance race. That’s right. The race was going to last for 12 hours. If you’re not a racing fan you might think that’s a long race. Even if you are a racing fan, these are long races. However, there are longer races, such as the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Each of these races lasts for 24 hours. All of these endurance races have multiple drivers, usually three, sharing the driving duties of the car.
The race was being promoted by 24H Series. This is what Wikipedia tells me about this racing series.
The 24H Series is a sports car racing and touring car racing series developed by Creventic and with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). It features GT3-spec cars, GT4-spec cars, sports cars, touring cars and 24H-Specials, like silhouette cars. The calendar consists only of 24-hour and 12-hour races. 2015 was the first season with drivers battling for championship points and titles.
Dutch agency Creventic is the organizer and promoter of the series. Their goals are to organize races with “low costs, a convivial atmosphere with teams and drivers from all over the world and fair competition on the track.” In co-operation with the Dutch National Racing Team (DNRT) – one of the biggest motorsport organizations of the Benelux – they organized the inaugural Dubai 24 Hour in 2006.
2008 was the first year Creventic organized another race besides the 24H Dubai: the 12H Hungary, making it the first season with more than one race and the official first season of the 24H Series. 2015 marked the first season with official FIA International Series’ status, which meant that drivers and teams would be eligible to battle for championship titles and points.
Months ago, I got in contact with a fellow by the name of Peter Freij (above). He does the public relations work for Creventic, promoters of today’s event. Peter was nice enough to give me media credentials for the event so that everyone who reads my newsletter and follows me on my website at www.randylewis.org and on Facebook can be exposed to both the 24H Series racing and the Kuwait Motor Town facility.
With our credentials came a lanyard and a press card. This allowed us to explore every nook and cranny of the track. It’s always exciting to be able to walk on the starting grid before a big race that is streamed around the world. I was really happy that J.J. and Dustin, who are new to racing, had a chance to see everything up close and personal.
The field was small today. The 24H Series primarily races in Europe. During the winter months, they move over to the Middle East for three different races. Can you imagine how expensive it is to transport all of the race cars, equipment, and personnel from Europe to the Middle East for three races? Today just 14 cars were competing. I was told that for the next race in Dubai, they already have 70 entries. I don’t know what created that variance.
Editor’s note.
I just received this message from the 24H Series regarding their upcoming race in Dubai. They had to postpone the event because of pirates on the open sea. And you thought YOU had a complicated life!
“After originally being scheduled to take place on Jan. 13-14, a date change for the Middle Eastern enduro has seen the event moved to Jan. 27-28.
This creates a direct clash with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opener at Daytona International Speedway, which is set to take place on the same weekend.
Sportscar365 understands that the postponement is the result of significant shipping delays triggered by safety concerns around the Bab El Mandab Strait, an area that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden where Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched attacks on cargo vessels in recent weeks.
The attacks have caused major shipping lines to temporarily pause shipping through the Red Sea amid fears of further attacks.
A spokesperson for event organizer Creventic told Sportscar365 that ships carrying equipment for the 24H Dubai have diverted away from the Suez Canal and the Red Sea and have instead opted for an alternative route around South Africa to avoid the affected area.
As a result, the primary container vessel containing critical cargo such as cars, tires, equipment and other essential items isn’t set to arrive until Jan. 16, several days after the event’s original date.
The organizer went on to say that it explored several options, including the possibility of unscheduled stops with charter air freight, but that circumstances beyond its control have forced it to postpone the event.”
J.J., Dustin and I walked in and around the garages that housed the cars, the crew and all of their racing equipment. The racing series is a high-dollar series for amateur racers. For the most part, this is a participant sport and not a spectator sport. This is exactly how amateur road racing is done in the United States as well.
From what I understand about the financials of this kind of racing the competitors pay fairly steep entry fees to the promoter. These funds cover the rental of the track, payment of the track workers, insurance, etc. Race teams try to get as much of the money they’re spending back from sponsorship.
Yesterday I had a chance to meet the announcers who would be broadcasting the event. My PR contact Peter arranged for me to do an interview with track commentator, John Hindaugh. I also spent several minutes talking to the pit reporters Joe Bradley and Nick Daman. All of the announcers were from the U.K. They kept asking me “Have you been to this track and have you been to this track”. My answer to almost all of their questions was “Yes”. Joe couldn’t believe I had been to a little dirt track in Barford, England. Barford isn’t at the end of the world but you can see the end of the world from Barford!
I was impressed with all of the commentators. They had to fill 12+ hours of airtime with their broadcast. Their commentary went nonstop for that amount of time. With their enthusiasm, you might have thought that Michael Jordan was driving in for the winning basket in game seven of the NBA championship and had just been fouled by Magic Johnson in the last second of the game with the score tied. They held this enthusiasm the entire day.
I was invited to come up to the booth and do an interview about my trackchasing that had brought me to Kuwait. I’ve done hundreds of these at the track interviews along with newspaper stories as well as radio and TV coverage. One of my most memorable was a one-hour segment on a Malta television station, which was set up just like ESPN does Sports Center. They would interview me in the studio and cut away for a minute or two to cover a local game and come back to trackchasing coverage! My Malta race contact even took a day off the next day to drive Carol and me all over Malta. I’ve met a lot of nice people during my travels. Peter and the track commentators were now added to that long list.
Today’s interview lasted for 30 minutes. I guess when you’re having a 12-hour race spending 30 minutes talking to a guy who traveled 18,000 miles round-trip to come and see a race is doable. I think it helped that during my interview there was a red flag incident. This stopped the racing for a few minutes. With limited on-track activity that meant our conversation could go on longer.
Having done all of these interviews, I feel somewhat qualified to evaluate the people who interview me. Often folks don’t know anything about trackchasing and don’t have a tremendous interest. At other times people may or may not know much about trackchasing, but they have the enthusiasm about their craft to make it sound like they are opening a Christmas present from under the tree when they are five years old. That was the case today. Track commentator, John Hindaugh, had a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. He related what I was telling him to his personal experiences. We had a great conversation. J.J. and Dustin were allowed up into the announcing tower to see and hear it all.
If you would like to listen to that interview, here are a couple of links to YouTube videos that cover it. Based upon the length of the interview I had to divide things into two different YouTube segments. If you take a listen, I hope you enjoy it. I think you will appreciate the enthusiasm of the track announcer.
Part 1 – Interview with 24H Series commentator John Hindaugh
Part 2 – Interview with 24H Series commentator John Hindaugh
Our plan was not to stay for the entire race. We had arrived early this morning. This gave us plenty of time to check out the pre-grid and enjoy the pre-race ceremonies. This included a huge live uniformed band playing the Kuwaiti national anthem. Then we watched the race for quite a long time before doing the interview.
From there, we “Careemed” back to the Avenues Shopping Mall for lunch. The Avenues Mall in Kuwait City is the #1 tourist attraction in Kuwait City according to Trip Advisor. The mall is impressive. No, let me clarify. The mall is beyond impressive. It’s the best shopping while I’ve ever seen and I’ve so many of these mega malls all over the world.
For the afternoon we decided to hire a tour guide to take us around to the highlights of Kuwait City. I always think that’s a good idea. We could have identified three or four things to see around Kuwait City. Then we could have taken a rideshare to try to visit those locations. However, hiring a driver and guide makes everything just a little bit more efficient. With a guide, we would get a little more background information for the things we’re seeing. In reality, we would see more than we would have seen on our own and we would know what we were seeing. I have hired private drivers all over the globe. One of the items I always request is the option to veto what I don’t need to see and ask for the things I do want to see. I commonly ask to be taken to the worst slums in the city. This usually throws my guide for a loop. I didn’t make that request this time.
Our driver/guide was from Egypt. He spoke and understood English well. Our first stop was at Kuwait Towers. This wasn’t all that much. We rode the elevator to the top and got some views of the city. For 27 bucks for the three of us, it probably was not a good value.
Next, our guide took us over to the Kuwaiti City fishing harbor. The fish market was closed by this time. We were able to get a close-up look at some of the decades-old “junks”. Our guide went to get some diesel for his SUV while we wandered over to a nearby local car show to see what they were up to.
The next part of our tour was going to be quite a bit of fun and most unusual. Our driver was taking us out into the Kuwaiti desert. I know! This sounds like the perfect spot for a kidnapping. Our desert destination was some 25 miles outside of the city. Locals go out into the desert for recreational camping purposes. There isn’t much, in my mind, of a camping experience in the Kuwaiti desert. It’s just sand and more sand. Tonight, at sunset, the weather was getting cooler and the winds picked up. We enjoyed the sunset and had coffee provided by one of the nearby “vendors”. This was definitely an out-of-the-box touring stop.
Next, we were off at a very high rate of speed in the dark to try to get to a camel location before it got completely dark. This was definitely one of the wilder rides that I’ve had in the past few years.
When we arrived we had the chance to get up close and personal with several camels. This was a fun part of the trip. It was just the desert, us, the camel herder, and the camels. Not many people get to do that.
The 12-hour endurance race was ending at 10 p.m. tonight. We had been at the racetrack from 8 a.m. until about noon. Then we had been touring for the next several hours and still had a plan to get out for the last hour or two of the race.
However, our tour guide had some different ideas in mind. He had more museums to show us so off we went to the Kuwait National Museum, a museum of artifacts and antiquities. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. It was getting cold outside and was just as cold inside the museum. Each time I thought our tour was about to end we were led down another long hallway to see more art. When that visit was complete we did take time for some beautiful nighttime photos of the nighttime skyline of Kuwait City. Our guide had even more attractions that he wanted to show us. We nicely told him it might be a good idea just to head back to the hotel.
On the way back, we stopped in the neighborhood to pick up our guide’s five-year-old son. He had been staying with his grandmother for the day. This was fun to be part of a “slice of life” experience of a local Kuwait family.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to stream the last hour or two of the race. We figured it would take us nearly an hour to get transportation out to the track and another hour to get back to the condo. We learned more about the race from track announcer John Hindaugh watching the livestream than we did being at the track. I plan to watch some of the future 24H Series races on livestream.
The Kuwait Motor Town will now forever be known as the location where I saw auto racing in my 87th country. If you want to see my complete country list from 1 to 87 you’ll find it at the bottom of this review.
The next morning, we were off from Kuwait City to Doha, Qatar. We had enough time to spend two days there seeing what we could see.
During our travels here in the Middle East, we’ve seen quite a few American restaurant chains. It’s fun to see their logos in English and Arabic. Oman had almost no American chains but Kuwait and Qatar had nearly as many as I’ve ever seen outside North America.
Much of the technology that exists in the United States is here in the Middle East as well. I stopped in one shop that advertises no cashiers and no queues. This was the first checkout-free store in Qatar. I’ve seen a few of these stores in United States airports. You simply use a credit card to get inside the store. Then you shop and select whatever items you and walk out of the store with your stuff. There is no stopping to pay a cashier or anything else. You just walk out. Pretty cool.
J.J. was our technology leader. He, Dustin, and I would talk about what we wanted to do. Then J.J. would make it happen. Soon J.J. had us riding the subway over to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Doha, Qatar, the capital of Qatar.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Hyatt hotel chain. The Park Hyatt is at the top in quality of the Hyatt food chain. Our rooms were spectacular. The guys told me since this was “my trip” I could have a suite as an upgrade from my regular room. I was happy with my standard room, which was well above what virtually any hotel I use would have provided. They could enjoy a suite. At the end of this trip, I was so impressed with Hyatt hotels that I plan to shoot for their top frequent stay level, Globalist, in 2024. I already enjoy titanium elite status with Marriott. I can’t lose that while I go for Hyatt’s top tier.
We enjoyed cocktails at Sora, the Japanese rooftop bar at the Doha Park Hyatt. That was fun. The Happy Hour drinks were great, and the view was even better.
As only a Park Hyatt can provide our gourmet dinner was over the top and delicious. We were definitely eating “high on the hog” as we used to say when I was a boy.
From there we went to visit the Souk Waqif, the #1 tourist attraction in Doha. We did have one more stop at the Park Hyatt that we wanted to check out. The hotel had a rooftop swimming pool. It was getting late when we headed up to the pool. What did we find? There were no swimmers. But…there was a lifeguard on duty! What hotel has a lifeguard at the ready late at night for a pool with no swimmers? You get a lot of service at a Park Hyatt!
The word “Souk” in the Middle East stands for a huge open-air shopping market in the old town section of whatever city is being visited. These shopping areas have been in existence for hundreds of years. There are narrow pathways, with all kinds of shops and services, including tailors, barbershops, and restaurants. This is a place to get your souvenirs.
The Souk Wagif visit was one of the highlights of our trip. We did some negotiating. I ended up buying a beautiful vase for Carol.
The next morning, we had our best breakfast of the trip at the Park Hyatt in Doha. This was closely rivaled by breakfast at the Alila Jabal Akhdar Hotel in Oman. We could eat as much as we wanted. Every single entrée offered was of the best quality with an even better presentation.
We would begin our trek back to the United States later tonight.
We had the day to tour Doha. We talked about the idea of hiring another guide. Then time we decided to be our own tour guides. Our first stop was to the Qatar National Museum. What an architectural marvel this was. From there we headed to the State Grand Mosque. This is the national mosque of Qatar. It’s huge. For some unknown reason, the mosque was closed. The security folks weren’t very friendly so after a few photos of the exterior we were off to our next attraction.
We spent a good deal of time in the Museum of Islamic Art. The was the #2 ranked attraction in Doha by Trip Advisor. Again, the architecture was truly over the top with lots of art to admire as well. If you come to Doha don’t miss this museum.
Quite a few of the very top “tourist attractions” in these large Middle Eastern cities are shopping malls. Go figure. I know that visiting a shopping mall might sound like a rather dreary tourist attraction. However, in places like the Middle East shopping malls are absolutely tourist attractions. Ranked #5 as a tourist attraction in Doha was the Villaggio Shopping Mall. We Ubered over to the mall. The mall was beginning to show its age just a little bit. I suspect that when it was brand new, it was state of the art. The mall had a canal running throughout the mall like you might see in real life in Venice, Italy. There was an ice skating rink. I’ll bet that would be nice on a 120-degree summer day in Doha!
Inside the mall was a Carrefour market. These are similar to Walmart Super Centers. Carrefour is headquartered in Massy, France. As I have traveled the world I’ve always enjoyed visiting grocery stores. I remember many years ago Carol and I visited a grocery store in Russia. In that store, all of the soda bottles had different levels of fill. The fruit and vegetable selections were nearly nonexistent.
As time has gone by and chains have taken over, the differences in modern grocery stores aren’t all that great anymore. Nevertheless, it was interesting to take a walk-through the Carrefour Market in Qatar.
I am an absolute expert on about three things. I don’t know very much about the other subjects in life other than these three things.
One area of expertise for me is fast food eating. I know who the four original fast-food hamburger chains were. Do you?
Rather than have you Google this I will simply tell you the four original fast-food hamburger chains, in no particular order, are In N Out Burgers, Whataburger, White Castle, and Krystal’s. Did you know that?
I became a fast food expert by originally becoming a fast food-eating junkie. McDonald’s first opened in our town in 1965. I was a sophomore in high school. All of the wrestlers worked at McDonald’s. I was a basketball player. When basketball practice finished, I would walk over to McDonald’s and order my standard order, which was a large Coke, French fries, and three double cheeseburgers. At 6’,3” and 170 pounds I could eat like that without an issue. The wrestlers would gather up all of my food and simply push it across the counter and say “Thanks for coming”. I didn’t have to pay. In hindsight that was stealing. At the time it didn’t seem like stealing.
I hesitate to tell you the following story. I guess it’s a reward for people who have read this far. I ate a lot of free meals like this at McDonald’s. Then one time I heard that some of my wrestling friends had peed on the hamburger grill. I guess that was my “payment” memory-wise for eating all of that free food.
So why am I mentioning fast food? Today in the mall J.J., Dustin, and I stopped at a Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant. Dave’s is an American chain. They feature “Nashville-style” chicken despite being founded in Los Angeles and having their headquarters in Pasadena (think Rose Bowl), California.
Dustin and J.J. are not fast food eaters. For the most part, they recoil in horror when they hear my fast food stories. Taking J.J. and Dustin to a fast food store is akin to taking your priest to a topless club in Las Vegas. I think you get the point.
Nevertheless, we selected Dave’s Hot Chicken as our luncheon location in the Villaggio Mall. I love spicy food. We ordered just one level below the spiciest offering of about 10 spice offerings at Dave’s. That stuff would set your hair on fire.
I was only minorly embarrassed when both J.J. and Dustin elected to use rubber gloves provided by the restaurant to eat their chicken fingers. Oh well. At least I got them to try it. I think they liked it but Dustin said he would rather go for the milder spice next time. Even I would go down a couple of clicks on the hotness as well. Nevertheless, it was a fun experience.
I might point out that my old friend, Gerry O’Reilly, a generation older than me might be able to match J.J. and Dustin’s “rookie” experience with fast food. Gerry was both upscale and old east coast money. He was married to William F. Buckley’s sister. I once had the opportunity to stay overnight at his home. The “family” had hardbound books detailing the lives of people in their household. At a convention, I took Gerry to McDonald’s for a quick lunch. I think I can confirm Gerry had never been to a Mickey D’s in his life. I eat there more than ten times every month. Gerry had to ask me what he should do with his trash!
We heard that another shopping mall in Doha had an entertaining water fountain display. Apparently, the display was shown every half hour so we headed over there via a rideshare.
The Lagoona Mall was definitely on the upscale side. We weren’t going to get three tamales for a dollar at a place like this. Nevertheless, it was fun to see the water show and all of the tremendously expensive shops.
The architecture in downtown Doha is unusual, modern, and in many cases over the top. I had first come to Qatar about 15 years ago to see a race. I remarked in that review about seeing so many building cranes. Now I have seen the buildings those cranes helped build.
Tonight, we would be staying at another upscale Hyatt hotel in Doha. We couldn’t afford Park Hyatt in Doha for more than one night! I guess using the word “staying” might not be accurate. We checked into the hotel at about 7 p.m. However, our tentative flight plan called for us to be leaving Doha for Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. In reality, we wouldn’t be staying overnight at the hotel at all but we didn’t know that for sure.
Before we began to head to the airport we had time to revisit the Souk Waqif in Doha. There was still one item I wanted to buy for Carol. We hadn’t been able to negotiate the price last night.
While at the souk, we had dinner at an Azerbaijan restaurant. The food was delicious, and unique and served in a comfortable outdoor atmosphere.
I successfully negotiated the purchase of a glass-blown, fragile, Christmas tree that cost me twice as much as a much more stable vase from last night. Dustin told me he wasn’t comfortable with negotiating. I tried to show him how a simple friendly conversation can work when trying to negotiate a better offering. It pains me to tell you that the red Christmas tree piece, that I bought, was damaged in transit. I didn’t take care of it well enough!
Then it was time to head to the airport. We were flying standby and didn’t know if we would make the flight. Qatar Airways flies nonstop from its headquarters in Doha to about 10 other airports in the United States. We had plans to use any of those other locations as backups if we didn’t make the flight to Los Angeles.
We really wanted to fly in business class. If we couldn’t do that we were toying with the idea of flying six hours from Doha to Munich, so that we COULD fly in business class from Munich to Los Angeles. Dustin wouldn’t mind my telling you that he would almost rather not fly than have to sit in the back.
I mentioned to you that I eat fast food almost on a daily basis. J.J. and Dustin do not eat fast food daily. Although I love flying in business class, I don’t like paying business class fares. J.J. and Dustin have a different point of view on that. That thinking was why we were considering connecting in Munich so we could fly business class. I learned a lot from those guys!
I’m happy to report that when another airline misconnected that freed up some business class seats. We were soon flying back to Los Angeles for 16 hours in Qatar Airways’ Qsuites.
The flat seats, the pajamas, the food, the service, the video options were outstanding. After having flown on airplanes about three times a week, every week since I was 23 tonight’s flight was a first.
What in the world could be offered on an airplane that I hadn’t seen previously? In the bathroom, there was a window! I had never ever seen that before. I guess that’s opulence!
Soon, O.K. not really soon, but 16 hours later we were landing in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has the best and quickest customs/border control options of any airport in the world.
We all had Global Entry capability. This allows us to avoid all the lines of people coming into the United States. We simply walk up to a kiosk that has a camera. The camera takes our picture. We then clear security in easily less than 10 seconds. Then the border control agent greets us by name and welcomes us back to the United States.
This had been a wonderful trip. It was made all that much better with J.J. and Dustin coming along. It was nice to have all of the help from Peter Freij of the Creventic promotion team. We met so many nice people and were able to see the 24H Series up close in a country where I had never been before.
Oman and Kuwait were my 97th and 98th-lifetime countries to visit. I’m going to have to figure out how to get to 100 countries that might not be involved with racing at all.
I hope you’ve been entertained and informed about traveling in the Middle East. The Middle East has a lot of similarities to the United States but these locations are still very much “foreign” countries. They are not that difficult to navigate. I think if you were to come here you would have a good time.
I got quite a few messages from people reading my Kuwait – Part 1 offering. If you have questions about the travel or anything else just send a note and I’ll get back to you quickly.
Thanks for coming to Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar, even if it was only via the written word and your own imagination.
We’ll see you somewhere down the long and dusty trackchasing trail. In the meantime, I wish you the best of holidays a Happy New Year, and a prosperous 2024.
Randy Lewis
World’s #1 Trackchaser
I have now seen racing in 87 countries. Carol has tagged along with me on 51 of those country visits identified by an *. We’ve been to nearly 100 countries. There’s a lot to see in this great big world of ours!
RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Lifetime Trackchasing Countries
# 1 – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA* – Peoria Speedway – Mt. Hawley (oval) – Track #1, Peoria, Illinois – circa 1955
# 2 – CANADA* – Cayuga Speedway (oval) – Track #174, Nelles Corner, Ontario – 1988
# 3 – AUSTRALIA* – Parramatta City Raceway (oval) – Track #180, Granville, New South Wales – 1989
# 4 – UNITED KINGDOM* – Northhampton International Raceway (oval) – Track #378, Northhampton – 1999
# 5 – NETHERLANDS* – Driesum Racetrack (oval) – Track #839, Driesum – 2005
# 6 – BELGIUM* – Bellekouter oval (oval) – Track #841, Affligem – 2005
# 7 – FRANCE* – Circuit de Croix en Ternois (road course) – Track #843, Saint-Pol sur-Ternoise – 2005
# 8 – GERMANY* – Nurburgring (road course) – Track #844, Nurburg – 2005
# 9 – NEW ZEALAND* – Western Springs Speedway (oval) – Track #1,134, Western Springs – 2006
# 10 – MEXICO* – Triovalo Bernardo Obregon (oval) – Track #1,281, Tiajamulco de Zuniga, Jalisco – 2007
# 11 – BARBADOS – Bushy Park Racing Circuit (road course) – Track #1,296, Bushy Park – 2007
# 12 – THAILAND – Bira Circuit (road course) – Track #1,300, Pattaya – 2008
# 13 – SOUTH AFRICA – Durban Grand Prix (road course) – Track #1,315, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – 2008
# 14 – JAMAICA – Dover Raceway (road course) – Track #1,322, Brown’s Town St. Ann – 2008
# 15 – SWEDEN* – Sturup Raceway (road course) – Track #1,335, Malmo – 2008
# 16 – DENMARK* – Ring Djursland (road course) – Track #1,336, Tirstrup – 2008
# 17 – CZECH REPUBLIC – Automotodrome BRNO (road course) – Track #1,381, Brno – 2008
# 18 – AUSTRIA* – Lambrechten Stock Car Track (road course) – Track #1,382, Lambrechten – 2008
# 19 – IRELAND – Tipperary International Raceway (oval) – Track #1,388, Rosegreen – 2008
# 20 – GUYANA* – South Dakota Circuit (road course) – Track #1,390, Timehri – 2008
# 21 – CHINA* – The Guia Circuit (road course) – Track #1,392, Macau – 2008
# 22 – COSTA RICA – Autodromo La Guacima (road course) – Track #1,398, La Guacima – 2008
# 23 – ANDORRA – Grandvalira Circuit (road course) – Track #1,404, Port d’Envalira – 2009
# 24 – ARGENTINA – Circuito Efren Chemolli (oval) – Track #1,406, Buenos Aires – 2009
# 25 – QATAR – Losail International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,408, Doha – 2009
# 26 – BAHRAIN* – Bahrain International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,410, Sakhir – 2009
# 27 – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES* – Dubai Autodrome (road course) – Track #1,411, Dubai – 2009
# 28 – COLOMBIA – Autodromo de Tocancipa (road course) – Track #1,415, Tocancipa – 2009
# 29 – SPAIN – Motorland Aragon (road course) – Track #1,416, Alcaniz – 2009
# 30 – PORTUGAL – Circuto de Murca (road course) – Track #1,417, Murca – 2009
# 31 – ICELAND – Kapelluhraum (road course) – Track #1,420, Hafnafjorour – 2009
# 32 – HUNGARY* – Hungaroring (road course) – Track #1,426, Mogyorod – 2009
# 33 – SWITZERLAND* – Hock Ybrig (road course) – Track #1,427, Hoch Ybrig – 2009
# 34 – ITALY* – Vighizzolo d’Este Stock Car Track (road course) – Track #1,428, Vighizzolo d’Este – 2009
# 35 – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC* – Autodromo Mobil 1 (road course) – Track #1,515, Santo Domingo – 2009
# 36 – MALTA* – Ta’Qali Race Track (road course) – Track #1,521, Ta’Qali – 2010
# 37 – FINLAND – Lake Pidisjarvi Ice Track (road course) – Track #1,524, Nivala – 2010
# 38 – JAPAN – Suzuka Circuit (road course) – Track #1,530, Suzuka – 2010
# 39 – CHILE – Autodromo de Interlomas (road course) – Track #1,531, Temuco – 2010
# 40 – MOROCCO* – Circuit de Marrakesh (road course) – Track #1,535, Marrakesh – 2010
# 41 – BRAZIL* – Circuit de Caruaru – Aryten Senna (road course) – Track #1,540, Caruaru – 2010
# 42 – ESTONIA* – Laitse Rally Park (road course) – Track #1,571, Laitse – 2010
# 43 – LATVIA* – Bikernieki (road course) – Track #1,572, Riga – 2010
# 44 – GUATEMALA – Autodromo Pedro Cofino (road course) – Track #1,580, Alotenango – 2010
# 45 – EL SALVADOR* – El Jabali (road course) – Track #1,582, Quezaltepeque – 2010
# 46 – ROMANIA – Bradu (road course) – Track #1,603, Bradu – 2010
# 47 – BULGARIA – Closed Route – Burgas (road course) – Track #1,604, Burgas – 2010
# 48 – SOUTH KOREA – Korea International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,605, Yeongam, Jeollanam-Do – 2010
# 49 – PHILIPPINES – Batangas Racing Circuit (road course) – Track #1,608, Batangas – 2010
# 50 – NORWAY – Lyngas Motorbane (road course) – Track #1,648, Lier – 2011
# 51 – MALAYSIA – Sepang International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,656, Sepang – 2011
# 52 – INDONESIA – Sentul International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,657, Babakan Madang, Boder – 2011
# 53 – LUXEMBOURG* – Alzingen (road course) – Track #1,711, Alzingen – 2011
# 54 – POLAND* – Tor Slomczyn (road course) – Track #1,713, Slomczyn – 2011
# 55 – SINGAPORE* – Marina Bay (road course) – Track #1,714, Singapore – 2011
# 56 – URUGUAY – Piriapolis Grand Prix (road course) – Track #1,724, Piriapolis – 2011
# 57 – SRI LANKA – Pannala Race Track (road course) – Track #1,732, Pannala – 2012
# 58 – ECUADOR – Autodromo Internacional de Yahuarcocha (road course) – Track #1,736, Ibarra – 2012
# 59 – SLOVAKIA* – Slovakia Ring (road course) – Track #1,745, Orechova Poten – 2012
# 60 – MONACO* – Circuit de Monaco (road course) – Track #1,747, Monte Carlo – 2012
# 61 – CROATIA – Automotodrom Drobnik (road course) – Track #1,762, Rijeka – 2012
# 62 – PERU* – Autodromo La Chutana (road course) – Track #1,802, Lima – 2012
# 63 – GREECE – Serres Circuit (road course) – Track #1,807, Serres – 2012
# 64 – RUSSIA* – Moscow Central Hippodrome (oval) – Track #1,824, Moscow – 2013
# 65 – LITHUANIA* – Marijampole Autocross Track (road course) – Track #1,842, Marijampole – 2013
# 66 – INDIA* – Buddh International Circuit (road course) – Track #1,915, Noida – 2013
# 67 – GEORGIA – Rustavi International Motorpark (road course) – Track #1,916, Rustavi – 2013
# 68 – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO* – Larry Gomes Stadium (road course) – Track #1,928, Arima – 2014
# 69 – TURKEY* – Istanbul Park (road course) – Track #2,035 Akfirat – 2014
# 70 – AZERBAIJAN* – Streets of Baku (road course) – Track #2,037, Baku – 2014
# 71 – SERBIA* – Usce (road course) – Track #2,224, Belgrade – 2016
# 72 – BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVNIA – Zaluzani (road course) – Track #2,235, Banja Luka – 2016
# 73 – PANAMA* – Circuito Internacional de Panama (road course) – Track #2,290, La Chorrera – 2016
# 74 – ZIMBABWE – Bulawayo Motorsports Park (road course) – Track #2,291, Bulawayo – 2016
# 75 – NAMIBIA – Desert Raceway (oval) – Track #2,369, Walvis Bay – 2017
# 76 – MACEDONIA* – Skopje Street Course (road course) – Track #2,386, Skopje – 2017
# 77 – UKRAINE* – Autodrome Chayka (road course) – Track #2,387, Kiev – 2017
# 78 – BELARUS – Stadium Zarya (oval) – Track #2,421, Minsk – 2018
# 79 – MALDIVES – Hulhumalé Racing Track (road course) – Track #2,425, Hulhumalé – 2018
# 80 – BOLIVIA – Autodromo Santa Cruz (road course) – Track #2,429, Santa Cruz – 2018
# 81 – MOLDOVA* – Autocross Colonita (road course) – Track #2,503, Colonita – 2018
# 82 – SAUDI ARABIA – Ad Diriyah E-Prix (road course) – Track #2,514, Ad Diriyah – 2018
# 83 – TUNISIA – Belvedere Race Track (road course) – Track #2,547 Tunis – 2019
# 84 – MONTENEGRO* – Auto Kros Zlatica (road course) – Track #2,548 Podgorica – 2019
# 85 – ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA* – Crabbs Raceway (road course) – Track #2,553 Crabbs – 2019
# 86 – SLOVENIA* – Motorsport Kaps (road course) – Track #2,782 Moravce – 2022
# 87 – KUWAIT – Kuwait Motor Town (road course) – Track #2,935 Ali Sabah Ali Salem – 2023
And more to come!!