Greetings from first Martinsville, Indiana
and then Mineral Springs, West Virginia
.
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lee Farms Dirt road course Lifetime Track #2,693 West Virginia Motor Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,694 THE EVENT Editor’s note: Going to Martinsville, Indiana was very special. Below I will tell you exactly why. Discovering a West Virginia track that had not raced in eight years…on two days’ notice was a stroke of luck from the trackchasing gods. Seeing an extra special major league baseball game to cap off the trip was the cherry on the top of the trackchasing sundae. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above riding in an ice race up in Saskatchewan, Canada). I live in San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Trackchasing for me is all about three things. First, I enjoy auto racing. Secondly, my hobby requires a good deal of overnight travel. When I venture out to see a race at a track I’ve never seen before I do not want my trip limited to racing only. The very last thing I want when I’m done trackchasing is to have memories of only racing. I want to take some time to see the local attractions of wherever I might be visiting. Those visits in many cases will provide more long-lasting memories than whatever I saw on the track. Finally, I want to create a logistical plan that allows me to accomplish the two points mentioned above without depleting my retirement account. That’s trackchasing for me. Hundreds of trackchasers have stopped for a moment to create their own personal trackchasing list. I think that is great. However, I will tell you that no one has ever taken trackchasing more seriously than I have. Do I have any data to back up that assertion? I do. To date, I have seen auto racing in 85 countries at more than 2,690 different tracks. Does that sound serious to you? I’ve been able to see the world doing this. If you’re interested in exactly what I’ve been able to experience all around the U.S. and the world I recommend you click on this link. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions After each and every event that I attend I post a YouTube video, a SmugMug photo album and a very detailed Trackchaser Report about the experience on my website at www.randylewis.org. My trackchasing contributions generate a good deal of interest in what I am doing. My YouTube channel (ranlay) has more than 1.3 million views. My website gets more than 20,000 views every month. Because I have seen racing in 85 countries at this point I am considered the World’s #1 Trackchaser. That’s good enough for me. Now I encourage you to drop down a few spaces and read about today’s trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on at this track just think about the idea that I’ve done this nearly 2,700 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. It’s just fun! If you’re interested in looking back and seeing where I’ve been the following link is for you. 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 Saturday & Sunday, April 24 & 25, 2021. I put a lot of time into planning these trips. I don’t plan very far in advance. When I finish the planning process, I know that my trip is going to be as efficient and productive as it possibly could be. There’s just one problem regarding my planning strategy. Nevertheless, there are so many outside “influences” that can affect whatever I have planned that rarely does the plan work out as scheduled! Of course, there’s the weather. Bad weather is not a friend of auto racing. Then there are the track managers. Although I’ve met and made friends with several racing promoters, not all racing promotions are friendly towards trackchasing. Tracks sometimes cancel at the last minute for a wide variety of reasons. Transportation can be my friend… and sometimes my nemesis. Because of where I live, I need an airplane to get to the races. So far, I have avoided buying my own private plane, but that could change. Sometimes the commercial airlines agree that I will not be allowed to get on their airplane on a standby basis at the last minute to go to one of my tracks. Additionally, rental cars and their stringent requirements regarding one-way drop-offs can be a hassle. Just let me put it this way. I do my best to plan for these trips but I’m not the only person that’s part of the plan. This weekend’s trackchasing plan looked like this when it came off the drawing board. I would fly from Los Angeles to Seattle from Seattle to Columbus, Ohio. I would rent a car in Columbus and drive a couple of hours to see racing on Friday night at the Ohio Valley Speedway in Washington, West Virginia. Then I would drive from Washington, West Virginia to Chicago overnight, an eight-hour drive. Once in Chicago I would grab an airplane from the O’Hare International Airport and fly to Omaha. Nebraska. In Omaha, I would rent a car and drive a couple of hours out to Norfolk, Nebraska to watch some racing on Saturday night. Then I would most likely sleep overnight in my car as I had a 5:45 a.m. departure from Omaha to Atlanta. In Atlanta, I would rent my third car of the trip and drive over to Talladega, Alabama to watch the NASCAR Cup race on Sunday afternoon. Following that big event, I would drive another couple of hours back to Atlanta and stay the night. Then on Monday, I would fly from Atlanta to Dallas, Texas. I would rent a car there and end up at the Globe Life Field (not to be confused with Globe Life Park) to watch the California Angels play the Texas Rangers. I wanted to do that because the Rangers brand new ballpark opened last year but I couldn’t go to see a game in 2020 because of Covid restrictions. One of my objectives in life is to see a game in all thirty ACTIVE major league ballparks. When the Rangers opened up their new park that meant a return trip for me to Texas. With the game in the rearview mirror on Tuesday, I would fly from Dallas to Los Angeles. Once back in sunny SoCal I would have lunch at In N Out Burger and return home to the loving arms of Trackchasing’s First Mother. At home, I would spend the next couple of days putting the final touches on my review of this outing, add hundreds of photos into a SmugMug photo album and produce a YouTube video of the racing from each track I visited. At that point, I would turn my full attention to next weekend’s trip where I would be leaving the house at zero dark thirty on Friday morning. Does the above make you want to become a trackchaser? There’s always room for one more. You might consider that the trip itinerary above was the BEST plan I could come up with. I rejected another 75 or more airplane opportunities. I would end up canceling several rental car reservations in various cities across the country as the plan changed. I would consider one track location and then another before I decided on the above. So, you’re probably saying yourself, “Randy, how do I become a trackchaser?” However, if you have read this far you can very accurately assume that not all elements of the original plan came to fruition. I did make it as far as the Ohio Valley Speedway in Washington, West Virginia on Friday night. That’s when the plan changed in a major way, generally for the good. Rather than drive overnight from Washington, West Virginia to Chicago in the hopes of seeing some Saturday night racing in rural Nebraska I found a track racing just south of Indianapolis on late Saturday afternoon. This event was going to feature “woods” UTV racing on the Indiana farm. Just last Sunday I saw some woods UTV racing at a Texas ranch. What is really the difference between a farm and a ranch? With this new Indiana trackchasing opportunity I was able to sleep overnight in Columbus Ohio last evening at a TownPlace Suites by Marriott property. SATURDAY. I checked out of my hotel at 11 a.m. and was well-rested. I was operating on a rental car contract that had me picking up my car in Columbus, Ohio and dropping it in Indianapolis, Indiana. The airport in Indiana was this morning’s first destination. I would take my car back to Indianapolis and close out the one-way contract. One-way contracts are very expensive. I rarely use those for more than one day’s worth of car rental. This morning I would be doing the classic Randy Lewis Racing rental car “switcheroo”. This is a strategy that I developed years ago. How does it work? I close out an expensive one-way rental contract and open up a new less expensive contract where I return the car where I picked it up the orginal contract. Who would want to do that, right? The plan was to open up the new one-day “pick up the rental car in Indianapolis and drop it back in Indianapolis” contract with National Car Rental. Then tomorrow, on Sunday, I would return my car back to Indianapolis again and open up a one-way rental car contract from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh? That wasn’t part of the original plan? I’ll tell you more about that a little bit later. Once I got my rental car situation squared away today, I was headed down to Martinsville, Indiana. Martinsville is a small town of 11,000 people and the county seat of Morgan County. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool to cold winters. The town’s nickname is the “Goldfish capital of the world”! As big UCLA fans we hung out with legendary basketball coach John Wooden whenever we could. Martinsville was just about a half-hour south of the Indianapolis airport. The town came with a very specific history for me. Martinsville is where UCLA’s legendary basketball coach John Wooden went to high school. Carol and I got to meet Coach Wooden several years ago. When Coach Wooden played for the Martinsville Artesians they won the state championship in all of Indiana. The year was 1927. Then he went on to have a legendary college basketball playing career for the Purdue Boilermakers. He was the first college basketball player ever to be named an All-American for three straight years. By the way, John Wooden was only 5’10” tall. In his senior year, John R. Wooden ended up being named the national basketball player of the year. Unless you’ve lived in a cultural wasteland and simultaneously under a rock, you know all about Coach Wooden’s UCLA coaching success. He won 10 NCAA basketball championships in a 12-year period. He retired in 1975 after the UCLA Bruins once again were NCAA champions. Today’s racing was going to take place at Lee Farms in Martinsville, Indiana. There are two major off-road racing groups in Indiana. They race in similarly located areas in and around Indianapolis. One is called IXCR and the other group is Midwest Cross Country Racing. I’ve seen racing sanctioned by both groups over the past decade or so. Today’s racing was being promoted by IXCR. The advanced weather forecast for the area called for heavy rain on Saturday. Over the past few days, the severity of the rain forecast has decreased with the forecast still expecting a little bit of wet stuff. I was counting on IXCR to come through for me. Additionally, I didn’t really want the wet weather to ruin my size 14 sketchers. I do want to make one thing clear. I would not make a special trip halfway across the country only to see woods UTV racing. However, when I can use a woods UTV racing event to “bridge the gap” between, in the case of this weekend racing at an oval track on Friday and another oval track on Sunday the woods UTV race works out very well for trackchasing purposes. Some people on Facebook reported having some trouble finding Lee Farms today. I’ve had that issue myself in the past but not today. I simply plugged in the “street address” for the farm and Waze directed me right where I needed to be. It had been raining lightly here all day. The overall rainfall wasn’t that great. Nevertheless, when you get a little rainfall for a long period of time on dirt and damp surfaces, you’re going to have a muddy mess before long. They had a muddy mess at the Lee Farms. I entered the facility driving the National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry front-wheel drive automobile. With today’s conditions, front-wheel drive was going to be much better than rear-wheel drive. I paid my $15 general admission fee. Then I asked the one question I always ask at race facilities like this. “Where is the starting line?” I was a couple of hours early. Normally I would use that time to walk all over the place. Today walking all over the place in the mud would be a chancy affair. I found that my best bet was to walk on the grass when there was grass to maintain better traction. The IXCR racing organization has six different UTV classes racing with adults. Here’s the funny thing about UTV racing and trackchasing. If you get too many racers that’s a problem for my trackchasing. If the group gets too few that’s a problem as well. At an IXCR event, they try to have starting grids that would allow 10 racers in one row. I’ve been to some UTV races where the starting line is only wide enough for two or three or four competitors. Every UTV racer with IXCR is racing against the clock. Racing against the clock doesn’t count in trackchasing. However, that wouldn’t be a major problem for me today. Of the six UTV divisions that were racing today four of them would not count for various reasons. Two of the divisions had more than 10 racers. That meant those divisions would start their race in two rows and the winner would be the driver with the lowest elapsed time. Two other divisions would have only one competitor. It takes a minimum of at least two competitors, with special circumstances, in order for a division like that to count. Luckily for me, there were two IXCR UTV divisions racing today that had more than one competitor and less than ten. The single pro division brought three racers. The heavy limited division brought six. It was those two divisions that would allow me to count racing today at Lee Farms in Martinsville, Indiana. For quite a while I sat in my car to stay out of the rain. I had parked near the quad. The track’s one and only concession stand was located here as well as the IXCR race headquarters trailer. I stepped out for a moment to ask a few clarifying questions and see what was for lunch. I got my questions answered but didn’t need any food today. Walking around the facility where there wasn’t any grass truly was a slick, slimy and muddy experience. I had driven my car to a spot where I would have to negotiate a steep hill when leaving the track. I saw one pick-up truck having a hard time making it up that hill. I decided to cross that hill and park where it was a downhill slide to the exit. It looked like my main option to see the start of the race was to leave my car and walk down a couple of muddy paths to the starting area. However, those muddy paths offered up about 6 inches of nearly liquid mud. That wasn’t going to work. I had only one other option. What could I do? I actually left the track itself and drove out onto the highway just outside of Lee Farms. From there I could see the starting grid really well. I noticed that others were doing the same thing. I soon found a grassy parking space that would give me an excellent view of first the kids UTV racing and finally the jackpot for me, the adult UTV racing. In between the racing activities I spent some time on my laptop working on my Trackchaser Report from yesterday’s event in Washington, West Virginia. It was at that race that I learned they were racing tomorrow over in Mineral Springs, West Virginia for the first time in eight years. I would be heading in that direction tomorrow. I have mentioned in the past that woods UTV racing is not an outstanding spectator experience. Today was one of the most extreme examples of that particular point that I’ve ever experienced. When the drivers took the green flag, I could see them racing for about 20 seconds. They disappeared into the woods. At least the kid’s UTV class came by the starting area for a few seconds. The adult classes never did. I could hear them racing throughout the woods but I couldn’t see them. I don’t know if I had stayed inside the Lee Farms property, I could have seen the race any better. It was so difficult to drive through that muddy area and/or walk that I didn’t want to chance the situation. So, to maintain the 100% factual reporting that my readers have come to expect from a Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report I will tell you that I only saw the adult UTV racers for 20 maybe 25 seconds of the race today. My observations were limited to the starting line area. Given the weather conditions and the density of the woods at Lee Farms that was the best I could do. No, this wasn’t your father’s Saturday night oval track. When the racing was wrapped up at Lee Farms in Martinsville, Indiana I headed to downtown Martinsville. I had a special mission in mind. As mentioned earlier legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden spent much of his childhood in Martinsville. I wanted to see what I could see about Coach Wooden’s hometown. First, I found John R. Wooden Drive. Then I did a little internet research and saw the elementary school that is named after John Wooden. It wasn’t long after that that I was driving by the home where John Wooden was reportedly born back in 1910. It’s kind of amazing that if John Wooden were alive today he would be 111 years old and one of the oldest living people in the United States. As it was, he died at 99 years of age, a life well-lived. I met Coach Wooden and shook his hand when he was about ninety-five. I found the site of the old Martinsville High School which was built in 1913. They had a large monument commemorating the school’s location. I was also able to see the gymnasium where John Wooden and his teammates played their home games and later won the 1927 Indiana high school basketball championship. I would’ve given a lot to have been able to go inside that gymnasium, which is now a National Historic Registry location. That was possible today. Maybe someday. Let’s think about this for a moment. John wooden was a star on his high school basketball team that won the state championship. He played basketball at Purdue and was a member of the Boilermakers NCAA championship team as well as being named the national college player of the year. Along the way, he moved out to California and won 10 NCAA basketball championships for the UCLA Bruins. Finally, he lived to be 99 years old and was married to his one and only Nelle for 52 years. Was Coach Wooden lucky? I doubt it. I suspect he was just squared away. Squared away is good. After my nostalgic tour, I needed to find a hotel. I checked Indianapolis where I would return my car tomorrow morning. However, something special must’ve been going on in Indy. Hotel prices were pretty much $150 and up. As you know I travel on a trackchasing budget. Those prices exceeded my budget for a hotel room tonight. Where I was in Martinsville was midway between Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana. I could drive 20 minutes south and be in Bloomington. There I could get a TownPlace Suites by Marriott property for 55 bucks. That’s what I did. I relaxed all evening at my hotel. I smiled when I thought about discovering this afternoon’s racing in southern Indiana. That one race prevented me from having to drive eight hours overnight after Friday’s race and from having to get up at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday morning for a flight to Atlanta. It was all good. SUNDAY Folks, if you haven’t discovered this by now, I suspect you have not been listening. I don’t plan my trips very far in advance at all. If I leave on a trip on a Friday, I might still be planning that trip on Thursday night. What’s the benefit of not planning too far out? At the last minute, I might find a better idea! Right now, I have a database of race dates at tracks that I’ve never been to before all the way through the end of 2021. There are about 700 listings. I haven’t even started looking at the county fair race dates for this summer yet. I see no reason whatsoever to plan my schedule out very far with the possible exception of an international trip. Take this weekend as an example. On Friday morning when I left the house the plan was to see racing in West Virginia, Nebraska and Alabama. Just a few hours later as I was in the midst of the trip that plan changed to where I would be seeing racing in West Virginia, Indiana and back in West Virginia. That’s how I do it. This method has propelled me to the number one worldwide position in the trackchasing hobby. This morning I had some rental car management to do. On Friday I had picked up my first rental car in Columbus, Ohio and dropped it in Indianapolis. Then yesterday in Indianapolis I had rented a car for one day returning it to Indianapolis this morning. Today I would rent a third car in Indianapolis and drop it off in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Three rental car contracts and three different rental cars, right? Not quite. Each time on this part of the trip when I “turned in” the rental car I simply told the agent that I wanted to close out my contract and re-rent the same car. I’ve done that hundreds of times. The advantages are a few. Number one it cuts down on the overall expense and minimizes one-day rentals. Number two it allows me to keep the same car number. And finally. I don’t have to move all of my gear from one car to another. Lots of advantages. Next up was a five-hour drive from the Indianapolis airport over to Mineral Springs, West Virginia. There was sort of a historical moment going on in Mineral Springs. The West Virginia Motor Speedway might be the nicest race facility in all of West Virginia. However, for whatever reason, the track that was built in the 1990s closed in 2013. There had not been a single race event at WVMS since. If I wasn’t at the Ohio Valley Speedway in Washington, West Virginia on Friday night I never would have known that the West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Springs, West Virginia was opening for the first time in eight years just two days later on Sunday. The Ohio Valley Speedway announcer had mentioned this fact. Later I learned these two tracks were just 8.7 miles apart. Was I lucky to find out about this unusual race day? I think maybe I was lucky. Today’s weather was going to be clear with lots of blue skies. However, temperatures, considering it was nearly May were still on the chilly side. The high temperature for the day would be in the low 60s. When tonight’s feature event took the green flag, the temperature was going to be around 50°. Sitting in a grandstand with any wind at all makes 50° temperatures pretty cold. My Toyota Camry rental car got pretty muddy yesterday at the wet Lee Farms UTV racing. Now that might have mud dried. I certainly didn’t want to occur and “excess cleaning” charge when I returned the car. That being the case at each Love’s Truckstop when I needed a restroom break, I used their windshield washing services to do a little cleanup on the body of my rental car. It’s finally looking decent enough to return without any problems. Editor’s note: I guess the car wasn’t clean enough to meet National’s exacting standards. An eager CEO wannabe National Car Rental check-in agent informed me there would be a “special fee” to get the car back in presentable condition. I challenged his assessment. However, he was like a baseball umpire who didn’t want to engage in any confrontation and simply walked away, saying “It’s in the contract”. How much was the “special fee”? 20 bucks! My Camry has one nice feature. I can set the car on speed control. Let’s say that’s 73 mph. Then I can cruise around at that speed without paying much attention. If I come across a car doing 65 in front of me, my car will slow down to 65 and maintain a constant following distance. That’s similar to one of the capabilities of my Tesla Model X. The Camry will also give me a warning sound if I cross out of my lane without using my turn signal. Those safety features have to cut down on accidents in the big picture. I like it. Tonight, I was going to see some racing which was very similar to the late model stock car specials that I used to frequent back in my early racechasing days. The West Virginia Motor Speedway was holding an event for super late models paying $8,000 to win. I was looking forward to that. This West Virginia track had been closed since 2013. Tonight, after an eight-year layoff, they were returning to the track. When the racing was completed, I think I may have understood why they closed back in 2013. Let me tell you the story from my side of the fence. I checked the WVMS Facebook page as I drove to the track. There were a lot of comments from fans who had already arrived at the track. Many of those comments were coming from people complaining about the parking situation. This did not sound good. Racing was advertised to begin at 6 p.m. I am a sucker for published starting times. I always believe ‘em. Tonight, I did not. I was PLANNING to arrive after the advertised start time. On the way to the track, I stopped in Lancaster, Ohio. I was attracted by a highway sign advertising the cities museums. I had time. I would stop. I could take a walking tour of Lancaster to see what I could see AND also get in some of the four miles of walking I needed for the day. Wow! I was impressed. Please don’t miss the pictures. Lancaster had so many beautiful, large and in perfect condition homes that must have been more than 100 years old. Very impressive. Don’t miss the pictures of these houses and other landmarks in this city of nearly 39,000 people. Later in my drive, I stopped at a highway rest area and got in a little powerwalking. Then I stopped at McDonald’s for my usual two McDoubles with no catchup or pickle. I’m glad I did. The concession pickings were slim at the track. The road that I took into the track was about wide enough for one and a half cars. When I passed oncoming traffic, it was a nail-biter. Soon I was going to find out exactly what all of those people on Facebook were complaining about with the parking. I made my way all the way up to what looked like the entrance to the parking lot. I could see that it was a big grassy and muddy field. However, cars were coming out of the parking lot rather than going in. Drivers of those cars motioned that the parking lot was full. I immediately made about a seven-point U-turn. I was going to have to park on the very narrow entrance road. I really didn’t want to do that. There was almost no room. For the most part, the only people parking on the edge of the road with half of their vehicle in the mud and half on the pavement were pickup trucks. I had a Toyota Camry. I didn’t like my parking position at all. From there I walked about half a mile into the parking lot of the track. There was a small stream that appeared to be about five or 6 feet wide separating the parking lot from where the tickets were being sold. The stream ran a distance of 200 yards or more. I thought about what it was going to be like tonight in the dark when the races were finished. I would first have to cross this stream and then walk along the exit road while all kinds of yahoos made their way out of the track with their pickup trucks that seemed to be 10 feet wide and 13 feet wide with their side mirrors extended. That was not going to be fun. Tonight’s admission price was $25. That was a little steep but then again, they were paying $8,000 to win so I coughed up the cash. The seating on the main straightaway side of the track was what is called “hillside” seating. For the most part, the only real way to sit on this part of the track’s seating area was to have brought along a lawn chair. I didn’t. All I had was a plastic gardener’s knee pad foam rubber cushion. This wasn’t good. I didn’t need to eat anything but I did need to use the bathroom. I stood in the back of a long line that from the air must’ve looked like the letter “Y”. The line split into two lines a little bit ahead of me. One part of the “Y” headed toward the concession trailer and the other toward the porta-potties. Thankfully the line moved rather quickly and soon I had to make my decision on how I would watch tonight’s racing. Sitting on the hillside, on the ground with a seat cushion, really wasn’t going to work for me. I could see the facility had a lot of bleacher seating over on the backstretch. I was thinking that seating might have been $35 per person with access to the pit area. I didn’t know for sure. There were not a lot of signs. The pit area at the WVMS runs just beyond turns one and two of the 5/8-mile dirt oval. After I had walked the entire length of the main straightaway, I saw the entrance to the pit area in turn one. I figured I would have to walk through the pit area in order to get to the grandstand seating on the backstretch. I didn’t have a pit pass. But I did have ingenuity on my side. I saw a party of four folks with pit passes beginning to enter the pit area. I simply joined in with this crowd, as Richard Petty would say, and walked into the pits. I took a few pictures. Then I kept walking right into the backstretch grandstand. The seating was a series of concrete steps. With the sun setting over turn three this was going to be an excellent place to watch the races. There was just one minor problem. There was no PA system for the backstretch fans. Bummer. Major bummer. A show is never much of a show without a good track announcer. I checked my two online racing apps. Neither one of them was carrying the lineups or the results on a real-time basis for tonight’s racing. Luckily, the guy sitting next to me turned me onto the Ironman Late Model Series Facebook page. There they posted the entries and the heat race lineups. Tonight’s feature race was offering $8,000 to win. That sounded like a solid payday to me. Apparently, the nation’s racers did not agree with me. Only 18 super late models showed up to race. That’s a very small car count for an $8,000 to win show. Of the 18 SLM drivers in the pits, there were only three that I had ever heard of before. Granted I don’t follow super late models on dirt as closely as I used to. The three drivers I was familiar with included Tyler Erb, Devin Moran and Jonathan Davenport. One of the things that makes these high-dollar shows a lot of fun to watch is when you know a lot of the drivers. The one and only support class was for the steel block late models. They brought about the same number of cars as the super late models did. I mentioned that racing was advertised to begin at 6 p.m. I guess in this part of the world they consider hot laps and time trials “racing”. I don’t. The first heat race took to the track at 7:40 p.m. C’mon race promoters. Can’t we just get a simple understandable by the fan definition of what “racing” is? The West Virginia Motor Speedway last raced in 2013. That’s eight years ago. At one point in time, the track was shortened from a 5/8-mile dirt oval to a 3/8-mile dirt oval. It may have been that way when the track closed in 2013. Now the track is back to being 5/8-mile in length. It’s a big honkin’ short track. I would have preferred to see the racing on the shorter 3/8-mile version. I could still see where turns three and four were from when the track configuration was smaller. With 18 super late models, the race director had a couple of choices. He could’ve run three six-car heat races or two nine-car heat races. I think most fans would like to see nine cars race in two heats. Race competitors might like three races with six cars in each heat. It is common that the wishes of the fan and the preferences of the racer are not aligned. Fans want more cars in each race to make the race more interesting where there might be some rubbing with the racing. Drivers and car owners would just as soon have fewer cars in the race to lesson “wear and tear” on their race car. I’m happy to report they ran two super late model heats and two steel block heats, each with a nine-car field. Then the track went to a short intermission. Twenty-five bucks to get in. Four heats? Hmmm. At that point, I posted a few photos from tonight’s racing on Facebook. One of my FB friends, Conley Michael saw those postings. Conley was seated on the hillside. For the rest of the night, he and I messaged back and forth. Here’s the funny thing about my contact with Conley Michael. Several days ago, I was giving him some advice when he asked me how to get some good pricing on rental cars. He told me he needed a car in Greensboro, North Carolina. All during that conversation Conley never mentioned which racetracks he might be visiting. Tonight, Conley told me he bought his ticket to this race back in December. Wow! That was four months ago. I only learned about the existence of this event two days ago. I would not have known then but the track announcer at the Ohio Valley Speedway mentioned it a couple of times. It’s important to note that one track announcer very rarely mentions a race date at another track. I almost missed this one! Speaking of the Ohio Valley Speedway…just two nights ago I was at that track. They had well over 100 cars and a $15 admission price. Tonight, they had 36 cars and a $25-$35 general admission ticket. Ohio Valley didn’t FINISH their heat racing until 11 p.m. Tonight the heat races started at 7:40 p.m. and all of the heat races were done about 40 minutes later. Yes, each track is different. There were 18 super late models in the pit area for time trials. By the time the feature race began only 14 of them were running. The feature itself would have only have eight or nine finishers. Until about lap twenty, the feature race wasn’t all that interesting. Devin Moran had led all the way. Then they started to have some yellow flags. That’s when Jonathan Davenport made his way to the front. With only a couple of laps to go a backmarker caused a yellow flag. Moran and Davenport both ducked into the pit area, which was almost completely dark and changed the right rear rubber. They restarted in fifth and sixth positions because they were on the lead lap. Racing on the last lap Davenport and Moran were just about ready to overtake the leader, Tyler Erb. At that point, while exiting turn two Erb unexpectedly lost his left rear wheel. That’s most unusual. This caused a yellow flag and from there Jonathan Davenport cruised to an $8,000 payday. Now I had a choice. It was only 9 p.m. They had just one more feature event, for the steel block late models, to go. I could stay and watch that race and potentially be behind 500-1,000 cars trying to exit the speedway out of a muddy parking lot onto a narrow nearly one-lane road. You might be able to see where I’m going with this. Or I could leave now and be one of the first people out of the speedway. I chose the second option. I really didn’t want to be behind that much traffic at a track that lacked most creature comforts and amenities. As it was, I still had to cross the creek that I had seen in the daylight a few hours earlier. It was now dark. I stopped for a moment to let a couple of people walking behind me go ahead so THEY could test the best way to cross the creek. I was born at night but not last night. They made…and then I made it despite having a bad back right now. As I walked out of the “formal” parking lot and down the one-lane road that was as black as it could possibly be, I turned my iPhone 12 light on. I figured that might give me just a little bit better chance of not getting run over by one of the many huge pickup trucks that were now exiting the track at speed. Soon I was back to my Toyota Camry and happy to report that no one had hit it while I had been gone. I always try to be as objective as possible when I give you my opinion about these racetracks. That’s especially true of the tracks holding bigger events. I think the West Virginia Motor Speedway is woefully short on race fan creature comforts. I guess if I lived locally, I would know about the need for a lawn chair. At most tracks, you don’t need a lawn chair! The parking, for a crowd of this size, was awful. I’m happy to report there were enough porta potties to satisfy my needs. However, most women are not into porta-potties. What’s their problem anyway!? Concessions were limited to a couple of food trailers. I doubt the track was able to take advantage of concession sales that could have come from tonight’s huge crowd. I’m not very good at estimating the size of a crowd. I’m guessing there were 3,000-4,000 people in the stands plus those in the pit area tonight. I think the promoter did very well tonight. That’s good. Most promoters don’t do nearly as well. Conley promised to let me know how the steel block feature race went. Later he messaged to say only about seven cars finished that race and it wasn’t much. I’m glad I didn’t stay for that one. You could almost feel the wear and tear this big 5/8-mile oval was inflicting on these race cars. Once I did get out of the speedway it was going to be a 120-mile drive up to my Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel in Adelphia, West Virginia. From there I would have a one-hour drive to the Pittsburgh International Airport tomorrow morning. I was headed to the Big D and I do mean Dallas. MONDAY I woke up in Adelphia, West Virginia this morning at one of the best Fairfield Inn and Suites properties I’ve ever stayed at. I was very impressed with Adelphia. It seemed to be a very upscale area. For West Virginia, it surprised me. I guess that’s why it’s a good idea not to have too many stereotypes! Adelphia has several fast-food chains and other fast-casual dining restaurants in the immediate area. It seemed like each one of the brands that we are all familiar with had a brand-new upscale exterior on their restaurant. Check out this Chick-fil-A as an example! When I filled up my rental car with gas before returning it to the Pittsburgh airport, I had the opportunity to get a car wash. I should have taken it. My car was literally trashed with dirt and mud, both inside and out, from my visit to Lee Farms in Martinsville, Indiana last Saturday afternoon. I tried to clean it up a little bit with the squeegees that are used to clean a windshield at a gas station. That probably only made things worse. When I returned the car the National Car Rental guy wanted to charge me a cleaning fee. I gave him a lot of grief for that but I’ll still probably get charged the cleaning fee of 20 bucks. My argument was pretty similar to when a baseball manager runs out onto the field to argue with the umpire…when all along he knows his guy was out. From there I had a simple flight from Pittsburgh over to Dallas, Texas. I was going to Texas today for one reason. I wanted to see a baseball game at the new Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. I have a pretty robust sports spectating hobby. With the game of baseball, I’ve seen the major-league world series at three locations, the college baseball world series and the little league baseball world series. Of course, I can throw in an MLB all-star game in there and the fact that I used to have season tickets (81 games) for the Los Angeles Angels. If you’re interested in seeing my “Sport Spectating Resume” check out this link: A few years ago, I wrapped up seeing a major-league baseball game at all 30 of the active major-league baseball stadiums. However, since then once in a while, a team will build a new stadium. That requires a return trip to that city to see a game there. That’s why I was in Texas tonight. The Texas Rangers opened a brand-new stadium called Globe Life Field right across the street from their previous stadium which was named Globe Life Park. The new stadium opened during the 2020 season but fans were not allowed to see any of the games because of the Covid pandemic. I vowed I would come to the new stadium in 2021 when the Angels were in town. That was tonight. I had a very enjoyable evening at Globe Life Field on what was a super moon evening. There are only two super moons each year. The temperature was more than comfortable as well. The Angels have an exciting young Japanese player named Shohei Ohtani. The unique thing about Mr. Ohtani is that he is both a pitcher and a hitter. There hasn’t really been a player like this since the beginning of Babe Ruth’s career. How good is Shohei Ohtani? He’s pretty good. Tonight, in five innings of pitching he struck out nine batters. He’s coming off a Tommy John surgery and he’s only allowed to pitch about 80 pitches each game right now. So far in 2021 he has pitched 13.2 innings and struck out 23 batters! That means he’s a pretty good pitcher and he is just getting started. How does Shohei hit? He’s only had about 950 at-bats in his somewhat injury-plagued four partial seasons. During that time, he’s hit 54 home runs and has a career batting average of .270. I’ve heard several people compare Shohei Ohtani’s abilities to that of Babe Ruth. Many people may not know that Babe Ruth started out as a pitcher. Because Ruth was such a good hitter, they had him stop pitching after a few seasons. Tonight, the Texas Rangers radio crew was making comparisons between Otani and Babe Ruth. That’s pretty amazing. Ohtani is certainly a player to watch on the Angels team considering they already have the best player in baseball in Mike Trout. Tonight, Trout went four for five and is hitting over .400 for the season. Globe Life Field is a beautiful new baseball stadium. It’s in a safe neighborhood and tonight’s crowd although not great in quantity was very laid-back just like you might find at an Angels game in Anaheim. The best I can do here is to tell you I took a lot of photos of the park. You can see those photos in the photo album linked to this report. I am happy to report that the Angels took the victory tonight 9 to 4. Oh, one more thing. Some might think seeing these major ballgames is expensive. It’s not. From my experience minor league games ARE expensive but games in the majors are not. What’s my data to support the above assertion? I paid just $7 for my ticket. After fees, the price was a bit less than $11. Parking around the stadium ranged from $20-$25. I used ParkWhiz to get parking a half-mile away for $10.99. Then I benefited from the walk to get my “steps” in. Concessions were pricey. A hot dog went for six bucks and a soda was the same price. I chose the grande nachos for $13.50. If you can get a night of big-league entertainment including parking for $22, you’re doing pretty well in my opinion. TUESDAY Today’s objective was a simple one. I just needed to get on an airplane that would take me from Dallas to Los Angeles. During the pandemic, the airlines cut back on the frequency of their flights. They moved a lot of their planes out to the desert to wait things out. Now with everyone getting vaccinated folks want to travel because they’ve been sitting at home for more than a year. It’s taking the airlines a while to catch up and get those mothballed planes back into service to accommodate the increased demand. I am seeing some pretty big crowds at the airport. I was flying standby. The plane had sold six more seats than its maximum capacity. I was last on the list of standby passengers in the fourth spot. I was pretty well convinced I would not get on this flight. Wrong. I can never underestimate the lack of discipline of my fellow travelers! Overall, this adventure changed a good deal from what I had planned originally. Nevertheless, I’ll take new track visits to West Virginia, Indiana and back to West Virginia. Then being able to see a game at a stadium that returns me to having seen a major-league baseball game at every active stadium in the league is a cherry on this weekend’s sundae. Good afternoon and good evening from all over the place. See you next time. Remember you don’t have to drive fast to enjoy fast driving. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,694 tracks. Indiana The Hoosier State This afternoon I saw racing at my 127th-lifetime track in the Hoosier, yes, the Hoosier State. I hold the #2 trackchasing ranking in Indiana. Indiana ranks #3, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Indiana state trackchasing list. I have made 82 separate trips to Indiana seeing these tracks. West Virginia The Mountain State This evening I saw racing at my 11th-lifetime track in the Mountain, yes, the Mountain State. I don’t even rank in the top 10 trackchasers in West Virginia. I know, sad right? West Virginia ranks #45, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Indiana state trackchasing list. I have made 11 separate trips to Indiana seeing these tracks. West Virginia State Track List 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 Indiana sayings: Restart your engines West Virginia sayings: Time to go ramp hunting! Not a ramp that you drive on, but rather a wild onion that features heavily in West Virginian cuisine in the springtime. JUST THE FACTS 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 800 tracks of my lifetime total. That’s a fact, Jack. Total Trackchasing Countries My nearest trackchasing competitor, a native of Belgium, has seen racing in more than 30 fewer countries compared to my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. Lee Farms UTV racing – Martinsville, Indiana West Virginia Motor Speedway – Mineral Springs, West Virginia See it in pictures! Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure. 
