Lind Arena

 

 

THE EVENT

I have had the opportunity to follow my trackchasing hobby all over the world. As this is written I have seen racing in 74 countries. My lifetime track total exceeds 2,300. Each and every year I will trackchase in 25-30 states. At track #1,040 I moved into the “World’s #1 Trackchasing” spot.

 

 

I have to give a shout out to the staff at the Randy Lewis Racing Research Department. This winter they found a “vein” of Washington state fairgrounds racing. I’ve been doing this trackchasing thing for a while. I’ve never known states in the Far West to do much once a year fairgrounds racing. If the Far West had racing at fairgrounds to the degree that the Midwest and East does I would probably have 400 more tracks than I do right now!

 

 

My hobby is not only about racing. Trackchasing for me centers around three things. The racing part is pretty obvious. However of equal importance is the logistics of trackchasing and the opportunity to see the world.

 

 

I live in Southern California. The vast majority of tracks are located in the Midwest and East. It takes a good deal of logistical planning to get from where I live to where the tracks are. For the past 15 years I have traveled about 175 nights each and every year. Surprisingly to some, more than half of those overnights were not part of trackchasing.

 

 

Then there’s the travel just for the fun of seeing new things. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page on my website at www.randylewis.org. That will give you some understanding on how important seeing the world is with my hobby.

 

 

Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link:

 

Randy’s Complete Track List

 

 

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!

 

 

Randy on Facebook

 

 

 

FOREWORD

 

 

Folks, as you know I live in Southern California. This weekend I was going to attempt to leave Southern California on Friday morning. I would back out of the driveway at 3 a.m.  Almost every one of my trips begins at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport).

 

 

I’m planning to trackchase in Washington State on Friday night. Then on Saturday night I’ll be down in Texas. I plan to complete my trackchasing weekend on Sunday afternoon in Florida. If all goes really well I’ll be sleeping in my own bed back in San Clemente by late Sunday night. Sounds pretty ambitious doesn’t it?

 

 

The somewhat unusual aspect of this weekend’s trip is this. I plan to see four tracks in three days. However, a year ago I didn’t know any of these four tracks even existed! How can I ever run out of tracks if they keep popping up at this rate?

 

 

The folks involved with the Randy Lewis Racing Research Department deserve some recognition. My trackchasing research capabilities are what put me ahead of the pack. Of course my transportation and technology resources are equally important.

 

 

If you were going to begin a four-day trackchasing trip would you rather catch a midnight flight or a flight leaving at 6 o’clock in the morning? For me to comfortably make a flight from LAX I need to leave my driveway for the airport about three hours before flight time. It’s a 65-mile one-way drive.

 

 

For this trip I had a choice between flying at midnight on Thursday night or at 6 a.m. on Friday morning. I had a better chance of getting on the midnight flight. That’s the one I chose. In reality the two flights were only six hours apart.

 

 

I’ve become kind of a regular on the flight that lands in Portland, Oregon at 2 a.m. Portland is a very friendly airport toward overnight sleepers. They have lots of space where you can lie down across a series of padded chairs. That’s what I did on this trip.

 

 

One minor drawback is that the airport gates become active at about 5 a.m. in the morning. Can you imagine that? They want to actually use their airport while I’m trying to use it as a hotel.

 

 

I tried to pick a gate area that wasn’t expecting a flight until later but I must have miscalculated. At 5 a.m., after just 2 1/2 hours of sleep the announcements started. I was up now.

 

 

Since I couldn’t very well sleep in that area any longer I walked over to the Alaska Lounge. I’m a member of this private airline club. My membership fee has been one of my better travel investments. There I could relax in comfort and have some hard-boiled eggs and a Diet Coke. Yep. I’m still in food rehab.

 

 

I had just enough time to visit the nearly new Hollywood Theatre inside the Portland airport.  This is a great little place.  I love going to the movies.  Here they show short 10-minute or less films for no charge.  You can’t beat that set up.

 

 

I would pick up my rental car at 7:30 a.m. I’ll need to return it by that time tomorrow morning in order to avoid having a second day of rental car charges. That return time will let me easily make my 8:40 a.m. flight out of Portland tomorrow morning.

 

 

The Portland airport rental car facility is within walking distance of the terminal. That’s so much more convenient than those remote rental car centers that are popping up all over the country. That time savings can be really important when I’m running late for a flight and still need to return my car.

 

 

I would have about eight hours worth of driving for this one-day trip to the Northwest. That meant I needed a comfortable sedan. I chose a nearly new Nissan Maxima car. It would fit my overnight sleeping needs nicely and also provide good gas mileage.

 

 

At the exit gate of National Car Rental I simply handed them my driver’s license and I was good to go. However, the National agent did ask me if I wanted three different extras (add-ons).

 

 

I could “pre-pay” my fuel. That would save me $0.20 or so per gallon. However, in order to get that savings I would have to buy a full tank load of fuel regardless of how much I used. I never choose this option. Overall, I think it’s a huge rip off for consumers in general.

 

 

I could also rent a GPS on a daily basis from National as well as Sirius XM satellite radio. No need for that. My phone and my Waze GPS app will provide that service. Additionally as a subscriber of Sirius XM radio I can listen to all of their channels using their app on my iPhone. Yep. That iPhone is a very valuable feature.

 

 

It would be a four-hour one-way drive up to Lind, Washington. Lind is in town of less than 600 people. They’ve been in existence for about 130 years. Surprisingly, the town’s population is less now than it was in 1910.

 

 

This winter the staff in the Randy Lewis Racing Research Department went to work finding new trackchasing options. They discovered a “vein” of county fairs in small Washington towns that were offering trackchasing countable racing in one form or another. That’s why I am in Lind, Washington today.

 

 

My track contact, Eric Lund, told me their farm combine demolition derby is the highlight of the Lind weekend. They’ve been doing this for 30 years. It must be a pretty big deal because they were featured in Playboy magazine’s 50th anniversary edition. Unfortunately the combine demo derby will be held on Saturday afternoon. I’m here only for the oval track racing today, Friday.

 

 

The drive out from Portland took me along interstate 84 eastward. It’s one of the prettiest drives that I make anywhere in the country. It follows the Columbia River and has some fantastic water and hillside views. Like I say, one of the best.

 

 

Racing tonight was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. I pulled into the little bitty town of Lind, Washington at about 3:30 p.m. Yes, I was early.

 

 

I was one of the first cars in the parking lot. I guess I learned this behavior from my family. We used to show up at the Peoria Speedway BEFORE they opened the gates so we could assure ourselves of top row seating. Nowadays I show up early but not that early.

 

 

I had only a few hours of sleep last night in the Portland airport. This morning I stopped at a highway rest area for a short nap. This late afternoon I figured I would take a nap in the parking lot. If you’re going to do this trackchasing stuff at the level I do it you have to pace yourself. However I think I was so excited at the prospect of adding a new track in Washington state napping wasn’t going to work.

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Lind Arena – Lind, Washington

 

 

I had heard the crowds were huge for “combine demo derby weekend”. Each time I peaked over toward the grandstand area I was expecting to see all the seats filled and not one left for me. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer. I grabbed my seat cushion at about 5 p.m. and went over to the grandstand and picked out a top row seat. Yep. I still get excited about this.

 

 

Tonight they would be racing cars and trucks. Both the cars and the trucks would also have a Powder puff division. In case you’re not familiar with the term “Powder puff” it refers to a racing division that is only for ladies. I’m not even going to touch the political and cultural aspects of this phrase.

 

 

All of the cars racing tonight were low dollar heavily fortified mostly Detroit iron. One guy had a ‘78 Lincoln (above) that looked like it would stick out, by about 3 1/2 feet, in my garage.

 

 

It’s very unusual for an event featuring the low dollar cars and trucks to have time trials. However tonight they spent about an hour with one-lap time trials for each of the competitors. Personally, I would rather have seen that one-hour invested in more racing than time trial activity.

 

 

Following time trials they held the driver’s meeting. My race contact Eric Lund ran the meeting. He told everyone that tonight’s program would consist of dashes, heat and then Australian pursuit races. Somewhat oddly there would be no feature races tonight.  I also spent time in the pit area talking with local drivers.  This is a fantastic way to get information on other tracks where these guys race.  That approach worked again tonight.

 

 

The dash races would feature four cars or trucks for four laps. The heat races would be six cars or trucks for six laps.  The powder puff races would follow.  

 

 

I don’t see the Australian pursuit style race used much anymore. Back in the day I would see it once in a while. Here’s how it works.

 

 

Tonight six cars or trucks would be spaced equally around the small, maybe 1/8-mile, oval. At the drop of the green flag all of the competitors take off. If a car is passed during the Australian pursuit race they must pull off the track. The last car left without being passed in the winner. I think tonight’s Australian pursue race was scheduled for six laps. According to the rules when there were only two cars left they would have one minute to pass each other. If there were no passing completed during that time frame the race would be considered a tie.

 

 

The starter was a sartorial experience.  He showed up in a three piece suit.  I guess that’s unusual isn’t it.  What made his appearance even more noticeable was that his suit was fluorescent ORANGE.  The drivers would have a hard time missing him!

 

 

The racing surface seemed pretty sandy with a lot of loose dirt. The cars and trucks kicked up a lot of the track and threw it up against the wall.

 

 

I was surprised at how fast the cars were going given the track’s condition as well as the outward appearance of some of the racecars. They also did their share of banging and shoving. One powder puff truck driver smashed her truck into the wall resulting in a pretty solid flip. Don’t miss the video!

 

 

This was the 30th annual Lind Combine Demo Derby. The event is not part of a fair or carnival or anything like that. The announcer did tell us that the town would have a parade tomorrow commemorating the combine demo derby.

 

 

I started the evening with a sausage on a stick. Later I graduated to a good-sized double cheeseburger. Just as I was exiting the concession stand with my burger a car came around and doused it with dirt, dust and mud and then there was that.

 

 

Although the event started a few minutes late, because of the time trials, they did a good job of running one race after another. There were no yellow flags that I noticed and only one red flag for the driver who flipped her truck. That kept the show moving. When one race pulled off the track the next one was pulling onto the track.

 

 

I have been in the grandstands since 5 p.m. However as the evening wore on the temperature began to drop down into the high 50s. There was also a heavy duty 20-mile an hour wind that suddenly turned and blew directly into the grandstand where I was seated. I was one of the few fans wearing shorts. That is often the case. I had decided in advance I didn’t want to take up the luggage space with a pair of blue jeans. That’s how light I travel!

 

 

During the driver’s meeting the promoter told the racers this. At the end of the regular program the racers could come out and race some more, on a non-paid basis, if they wanted. From what I could tell they were doing that at about 9 p.m. They still hadn’t run any of the Australian pursuit races.

 

 

The wind chill temperature was probably in the low 50s by now. I had more than a four-hour drive to get me back to the Portland International Airport from Lind, Washington.  Even if I left at this point I wouldn’t be getting back to Portland until about 1:30 a.m. I had to be at the airport by no later than about 7:15 a.m. to catch my flight. It was time to boogie.

 

 

Most of the races I saw tonight were essentially five cars for five laps. That’s pretty much the same description that I would provide for Red Bull Global Rally Cross. However I really enjoyed tonight’s show, much more than the Red Bull races. Why?

 

 

Tonight’s program cost me ten bucks to get in. RBGRC costs $60 U.S. I could see the entire track tonight. With RBGRC I often times can only see half the track or less. Tonight they ran one race after another with no delays. RBGRC has significant delays between each race. Tonight there was a good deal of rubbing and banging. None of that happens with RBGRC. Tonight was fun. I don’t think of RBGRC as much fun.

 

 

As mentioned my ticket tonight was $10. I was surprised to see that a pit pass was the same price, 10 bucks. I certainly don’t see that very often. I think the difference in spectator admission and pit pass admission at oval tracks is one of the bigger scams being perpetrated in America these days. There is no way the extra “costs” can justify a spectator ticket at $10 and a pit pass at $25-30. Nevertheless, the short track promoter is not getting rich in 90% of all cases.

 

 

 

Tonight there are probably more people hanging out in the beer garden than in the grandstands. It’s too bad I couldn’t stay for their signature combine derby event. However, I can only be in one place at one time.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

At this point I hopped in the National Car Rental Racing Nissan Maxima for my 275-mile drive back to the Portland airport. Now I just needed to get it myself over to Texas for tomorrow’s 6 p.m. start time. If I could do all of that safely I would be rewarded with a trackchasing double.

 

 

I would end up sleeping in an Interstate 84 highway rest area (above).  It was cool and comfortable.  It had been a very good day of trackchasing from Washington state.

 

 

Good evening from Lind, Washington.

 

 

 

Washington

 

 

The Evergreen state

This evening I saw my 35th lifetime track in the Evergreen state, yes the Evergreen state. I hold the #1 trackchasing spot in Washington. I’ve seen 35 or more tracks in 19 separate states.

 

 

 

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

Washington definitions: Grunge

 

 

What it means everywhere else: The scene from the 90s that you think of every time you find your Pearl Jam shirt in the back of your closet. What it means in Washington: The scene that never really died, as evidenced by the Pearl Jam shirt that you still wear. Go ahead, pretend like One Direction is better.

 

 

 

 

QUICK 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 595 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,330

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 20 countries of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 74

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.37

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

The Lind Arena famous for farm combine demo derbies was a unique place to trackchase