Greetings from West Liberty, Ohio
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lion’s Park Dirt oval Lifetime Track #2,649 THE EVENT Editor’s note: It’s fun to visit a racetrack that no other trackchaser has ever seen. It’s even more fun to know the drivers, flagman, announcers and fans in a faraway place like Ohio. That was the case today. Sit down, relax and learn what a great group of folks make up the Buckeye Outlaw Kart Racing Club. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above trackchasing on a very cold night up in Wisconsin with Carol, sister Becky and BIL, Bob). I live in a modest seaside cottage in the sleepy little village by the sea, 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’m interested in seeing an auto race. Secondly, I want to take some time to see the local attractions of wherever I might be visiting. 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. Am I truly serious about trackchasing? I think so. I’ve seen an auto race in 85 countries at more than 2,660 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 Trackchasing can be an expensive hobby. One of my fellow competitors was said, “When Randy stops trackchasing we know he will have run out of money”. Folks, I have been retired for nearly 20 years and have not earned a single dime working. I’m still trackchasing! 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. I guess people find what I share interesting. 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 more than 2,600 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. 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 Monday, September 7, 2020. Today is our last and final day of trackchasing on our Labor Day extravaganza trackchasing tour. It might be the most important day of the four days where Carol and I will add four new racetracks to our lifetime totals. Let me tell you why. Obviously trackchasing is all about seeing racing at tracks that we have never visited before. Some tracks are easier to get than others. Let’s consider your weekly racetrack that begins in May and runs through September. They will probably have 15-20 scheduled race dates in their season. Did you know there are other racetracks that don’t race weekly? They don’t even race every other week. These tracks put on their show just once a year. That makes my trackchasing schedule a little more difficult to set up. When I only have one opportunity to visit a new track during an entire year that’s a challenge. This all makes trackchasing strategy all the more important and the hobby all the more interesting. It just turns out that each of the four tracks that we planned to see on this trip were pretty much “once a year” operations. When we went to Crandon, Wisconsin on Friday night we were seeing their once a year race on their shorter road course. They only race on their larger road course a few times each year. Then on Saturday night, we showed up in Guthrie Center, Iowa for the figure 8 racing at the Guthrie Center Fairgrounds. They might race there once or twice a year in total. Yesterday afternoon, Sunday, we went to the Madison International Speedway in Oregon, Wisconsin. They were racing on their roval configuration for the first time ever. About a month ago I went trackchasing at the McClure Raceway in West Liberty, Ohio. The Buckeye Outlaw Kart Racing competitors race at this track, which is located on a farm, maybe ten times a year. However, the Buckeye Outlaw Kart Racing group races elsewhere a time or two each year as well. They have a once a year event over in Lion’s Park in West Liberty, Ohio. They do this event annually on Labor Day Monday itself. There are literally hundreds of people who consider themselves trackchasers to one degree or another. I’m going to guess that only a couple of people have ever seen racing on the shorter oval in Crandon. No one had ever seen any figure 8 racing over in Guthrie Center, Iowa. Because yesterday’s roval in Wisconsin was being used for the first time ever no trackchasers had been there. I’m also going to tell you that I doubt that any trackchaser has ever shown up at Lion’s Park to catch a race with the Buckeye Outlaw Kart Racing racers. Obviously, after seeing racing at more than 2,640 tracks finding new track configurations to visit is becoming a little more difficult. It’s definitely more difficult compared to when I first started doing this. However, if I can take my lovely bride out onto the trackchasing interstate highway and we can pick up four new tracks, one night after another, that’s a good weekend. When those four tracks are at places that nobody else has ever seen I think we’re doing pretty well. Yesterday we had a very long trackchasing day where we ended up driving more than 10 hours and spending four hours at the racetrack. We didn’t pull into our hotel in Fort Wayne, Indiana until past 2 a.m. last night. We needed to be on the road this morning by 8:30 a.m. in order to get over to West Liberty, Ohio for the 11 a.m. driver introductions. We did show up about 20 minutes late but we ended up being on time for all of today’s festivities. Today’s racetrack was a little bit unusual. This was a temporary oval marked by orange traffic cones. The cones were set up in the middle of what looked to be a tractor pull track. The length of the homemade oval was pretty short. The track was a long paper clip type track with straightaways that were much longer than the very narrow tight turns. Although they watered the track a time or two the racing surface was dusty and slick. It was pretty bumpy as well. With limited suspension on these racing machines, it was hard for a driver to keep all four wheels on the ground at once. During my visit to the McClure Raceway last month I was able to make several friends. I’m talking about drivers, car owners, track owners, flagmen and mechanics. They’ve got a good group of very friendly yet competitive racing people that are part of this group. If you’re considering getting into one of these racing machines competing with the Buckeye Outlaw Kart Racing organization would be a lot of fun. They have three racing classes with Buckeye. The main division, the modifieds, had five competitors racing today. They also have another class for adults called stocks and a brand new class this year named junior stocks for drivers 8-13. Today there was no admission being charged for the races or the Labor Day festivities. Lion’s Park was also offering a softball game and a number of tents selling crafts and the like. This group did not have an announcer at the McClure Raceway. Today the announcing duo of Robin and Mark (above) kept everyone informed about how the race program was going to go. They even asked me to do a short interview during intermission. I’m always up for telling the crowd what my trackchasing hobby is all about. If you want to tune into some of that you might check my YouTube video from Lion’s Park. If you don’t watch this YouTube video to hear my interview you had better watch it to see the very competitive side by side bumper-to-bumper racing these drivers shared with the fans today. I got to tell you that we were very concerned about being rained out for this afternoon. The race had a late morning start time. The weather forecast called for a 60% chance of rain beginning at 8 a.m. and pretty much running all day. However, when I looked at the radar (we were the blue dot above) it didn’t seem like there would be any rain until at least mid to late afternoon. That turned out to be the situation. We were very lucky to have a rain-free racing program when such a high probability of rain was forecast. I was impressed with how serious these drivers, mechanics and car owners are about their racing. These guys and gals were trying to get their cars ready to race, maintain their points standings position and get a good finish for the day. Here I was just a guy from California roaming around the pit area on vacation. I very much appreciated them taking their time to talk to me. It was fun talking to Dallas Rose (above). He drives car #07 in the modified class. He’s a cancer survivor and a very friendly guy to talk to. Brandon Dingey, who drives the #2 in the stock division also came by to say hi. His son Bentley races in the junior Stock group. Finally, a fan came up to say hello. His name was Dan. Dan’s favorite type of racing is midgets and sprints. He wasn’t much for watching winged sprint cars. I understand that one. He likes the wingless sprints and midgets promoted by the United States Auto Club (USAC). Of course, I spent quite a bit of time talking to my buddies Robert McClure and Nick Hostetler. A month ago Robert bested Nick in the feature event at McClure. Today it was all Nick Hostetler. He won both of his modified heat races and the feature event. Nick was untouchable. I suspect that’s why he’s a five-time champion. At the last event, Nick told me he was 70 years of age. What he is doing in his modified car is impressive. When I saw these drivers racing at the McClure Raceway I was the first trackchaser ever to visit the track. I was proud to be the first trackchaser to ever show up at Lion’s Park to see the Buckeye Outlaw Kart Racing organization compete. I know that after people watch my videos and read my Trackchaser Reports many more trackchasers will make their way to the small little ovals located here in Ohio. I will appreciate all the help driver Robert McClure (above) has given me. After the races were finished we took a little bit of time to explore Lion’s Park. We checked out the girl’s softball game. It looked to me like the girls in the field had masks to protect themselves against COVID-19. When they were in the field they didn’t wear the masks over their nose and mouth. With the masks pulled down below their chin it almost looked like every girl had a long black beard! Since the racing had begun in late morning today they wrapped everything up by about 1:30 p.m. This gave us time to consider a Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. We had some options. First, we drove onto the grounds of one of the two castles that sit in and around West Liberty, Ohio. This was the Piatt Castle. However when we learned the admission price was $13 per person simply to walk into what appeared to be a large old house we looked elsewhere for some entertainment. Our second option was going to be a visit to a place called Ohio Caverns. Ohio Caverns was less than 10 minutes from West Liberty. We’ve taken a few cave tours here and there across the country. I would not say that Ohio Caverns was the most impressive of any of these visits. Their $19 admission price might’ve been a little steep for a guided 45-minute walking tour. The stalagmites and the stalactites were not all that colorful. They almost seemed to be primarily black and white. However, when I’m in the area I like to see the local attractions. On this trip, we had done very well seeing local attractions. Last Friday we saw the Wisconsin Automobile Museum in Hartford, Wisconsin. This was a fantastic antique car museum. Then on Saturday, we stopped by the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. This was my second visit to the Surf and Carol’s first. You may recall the Surf Ballroom was where Buddy Holly played his last ever concert before boarding a plane headed toward Fargo, North Dakota in February 1959 and crashing to his death. Later on Saturday, we got a guided tour of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa from our great-nephew Kyle. He’s a student there. That was fun. Now today we were checking off the Ohio Caverns location and adding them to our long list of Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. When you consider I’ve been doing this for 40 weekends a year all over the world for literally decades I’ve been able to see quite a few interesting, informative and entertaining local events. Doing this kind of stuff is one of the highlights of trackchasing for me. With most of a busy holiday Monday (that would be a bank holiday weekend in the U.K.) in our rearview mirror by now, we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant called the Mad River Farm Market. That place was outstanding. Then we headed to Lafayette, Indiana where we would stay for our fifth consecutive night in a Marriott or Sheraton property. On Tuesday morning we drove the rest of the way up to Chicago and caught a flight back to Los Angeles. For this trip, I told Carol we would fly into Illinois from California. Then we were going to see racing at four locations in three states, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio. I mentioned we were going to visit whatever Trackchasing Tourist Attractions seemed like a good idea at the time. We did all of that and more. I estimated we would be driving a National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry about 2,000 miles covering all of the above. In point of fact, we drove 2,136 miles to get the job done. I’m a big fan of the Toyota Camry as a rental car. It’s comfortable, quiet and gets good gas mileage. For the time being, I’ll try to get a Toyota Camry as often as I can. As we headed back home from a very successful trip I looked back on our trackchasing production. Together we had added eight new tracks to our lifetime totals as a trackchasing couple. I have now seen racing at 2,649 tracks. Carol’s total sits at 637. That gives us a total of 3286. In the important World’s #1 Trackchasing Couples category we leave our nearest fellow competitors by more than 300 tracks. Good afternoon from Lion’s Park in West Liberty, Ohio. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,617 tracks. Ohio The Buckeye State This afternoon I saw racing at my 85th-lifetime track in the Buckeye State, yes, the Buckeye State. I hold the #7 trackchasing ranking in Ohio. Ohio ranks #10, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Ohio state trackchasing list. I have made 62 separate trips to Ohio seeing these tracks. 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 Ohio understandings: You know that real chili is poured over spaghetti. 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 780 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. 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. 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. Lion’s Park…the smallest track I’ve seen this year…with lots of nice folks 
JUST THE FACTS
