Greetings from Madison Lake, Minnesota
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Madison Lake Ice Course Ice Road Course Lifetime Track #2,682 THE EVENT Editor’s note: With today’s ice track in the books I have now seen racing at 120 ice racing locations. That’s been done on location at 23 different states, provinces and countries. My total is nearly twice as many as my next nearest fellow competitor. I’ve seen several of those ice tracks with Wisconsin trackchaser, now deceased, Ed Esser. As a matter of fact, when Ed and I came to an IIRA ice race years ago Ed got a “ride around” in one of the cars that was racing on the ice today. It’s a small world! You’ll see this car on the ice today at #19. I know some of you have been reading and hopefully enjoying my Trackchaser Reports for well over two decades. You might think that I have shared the story from just about every track I have visited with you. This statistic might blow your mind. Today, with my sharing the experience from Madison Lake, Minnesota I have now posted reviews from exactly 50% of all of the tracks I have visited. Ya, I know! I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with Ohio kart racer, Dallas Rose). I live out in San Clemente, California. We’re only 74 miles north of the Mexican border. I’m not sure a person could pick a more inconvenient location in the continental United States if they wanted to be a world-class trackchaser. My residential location virtually assures the idea that I must fly to virtually every track I visit. 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 2,680 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, February 27, 2021. This is the last weekend of February. It is also likely the last weekend for ice racing in the United States. Each year ice racers take to frozen lakes during the months of January and February. Once the ice gets to be about 15 inches thick or more a frozen lake is ready to hold ice racing. I had a rather ambitious ice trackchasing plan for this weekend. However, as temperatures warmed up one ice racing organization after another canceled their events. In all likelihood, those groups were canceling the rest of their ice racing seasons as well. Earlier this week the folks who ice race out in South Dakota canceled their season. Then the Central Wisconsin Ice Racing Association, the Northern Wisconsin Ice Racing Association and the Southern Wisconsin Ice Racing Association all canceled their shows. I’ve got to give the organizers of ice racing some credit. They are an optimistic bunch. Despite past conditions and sometimes warm upcoming forecasts they always seem to say that they are going to race. Then as we get closer to the scheduled event, often within just hours of the outing, the cancellations come flying. That’s what happened to me this weekend. However, there was one organization, the International Ice Racing Association (IIRA), that hung in there. IIRA said they were going to race and they did. That was great news for me. Last night I trackchased at a facility with the unlikely name of the “OK Corral” (above) in Harrah, Oklahoma. Then this morning I hopped on a 7 a.m. flight from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis, it was a quick one-hour and 20-minute drive down to Madison Lake, Minnesota. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been in contact with Brad Johnson, IIRA rules chairman and promoter. I first met Brad several years ago at one of the several IIRA race locations I’ve visited over the years. This winter Brad has been very receptive at giving me updates on when his group was planning to race and where they would race. It was only this weekend that I could fit IIRA racing into my schedule. Today’s high temperature on Madison Lake was going to be in the low 40s. For the benefit of my foreign readers, I will simply remind everyone that water freezes at 32°F. With temperatures in the low 40s, the ice was going to turn into slush and the slush would turn into water. It was only a matter of how quickly that might happen. Once I landed at the Minneapolis airport I use my long-standing trackchasing relationship with National Car Rental to give me a car on a one-way rental basis. I will be dropping off the car within 24 hours in St. Louis, Missouri. I scored an outstanding rental rate of just $13 for the day. I couldn’t do this without my sponsors. In checking the IIRA’s Facebook page and webpage I noticed their planned daily schedule. They would be holding a 20-minute race about six times during the day today. If I hustled I could make the 11 a.m. race. Knowing that warm weather and therefore water, not ice might be coming I wanted to see a race before noon if I could. My plan worked to perfection. I was pulling onto the Madison Lake location, right next to the Landing restaurant, at 10:50 a.m. You could see how the ice was deteriorating even at the shoreline with huge water-filled potholes. Nevertheless, I trusted the ice and drove out about a half a mile onto the lake where the IRA race crew had gathered. It wasn’t long before I met up with Brad Johnson who had just hopped into his VW Rabbit race machine, #19. I would say the International Ice Racing Association is much more of a sports car road racing group than anything else. Quite a bit of car racing down on ice is with stock cars of both rear wheel and front-wheel drive capabilities. Those kinds of cars often race on ice ovals of ¼-1/2- mile in length. Today I was able to get quite a bit of video of the racing action and lots of photos as well. Today’s road course configuration was about 1.5 miles in length. There were seven cars competing in the races that I saw. The IIRA group also has another ice racing program that I don’t see very many ice racing clubs using. IIRA allows civilians in civilian-type vehicles to take their cars out onto the ice for some track time. This is a good way to get these drivers acclimated to driving/racing on ice. This effort can also serve as a feeder program to build up the car counts for future door to door aka wheel to wheel racing. Today there were seven competitors, like the car above, racing in the IIRA main events. If you’re reading this and you’re in Minnesota you might want to get in touch with the IIRA. Then you could soon find yourself on a frozen lake testing your limits! When the 11 a.m. races were finished, there were actually two races with their own separate green flag and checkered flags, I had a chance to spend a little time talking with Brad. He had a lot of interesting things to say about the IIRA race organization. Brad reminded me that the group has been racing for 60 years. That’s got to be one of the oldest ice racing organizations anywhere in the country. He even told me they had a couple of drivers in their group that were still racing in their early 80s. At the last race, they had a much bigger car count than what showed today. There were about 20 ice racers running at the last show. In the past the IIRA group has raced seemingly on a different lake every week during the short ice racing season. This year all of their ice racing has been confined to Madison Lake in the town of the same name. I asked Brad why that was the case. He told me that Madison Lake this year was the only lake where they could get “good ice”. That must’ve been a good decision. I was told that the lake today had 20-25 inches of ice which is well above average. Brad took some time to explain to me the permit process that is required before his group is allowed to race on ice tracks all over Minnesota. He said they need to contact the sheriff’s office for approval. Then they might need to get some agreement from the national resource organization in Minnesota before they are allowed to race. These authorities have some minimums in terms of ice thickness that are required. Of course, when you consider the IIRA has raced for more than half a century they have built-up some credibility with the local sources. Brad said they might like to try to race a little further north next year. Good ice is harder and harder to come by. Of course in America the further north you go the more likely the temperatures are to be colder and therefore more conducive for ice racing. Curiously, Madison Lake is on about the same latitude or even further south than the four separate organizations that canceled this weekend. I guess that confirms that Madison Lake has “good ice”! As a spectator of ice racing, I couldn’t have done much better than a weather day like today. The temperature was in the low 40s with a blue sky and lots of sunshine. I didn’t even wear a jacket. It was interesting to contrast today’s weather with the weather only two weeks ago when the daytime temperature approached -20°F. Brad offered me a ride-along in his VW Rabbit. Earlier in the conversation, he mentioned he thought we was reaching speeds of 90 m.p.h. on the straights of today’s course. I’m not as flexible as I was a few years ago. Then I would never turn down a ride-along or even a chance to drive one of these racers. Now, having done all of that many times, I am content to stand on the sidelines and simply take pictures! My trackchasing totals are starting to add up. I guess that’s to be expected if you’ve done this as long and as passionately as I have over the years. Today I was seeing racing on my 120th different ice track. The Lake Madison ice course was my 105th-lifetime track where I’ve seen racing in Minnesota. The racing on Madison Lake became my 2,682nd track where I’ve seen racing on a lifetime worldwide basis. That’s been done in 85 different countries. I really enjoyed talking with Brad and his wife today as well as a few local spectators. Brad was obviously the fastest car in the field today. Even though he lead much of the race, from time to time he would drop back in the pack just so we could have the enjoyment of passing others. He also mentioned that he actually flipped his car here a few seasons ago. In seeing racing at 120 ice tracks I’m going to guess I’ve only seen about five cars turn over. Finally, I learned that Brad is in the financial planning industry. I found that very interesting because even though I am not a professional financial planner I am a heavy-duty amateur financial planner. Just acting on some of the things I’ve learned over the years allowed me to retire at a very early age. I pointed out to Brad that very few people in America know much about money. He agreed and told me that it’s really the fault of the schools in his opinion. They just don’t teach much about money management in the public school system. If you’ve spent much time on my website at www.randylewis.org you know that I not only share information about where I have trackchased. I also provide my experiences in several practical aspects of life including personal financial management. I even have a newsletter that goes out to hundreds of folks. If you’re interested in that kind of stuff you might want to check out my “Financial Plan of a Lifetime”. Here’s the link: The financial plan of a lifetime After spending quite a bit of time at the track today I reminded myself that I needed to be in St. Louis, Missouri this evening. I could have driven back to Minneapolis and then flown down to St. Louis later tonight. However, the flight that I would’ve been considering on a standby basis was nearly full. I couldn’t risk trying to catch a 6 p.m. flight and not making it. At that point, it would be almost too late to drive to St. Louis for a race I have scheduled there tomorrow. Today’s driving time (from on top of Madison Lake!) was going to be right at eight hours. For me, eight hours is not a dramatically long drive. I enjoy driving and an adventure of eight hours allows me to catch up with several of the podcasts that I listen to on these road adventures. It was with all of this as a prelude and ultimately as a background that I bid Brad and the other members of the IIRA ice racing group a farewell for 2021. I’m already looking forward to where I might be able to see these folks race in 2022. With the Covid pandemic lurking around I have only chosen to trackchase during the past three weekends of February. However, now that I have both of my Covid vaccine shots in the bank I feel much more comfortable running around the country. With the temperatures reaching 50° as I cruised through Cedar Rapids, Iowa I concluded that having seen six ice tracks in the last three weeks of February wasn’t bad at all. The Central Minnesota Ice Racing (CMIR) group canceled their entire season because of Covid. So far the AMEC New York ice racing group hasn’t held a single event all-season or for the past two years I might add because of a lack of good ice. Seeing as many as six ice tracks was a very good result. I have a feeling that with any amount of cold weather at all that next season could be a good one for ice trackchasing. Good afternoon from Madison Lake in Madison Lake, Minnesota. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,682 tracks. Minnesota The North Star State This morning I saw racing at my 105th-lifetime track in the North Star, yes, the North Star State. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in Minnesota. Minnesota ranks #8, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Minnesota state trackchasing list. I have made 74 separate trips to Minnesota 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 Minnesota sayings: Someone budged me in line today. 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 795 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. This might have been the last ice race in America for 2021 
