McCook Speedway

Dirt oval

 Lifetime Track #908

 

Reprinted with permission from my Friday, July 22, 2005, Trackchaser Report. 

 

THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT

 

Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago.

 

For whatever reason (usually not enough time) it didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it.

I AM A TRACKCHASER.

My name is Randy Lewis (above with the county fair queen up in Idaho). I hail from 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. 

 

Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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

 

Friday, July 22, 2005.

 

 

Greetings from McCook, Nebraska

 

 

And the readers respond

After reading Will White’s first European track report, Pryce B. of Milan, Illinois had this to say, “Walking to a track in a foreign country? Will makes you look like the Donald Trump of trackchasing!”

Greg Z, formerly of Grafton, Wisconsin and a Packer fan responded with this following our meeting with Bart Starr, “Somehow my fondness has grown for you just a tad, as I had not known that you were a modified Packer fan way back when, and that you’ve grown to appreciate the mystic power now as a senior citizen.  I understand your priorities, especially during the summer, but I’d like to request a game of golf in the weeks ahead, during one of your brief stays in San Clemente.  By the way, the draft beer preference is more reminiscent of a Packer fan than strawberry daiquiris and key lime pie martinis, you pansy! 

 

Greg, sticks and stones can break my bones but jokes about daiquiris will never hurt me.  I’ve heard them all after years of daiquiri consumption in the corporate world.  By the way, rather than a beer can collection, I have a miniature umbrella collection. 

 

PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS

This trackchasing with Carol is an upscale life-changing experience.  When she is part of the trip, we stay in a luxury hotel, eat in the finest restaurants and sample the entertainment choices of the city.  Soon she will return home and I will be left to the Motel 6s of the world and the Burger King drive-thru.  I had better enjoy her lifestyle while I can. 

 

Of course, Carol does not demand any level of pampering at all.  At the same time, I want her to be comfortable so I try to develop a plan that will let Carol enjoy her trackchasing trip so she will want to come again.  When I can, the plan she becomes a part of has less driving than normal and more asphalt tracks than dirt tracks.  It does not always work out that way, but ideally, it would.

 

All of that being said, our drive over to McCook, Nebraska was just north of 300 miles.  The folks in this part of the world are experiencing a supreme heatwave with temperatures over 100 degrees.  The car’s temperature gauge peaked at 106 today.  The humidity is low, but the air is hot.  When the wind blows, it feels like a hot fan blowing on you.

We needed to leave Wichita today by 2 p.m.  We checked out of our hotel at nearly noon.   We will not be getting a hotel tonight until after the races and after we drive about 100 miles.  What all that means is that we have a couple of hours to kill where we will not be driving and we won’t be at the races. 

How would we fill two hours?  We chose another movie at the Old Town movie complex.  Our movie was the WEDDING CRASHERS (Carol’s rating:  B+, Randy’s rating: B). One of the main reasons to choose another movie after one yesterday was to enjoy the in-movie dining experience and to stay in air-conditioning comfort.

 

We walked into the movie and chose our seats.  We then pressed the red button located at our seats to let the server know that we wanted to place an order.  We kept our order simple, hamburgers, fries and drinks.  While we watched the movie, they prepared the food.  In what seemed like no time our food was being served.  The server brought the food on a tray that was fitted into the movie seat.  Our food was excellent and not all that expensive.  Yesterday’s screening room had seven rows of seating and today’s room had 11 rows.

 

Now when we go to our local theatres in SoCal, we’re going to feel like a bunch of hicks knowing that the avant-garde residents of Wichita are enjoying the best in movie viewing.  If you get to Wichita, you might want to seek out the Old Town area for food and entertainment.

 

I received an email from California trackchaser Ron Rodda this morning.  He’s planning a racechasing/trackchasing trip with his wife in his motor home this month to the Midwest.  They were planning to leave about now, but moved back their departure because of the hot weather.  Since Carol and I are already out here, we will tough it out.

 

I would say the weather I have encountered this year has been poor from a temperature point of view.  Prior to the continental Europe trip, it seemed temps were abnormally cold.  Since that trip, the weather has been much warmer than expected.  Luckily, there has been very little rain to affect the race programs.

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

MCCOOK SPEEDWAY, MCCOOK, NEBRASKA – TRACK #908

This racetrack is my 19th-lifetime track in Nebraska giving me the lead in the Arbor state.  There are still about 23 countable tracks for me to see in Nebraska.  About nine of those race on a weekly basis.   This is Carol’s 195th-lifetime track.

 

It was 102 degrees when we entered the McCook Speedway.  Surprisingly, the track was in good condition and it didn’t get very dusty at all.  There were six classes racing tonight.  These included 13 classic modifieds, 11 mini-trucks, 7 mini-sprints, 13 IMCA stock cars, 11 IMCA hobby stocks and 14 IMCA modifieds.  I’ve decided that I like about 12-16 cars in a class on a small track.  That gives the class two heats and an “A” main.  Tonight’s sixth and final “A” feature, the modifieds, took the checkered around 10:45 p.m.  That’s not bad considering the official start time for the six-division program was 8 p.m.

 

When I arrived in McCook, I had a minor panic attack.  The town looked so familiar to a Nebraska town I had visited back in late May.  I feared I had driven all this way only to be re-visiting a track I had already been too.  It turned out that I HAD been to McCook in late May but it was on the way to the Hitchcock County Speedway in Culbertson just 11 miles down the road.  Whew!

 

Both the McCook Speedway and the track in Culbertson have the same announcer.  He remembered me from our interview in May and tonight we had a nice chat.  I was lucky I talked to him.  He told me that my planned Sunday night track, WaKeeney Speedway was not racing and that nearby Thomas County Speedway in Colby, Kansas WAS racing.  That tip saved me a lot of trouble.  He also gave me one more idea that will change a plan I had for later in the year.

The racing was fun tonight.  Once the sun went down the heat wasn’t too bad but it was still warm.  The track has a large 22-row aluminum grandstand and the P.A. system is good.  The lights on the front stretch are excellent but the lights in the turns are some of the worst I have seen all year.  The flagman is perched in a flag stand all the way down in turn one.

 

Carol and I ate at the Taste of Texas BBQ restaurant on the main drag in McCook.  It was very good, so if you like BBQ and plan to go to either Hitchcock County Speedway or McCook Speedway that would be a good place to eat.

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

Normally I try to get white rental cars.  For some unknown reason I accepted a dark blue National Rental Car Racing Chevy Malibu.  With the extremely hot conditions, that was probably a stupid move.

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

These trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total.

 

3. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 982
4. Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 978
5. Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 978
6. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 908
7. Jack Erdmann, DePere, Wisconsin – 872
8. P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 823

2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 99
2. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 67
3. Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 59
4. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 40
5. P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 35
6. Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 34
7. Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 27
8. Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 20.
9. Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 20

10.Will White, Quakertown, Pennsylvania – 15

 

Driving distances

Los Angeles International Airport – trip begins

Wichita, Kansas – 27 miles

McCook, Nebraska – 375 miles

 

Air travel

Los Angeles, CA – Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX – 1,235 miles

Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX – Wichita, KS – 346 miles

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

81 Speedway – $8

McCook Speedway – $8

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21^st century

I’m not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was.

 

Planned new racetracks

(on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)

 

July 23 – Pikes Peak International Raceway (oval), Fountain, Colorado

July 23 – I-25 Speedway (oval), Pueblo, Colorado

July 23 – I-25 Speedway (figure 8), Pueblo, Colorado

July 24 – Thomas County Speedway, Colby, Kansas

 

Racetracks visited in 2005

(** not the first time to visit this track)

 

810. Sungold Stadium aka Premier Speedway, Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia – January 1
811. Freedom Hall (oval), Louisville, Kentucky – January 15
812. Freedom Hall (figure 8), Louisville, Kentucky – January 15
813. Southern Illinois Center, DuQuoin, Illinois – January 16

**     Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, California – February 5

814. Golden Aisles Speedway, Waynesville, Georgia – February 25
815. Zephyrhills Antique Racecar Track, Zephyrhills – Florida, February 26
816. Dirt Devil’s Speedway, Land O’ Lakes, Florida – February 26
817. Ringwood Raceway, Ringwood, England – March 25
818. Birmingham Wheels, Birmingham, England – March 26
819. Boiling Hills Farm, Sleaford, England – March 27
820. Snetterton Circuit, Snetterton, England – March 27

**     Great Yarmouth Stadium (oval), Yarmouth, England – March 27

821. Great Yarmouth Stadium (figure 8), Yarmouth, England – March 27
822. The Grove Farm, Monkland, England – March 28
823. Grimley Raceway, Grimley, England – March 28
824. Castle Combe Circuit, Castle Combe, England – March 28
825. Boyd Raceway, Boyd, Texas – April 1
826. Port City Raceway, Tulsa, Oklahoma – April 2
827. Outlaw Motor Speedway, Oktaha, Oklahoma – April 2
828. Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, Jennings, Oklahoma – April 3
829. JPR Speedway, Tulsa, Oklahoma – April 3
830. Charlotte County Speedway (figure 8), Punta Gorda, Florida – April 9
831. CORA Speedway, Dixon, California – April 16
832. Reno-Fernley Raceway (road course), Fernley, Nevada – April 17
833. Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas – April 22
834. Salina Speedway, Salina, Kansas – April 23
835. Jetmore Motorplex, Jetmore, Kansas – April 24
836. Oberlin Speedway, Oberlin, Kansas – April 24
837. USA Race Track, Tucson, Arizona – April 30

**      Tucson Raceway Park (outer oval), Tucson, Arizona – April 30

838. Tucson Raceway Park (inner oval), Tucson, Arizona – April 30
839. Driesum Race Track, Driesum, Netherlands – May 5
840. Autosportsdadion de Polderputten, Ter Apel, Netherlands – May 5
841. Bellekouter Autocross (oval), Affligem, Belgium – May 8
842. Bellekouter Autocross (road course), Affligem, Belgium – May 8
843. Circuit de Croix-En-Ternois, Saint-Pol sur-Ternoise, France – May 8
844. Nurburgring, Nurburg, Germany – May 13
845. Lopik (oval), Lopik, Netherlands – May 14
846. Lopik (road course), Lopik, Netherlands – May 14
847. Ten Boer Autocross, Ten Boer, Netherlands – May 14
848. Rennplatz “Casper Gerd”, Rutenbrock, Germany – May 15
849. Zuidwolde Autocross, Zuidwolde, Netherlands – May 15
850. Midland Speedway Circuit, Lelystad, Netherlands – May 15
851. Aalten Autocross, Aalten, Netherlands – May 16
852. Circuit de Peel International Speedway, Venray, Netherlands – May 16
853. U.S. 30 Speedway (permanent inner oval), Columbus, Nebraska – May 26

**      U.S. 30 Speedway (outer oval), Columbus, Nebraska – May 26

854. Hitchcock County Speedway, Culbertson Nebraska – May 27
855. Pikes Peak International Raceway (road course), Fountain, Colorado – May 28
856. Colorado National Speedway (asphalt oval), Dacono, Colorado – May 28
857. Colorado National Speedway (figure 8), Dacono, Colorado – May 28

**      Rocky Mountain National Speedway (oval), Commerce City, Colorado – May 28

858. Rocky Mountain National Speedway (figure 8), Commerce City, Colorado – May 28
859. Broken Bow Wilderness Park (figure 8), Fullerton, Nebraska – May 29
860. Casino Speedway, Watertown, South Dakota – May 29
861. Sioux Speedway, Sioux Center, Iowa – May 30
862. Madison Speedway, Madison, Minnesota – May 30

**      Hawkeye Downs (outer oval), Cedar Rapids, Iowa – June 3

863. Hawkeye Downs (inner oval), Cedar Rapids, Iowa – June 3
864. Autobahn Country Club – North Course, Joliet – Illinois, June 4
865. Shadyhill Speedway, Medaryville, Indiana – June 4
866. Pottawattamie County Fairgrounds, Avoca, Iowa – June 5
867. Dawson County Speedway, Lexington, Nebraska – June 5
868. Marshfield Super Speedway, Marshfield, Wisconsin – June 14
869. Red Cedar Speedway, Menomonie, Wisconsin – June 15
870. Victory Lane Speedway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – June 16
871. River Cities Speedway, Grand Forks, North Dakota – June 17
872. Raceway @ Powercom Park, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin – June 18
873. Jefferson Speedway (outer oval), Jefferson, Wisconsin – June 18
874. Jefferson Speedway (inner oval), Jefferson, Wisconsin – June 18
875. Golden Sands Speedway, Plover, Wisconsin – June 19
876. Langlade County Speedway, Antigo, Wisconsin – June 21
877. Thunderhill Raceway, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin – June 22
878. Luxemburg Speedway, Luxemburg, Wisconsin – June 23
879. Monster Hall Raceway, Unity, Wisconsin – June 24
880. Crandon International Off-Road Course, Crandon, Wisconsin – June 25
881. Pepsi Raceway Park, Tomahawk, Wisconsin – June 25
882. TNT Speedway, Three Lakes, Wisconsin – June 25
883. Shelby County Speedway (permanent oval), Shelbyville, Indiana – June 26
884. Shelby County Speedway (temporary oval), Shelbyville, Indiana – June 26
885. Jennings County Fairgrounds, North Vernon, Indiana – June 27
886. Paducah International Speedway, Paducah, Kentucky – June 28
887. Crystal Motor Speedway, Crystal, Michigan – June 29
888. Dells Motor Speedway, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin – June 30
889. Van Wert County Fairgrounds, Van Wert, Ohio – July 1
890. Baer Field (3/8 mile oval), Ft. Wayne, Indiana – July 1
891. Gingerman Raceway, South Haven, Michigan – July 2
892. Thunder Valley Motorsports, Jones, Michigan – July 2
893. New Paris Speedway, New Paris, Indiana – July 2
894. Durand Downtown Circuit, Durand, Illinois – July 3
895. Ripple Ridge Raceway, Rawlins, Wyoming – July 8
896. Sheridan Speedway, Sheridan, Wyoming – July 10
897. Livingston County Fairgrounds (figure 8) Fowlerville, Michigan – July 12
898. Eaton County Fairgrounds, Charlotte, Michigan – July 13
899. Laird International Speedway, Echo Bay, Ontario, Canada – July 14
900. I-96 Speedway (inner oval), Lake Odessa, Michigan – July 15
901. I-96 Speedway (outer oval), Lake Odessa, Michigan – July 15
902. Thunderbird Racepark, Muskegon, Michigan – July 16
903. Bob’s Family Racetrack, Clarksville, Michigan – July 17
904. Orleans Raceway, Orleans, Michigan – July 17
905. Mid Michigan Raceway Park, Muir, Michigan – July 17
906. Franklin County Park (oval), Brookville, Indiana – July 19
907. Franklin County Park (figure 8), Brookville, Indiana – July 19

**     81 Speedway, Wichita, Kansas – July 21

908. McCook Speedway, McCook, Nebraska – July 22

 

I can tell you that “The History of America’s Speedways – Past and Present” authored by Allan E. Brown has this to say about the Hub of the Valley Speedway. By the way, I can’t even imagine the level of research it took to make this book. There is a listing from virtually every racetrack that ever existed in the U.S. and Canada. It truly does border on the unbelievable. Well done!

 

You might have remembrances about this track.  If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below.  If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com.  I’ll try to include them here.

 

 

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

Nebraska sayings: Sorry About the Poo Smell 

 

That’s all folks!  Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report