Greetings from Big Rapids, Michigan
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Mecosta County Fairgrounds
Dirt oval
Lifetime Track #2,463
THE EVENT I am a “trackchaser”. So, what the heck is that? I get that question from racing and non-racing people all the time. This is a difficult question to answer. Why? Because after I do my best to respond people still say, “I’ve never heard of such a thing”! Here’s my best explanation. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Trackchasing fills the need for all of the above. The racing part of my trackchasing has me trying to see wheel to wheel auto racing at as many different racetracks as I can all over the world. Yes, all over the world. So far things are going pretty well. I’ve seen racing at nearly 2,500 tracks in 80 countries. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen racing at more tracks than anyone else in the world. Equally important to me are the things I get to see and experience over the “long and dusty trackchasing trail”. I call these adventures “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page. Here’s the link: Trackchasing Tourist Attractions or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page, Sports Spectating Resume on my website at www.randylewis.org. I live in southern California. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. As a matter of fact, my average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people all over the world. With trips to 80 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many other cultures, spend times in their homes and meet their friends is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. It’s takes a good deal of planning to do the above and not spend my entire retirement portfolio. I enjoy the challenge, the travel and every other aspect of “trackchasing”. In reality, my trackchasing hobby is a lot like being with the carnival. I breeze into town, stay a little while and then head on down the road. 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: 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 Wednesday, July 11, 2018. I woke up this morning in Seymour, Indiana. I needed to cover the six hour drive up to Big Rapids, Michigan for tonight‘s racing. I had a few daily agenda items to handle. First, I had to drive an hour up to the Indianapolis International Airport. There I would close out my one-day one-way rental contract. Yesterday, I had picked my National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry up in Nashville. Today, I would drop it in Indianapolis. One-way rentals are expensive. I never like to have a car out on a one-way rental agreement for longer than a day. I really don’t. I used my Gas Buddy app to find the cheapest gas station within a 40-mile radius of the airport. The plan was to take the car to the Indianapolis airport, close out the one-way rental contract and without leaving my car or moving any of my stuff re-rent the same car. I do that from time to time. I picked up this rental car on a one-day rental in Nashville to begin the trip. After that one day I returned the car to the Nashville airport, closed out that contract and got a new contract for a one-way rental to Indianapolis. Today I would close out that one-way rental contract and open up a three-day rental contract. This contract would have me both picking up at Indianapolis and returning there as well. That meant I would have my rental car for five days under three contracts. Why would I do that? Trackchasing is a strategic hobby. I play the strategies to the fullest to make life easier and manage expenses. I won’t bore you with the benefits. Trust me. I wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t a benefit. If you’re really interested PM me. While I was in Indianapolis I figured I might as well have lunch at the Tamale Place. I’ve been there many times. If you like tamales and you’re going through Indianapolis I recommend these folks highly. They offer several choices of tamales from spicy to mild to sweet. I bought three today including a chocolate tamale. It has the consistency of moist chocolate cake. The weather has been really hot and humid here in the south and Midwest. You would expect that in early July. However, some of my hotel rooms have been ice cold. Somehow I caught a cold going from hot to cold and now have a sore throat, stuffy nose and runny nose. I hate having a cold during the hot summer months. THE RACING Mecosta County Fairgrounds – Big Rapids, Michigan Tonight I would be trackchasing at the Mecosta County Fairgrounds in Big Rapids, Michigan. Big Rapids is about an hour north of Grand Rapids. It sounds to me like they have a lot of rapids up here. I went to the Mecosta County Fairgrounds all the way back in my record breaking season of 2005. At the time the figure 8 configuration at Mecosta was lifetime track number 1,673. As you can see that was more than 750 tracks in the past. I’ve seen racing at more than 125 tracks in Michigan. Most of those tracks were county fairgrounds events of one sort or another. I had absolutely no recollection of my 2005 visit to Big Rapids. That doesn’t happen often but it happened today. I would be seeing a Unique Motorsports sanctioned event. They advertised racing on a figure 8 configuration (above) tonight as well as a Bump N Run Off-road derby. What does BnR mean? It means they had junk cars racing on an oval. They also mentioned they would be having a trailer race. A novice trackchaser could come here and see two tracks in one night on first the figure 8 and then the oval track. I came here because it was a Wednesday night and I didn’t have any other locations to visit. I came for racing on the oval track. I parked at the fair tonight for free. There was no charge to enter the fairgrounds. Even as I walked around the midway I still didn’t see anything that reminded me of being here 13 years ago. I’m a pretty positive thinker. I was thinking that maybe they had relocated the Mecosta County Fairgrounds during the time of my last visit until now. If that were the case I could count racing on BOTH the figure 8 and oval tracks tonight. Unfortunately, this was the same fairgrounds I had visited in 2005. Unique Motorsports runs a pretty good program. If they say they’re going to do something you can pretty well count on it. They also start on time. I like that. Admission to the grandstand would be $10. That was reasonable especially since I hadn’t paid anything to park or attend the fair. I grabbed a couple of three-dollar corn dogs and a large bottle of water for two bucks. That was reasonable too. I had two choices for where I would sit tonight. I could sit in the older covered grandstand. Alternatively, I could sit in an open air small set of bleachers. I chose the bleachers. Why? Those bleacher seats were directly across from the center of the track. The covered grandstand was off to one end of where the race would take place. The first event of the night was for kids racing power wheels. Only two showed up. Power wheels seems to be an event that is added to most demolition derby promoted programs nowadays. I’m not a big fan. I guess if my kids were racing I would be. The first auto racing tonight would be for five figure 8 cars. Tonight’s dirt track was a little bit dusty. They had built an elevated banked turn at one end of the figure 8. That banked turn would be turns three and four for the oval track racers. There were three classes of oval track competitors. Some of the drivers raced their cars in more than one class. This was very basic junk car racing. The drivers raced around an oval configuration that was marked by two large tractor tires. The tractor tires couldn’t have been more than 30 to 40 yards apart. It was a small track. I’d recommend you take a look at my YouTube video and SmugMug photo album to give yourself a visual explanation for how today’s trackchasing came about. That’s almost always the best way to understand what the racing activity consisted of. AFTER THE RACES It was a pretty simple show tonight. The entire car count might have been 15 up to a maximum of 20 cars spread over four divisions. Like I said some competitors raced in more than one division. I think one guy might have raced in three of the four classes on the track tonight. The entire show was over in about an hour and a half. I was happy for that. I wasn’t feeling the best and getting a good night’s sleep tonight would be a good idea. The weather has been comfortable. The sun wasn’t an issue and by race time the temperature had dropped to 81° which almost, but not quite, seemed to be chilly. I had some time to explore the carnival and the animal barns. Over the past three nights I’ve seen racing on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. Only in the middle of the summer can a trackchaser do that. I had about an hour’s drive back to Grand Rapids. Priceline.com, one of my long time trackchasing sponsors, had set me up at a Clarion Inn and Suites. Last night I didn’t get to my hotel until 2 a.m. Tonight I made it by 10 p.m. Good night from Big Rapids, Michigan. Randy Lewis – 80 countries – 2,463 tracks. Michigan The Wolverine state This evening I saw racing at my 127th lifetime track in the Wolverine state, yes, the Wolverine state. I hold the #4 trackchasing ranking in Michigan. I’m closing in on Ed Esser’s career total here of 143 tracks. I’ve seen 127 or more tracks in two different 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 Michigan sayings: “My grandma is a troll.” Hey, that’s no way to talk about your grandmother! Oh, you’re from Michigan? It all makes sense now. Here in the Great Lakes State, a “troll” is someone who lives in the Lower Peninsula — “under” the Mackinac Bridge. Chances are good that your grandma actually IS a “troll!” QUICK FACTS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS The threemost 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 655 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 25 countries of 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. Tamales, corn dogs and county fair racing…welcome to summer 
