Greetings from Peru, Indiana
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Miami County Fairgrounds
Dirt road course
Lifetime Track #2,632
THE EVENT
Editor’s note: Trackchasing rules allow for the counting of racing on ovals, road courses and figure 8 tracks. It is quite common for me to have attended an event on one of the three configurations listed above…..and then come back years later to see more racing on a different configuration at the same physical location. That’s what I was doing tonight. I was coming back to Peru, Indiana after some 17 years. Did I remember much from the first visit after such a long absence? Nope!
I AM A TRACKCHASER.
Are you new to the hobby of trackchasing? If so, let me give you just a little bit of background. Before I go any further I will tell you that a lot of people get pretty enthused about what I’ve been doing with trackchasing. I will offer this warning. If you try it yourself it could become addictive.
My name is Randy Lewis (above with my brother Mark while trackchasing near Kansas City). 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.
Trackchasing is a “collecting” hobby. Trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. It’s really not all that much different than when you were a kid and you collected stamps or beer cans or bottle caps.
Trackchasing is all about visiting new auto racing tracks for the very first time. Believe it or not, trackchasing has “rules“ as to what kind of racetrack and race car and race driver count toward a chaser’s lifetime totals and which ones would not. In a nutshell a trackchaser can count a track where adult drivers race cars or trucks at ovals, road courses and figure 8 tracks. That covers 98% of the rules.
In addition to the racing part of trackchasing for me, I really enjoy seeing the local sights and sounds of whatever area I am visiting. I called these “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. If you go to my website at www.randylewis.org and click on the Trackchasing Tourist Attractions tab you’ll see where I’ve been all over the world. Here’s a link to that tab.
Trackchasing Tourist Attractions
I also really enjoy the logistical part of the hobby. I have been retired for nearly 20 years. During that time I have not earned a single dime of work income. That means I have to manage my money pretty closely enable in order to be able to do what I do.
Logistically I have to handle seven different categories of trackchasing expenses. Those expenses include airplanes, rental cars, hotels, airport parking, gasoline, food and race tickets. As an example, you can just imagine what traveling from Southern California out to the Midwest for four days of racing would cost.
In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles. I’ll stay in hotels 150-200 nights a year, rent 50-75 rental cars every year and buy a full tank of fuel about 100 days a year just for 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. My stories are not just about what happened at the track but about my visit to the area and what exactly it took to make the trip happen. That’s where the racing, the touring and the logistical challenges come from.
I told you that trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. Trackchasing is ultra-competitive as well. Lots of people don’t recognize that when they are initially exposed to this hobby. Trackchasing has had all of the political drama, cheating, accusing people of cheating and other aspects of poor personal behavior that any other competitive activity might have. This is why I am NOT a member of any organized trackchasing group. The management of these groups has been so poor over the years these groups are not something I want to be associated with whatsoever.
As this is written I have seen racing in 85 different countries at more than 2,650 racetracks. During all this time I have never tried to benefit financially from my hobby. This is despite being interviewed by hundreds of track announcers, newspaper reporters and radio and TV outlets as well as doing a TV pilot. I’m a volunteer. I do this 100% for the fun of it.
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.
Yes, 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
Thursday, July 30, 2020.
I woke up this morning in a Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Brown Deer (Milwaukee suburb), Wisconsin. I use Priceline.com almost exclusively to find my hotels when I’m trackchasing. I commonly pay only 50 to 60% of the best retail price you might find for an individual hotel with Priceline.
Today’s driving distance was going to be about 250 miles from my Wisconsin hotel down to the track’s location in Peru, Indiana. I used my Waze GPS app to compare the time and mileage it would take to use toll roads or to use the free roads. The decision was easy. I learned that I could save $13.50 in tolls and only drive 2 miles further using the free roads. The non-toll roads would only add 15 minutes of driving time the plan. I could use that $13.50 to buy lunch later.
Speaking of food, we were speaking of food right, I finished off a can of Spam this morning using the hotel’s microwave to heat things up. I grew up eating spam as a kid. I still enjoy it from time to time. Today I didn’t have a plate so I figured I could just use my iPad as a plate. Good idea right?
I had a bit of a history trackchasing at the Miami County Fairgrounds (now named Circus City Speedway – above) in Peru, Indiana. Back in June 2003 I went to see racing at the Miami Count Speedway in Peru. On that night they were racing some very competitive micro sprints on a dirt oval track.
On this evening the dirt at the fairgrounds had been, “massaged”. Some people with some very aggressive bulldozers made a bump and run type dirt road course for everyone on this evening. The track had several jumps and sharp turns. Some parts of this new “road course” were watered so heavily the cars and trucks could barely get through it.
Rain had come through Indiana earlier in the day. I contacted the fairgrounds to confirm they were still racing. As is often the case I explained a little bit of my trackchasing background to the woman handling the phones at the fairgrounds. She was so impressed that she agreed to give me a free ticket when I showed up.
However, when I arrived at the Miami County Fairgrounds I simply parked my car in the fairgrounds lot and went in and bought a ticket for 10 bucks. Later I told the woman I had arrived. She was saddened that I had not taken her up on her offer for a free ticket. I told her I didn’t want to impose.
At this point, I’m going to ask that you take a close look at my YouTube video from the fairgrounds as well as my photo album. This will give you a much better understanding of what tonight’s racing action was all about. I think it’s always a good idea to look at the video and photos so you can appreciate the racing effort.
They had quite a few races for cars and trucks. Sometimes the cars that were limited to only front end or wheel rear-wheel drive had a hard time navigating the mud pits.
I missed one of the most spectacular crashes of the night. This was part of the truck racing. Tonight’s truck racing was solo runs and not wheel to wheel.
The trucks raced against the clock. They made one lap around the track. One 4 x 4 type jeep vehicle had a driver and two passengers inside the cockpit. Going through one of the turns they actually did a side over side flip landed on their wheels and kept going. Somewhat unbelievably they captured fast time of the night. These people were simply wearing normal passenger car seatbelts. That had to be a pretty scary ride and probably dangerous as well.
When I had seen just about all of the bump and run that I needed to for an admission price of $10 I did a walk around the fair. The livestock barns were empty. Although there was a decent crowd in the grandstands watching the races there was virtually no one out in the carnival midway.
County fairs have taken a direct hit because of COVID-19 this summer. Very few of the fairs have even happened with most being canceled. The fairs that have opened did so in a limited fashion. Very few of those have had any carnival rides. I suspected COVID-19 has knocked down the revenue for carnival operators by 80% or more.
Normally I will see some kind of racing activity at 10-20 county fairs or more during the July and August time frame. This year I’ve only seen a handful at most. I hope when the 2021 summer season rolls around that Covid has become pretty much a distant memory and we can get back to normal activity.
Following the race as I drove 165 miles over to a hotel in East Oregon, Ohio. By doing that I would be better positioned geographically for tomorrow night’s racing.
I’ve been in rainy weather several times this year. With the amount of rain that this portion of Indiana got tonight’s event could’ve been canceled as well. So far I’ve been lucky with no rainouts all year. I hope it stays that way as long as possible.
Good evening from the Miami County Fairgrounds in Peru, Indiana
Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,632 tracks.
Indiana
The Hoosier State
This evening I saw racing at my 122nd-lifetime track in the Hoosier State, yes, the Hoosier State. I hold the #2 trackchasing ranking in Indiana. Indiana ranks #3, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S.
Here’s a link to my all-time Indiana state trackchasing list. I have made 80 separate trips to Indiana 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
Indiana sayings: Make sure your warsh your hands. …
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 770 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.
- Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,632
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.
- Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 85
Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results
- Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 3.96
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.
County fair junk car racing from Indiana