Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Nashville International Raceway – 5/8-mile asphalt oval
Lifetime Track #107
Music City Motorplex – ¼-mile asphalt oval
Lifetime Track #737
THE EVENT Editor’s note: I wrote the remembrances of my visits to the Nashville International Raceway in 2015 even though I went to the track from 1981-86. You will see some time references vary from what I wrote about Nashville during my visit to their quarter-mile in 2004 (written in 2004). You can decide which memory to believe. It all happened I’m just a little sketchy on the time frame! My first visit – 1981. I have a great history with the Nashville International Raceway. Three of my most memorable racechasing experiences came at Nashville. I first went there, with Carol, on November 1, 1981. We were in town for the famous All-American 400. This race always attracted the most famous asphalt short track racers in the country. I’m talking about Dick Trickle, Rusty Wallace, Bob Senneker and the like before any of those drivers made it into the big time of NASCAR Cup racing. California’s leading asphalt short track race Jim Thirkettle even showed up. Current NASCAR stars like Darrell Waltrip and Sterling Marlin also found their way to this race. What made this visit so memorable? Butch Lindley in the #16 won the 400-lapper. I have almost no memory of the race itself. However, I do remember stopping Darrell Waltrip so Carol could have her picture taken with him. It’s funny, but not unusual how a photo opp like this one trumps memories of the race. My second visit – 1982. I must have been on a kick to visit Nashville. On May 8, 1982 I watch Darrel Waltrip in the #11 win one of his many Cup races on his home track at Nashville. Add details from this race who drove etc. My final oval track visit – 1986. Carol and I returned on October 11, 1986 (that date surprises me because it was son J.J.’s 12th birthday) but were rained out after practice. Nevertheless, despite being rained out we were not shut out. We had parked our car in the track’s infield. During the rain delay race fans were allowed to take their cars onto the track to speed up the drying process. As you might have guessed this was prior to the development of the jet drying process and now the “Air Titans”. Can you imagine in today’s world having the fans out on a high-banked track with their own personal car? Of course, I was driving a rental car. Unbelievable!! Then less than a month later my stepfather and I came back to N.I.R. on November 9, 1986 to see Gary Balough #112 win the main event. Rain was again a problem. Before the racing got going it rained. Once AGAIN fans were asked to bring their cars out and help dry the track. On this occasion we had driven to the track in my stepfather’s Ford Escort. My mother had stayed back to relax in our Nashville hotel. I soon convinced my stepfather that it was perfectly “O.K.” for me to drive his car on the very steeply banked oval. Whenever we were together he always had me do the driving. Off we went. I couldn’t wait to tell my mother AFTER WE FINISHED OUR RIDE what I had been doing with the family Ford Escort! Each time I drove on the Nashville International Raceway the speeds were only about 30 M.P.H. However on that track with those banks it seemed as if I was going much faster. At the time this was a major “E-ticket” ride. What a blast and what a story. Either the race started early, ended early or was rain-shortened. I can’t remember which. Nevertheless when we were able to leave the track’s infield there was time to see the Grand Ol’ Opry. I had some “contacts” at the Opry. Back in the day all I had to do was show up and my contact would meet me at the side door and let me in to see the show. On this night we were a little late for the show’s start. Not a problem. We were soon ushered to the first row of the auditorium where some special folding chairs were set up for V.I.P.s. I absolutely LOVE the Grand Old Opry and have come back a few times since my contacts have dried up. At one point in the show Bill and I were invited backstage. The very first person we met was “Little Jimmy Dickens”. He couldn’t have been nicer. Many years later I would come back to the Opry and Little Jimmy Dickens was still appearing at about age 90. My stepfather got the BIGGEST kick out of seeing the Opry and meeting Little Jimmy Dickens. When we got back to the hotel we had the stories to tell me mother! She wasn’t too wild that I had driven her car around the Nashville Speedway. I’ll bet Bill heard some more about that on their trip home. When I told her about getting into the Grand Old Opry on such short notice she was incredulous. “You have to get tickets months in advance for that show”, she told me. “Mom, MOST people need to get their tickets that far ahead of time. I don’t”. She still didn’t believe me in her heart but Bill backed me up! As I look back on the experiences at the Nashville track most of my memories are not about the racing. The racing was good and it was LOUD. If the racing wasn’t good we never would have come back. However, it is the personal memories from so many years ago that dominate from Nashville. How many people have ever driven their car around a NASCAR Cup track…twice! How many people get to go to the Grand Old Opry? How many can show up after the show has started and be given seats in the first row? Then how many folks ever get to go backstage? I’ve been a very fortunate person. PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS Recommended for golfers and those entertaining new self-improvement ideas Today I had a full day available in Nashville. I decided to play the General’s Retreat course at the Hermitage Golf Club. This is a four star course. Since I was playing in the morning, I was able to avoid most of the summer heat and it turned out to be a beautiful weather day. I was joined up with two brothers who were both about 50 years old. They were each builders from Nashville and Atlanta. These fellows were together for the Nashville brother’s wedding this coming Saturday. Neither of these guys was a very good golfer. Nevertheless, they both played their hearts out so they could win this brotherly competition. It was fun to see them doing their best to get the most out of their limited skills. It wasn’t so much that they were trying to beat the other one. They were trying to win the match for themselves. I think there’s a difference. They were competing. Do you have something in your life where you can compete? I hope so because the personal challenge can be a ton of fun and rewarding. In business, there were always many opportunities to compete. Sometimes, I think that’s why customer service is so poor in so many areas of business across the country. I think the workers don’t know how to compete. They have no role models who challenge them to compete. They have no reward systems that challenge them to compete. They are afraid of competing. In the world of today children are taught that participating is competing. Not. Today, I compete in two areas, trackchasing and golf. I’m really just competing against myself. I know what range of capabilities I have in these two activities and I’m trying to achieve in the upper range of my capabilities. In golf, my range of capabilities doesn’t overlap with the range of capabilities a professional golfer has. Therefore, when I don’t achieve in the professional’s range I don’t worry about it. At the same time, I don’t keep my range of expectations at such a low level that I’m never disappointed. To me, competing with yourself means finding a way to improve. In my business experience, we practiced the Japanese management philosophy of “Total Quality”. One of the basic elements of TQ management was continual improvement. In many ways, the concept was simple. Measure where you are today is some concrete fashion. Then figure out what you might want to change to improve things. You then go out and change just one thing and see if that change has an impact on results. If it does, great. If not, try something else until you can move the improvement dial in the right direction. Permit me to use golf as an analogy. Let’s say your handicap is 15 and you want to improve. Your 15 handicap becomes your baseline. What could you do to improve? How about taking golf lessons? Maybe some new clubs would do it. Maybe losing a little weight, using better course management, increasing your practice time. How about wearing a blue hat rather than a red hat? What would it take to improve? Total Quality management would recommend that you change just one thing at a time and evaluate the impact on your baseline results. Let’s say you believe that changing the color of your hat is the #1 thing you think will lower that handicap. Well, go ahead and change the color of your hat from red to blue for a few weeks. At the end of a trial period, see if the hat change reduced your handicap. I suspect it might not. If not, then go to the second item of change on the list and keep working down the list until something does give you the result you’re looking for, a lower golf handicap, in this example. It’s amazing in life how many people don’t make any changes and expect a different result. By the way, that’s called INSANE behavior. Others make changes (buy new clubs, drink bottled water or whatever) and don’t see any change. They’re working on the wrong things. I’m trying to improve my golf game. At the same time I’m practicing golf technique, I’m getting older. The older I get the less likely I’m going to be able to do things physically and mentally that would allow me to improve. Nevertheless, being an optimist, I hoping the level of increase from my technique work will improve at a faster rate than my physical/mental skills will deteriorate. I’ve been working with a new teacher and new technique for the last several months. Although, I’ve only had a lesson about once a month for five months with my golf pro, Les Taylor, I’ve put a special focus on practicing the Tour Tempo concept that Les teaches. If I weren’t traveling so much with trackchasing, I would take lessons more frequently. I’m also fortunate to have the RANLAY Golf Academy (RGA) practice facility to work on what Les teaches me. The RGA is a state of the art indoor practice facility located right in my home. This practice facility has a driving range quality golf mat with full-length mirrors on three sides so every aspect of the swing can be analyzed. Real golf balls can be hit into a net. The advantage of hitting into a net is that I don’t get distracted or dejected by seeing where the balls are going. This forces me to work strictly on technique. I also have a full surround system that broadcasts the Tour Tempo swing tones. This is an essential element of practicing the Tour Tempo system. Other swing aids such as the Power Trainer, surgical tubing strength drills and video add to the training. Now for the true test. Has all of this stuff really done any good? I’ve been playing the game frequently for 11 years. The age curve is beginning to go against me. If I’m going to improve then these techniques will not only have to change my basic skill pattern but overcome my declining skills due to age. In April, my index was 8.5. Today my index is 4.7. It has never been lower at any time in my golfing life. Three weeks ago, I tied my personal best round of all time at 72. Last week I established a new personal best with a round of 68. I’ve concluded the changes I’ve made are working. Now that I’m retired, I frequently get the question or implication that retired people don’t have anything to do. Somehow, many folks think that completing a spreadsheet in business or selling something or developing a new form when you’re getting paid to do it, is somehow more important than doing fully discretionary activities. I don’t think one is more important than the other is. I think the challenge of competing against yourself is important. I think the challenge of getting yourself to improve in something is important. You can decide what that activity is best for you. Don’t take the lazy way out and never challenge yourself to do better. Those brothers I played with today reminded me that the challenge in life is creating a challenging life. This diatribe is not about golf. The point is that whether you’re trying to bake a better cake, teach someone to read better than they ever have, get your body in the best shape you possibly can or make a better mousetrap, it can be fun and you’ll get a good feeling by challenging yourself to do better. It works for me. Omaha, Nebraska Airport – trip begins Columbus, Nebraska – 111 miles Urbana, Missouri – 569 miles Bolivar, Missouri – 609 miles Adrian, Missouri – 811 miles Nevada, Missouri – 857 miles Topeka, Kansas – 1,127 miles Valley Center, Kansas – 1,287 miles Tulsa, Oklahoma – 1,466 miles Pocola, Oklahoma – 1,752 miles Clarksville, Tennessee – 2,346 miles Nashville, Tennessee – 2,427 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES (U.S. DOLLARS): U.S. 30 Speedway – $0 Dallas County Speedway – $7 Bolivar Speedway – $10 (includes being able to park trackside and watch the races from inside my car. Adrian Speedway – $10 Nevada Speedway – $8 (maybe they were discounting the $10 advertised price since I arrived late) Heartland Park-Road Course – $15 Park City Raceway – $8 Tulsa Speedway – $15 Tri-State Speedway – $12 Clarksville Speedway – $18 Music City Motorplex – $5 RACING NEWS: Tonight’s show at the inner oval of the Music City Motorplex’s inner oval is my 737th lifetime track. I had been to the five-eighths mile oval aka the outer oval, back in 1981, in 1982 for the Winston Cup event, won by Darrell Waltrip and 1986 for the All-American 400. Each of those events provided some lasting memories. In both 1981 and 1982, the racing was delayed by rain. Each time I had parked my car in the track’s infield. During the rain delay, the announcer said that anyone wishing to take his or her personal car onto the track to help dry the track could. I flew to my car and in no time was running around the high-banked asphalt oval. The first time I was by myself in a rental car and the smile on my face even as I drove only 30-40 M.P.H. was as wide as the front bumper. The second time I was with my step-dad and I was driving the family Ford Escort around the track. When my mom heard about this, there was a lot of “splaining” to do. That second time, we ultimately got rained out. I had some contacts with the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and on an hour’s notice, my step-dad an I were sitting in the front row of the Grand Ole Opry’s Saturday night show. We even got a backstage tour. During the trip in 1986, Carol and I were in town for the All-American 400. This race had a lot of big names there that day. These included Dick Trickle, Sterling Marlin (above) and Darrell Waltrip to name a few. I’ve got a great picture, which is on display in my office of Darrell Waltrip with his arm around the littlest trackchaser. Even Darrell couldn’t resist her! Let’s get to tonight’s show. In three words…..it was pathetic! The race theme name was “Thunderin’ Thursdays. There was no thunder, there was no lightning and there was very little entertainment. They had a lot of classes and very few cars in any one class. They ran “features” only. Try these numbers on for size: Jr. Frontrunners and frontrunners – 8 cars – 12 laps 4 cylinders (aka hornets) 3 cars – 12 laps Legends-semipro – 9 cars – 20 laps Legends-pro – 4 cars – 12 laps Tennessee Outlaws – 9 cars – 20 laps Open-wheeled modifieds – 7 cars – 25 laps Late models – 8 cars – 25 laps They had a couple of other small car count lame classes that I didn’t get the name of because the P.A. system is weak and the sound under the covered grandstand creates one of the loudest sounds anywhere. Back in the Winston Cup days is was unbearable. What made this program the worst was listening to the track personnel over the scanner. It’s sort of like going to a fast food place. Do you REALLY want to see the characters preparing your food? The leader of this whole shebang sounded like a Yankee. All of his on track helpers sounded like the reddest of redneck hillbillies. Imagine William F. Buckley directing Gomer Pyle. Our Yankee dictator directed each and every activity. The starter did not do ANYTHING without getting direction. The Yankee even told the starter to point at his head to signal to the drivers to use their heads. All of the hillbillies used the word, “Boss” in their sentences. “Yes, sir, boss”, “Is that OK, boss” and “We’ll get her done, boss”. The Yankee tried to act as if he knew what he was doing but he sounded like he had been trucked in from the Sports Car Club of America to direct the good ole boys. That’s like mixing oil and water. After the first race was complete the winner was in victory lane. His fans from the pit area ran out to the car to get in the victory photo. The Yankee’s response, “Who are all those people running onto the track”. The locals answer, “Boss, those folks are fixin’ to celebrate with the winner. We always let them do that on our Thursday night shows”. Yankee: “Oh”. Guy Smith would have had a stroke! The local racing paper available at the track said they would start racing at 7 p.m. The lady on the phone insisted they would start at 7:30 p.m. They finished time trialing every class at 7:55 p.m. The first race began at 8:07 p.m. When a racecar dropped oil on the track, the Yankee told the cleanup crew to drive to the oil spot in a counter-clockwise direction. The driver’s response, “You mean like a Yankee clock?”. On re-starts they took at least two laps more than they needed to start the race. They probably added extra 40-50 laps because of this inefficiency. The pace car drove each of these laps in around 40 seconds. I was about ready to have a stroke! General admission was just $5. There were about 300 people in the stands. We were back to hot temperatures. A bank sign on the way in said it was 91 degrees at about 7:15 p.m. Some of these mid-week shows with primarily low budget cars can be a lot of fun. I think it’s best when there are only a couple of classes with 20-30 cars in each class. Tonight’s show was the opposite of that and not very entertaining at all. RACE TRACK FOOD: I should have eaten before I went to the track. The cheeseburger was subpar. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car Racing Buick Century is safe so far. On the way into Nashville I saw a van pulled over to the side of the road. It had a six-foot long piece of a truck tire retreat that had gone halfway through its windshield. That’s got to be as bad as hitting a deer. I also passed Pringles Park Stadium in Jackson, Tennessee. Procter & Gamble makes Pringles potato chips in Jackson, Tennessee. By the way, state and federal tax rate data noted below comes from the 2002 American Petroleum Institute survey. Per Barb Wiper’s and P.J. Hollebrand’s request cost per gallon numbers are included below. ED ESSER UPDATE: More news on Ed Esser soon. You can keep track of Ed at, www.2arace.com . The following section of this track report will focus on budgeting and taxation as experienced on a typical racing trip. We are all liable for paying federal and state income tax if we earn enough money. I thought it would be interesting to see how many and how much other taxes I would pay on an 11-day racing trip. I’m going to keep a spending diary during this trip. I’ll show you the kinds of things that a trackchaser might spend money on and the taxes associated with each purchase. The first number will be the amount spent in total on a particular expense and the second number will be the amount of tax paid. Current cumulative totals through July 13 – $759.63/$90.26 THURSDAY, July 15, 2004 Food – McDonalds – $5.15/$0.43 Golf – Hermitage Golf Course – $52.44/$0.00 Food – Hermitage Golf Course – $6.00/$0.00 (a pimento cheese sandwich! Hasn’t had one of those since our visit to Augusta) Food – Steak N’ Shake – $9.05/$0.60 Race tickets – Music City Motorplex – $5.00/$0.00 Food – Music City Motorplex – $6.00/$0.00 Food – BP station – $2.92/$0.34 Lodging – Red Roof Inn, Nashville, Tennessee – TBD WEDNESDAY, July 14, 2004 Food – Subway – $5.86/$0.47 Food – McDonalds – $5.45/$0.46 Food – Dairy Queen – $3.28/$0.29 Gas – Jackson, TN – $27.95/$5.85 ($1.89 per gallon) Food – Texaco – $1.52/$0.12 Race tickets – Clarksville Speedway – $18.00/$0.00 Food – Clarksville Speedway – $6.25/$0.00 Lodging – Red Roof Inn, Nashville, Tennessee – TBD TUESDAY, July 13, 2004 Food – Waffle House – $10.34/$0.71 Food – Citgo – $1.52/$0.13 Tolls – Muskogee Turnpike – $4.05/$4.05 Movie ticket – The Terminal – $5.00/$0.39 Gas – Ft. Smith, Arkansas – $25.82/$5.75 (state & federal gas taxes = $0.405 per gallon) – $1.79 per gallon Race tickets – Tri-State Speedway – $12.00/$0.00 Food – Tri-State Speedway – $3.50/0.00 Food – China City – $10.20/$0.21 Lodging – Motel 6, Russellville, Arkansas $35.35/$3.36 MONDAY, July 12, 2004 All Star Driving Range, Wichita – $6.00/$0.00 Tolls – Kansas Turnpike – $1.60/$1.60 Food – Braum’s Ice Cream – $2.80/$0.21 Race tickets – Tulsa Speedway – $15.00/$0.00 Food – Tulsa Speedway – $9.00/$0.00 Food – Victorian Inn vending – $1.50/$0.00 Miscellaneous – Tulsa Speedway contribution – $3.00/$0.00 Lodging – Victorian Inn, Tulsa, OK – $30.15/$4.16 SUNDAY, July 11, 2004 Food – Subway – $6.64/$0.45 Race tickets – Heartland Park – $15.00/$0.00 Food – Heartland Park drink – $4.00/$0.00 Tolls – Kansas Turnpike – $6.85/$6.85 Food – Kicks 66 – $4.19/$0.21 Food – Spangles, Wichita – $6.78/$0.40 Race tickets – Park City Raceway – $8.00/$0.50 Lodging – Motel 6, Wichita, KS – $40.42/$4.43 Gas – Wichita, KS – $28.98/$6.47 – $1.89 per gallon Food – Quick trip drink – $1.37/$0.08 SATURDAY, July 10, 2004 Food – Hardee’s – $5.10/$0.41 Golf – Millwood Golf & Country Club – $53.25/$3.30 Food – Steak N’ Shake – $7.10/$0.44 Race tickets – Adrian Speedway – $10.00/$0.00 Food -Adrian track – $3.75/$0.00 Race tickets — Nevada Speedway – $8.00/$0.00 Food – Nevada, MO track – $4.50/$0.00 Hotel -Super 8, Nevada, MO – $50.47/$4.68 (state and bed taxes) Gas – Nevada, MO – $26.37/$5.02 – $1.85 per gallon FRIDAY, July 9, 2004 Food – Subway – $6.09/$0.40 Golf – Shoal Creek driving range – $11.03/$0.73 Food – Steak N’ Shake – $9.41/$0.44 Gas-Kansas City, MO – $25.50/$5.04 – $1.78 per gallon Food – McDonalds – $1.08/$0.08 Race tickets – Bolivar Speedway – $10.00/$0.00 Lodging – Motel 6, Springfield, MO – $44.86/$4.87 THURSDAY, July 8, 2004 Original airfare ticket – $0.00/$0.00 (earned by spending $15,000 on my Visa card) Airfare – United Airlines – $75.00/0.00 – (Ticket re-issue, destination changed from Tulsa to Omaha, when my friends at Junior Raceway Park in Tulsa decided to stop racing on Thursdays) Airfare – United Airlines – $19.00/$19.00 – Airport security tax Miscellaneous – Skycaps – $3.00/$0.00 – (I’ll leave it up to them to declare this money on their income taxes.) Miscellaneous – L.A. Times – $0.50/$0.00 – (The airport used to collect sales tax on this type of purchase but no longer do) Miscellaneous – Delivery fee for Columbus Telegram – $2.00/$0.00 Food – Steak Escape – $8.49/$0.61 – (sales tax on food in Denver Airport) Food – McDonalds – $2.14/$0.14 – (food to go tax) Food – Ranchers Choice Café – $20.38/$0.93 Food – U.S. 30 Speedway – $3.75/$0.00 Food – Super 8 Motel vending machine – $1.50/$0.00 Lodging – Super 8 Motel-Columbus, NE – $48.30/$4.20 (sales and lodging tax) Randy Lewis That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all of the children are above average. Since we’re in an election year, remember, when there’s not enough government someone will steal your strawberries, when there’s too much government, the government will steal your strawberries. **Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, June 12 **Charleston Speedway, Charleston, Illinois, May 22 **Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3 **Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20 16-Jul Natl Modified Midgets Wayne County Speedway Wayne City, IL 16-Jul Regular program Clay County Speedway Flora, IL 17-Jul MAORA off Road Soggy Bottom Raceway Greenup, IL 17-Jul Regular program Montgomery County Speedway New Florence, MO 18-Jul SCCA Regional Heartland Mtrspts Park Topeka, KS 18-Jul Regular program Thayer County Speedway Deshler, NE That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
Reprinted with permission from my Trackchaser Report of July 15, 2004
GREETINGS FROM NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE,
CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:
Racetracks visited in 2004 (** not the first time to visit this track)
Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)