This was a huge potential monkey wrench.……………more in “The Details”.

 

 

Every problem has a solution doesn’t it?……………more in “The Details”.

 

 

Fortunate in more ways than one……….more in “The Details”.

 

 

5-Hour Energy to the rescue……..more in “The Details”.

 

 

Pushing the time and/or activity diversity management window…….more in “The Details”.

 

 

Carol has me pegged……more in “The Details”.

 

 

I couldn’t do this without these……more in “The Details”.

 

 

We were going to get rained on……..details in “Race Review”.

 

 

Not my first Syracuse rodeo……..details in “Race Review”.

 

 

Let’s take a time out.  There’s going to be a downpour……..details in “Race Review”.

 

 

My fellow competitors were leaving today’s track like rats from a sinking ship……..details in “Race Review”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Series

 

My big 28-day trackchasing adventure is finished!  It was a busy and fun trip.  I can’t wait to do another one just like it and maybe with more days.  Here’s how it went.

 

 

Day 1 – Trackchasing – Belleville, MI

Day 2 – Racechasing – Butler, PA

Day 3 – Trackchasing – Urbana, OH

Day 4 – Racechasing – Union, KY

Day 5 – Racechasing – East Moline, IL

Day 6 – Trackchasing – Marshall, MI

Day 7 – Trackchasing – Armada, MI

Day 8 – Trackchasing – West Branch, MI

Day 9 – Trackchasing – Midland, MI

Day 10 – Trackchasing – Greenland, MI

Day 11 – Trackchasing – Escanaba, MI

Day 12 – Trackchasing – Escanaba, MI

Day 13 – Minor league baseball – Great Lake Loons – Midland, MI

Day 14 – Trackchasing – Hudsonville, MI

Day 15 – Trackchasing – Greensburg, PA

Day 16 – Cincinnati Reds baseball – Cincinnati, OH

Day 17 – Trackchasing – Abingdon, IL

Day 18 – Trackchasing – Brooklyn, MI

Day 19 – Trackchasing – Oreville, PA

Day 20 – U.S. Tennis Open & Mets baseball – Flushing Meadows, NY

Day 21 – Trackchasing – Essex Junction, VT

Day 22 – Trackchasing – Brockville, Ontario, Canada

Day 23 – Washington Nationals baseball – Washington, D.C.

Day 24 – Trackchasing – Jackson, MN

Day 25 – Trackchasing – Elkton, MI

Day 26 – Trackchasing – Farwell, MI

Day 27 – Trackchasing – Syracuse, NY

Day 28 – Headed for home!

 

 

MONDAY

 

Why wouldn’t everyone use Priceline.com?

We woke up this morning in Romulus, Michigan.  We went to bed in Cleveland, Ohio.  This is what today looked like.

 

 

Our day started in Romulus, Michigan at the Embassy Suites Hotel.  We were having our cooked to order breakfast before our big day started with a trip to Syracuse, New York.  Again Priceline gave us 60% off the regular rate at the Embassy Suites.  Why wouldn’t everyone use Priceline?

 

 

With Carol being with me for the last week (as well as the first week) of this 28-day trackchasing trip we’ve been able to have more upscale hotels that I normally use.  It’s nice to have her out on the trail when the trips aren’t too tough to navigate.  She didn’t have to sleep overnight in an airport or a car on the entire trip.  That was a good thing!

 

 

For this trip we had picked up our rental car in Grand Rapids Michigan. It was my seventh car-rental of the trip.  Who rents seven different cars on their vacation?

 

 

I was surprised when the total rate per day was only $45 for what would be a one-way rental dropping off in Detroit. Sometimes that happens with cities that are relatively close to each other but Grand Rapids and Detroit aren’t really that near each other.

 

This was a huge potential monkey wrench.

We would be leaving Detroit for Syracuse at 12:45 p.m. Few trips are ever 100% trouble free.  We got a scare when we tried to board the plane today.  Several passengers had already boarded the airplane when they were asked to get off.  Everyone would have to wait and see what might happen with a maintenance issue for the plane’s engine. If we didn’t make our flight to Syracuse for a 4 p.m. racing start we would be out of luck for this afternoon’s Syracuse race.  I immediately sought out my backup plan.  That was an evening race in North Carolina. I didn’t like that option much.  The rain forecast for the North Carolina oval track called for a 40% chance rain at 6 PM.

 

 

Logistics are so important to trackchasing.  Landing at 2:45 p.m. would make it easy to get to the New York State Fairgrounds for the 4 p.m. start.  The airport was just 10 miles from the fairgrounds.

 

 

Cars are rented on a 24-hour basis.  We would be picking up this car in Syracuse and dropping in Chicago tomorrow.  We had paid airline tickets (part of my ‘make happy’ Carol travel plan) leaving tomorrow evening at 6:55 p.m.  If we picked up the car in Syracuse today, just after we landed, we would have to return the rental car by about 3 p.m.  That was an issue on two fronts.  First, that would give us less time to drive to Chicago, a 695-mile drive.  Secondly, if we did get the car back to Chicago by 3 p.m. we would have to hang around the airport for nearly four hours waiting for our more than four hour to Los Angeles plane ride.

 

 

Every problem has a solution doesn’t it?

However, every problem begs a solution doesn’t it?  One of the most interesting and fun challenges that comes out of my trackchasing hobby is problem solving.  I discussed our situation with the Syracuse National Car Rental Company agent.  She couldn’t have been nicer.  Even though we picked up the car at 3 p.m. she noted our pickup time as 5 p.m.  This would give us two more hours to get to Chicago.  It would also decrease our waiting time in Chicago from four hours to two.  That was a great solution!

 

 

Driving time from Syracuse to Chicago would be about 10 hours.  We would gain an hour driving from the Eastern time zone to the Central   That was good.  The benefit we were given from my National sponsor was an additional two hours of sleep time.  That was even better.

 

 

After the races……

 

Fortunate in more ways than one.

We were very fortunate today in a few ways. First we were lucky that we didn’t have an airplane mechanical delay.  That would have eliminated our Syracuse trackchasing option.  We were fortunate the car rental agent empathized with us and gave us a break on our pickup time.  Then with bad weather coming in at a rapid rate we were lucky (O.K. not really LUCKY) to be under the covered grandstand from the beginning of the bad weather until the end. We never did get wet from the rain.

 

 

Overall this trip covered 28 days.  Carol joined me for about half of those days.  During the time she was with me we were very lucky to get tracks seen where it looked like they could be rained out.  On a couple of other occasions we actually saw two tracks when we were only expecting one. We also got a chance to do a few Trackchasing Tourist Attractions as well as stay in more upscale hotels throughout Carol’s stay. The trip also brought me my 1,900^th lifetime track.  Carol is zeroing in on track #500.  She’s just four tracks short of that goal.

 

 

5-Hour Energy to the rescue.

During our drive to Chicago tonight I picked up a bottle of 5-Hour Energy – extra strength berry flavor.  I’ve only used this product about five times.  I find it to be really good at what it is advertised to do. I don’t see any side effects.  It just makes me feel like I’m not really tired allowing me to keep driving.  I don’t want to go overboard with 5-Hour Energy.  I am surprised how well it works.

 

 

TUESDAY

 

Pushing the time and/or activity diversity management window.

I have been away from San Clemente for 28 straight days. Prior to this trip I was home for one day after completing a 14-day trip.  So in actuality I have been gone from San Clemente for 42 of the past 43 days.  Luckily Carol was able to join me for two one-week periods.  Truth be told I could do this every day for a very very long time.  However, that would not be good “time and/or activity diversity” management would it?

 

 

As a matter of fact for the balance of the month I have two more ten-day trips.  One is devoted to trackchasing and major-league ballpark chasing.  There will also be two family wedding trips and our fall vacation to Maui Hawaii.

 

 

Today we completed a short five-hour drive from Cleveland to Chicago.  Then we hopped on an airplane for four hours to fly back to Los Angeles.  As always just a few hours after returning home I will say to Carol, “Boy it doesn’t seem like I was gone at all.”  That’s how we do it in the Lewis family.

 

 

Carol has me pegged.

Carol’s main observation was “You always seem to be able to squeeze 10 pounds of stuff into a five-pound bag.  However you don’t see many worse for the wear.”

 

 

Speaking of Carol, she is feeling pretty well from her fall a few nights ago following the Washington Nationals baseball game.  You recall that she took it on the chin so to speak and ended up with several stitches just beneath her chin. Now she has a black and blue ring around her wound and some pretty sore wrists.  However she is generally still making it down the trackchasing road.  When she gets home she’ll have to make an appointment to get her stitches removed and also make an appointment with her dentist for a chipped molar.  Yes this Trackchasers business can be tough.

 

 

There is one funny thing about these long trips.  Each morning during these trips, after a night’s sleep and a morning shower to freshen up it seems as if it’s the first day of the trip even if it’s not.  By the end of the day I feel like I need to shower, my clothes are used up and when it’s time to go to bed I’m ready to hit the sack.

 

 

The travel, sightseeing and trackchasing logistics of each day precludes me from writing my Trackchaser Reports or organizing my photos.  The best I can do is take notes with my “Notes” iPhone app of the highlights of each day.  When I get to the hotel every night I download my photos from my iPhone and my Panasonic still camera.  Then when I get home I’ll organize all into the famous Trackchaser Report forma.  I’ll provide you with Picasa photo albums and YouTube videos that you’ve come to enjoy.

 

 

I’d be lost without all of the technology that powers these trips.  Of course my iPhone is number one.  It gives me phone capability but much more importantly GPS capability. It also provides calorie control management (often ignored) note taking resources, weather forecasting and lots of other things that are almost too numerous to mention.

 

 

I couldn’t do this without these.

Of course my reading glasses are indispensable.  I’ll typically have 3 to 5 pair stashed away in different locations just in case.  I did lose my famous blue framed reading glasses on this trip.  That was a bummer.  I am also carrying an electrical inverter.  This is used so that all of my equipment can be charged to the max while I’m driving. Technology means information.  Information means power.

 

 

Another invaluable resource for this trip was our “Snoopy” bag.  This is a small but expandable bag.  It folds down to nothing when not being used but can handle all of our dirty clothes and many of our souvenir breakables when needed.  It just relieves the pressure of the carry-on bags that we bring along on each trip.  I was out on this trip for four weeks. I didn’t check a bag on any of my airline flights.  Everything came in my rolling carry-on bag. This did necessitate doing wash on two different occasions at about the nine-day intervals.

 

 

I didn’t do all that well on my exercise goals. Sometimes it’s too difficult to travel the distances as I do and get the limited amount of sleep that I do and still feel like getting up to exercise for an hour.  Now that I’m home I hope to do better and meet my 2013 exercise goal.

 

 

Despite this long trip I’m still fully on track to meet my goal of taking 23 weekends off from trackchasing.  I never lose sight of that important objective.

 

 

This 28-day, inclusive, trackchasing trip had me flying on nine airplanes and renting eight cars.  I will say this.  I’m glad I retired from Procter & Gamble.  Who does this?

 

 

My 2013 trackchasing season is winding down.  I have only a couple of domestic trackchasing trips remaining. However I am planning some very robust international experiences. You won’t want to miss those.

 

 

 

 

ONE CANNOT LIVE WELL OR SLEEP WELL IF ONE HAS NOT DINED WELL

 

Tony Packo’s Express – Toledo, Ohio

I’ve been wanting to go to Tony Packo’s for a long time.  Tony Packo’s eatery was made famous by it’s several mentions on M*A*S*H the popular TV series.  It’s not like I never pass through Toledo, Ohio.  With the city being on Interstate 80 I will drive through the area 2-3 times or more each summer.  Today Carol and I finally made it.  Tony Packo’s has five locations in and around Toledo.  We chose the West Toledo Packo’s Express because it was the handiest.

 

 

We dined on chilidogs and chili mac.  Don’t know what chili mac is?  Were you raised in America?  You might need to get out more.

 

 

Sadly I screwed up my one and only picture of a Tony Packo’s chilidog.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed our casual dining experience and will be back, possibly to one of their other locations just for the diversity of it.

 

 

Here’s a history of Tony Packo’s from their website itself,

 

“History of Tony Packo’s

The Real Story

The son of Hungarian immigrants, Tony Packo was a native East Toledoan. Tony was born in 1908, just a stone’s throw from Consaul and Genesee streets.  Tony Packo started out as a factory worker. That all changed when, in 1932, he and his wife got a $100 loan from relatives. No small feat, mind you, for this was during the hardest of hard times, the first years of the Great Depression. That same year he opened a sandwich and ice cream shop just around the corner from the place he was born. Tony had learned the restaurant business working for his older brother John, who owned a place across Consaul Street in what is now Tony Packo’s parking lot. There was no beer at Packo’s that first year. Prohibition would not be lifted until 1933.

Because Tony was Hungarian-American and lived in a Hungarian neighborhood, Tony’s creation was called the Hungarian hot dog.  Until Toledo-born Tony invented it, there was no such thing as a Hungarian hot dog, say those who know the Old Country’s food.

Packo’s food was an instant hit in the neighborhood. Within months of opening, Tony and Rose knocked out a wall and expanded their first shop, in what is now called the Consaul Tavern. By 1935, success had taken them to the point where they could buy a building of their own. They purchased the wedge-shaped establishment at Front and Consaul. The building houses part of today’s Tony Packo’s, but with a few more additions. The restaurant is still run by the Packo family.

THE M*A*S*H CONNECTION

The words that came out of Jamie Farr’s mouth on Feb. 24, 1976 would put Tony Packo’s in the spotlight. Farr, a native Toledoan himself, appeared in the television show “M*A*S*H,” playing Corporal Max Klinger, a crazy medical corpsman who was also from Toledo. In the episode that made Packo’s future, a man playing a television newsman talked to Klinger about his hometown. Farr wrote a little local color into his reply. The lines read, “If you’re ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo’s got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs. Thirty-five cents…” Thus a new epoch began. The name appealed to the scriptwriters, who wrote Packo’s into five subsequent episodes. In one show, the mobile hospital unit asked Packo’s to send sausage casings to be used in a blood-filtering machine. Packo’s was also mentioned in the two-and-a-half-hour final episode in 1983.

THE MOST POPULAR BUNS IN THE MIDWEST

The Farr coup was actually the second time that good fortune, in the form of a celebrity, graced Tony Packo’s. In June 1972, Burt Reynolds was playing “The Rainmaker” at a local auditorium, and Nancy (Tony Sr.’s daughter) got a notion to get him into her restaurant. “I thought, well, he’s got to eat somewhere.” Nancy wrote a letter and took it to Reynold’s hotel.

About two nights later he showed up. Reynolds was the first big name to eat at Packo’s and sign a hot dog bun. Nancy wanted him to write his name on something to commemorate his visit. It occurred to Reynolds to put his pen to Packo’s breadstuff. This precedent was followed by scores of celebrities, including presidential candidates, whose autographed hot dog buns now are enshrined on Packo’s walls. Thus the tradition of “bun signing” began, and has continued to this day.”

 

 

Then we went shopping next door is one of the funkiest “mass merchandiser” stores I’ve seen in a long time.  The place was called “The Andersons”.  They have five locations in Ohio.  They sold everything from discount groceries to $3,500 Tempurpedic mattresses.  Yes, funky but fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York State Fairgrounds – Syracuse, New York

 

 

Carol was worth the investment.

The New York State Fairgrounds is huge!  We paid five dollars to park.  That still put us a long walk from the entrance to the fairgrounds itself.  General admission to the fair was $10 per person.  Then general admission to the huge grandstands, from where we would view the race, was another $10.  I looked over at Carol.  Yes, she was well worth the $22.50 investment on my part.  Yes, I had to partially amortize the parking charge to her trackchasing expense budget.

 

We were going to get rained on.

When we arrived the sun was hot on our backs.  It was humid and the temperature came in at about 85°.  However some extremely dark/blue clouds were off to the north.  A local told us the weather came from that direction. Later we would find he was 100% correct.

 

 

This year the New York State Fair runs from August 22 to Labor Day, September 2, 2013.  This was the last day of the fair.  We were lucky to have showed up to catch the last day.  O.K., I exaggerate.  We really weren’t lucky.  We came to the fair for one main reason.  Today, in front of this massive traditional state fairgrounds covered grandstand they were having a figure 8 race.  O.K., it was not just any figure 8 race but a “Double O” figure 8 race.  More on that in a bit.

 

Not my first Syracuse rodeo.

This was not my first visit to the New York State Fairgrounds.  I had been here back on October 9 and 10, 1982.  During that weekend Sammy Swindell won the World of Outlaws feature on the one mile flat or nearly flat one-mile dirt oval.  The next day Merv Treichler won “Syracuse” in the nationally known big block modified race.

 

 

That visit in 1982 made the NYSF my 121^st lifetime track.  Although I had begun recording the date I visited each track by 1980 I had not been listing who I attended the races with.  My last visit here was 34 years ago.  I went there with Syracuse born and raised racing buddy Jim Sabo.  We made a visit to the Oswego Speedway to see Doug Heveron win the main event on Saturday night of that weekend.  On that day in October I remember it being very cold in Syracuse.

 

 

As mentioned it was a long walk from the parking area to the fairgrounds entrance.  Then it was a long walk from the fair entrance to the grandstand itself.  I love walking but I rarely have to do it in stifling heat and humidity as we did today.  It’s why I live in San Clemente, California.

 

 

Seating location was most important.

We arrived into the grandstand just at race time, which was 4 p.m.  It was important to be seated in the covered part of the grandstand.  The first 10 to 12 rows of the grandstand were not covered.  Those seats didn’t have any protection from what looked like a fast approaching heavy duty rainstorm.

 

 

The wind was blowing directly into the grandstand.  I’ve done this enough to know that when the wind begins to blow soon the temperature will fall and the rain will follow. That is exactly what happened today. The wind was blowing so strongly that we elected to move it up even higher into the covered grandstand.  That was a wise move.  When the rains did come even the people in the first few rows that were UNDER the covered grandstand got wet.  The rain was falling SIDEWAYS at this point.  However, we were as dry as could be and happy to have thought ahead.

 

Very good small car figure 8 racing.

Today would we would be watching small car figure 8 racing promoted by JM Productions.  I’ve been to several of their shows.  They always do a good job of running the program. I’ve looked at this Labor Day Syracuse figure 8 race for several years.  However this the first year that I could actually incorporate it into a full track chasing schedule.

 

 

Today’s racing would be the last track on this particular trip, which started 27 days ago. I tried to take this trip one day at a time so as not to become burned out.  That plan worked out perfectly.  I didn’t have a second of burnout.

 

 

Most of the figure 8 competitors today had won a figure 8 earlier in the year at one of the local county fairs.  That meant they had “qualified” for today’s New York state championships.  It also meant we would be seeing the best of the best figure 8 drivers.

 

 

Today they were five figure 8 heats with seven cars in each race. The racing was fun and competitive.  Carol and I both agreed that after seeing figure 8 racing at more than a few fairs that figure 8 racing can be very competitive, action packed and fun to watch.  The track announcer has a lot to do with that.  He, it’s usually a “he”, can create “drama” which is all you need for an entertaining event.

 

 

We also agree that often times figure 8 racing is more entertaining than your typical oval track race which can have so many stops and starts and downtimes.  However, even some fans (above) can’t keep totally focused on the action all the time.  Figure 8 racing runs non-stop.  What we are really looking for is competitive (that means passing), fast paced racing with a crash or three thrown in.  Some figure 8 racing is done in a mud bog atmosphere with very slow speeds.  If you can find a figure 8 race where the speeds are decent and the car counts solid it can be a fun event as today’s was.

 

 

Let’s take a time out.  There’s going to be a downpour.

Following the figure 8 heat races there were small car demolition derby heat races.  These were most entertaining. Toward the end of the figure 8 heat racing the dark blue skies reached the grandstand.  It began to pour down rain. We were high and dry and enjoyed the drop in temperature until it got to be almost chilly.  That reminded me that you must be careful what you wish for.  You might get it!

 

 

It was fun to watch the competitors and race officials trying to navigate the now sloppy muddy track as the rain fell hard and the cars began to slip and slide.  I would say at this point the speeds were reduced to 30 M.P.H. or so.

 

 

Luckily the rain only lasted about 15 or 20 minutes.

Following the small car demo Derby heats was the ten-car ten-lap New York State championship for figure 8 cars.

 

My fellow competitors were leaving today’s track like rats from a sinking ship.

I couldn’t say for sure but it looked like two trackchasers were headed for the exits after F8 heat number four.  How could they leave a New York State figure 8 championship program so early?  Heck, we were facing an 11-hour drive to Chicago and then a five-hour flight to Los Angeles.  There was no other racing to attend that evening.  If we could stay for the balance of the program where did they need to go?  If we could wait to the see the feature then surely they could.  However, it appeared they did not share the same enthusiasm for figure 8 racing that we did today.

 

 

Don’t miss the photos and videos of the real racing action it was fun.  Following the completion of the figure 8 racing we left the grandstand to tour the fair.  This being the last day of the fair the animal barns were bare.  However, we toured the still packed carnival area and stopped to have supper at a place serving blooming onions, hot dogs and hamburgers.  Amongst the fairgoers the highlight seemed to be the food booths.  They certainly had a lot of them.  This was good greasy state fair food of which we hadn’t eaten much of despite going to lots affairs during the past month.

 

 

The ambient temperature was now about 70°.  It was quite comfortable.  Once we left the fairgrounds we headed out on interstate 90 toward Chicago.  We would drive as far as Cleveland.  As I was driving I used my iPhone to successfully bid on a Priceline.com hotel near the Cleveland airport.  This was a hotel I had stated at previously on this long trip.  Of course our rate was a bit less than 50% of the best rate offered on the hotel’s website.

 

 

What could be more fitting?

When the final figure 8 checkered flag had flown we headed out of the huge state fair grandstand.  What were we greeted with?  One of the biggest and fullest multi-colored rainbows I had seen in a long time.  How fitting that on the final trackchasing day of this 28-day trip the trackchasing gods since this congratulatory message.

 

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

New York

 

The Empire State

This afternoon I saw my 64th lifetime track in the Empire state, yes the Empire state.  This would not be my last New York track of the 2013 season.

 

 

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

New York sayings:  If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles

Chicago, IL (ORD) – Detroit, MI (DTW) – 234 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #1

Detroit Metro Airport – trip begins

Belleville, MI

Butler, PA

Urbana, OH

Union, KY

East Moline, IL

Marshall, MI

Armada, MI

West Branch, MI

Midland, MI

Detroit Metro Airport – 2,378 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #2

Detroit Metro Airport – trip begins

Greenland, MI

Escanaba, MI

Escanaba, MI (again!)

Hudsonville, MI

Greensburg, PA

Abingdon, IL

Brooklyn, MI

Onekama, MI

Detroit Metro Airport – 3,429 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #3

LaGuardia (New York) International Airport – trip begins

Oreville, PA

LaGuardia (New York) International Airport – trip ends – 314 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Detroit, MI (DTW) – New York, NY (LGA)– 500 miles

New York, NY (LGA) – Montreal, Quebec, Canada (YUL) – 324 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #4

Dorval (Montreal) International Airport – trip begins

Essex Junction, VT

Brockville, Ontario, Canada

Dorval (Montreal) International Airport – trip ends – 482 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (YUL) – Washington, D.C. (IAD) – 489 miles

 

 

 

RENTAL CAR #5

Dulles (Washington, D.C.) International Airport – trip begins

Reagan (Washington, D.C.) National Airport – trip ends – 110 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Reagan (Washington, D.C.) National Airport (DCA) – Minneapolis, MN (MSP) – 929 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #6

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins

Jackson, MN

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip ends – 366 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Minneapolis, MN (MSP) – Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) – 374 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #7

Gerald R. Ford (Grand Rapids) International Airport – trip begins

Elkton, MI

Owendale, MI

Farwell, MI

Detroit Metro Airport – trip ends – 563 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Detroit, MI (DTW) – Syracuse, NY (SYR) – 373 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #8

Syracuse Hancock International Airport – trip begins

Syracuse, NY

Chicago O’Hare International Metro Airport – trip ends – 709 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Chicago, IL (ORD) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 1,745 miles

 

 

Total air miles – 6,578 (9 flights)

Total rental car miles – 8,352 (8 cars)

 

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 14,930 miles 

 

Home at last!

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Wayne County Fairgrounds – $10

Butler Farm Show – $12 (not trackchasing expense)

Champaign County Fairgrounds – $12

Florence Speedway – Complimentary admission

Quad Cities Speedway – $8 ($2 senior discount – not trackchasing expense)

Calhoun County Fairgrounds – $10

Armada County Fairgrounds – $8

Ogemaw County Fairgrounds – $8

Midland County Fairgrounds – $10

Adventure Mountain Raceway – $8

Upper Peninsula International Raceway – $8

Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds – $5

Hudsonville County Fairgrounds – $9

Westmoreland County Fairgrounds – $8

Abingdon Fairgrounds – $10

Michigan International Speedway – $20

Manistee County Fairgrounds – 13

Oreville Kart Club – No charge

Champlain Valley Expo – $16

Brockville Ontario Speedway – $5 Canadian

Jackson Speedway – $25

Elkton Autumnfest – $10

Silver Bullet Speedway – $11 ($1 senior discount)

Farwell Fall Festival – $12

New York State Fairgrounds – 20

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $240

 

 

 

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 350 tracks of my lifetime total.  Don’t blame me.

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,905

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 65

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 5.10

 

 

 

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