Noble County Fairgrounds

 

 

Lots of people think I go trackchasing just to see races.  Wrong!……………more in “The Plan”.

 

Two Trackchasing Tourist Attractions in a single day.  That’s fantastic……………..more in “The Trip”

 

Maybe some of the worst “racing” I’ve seen this year …………..details in “Race Review”.

 

You gotta be flexible.

I had planned to visit the Noble County Community Fairgrounds LAST night.  However, when I called the fairgrounds to get some event details they told me they weren’t racing.  Their website was wrong!!  At least I avoided an unnecessary trip to Kendallville, Indiana.  Their website error made me make an unscheduled 600-mile round-trip to East Moline, Illinois so I could at least salvage my nearly lost trackchasing day.

 

 

Trackchasing Tourist Attractions a reason for doing all of this.

In reality the Noble County Community Fairgrounds racing activity would be today.  That was O.K. with me.  It meant I could hang around the Indianapolis area for most of the day.

 

 

Lots of people think I go trackchasing just to see races.  Wrong!  I enjoy the races but I enjoy equally the things I can see and do in the faraway places I travel.  I call these sights and sounds “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”.

 

 

I would have two TTAs today.  Don’t miss my experiences explained in great detail below.

 

 

Work hard; play hard.

I woke up this morning in Indianapolis, Indiana.  I went to bed in Indianapolis, Indiana.  This is what today looked like.

 

 

I didn’t get back to my hotel until 3 a.m. last night (morning).  I did get up just in time to have the hotel’s biscuits and gravy breakfast.  You can call me “Bip” just don’t call me late for breakfast.

 

 

Next up I had to turn in my rental car so I could re-rent a car in the Indianapolis airport.  This was done for two reasons.  First, it would be cheaper to do it this way in the long run.  Secondly, this would allow me time to drop the car at the Cleveland airport even though I had picked it up in Indianapolis.  There’s a lot of logistical planning involved in trackchasing if you want maximum flexibility and minimum cost.

 

 

Hoosiers…the movie and more.

The rest of the day would be spent at my two Indianapolis Trackchasing Tourist Attractions.  My first visit took me to the famous Hinkle Fieldhouse.  My second touring stop took me to the even more famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a visit the IMS Hall of Fame and Museum.

 

 

I sandwiched (pun intended) a luncheon trip to a highly Yelp recommended restaurant in the Butler University neighborhood as well.

 

Nearly worthless but not a wasted day.

The racing I was about to see on this trackchasing day was essentially worthless.  Luckily, I had two fantastic Trackchasing Tourist Attractions to make up for the lack of racing entertainment.

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips.  However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home.

 

I do a good deal of traveling.  I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit.  There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale.  I want to see those places.  I want to touch them and feel them.  When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions.  I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day.

Hinkle Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, Indiana

 

 

I’ll be back and the next time for a game.

I’m a big basketball fan.  From an early age I probably shot baskets several hours each day until I graduated from high school.  I still maintain an indoor court at my home in San Clemente.  We have had season tickets to UCLA Bruins basketball for several seasons.  Yes, basketball has always been my favorite sport.

 

 

When I travel I like to visit college campuses.  When I do I want to see three places.  I’m talking about the basketball arena, the football stadium and the bookstore.  I’ll visit the bookstore to look at their souvenir t-shirts.  If the school I am visiting has never beaten UCLA or Northern Illinois University (my alma mater) I’m just as likely to buy a t-shirt as not.

 

 

Today’s visit to Hinkle Fieldhouse was self-guided.    Hinkle Fieldhouse was built in 1928  It was the largest fieldhouse in the country and held that distinction until 1950.

 

 

Indiana is a basketball crazy state as is Illinois where I grew up.  Hinkle Fieldhouse hosted the Indiana state basketball championships  for many years.  The movie “Hoosiers” (which I loved) was loosely based on a little school beating a big high school under insurmountable odds.  Hinkle Fieldhouse was used in the movie because the actual game, played in 1954, occurred in this very same building.  At the time the venue was called Butler Fieldhouse.  In 1966 the name was changed in honor of Tony Hinkle who coached at Butler for 41 years.

 

 

Please take a look at the photos of this beautiful arena.  This winter I hope to make a special trip dedicated to seeing games played in arenas like Hinkle Fieldhouse.  That’s going to be a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum – Indianapolis, Indiana

 

I’ve been here three times.

This was not my first visit to this museum.  I hope it was not my last.  The museum is home to most of the racing machines that were victorious in the Indy 500.  I will tell you that I am much more of a fan of stock car racing than open-wheeled racing.  Nevertheless, seeing these beautiful machines that date back nearly 100 years was impressive.

 

 

I also bought the option of taking a van ride around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway track.  I’ve done that before.  If you haven’t I recommend it.  There was another choice offered this year.  You can “kiss the bricks” like so many winners at IMS have done over the past few years.  I didn’t have time to take this particular tour but would have if given the opportunity.

 

 

Overall, I highly recommend a visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum.  If you can’t get there soon then I recommend you take a look at the more than 100 photos from my visit there.  It will give you the real feeling of being there yourself.  I just hope the realism of seeing these pictures doesn’t ruin a future trip you may make there!

 

 

 

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

 

Yats – Indianapolis, Indiana

I often say I don’t know where I would be without GPS.  I can say with the same fervor that I wouldn’t want to travel without the help of my Yelp! app.

 

 

Yelp! recommends restaurants based upon reviews from users just like you and me.  I can search for any location based up food types, i.e. Mexican, Italian, etc. or meal types, i.e. breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It’s a great program.

 

 

Restaurants garner star ratings from 1-5.  I rarely will go to any restaurant without a 4-star rating or higher.  I love to read the user reviews before I visit a place.

 

 

Today when I searched for restaurants near Butler University and Hinkle Fieldhouse I came up with Yats, a Cajun restaurant.  Since I first started coming to New Orleans in 1972 I have loved Cajun/Creole food.

 

 

After my visit to Yats I can highly recommend the place.  The décor ranges from Creole to a bit of hippiness.  I selected the jambalaya as my entrée.  After seeing other’s choice I might have gone with something else but the jambalaya was still good.  I couldn’t resist a huge piece of peanut butter pie.  It sort of tasted like cheesecake.  All of this cost less than eleven dollars including my soft drink.  I couldn’t eat that inexpensively at Subway and I was getting gourmet food.  If you come to Indy go to Yats.

 

 

NOBLE COUNTY COMMUNITY FAIRGROUNDS – KENDALLVILLE, INDIANA

 

 

From being a racechaser to this?

When I started my interest in racing I went to the races to see the racing.  At first that was at the Peoria Speedway.  Then I branched out to places like Davenport, Sterling, Rockford and Freeport.  I really looked forward to each of those racing trips.

 

 

Later I would travel great distances, mainly by car, to see the ASA stock car shows that featured names like Trickle, Wallace and Martin.  At the same time I was seeing show after show with the World of Outlaws sprint cars with names like Kinser, Swindell and Wolfgang.

 

New seemed better than old.

Somewhere along the line I decided I would rather see a track for the first time rather than a track for the tenth time.  That was good when I was seeing, for the first time, weekly tracks that ran good stock car or open-wheeled shows.

 

 

However, I have now seen racing at nearly every weekly racing program in both the U.S. and Canada.  More and more of the shows I am seeing now are what I generously call “racing novelty” events.  That was the case tonight.

 

 

Times change.

Back in my earlier racing days I NEVER would have attended a show like what I saw tonight.  However, at this stage of my racing career I am a “trackchaser”.  A trackchaser will go to virtually any event where the cars actually move and begin “racing” at the same time.  It’s fun to “count” shows like this but there just isn’t any racing “entertainment” to be found.

 

 

It was hot in Kendallville, Indiana.  There are not many countable trackchasing events on a Monday night.  To top off this unusual program I would be seeing racing on both an oval track, a figure 8 track and even a farm combine demolition derby.

 

 

Rain was in the area.  I have never had a county fair racing event cancelled by rain.  That covers nearly 300 county fairs!  It did rain before I reached my destination but that was it for the night.

 

Truly ‘junk’ cars.

This was small fair with a small crowd in a covered grandstand.  A slim selection (about six) of “junk” cars and trucks competed on a make shift temporary figure 8 track.  Then some of those competitors and a few new ones ran on an oval track.  “Pathetic” would pretty much describe the “action”.  Then three farm combines came out on the overly watered track and banged into each other for a few minutes.

 

 

Folks, this wasn’t Indy and it wasn’t Daytona.  I doubt anybody thought it would be.  There was only one good thing to come out of this evening’s “racing” activity.  It counted as two tracks!  End of story.

 

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

Indiana

 

The Hoosier State

This evening I saw my 77^th and 78th lifetime tracks in the Hoosier state, yes the Hoosier state.  I’ll be back.

 

 

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:  You know you’re from Indiana when you know where all the Yoders live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – New York, NY (JFK) – 2,475 miles

 

 

AIRPORT SHUTTLE

New York, NY (JFK) – New York, NY (LGA) – 12.2 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

New York, NY (LGA) – Cincinnati, OH (CVG) – 585 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #1

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport – trip begins

Proctorville, OH

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport – 368 miles

 

 

AIRPLANE

Cincinnati, OH (CVG) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 264 miles

Chicago, IL (ORD) – Omaha, NE (OMA) – 431 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #2

Eppley Airfield (Omaha) – trip begins

Albion, NE

Eppley Airfield (Omaha) – 278 miles – trip ends

 

 

RENTAL CAR #3

Eppley Airfield (Omaha) – trip begins

Mason City, IA

Minneapolis-St. Paul International – 398 miles – trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

Minneapolis, MN (MSP) – Indianapolis, IN – 503 miles

 

 

RENTAL CAR #4

Indianapolis International Airport (IND) – trip begins

Greensburg, IN

Rochester, IN

Plymouth, IN

East Moline, IL

Indianapolis International Airport (IND) – trip ends (contract closed and re-opened)

 

 

RENTAL CAR #5

Indianapolis International Airport (IND) – trip begins

Kendallville, IN

Hopkins (Cleveland) International Airport (IND) – 398 miles – trip ends

 

 

AIRPLANE

Cleveland, OH (CLE) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 2,050 miles

 

 

 

Total air miles – 6,308 (6 flights)

Total rental car miles – 1,429 (5 cars)

 

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 7,737 miles 

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Lawrence County Fairgrounds – $10

Boone County Fairgrounds – $10

North Iowa Fairgrounds – $10

Decatur County Fairgrounds – $7

Rochester County Fairgrounds – $10

Plymouth Speedway – $12

Quad City Speedway – $12

Noble County Community Fairgrounds – $10

 

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $73

 

 

 

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 – 1,865

 

 

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