Ogemaw County Fairgrounds

Doing the logistics.

I woke up this morning in Flint, Michigan.  I went to bed in Midland, Michigan.  This is what today looked like.  Today is day eight of my 27-day trackchasing trip.  It’s my longest trip of the year.

I spent the early morning working on the logistics for the next part of this trip.  “Doing the logistics” is one of the most fun parts of trackchasing for me.  It really just involves finding as many options as I possibly can.  Then I piece together all of the best options for a complete plan.  That complete plan will focus on getting the best entertainment value for the time and money needed to make it happen.  The upcoming weather and transportation choices all look good.  That gives me plenty of workable options.

Trackchasing Tourist Attractions….I wouldn’t do this without them.

Today I plan to hit a couple of fun trackchasing tourist attractions.  Both were very cool in their own way.  You’ll find out where those visits were behind the “Attractions” tab.

After the races….

What’s the most amazing thing?

Things that are simple, efficient and productive amaze me. That would include the fax machine, my iPhone’s GPS capability and a few items like that.

However I might be most amazed with McDonald’s. Back in the 50s who would’ve thought a person could drive up to a restaurant’s WINDOW, place their order and within 60 seconds have a double cheeseburger made with just the fixings they wanted, a chocolate sundae and a large Diet Coke for less than four dollars? All prepared in less than 60 seconds!  Folks, the good old days are now!

Chores.  I don’t like ‘em.

Later in the evening I was reduced to doing chores at 1 a.m.  This being a 27-day trip I brought along nine changes of clothing.  This was just the right amount so that I could get by with two washings during the trip.  This seemed like the most efficient way to handle this particular responsibility.

Remote starters installed – $99D

By the way, while driving around Michigan today, I saw a unique sign attached to a telephone poll.  The ad was promoting “remote automobile starters”.  That’s either for bank robbers or for folks who live in a climate that much too cold for humans.

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.

Alfred P. Sloan Museum – Flint, Michigan

Until this morning I had never heard of this museum.

What was there to do today in Flint, Michigan?  I used my iPhone to consult TripAdvisor.com.  They always come through for me.

My first stop was at the Alfred P. Sloan Museum in Flint Michigan.  Alfred Sloan was the long-time president, chairman and CEO of General Motors.  He died in 1966.  One of his most famous quotes was “The business of business is business”.

The Packard display brought me here.

I was intrigued by their special Packard automobile display.  That seemed interesting since I had been to the Packard museum near Dayton, Ohio. The senior admission price was just eight dollars.  Overall, it was a good value.

They had just eight Packards on display.  However, they were absolutely beautiful.   The museum’s primary focus was mainly on the automobile industry.  They had a special focus on the labor strife that has engulfed Michigan during the past 50 years or more.  It’s no secret that management and labor have never gotten along well in most major unionized industries over the years.

As a youngster I worked in the heavy industrial plants of the Caterpillar Tractor Company.  A requirement of my employment was that I be a member of the United Auto Workers (UAW).  I remember the UAW newspaper’s logo, “Stopping man’s inhumanity to man!”

Don’t blame the “Man”.

I do agree that a major weakness of people is that when people have the power they use that power to try to control others.  It’s never a good idea for management or labor to have too much power.  During my lifetime I has also learned that “people are there own worst enemy”.  So many people who haven’t accomplished much blame it on “the man”.  In reality the individual is almost always the person who is responsible for whatever level of accomplishment they achieve.

Why was a major wing of this museum closed?

This wasn’t the best museum but not the worst either. Unfortunately the Buick Museum which was part of the entire museum package was closed today.  Why was this special exhibit closed?  You will NEVER guess.  A motorist somewhat inexplicably drove through a wall of the museum! I read that the Buick museum was probably the highlight of the entire process.  I’ll have to catch it Next time.

The lady selling tickets to the museum and dispensing information was a piece of work. It only goes to prove that it’s hard to get good help!. There was virtually no one in the museum during the hour I spent there. I did not see another adult but there was one school group of 20 to 25 children and their teachers. It was a slow day for the museum.

Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland – Frankenmuth, Michigan

Unlike the Sloan Museum I had seen signs for Bronner’s for years along Michigan’s interstate highway system.

Up until today I guess I was just too busy to stop.  Today was the day for Bronner’s.  Wow!  This ended up being one of my best TTA’s of 2013.

If you’ve never been here you might not want to watch photos and see the video about my visit here.  I don’t want to spoil it for you!  If you like Christmas, and who doesn’t like Christmas, then this is THE place.

Big and Beautiful.

The place is big and it is beautiful.  It’s Christmas at Bronner’s for 361 days every year.  The parking lot can handle more than 1,000 cars and 50 buses.  There are some 800 animated figurines in and around the store.  They get two million visitors each year with the weekend after Thanksgiving being the most popular time to visit.  They get 50,000 people in the store then.

In 1976 movie star John Wayne bought a Santa Claus suit from Bronner’s.  He wore it that year on the Christmas Eve broadcast of the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson!

You got to see this place.

I won’t tell you much more.  Take a look at the pictures if you don’t think it might spoil a future experience at Bronner’s for you.  I’ve got to take Carol there soon….and I will.

Again, don’t miss the pictures!

Ogemaw County Fairgrounds – West Branch, Michigan

The business of county fair is business.

Today’s racing took place in a beautiful old tree-lined fairgrounds a few miles outside of West Branch Michigan.  There were lines to get tickets more than one hundred and fifty people long. This delayed the start of the race by some 30 to 40 minutes beyond the 7 p.m. scheduled start time.  County fairs, nearly everywhere I go, are doing huge business.

Who banks their off-road derby track?

These guys do!  There were about 60 cars on hand in two racing classes featuring six-cylinder and eight-cylinder junk car racers.  The one sixth mile temporary dirt oval was BANKED in the turns. This is most unusual for autocross track to have any banking at a county fair.  In Michigan this type of racing is called off-road derby.  Today the Unique Motorsports sanctioning body promoted it.  Unique always does a fantastic job.

Parking was three dollars; admission was eight dollars to the grandstand. They had a huge grandstand that was filled to capacity. Fans love “crash and bang ‘em up” type racing albeit for just one or a few nights per year at each fairgrounds.

After seeing nearly 1,900 tracks this was a first.

Tonight I saw what I believe to be a first in all of my trackchasing activity. During the first heat there were three rollovers all in separate accidents.  I’ve probably seen something like that before but if I don’t remember it then it’s like it’s never happened before!

I find it amazing how these junk car races can pack a grandstand like they did tonight and do just about everywhere I go all summer.  Most of these places are located outside of big or even medium sized cities.  Folks in the more rural areas really seem to enjoy this kind of entertainment.

They don’t get it.  This is all about drama.

Race promoters of today, in so many cases, just don’t get it.  Fans want to see action.  They want to see crashing and banging.  They need to have an announcer that creates “drama” for the event.

Four and five car heat races with a yellow flag thrown every three laps just don’t cut it anymore.  The only way that business model will work is if the racers race for free and the promoter doesn’t have much in the way of fixed expenses.

Promoters wake up!

At the county fairs the government owns everything.  The promoter comes in for a fee and draws a huge crowd to these events.  They couldn’t get the crowd they draw here every Saturday night but they might be able to do it every month all summer long.  Promoters wake up!

As always don’t miss the pictures of the day’s activities if you’ve never been to Flint, Michigan or a Michigan county fair.

STATE COMPARISONS

Michigan

The Wolverine State

This evening I saw my 92nd lifetime track in the Wolverine state, yes the Wolverine state.  You can bet I’ll be back for some more action in 2013.

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:  Smitten with the mitten.

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

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

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 – 1,885

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