Greetings from Pala, California
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Pala Raceway – Amateur Track
Dirt road course
Lifetime Track #2,303
THE EVENT My trackchasing hobby takes me all over the world. Each year I will visit 25-30 American states and several foreign countries. Long ago I moved into the #1 trackchasing position in both the number of different racetracks seen as well as the number of countries where I’ve seen racing. During my media interviews and discussions with friends and fans they often ask, “When did you start trackchasing?” Yes, that’s a question I get frequently. I never know how to answer it. I started out as a “racechaser”. I went to the very best tracks where my favorite drivers were racing. Somewhere along the line I decided I liked seeing a race at a track for the FIRST time rather than the TENTH time. As I went along I learned I liked the CHASE as much or more than the RACE. By the time I started trackchasing more than racechasing I was hundreds of tracks behind the leading trackchasers most of whom started in their 20s. Here’s a list of the number of tracks I had seen by a certain age: Age 5 – 1 track Age 30 – 71 tracks Age 40 – 180 tracks Age 50 – 404 tracks Age 60 – 1,517 tracks Age 68 (today – still a kid) – 2,303 tracks Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the 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! ON THE WAY TO THE RACES FOREWORD This week was going to be a big week for Carol and me. We’ve got our grandkids visiting from Texas. They’re on spring break. They will arrive into San Clemente tomorrow. Once they get here it will be beach time, amusement parks and all the rest of the things required to entertain two eight-year-olds. Just two days ago we had another fun auto racing related activity. We went up toward Los Angeles to see a TV taping of the show “Undeniable”. It’s a sports celebrity interview program hosted by Joe Buck. You may know Mr. Buck as the lead announcer for Fox TV’s Super Bowl production as well as all of the other sports he covers including baseball and World Series baseball. For our show Joe Buck was interviewing NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon has been my most favorite NASCAR driver since he came on the seen. I first saw Jeff race in an All-Star Sprint Car race at the East Bay Raceway in Florida…..when Jeff was 13 years old! Today we had V.I.P. seats. Don’t miss the photo album from the Pala Raceway. You’ll see shots from the TV taping. The TV program itself is limited to one hour. However, we were treated to nearly four hours of conversation between one of the best TV sports interviewers and a soon to be NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. It was quite the treat to hear Jeff tell his life story. Then a couple of day later we had a free day before the grand kids hit town. Yes, Sunday, March 12, 2017 was available to entertain ourselves. That entertainment will take the form of a visit to the Pala Raceway in Pala, California. A group called the “Dirt Series” puts on some very entertaining desert off-road racing all over Southern California. Today we’ll see quads, motorcycles and the trackchasing countable UTV racers compete on a dirt road course. The average distance I travel to visit one track is 1,500-2000 miles from my home in San Clemente, California. Yes, you read that right. I travel nearly 2,000 miles to see most of the tracks I visit. I guess there’s a reason that virtually every trackchaser I’ve ever heard about is located in the eastern part of United States. Why? Because that’s where all the racetracks are! It is not very often that I get a chance to see a racetrack that is close to my home. However, the Pala Raceway was a gigantic exception. The track is located on an Indian reservation. Of course the reservation has its own casino. Why wouldn’t it right? I got this from Wikipedia regarding the town of Pala and the Pala Indian Reservation. The Pala Indian Reservation is located in the middle San Luis Rey River Valley in northern San Diego County, California, east of the community of Fallbrook. Its members, the federally recognized tribe of the Pala Band of Luiseño Mission Indians, are descended from both Luiseño and Cupeño peoples, who have shared territory since 1901. A total of five other federally recognized tribes of Luiseño are located in southern California. The reservation has a land area of 52.163 km² (20.140 sq mi) and reported an official resident population of 1,573 persons in the 2000 census, about 44 percent of whom were of solely Native American heritage. Traditionally a modest and sometimes poor tribe, since the late 20th century, the Pala Band has developed a large, successful casino and resort hotel: Pala Casino Resort and Spa. The tribe uses proceeds from the gaming and hospitality enterprises to fund social services and education for members, and infrastructure improvements to the reservation. The Pala branch also cultivates an avocado grove on the southern part of the reservation. Acadacos are planted on 90 acres of land, which are then packed and sold. The grove provides jobs to over 40 individuals. Outcomes of the Gaming Profits 24-hour on-site ambulance Probably the best thing about the track’s geographical location was it was only 46 miles first south and then east from my hometown of San Clemente. I would have to check but it might be the closest racetrack to San Clemente of any I know about. The Barona Raceway, also located on an Indian reservation might give it a run for its money. Southern California is a very populated area. In 2010 the population of So Cal was 22.6 million people. That might seem to be a big crowd. However, if you know how to work things living in Southern California can be a very pleasurable experience. One can never forget this. There’s a reason so many people want to live here. It’s amazing how quickly, give the population, I can get from my hometown of San Clemente California into a very rural and isolated location. In reality in only about 10 miles I can be in a place where you can look in any direction and you will not see a single building of any kind. I would classify that as pretty isolated. THE RACING Pala Raceway – Pala, California There are several things I like about watching a Dirt Series sanctioned racing event. Today’s admission price was just $10 per person. That’s reasonable. Another good thing about their series is that they start their shows on time. I find that to be important. No one likes to waste their time especially when they’ve been told that an entertainment program will begin at a certain time. Dirt Series keeps things simple. They hand out a small piece of paper only about 2 inches wide and maybe six or 8 inches long. It’s a most valuable piece of paper. It explains the number of entries by class as well as the racing order for the day. Today there would be 12 racing events. Several of these events would have more than one class competing at the same time. All of the entries in one individual class start the race at the same time. Most of the classes take their own green flag. The average number of racers in one class was probably five or six today. The “U1 RZR 170 SK BEG” class brought twenty racers! We were lucky. The very first race of the day included two different classes of UTVs (U8 Unlimited and U10 Pro Pro 1000. After that race was finished we could have left at that point and been able to count the track. Nevertheless, we stayed for eight of the twelve scheduled races. This allowed us to see every class that was racing UTVs as well as the exciting quads and motorcycles racers. We have been at the track for about 2 1/2 hours when we decided to head out for lunch. The weather was Southern California gorgeous especially for the desert. It was mostly blue skies. Temperatures were in the low 80s. This came on a weekend when the East Coast was getting a major snowstorm with temperatures in the 10s and 20s. We are very fortunate to live in Southern California. There was no PA system today. I didn’t see any formal concessions being sold for food or drink. Toilets were of the personal porta potty variety. We were seeing racing at the Pala Raceway on the “amateur track”. That is an important note of consideration. The Dirt Series is known for racing at one track at a particular raceway and then changing the track they run on during their next visit. I’m not really sure how many tracks the Pala Raceway has. I do know that a group of motorcycle riders were doing their thing on a second track today. I think that was the “main” track. There were several significant crashes during the day. The accidents took place with the quads mainly. Some riders took some pretty hard tumbles but they all walked away albeit sorely. Another good thing about the Dirt Series is that they come up with new venues compared to where they have raced in previous years. That adds a new variety of trackchasing opportunities for me…..all pretty close to home. AFTER THE RACES Overall we had a very good day of trackchasing at the Pala Raceway. They started the races on time. They ran one race after another without any delays whatsoever. We were in and out of there in good time. We didn’t have to drive very far to get there. That was all very good. We celebrated with a great Mexican restaurant located midway on the drive back to San Clemente. I am a big user of technology. I am a big user of iPhone apps. It’s pretty cool when are be driving down the road and decide that you want to eat, as an example, Mexican food. You simply punch in a couple of prompts. All the sudden you are being told what people actually think about the restaurants nearby. We soon found out that 183 reviewers gave the Tekila Cocina Mexicana restaurant in Bonsall a 4.5 rating on a five-point scale. That’s like asking a lot of local people and fellow travelers, that you have never met, what they think the best Mexican restaurant is in the area. Was this place be as good as advertised? Yes it was. After a warm day in the desert sun we started with tequila in the form of margaritas. Then we had chips and salsa, quesadillas, tortilla and albondigas soup and a very relaxing time following our trackchasing conquest. Carol and I have now seen nearly 2,900 tracks together. That ranks us as the World’s #1 Trackchasing couple. We are pretty proud of that fact. From the Mexican restaurant it was a short ride home. Now for the next 10 days we will be entertaining those precious eight-year-old grandbabies Astrid and Mitch. Can’t wait for that! California The Golden state This afternoon I saw my 156th lifetime track in the Golden state, yes the Golden state. I hold the #1 trackchasing spot in California. I’ve seen more tracks in California than any other state. That stands to reason somewhat. As of 2017 we’ve lived in California, on two occasions, for about 38 years. 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 California sayings: Claimin‘ it What you say when someone is bragging. (Claim also means to state something is true, usually without evidence.) For example, if someone’s talking about how cool they are because they can do a backflip on a snowboard, you can say while rolling your eyes, “Claimin’ it,” or “he claims so hard.” QUICK 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 565 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 20 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results 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. A trackchasing day from the desert of California 
