Greetings from Budd’s Creek, Maryland
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Potomac Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #442 Reprinted with permission from my Friday, July 21, 2000, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. This report was so old that I had to use my Apple Text Editor app to open it in Microsoft Word. That’s old! For whatever reason (usually not enough time) this trackchasing adventure didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. This was during the 2000 trackchasing season. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (using one of my famous “need one” signs to get a ticket up in French-speaking Montreal, Canada). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org I hope you will take the time to imagine in your mind what it took to make this trip from SoCal and understand the fun I had doing it. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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! FOREWORD Friday, July 21, 2000. Trackchasers, greetings from Budds Creek, Maryland, This evening’s event is being held at the Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Maryland. This is my 442nd different racetrack where I’ve seen racing. Readers should note that Potomac Speedway is not located in Potomac, Maryland. In my haste to run my electronic Rand McNally CD I mistakenly entered Potomac as my destination and not Budds Creek. A last-minute check of my paper map indicated I was about to head in the wrong direction. A quick change of plans got me directed toward Budds Creek. I can’t wait to get to the United Kingdom next week. I’ll be lost the entire time! Nevertheless, I did arrive at the track at 7:48 p.m. just as the National Anthem was about to be played. Today’s program was the first day of a two-day show. The races today would be time trials and heat races for four classes with features for just two classes including the enduro class. The first race of the night was a 20-lap enduro event that was a rained out make up feature from the previous week. The beginning of time trials at 8 p.m followed this. They proceeded to time in about 60 cars (2 laps apiece) for four different divisions. This lasted until 9:20 p.m. Even though the show was accurately advertised I don’t understand a track using this prime time for time trials. Refreshments were marginal with a BBQ sandwich going for $2.75 and a Diet Coke at $1.50. The weather was just right at about 75 degrees but there were tons of non-biting bugs. The track was made of red clay similar to dirt tracks in the South. The front stretch ran downhill and the backstretch ran uphill. The lighting was fair. The announcer was poor. He proceeded to announce virtually every car that timed with “OK race fans….”. The track featured several strings of yellow lights that crossed over the track to signal the yellow flag was out. I first saw this technique employed at the old Reading Fairgrounds track. Overall, the racing gets a 5. There were some good races and I wish I could have seen the 100 lap late model special they spent so much time time trialing for. The facility gets a 5 as well. Nothing too special but they did have plenty of seating. You might have remembrances about this track. If so, please feel free to share your memories in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. 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 That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
