Greetings from Vernon, Vermont
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Puffer’s Pond Ice oval Lifetime Track #1,615 . . Puffer’s Pond Ice figure 8 (first ever recorded in history of trackchasing) Lifetime Track #1,615 Reprinted with permission from my Sunday, January 9, 2011 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. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) it 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. 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. Tony, Spike, Mark, Randy, Allan I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis. (above with several of my U.K. buddies) 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. Well, you made it this far. You might as well pour yourself a cold one and take your Trackchasing 101 class. When you finish you’ll have your trackchasing diploma and can then teach your friends about the hobby. Let’s get started. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Let’s do this by the numbers. 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 you’ll get three pieces of entertainment. First, my Trackchaser Report will be an in-depth essay on how the trip went from A-Z. Yes, I’ll cover the racing aspect of things. But you will also hear about what it took to pull off the trip, the special stops that made the trip fun and the obstacles that needed to be overcome. Secondly, you’ll get a YouTube video of the racing action I saw. These are normally short 3-6 minutes highlights of the racing. My YouTube channel is named, “RANLAY”. I have nearly 2,000 subscribers to my channel. Currently, I have posted more than 1,300 videos and my channel has more than 1.2 million views! Finally, I’ll share a captioned photo album using a photo-sharing program called SmugMug. Normally, there will be anywhere from 50-200 photos from each trip I take. Sometimes more! My website is linked to hundreds of thousands of photos from all of the trips I have taken. 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. A common question I get about my hobby is, “Why?”. I’m a curious fellow. I’m an adventuresome fellow. My hobby is about seeing and experiencing the things that most folks walk right past. Below is a link to a special video. It shows a small town in Missouri that I visited on one of my trips. In this video, I’ll share with you exactly what I mean. This video might just make your day. Trackchasing….this is exactly why I do it 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 Sunday, January 9, 2011. DAYS 4-6 – “EVERY YEAR I HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE” TRACKCHASING TOUR TODAY’S HEADLINES This trip was loaded with firsts …………..details in “The Objective”. Today’s racing action was outstanding……………..more in “Race Review”. I met Vermont’s finest people today …………..details in “The People”. GREETINGS FROM VERNON, VERMONT THE OBJECTIVE AND THE STRATEGY, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Objective and the Strategy There were so many ‘firsts’ with today’s visit. In this section of each Trackchaser Report, I will explain my objective (what am I trying to do) and my strategy (how am I going to do it). THE OBJECTIVE My objective today was to add an oval ice track to my resume in Vermont. This would be significant for several reasons. First, this would be the first-ever ice racing track seen in the state of Vermont by ANYBODY in the trackchasing hobby. Secondly, Vermont would become my 14th state/Canadian province or country where I have seen ice racing. Thirdly, it would move me up a couple of places in the lifetime Vermont NGD standings. Let’s analyze these one at a time. First-ever Vermont ice racing track to be seen. Folks, I don’t know if you realize this but those big East coast trackchasing teams spend nearly every waking minute researching new track opportunities. If two carnival workers are planning on racing their bumper cars (but not limited to two) after work, the “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers” aka “DECTs” will be on that like #$$^# on @#$& if you know what I mean. That is why I just about fainted when I discovered there was, and has been, ice racing in Vermont for a few years now. I was going to be the very first trackchaser to see ice racing in Vermont. I can imagine the red faces at the next staff meeting of the DECTs. Nevertheless, I will share all I know via this report and my videos so these chasers won’t be shut out forever in the Green Mountain state. It’s the right thing to do. Editor’s note: Don’t believe that the Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers watch my every move like a hawk? Trackchasing results have been reported as far back as the 60s. During those 50+ years a trackchaser never ever graced the frozen waters of Vermont to watch an ice race. Then only a month after I reported doing such a thing one of the DECTs showed up. Do I have to plan their entire year’s trackchasing calendar? Folks, I’m not smart enough to make these things up! Today would be my 14th state, Canadian province or country where I’ve seen ice racing. By way of comparison the next highest-ranked trackchaser, in this unique ice racing category, has seen ice racing in just six states/Canadian provinces/countries. Here is where I have seen ice racing. Don’t be surprised if I add one more state/province or country to this list before the ice melts in 2011. Alberta, Canada Andorra British Columbia, Canada Finland Maine Manitoba, Canada Michigan Minnesota New Hampshire New York Ontario, Canada Quebec, Canada Vermont Wisconsin Ice track standings. Little did I know that my two additional ice tracks would improve my “ice track” ranking by one. I have now seen 32 ice tracks. That moves me into fifth place in the lifetime ice track standings. Will White has been trackchasing in first Australia and now New Zealand this winter. While he was enjoying the warmth of “down under” I snuck past his ice track total of thirty-one. Just ahead of my 32 ice tracks sits Mike Knappenberger with 33 and Jack Erdmann with 35. Guy Smith leads all trackchasers with 54 ice tracks. Lifetime National Geographic Diversity points. Adding a track in Vermont would move me up from seventh place to fifth in the Vermont trackchasing standings. That was good. However, more importantly, this track cemented my staying in the state’s top ten. THE STRATEGY I would be meeting up with a brand new contact for ice racing in Vermont. I came here this weekend on his personal invitation. You will hear much more about this contact and several others in the “People” section of this report. The Trip Two nights in one place is a luxury. Before Vernon, Vermont Although this trackchasing day was perfect both on and at the track, my travel plan left something to be desired. I had to get up at 3:45 a.m. Eastern time (12:45 a.m. San Clemente time) this morning. Then I drove for two hours from Richmond, Virginia to catch a flight from Washington, D.C. to Hartford, Connecticut. Once in Hartford I rented another car and drove about an hour and a half to Vernon, Vermont. Is secession on the horizon? When doing research on Vernon, Vermont I came across some interesting information via Wikipedia. The only nuclear power plant in all of Vermont is in Vernon. It appears there will be a reevaluation of the tax status of this plant by Vermont legislators in 2012. If the plant has it’s taxes increased, opponents to this idea are threatening secession from Vermont to either Massachusetts or New Hampshire! The story went on to say that Vernon was part of New Hampshire in days gone by so there was a precedence of sorts for this being allowed. If trackchasers come here next year they might be seeing New Hampshire ice racing!! After Vernon, Vermont I can’t go back to California from this trip until I stop in Hawaii. If I told you why I have to do that I would, in all likelihood, have to kill you. That doesn’t sound like a good idea for either of us. Just know this. If I don’t stop in Hawaii to “take care of some business” I would never be able to trackchase on my own again. You figure it out. Celebrity sighting. The last time I flew out of the Bradley International Airport in Hartford, I saw former Indiana basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster Bobby Knight. With ESPN’s headquarters being in Bristol, Connecticut I suspect their broadcasters use the airport a good deal. Today as I boarded the National Rental Car shuttle bus to ride back to the airport, I noticed a familiar figure. Dressed in a business suit was former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. He looked as “no nonsense” today as he usually does. He looked much shorter than I expected (although Google says he is my height at 6’3”). The shuttle bus driver asked Ditka what he thought of the possibility of an NFL player’s strike. Mr. Ditka was short and concise. “They (the players) are stupid…….and greedy”! The road from Vernon to Honolulu is a long one. All this week I searched for ways to get from Vernon, Vermont to Honolulu, Hawaii. It truly is about as difficult as it sounds. My best idea was to drive back to Hartford and catch a flight to Minneapolis on Sunday night. Then I would board a nine-hour flight from the Twin Cities to Honolulu on Monday. However, the flight to Hawaii from Minnesota went from about evenly booked to “minus 30” while I was a the track in Vermont today. I would not be flying from Minneapolis to Honolulu. Once I got back to the Hartford airport, after today’s races, I busily went to work trying to come up with a new plan. Flying standby on Sunday night is about the worst time of the week to find a seat. The best I could do was board a flight from Hartford back to Washington, D.C. where I had started the day. Editor’s note: The roads were clear when I traveled to and from Hartford today. However, less than 72 hours later Hartford received 29 inches of snow. This was Hartford’s biggest one-day snowfall ever. Once I got to Washington, D.C. I might be able to get a late-night flight to either San Francisco or Los Angeles. If I couldn’t get on either of those flights I would be sleeping in the Dulles International Airport. I’ve done that before at Dulles. Yes, trackchasing comes with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. That’s what I love about this hobby. It turned out that I did make a flight back to Los Angeles. It was the last one of the night. Check out this travel itinerary. On Sunday morning I got up at 3:45 a.m. Eastern time. Then I landed in Los Angeles at 3:40 a.m. Eastern time on Monday morning. By the time I got to my LAX hotel it was 5 a.m. Eastern time. Folks that’s a 24 hour, 15 minute day! I reached my hotel in Los Angeles at about 2 a.m. Pacific Time. I was up bright and early just five hours later. I dropped off all of my “ice racing” clothes where my car was parked at the Los Angeles International Airport. I took just enough to make my less than 24-hour stay in Honolulu a comfortable one. I would have time to have dinner with son Jim in Hawaii. I would also have just enough time to “take care of some private business” in Honolulu. With that chore behind me I could relax for the next eight years knowing I can remain on the trackchasing trail. 11,000 miles and I’m cutting back. From there it was another five-hour flight back to Los Angeles. My first trip of the 2011 season would cover more than 11,000 miles…..and I didn’t even leave the country! The People Meeting the people is the very best part of this hobby. It’s very satisfying to add new tracks to my world-leading list. However, there is something that is far more satisfying. That’s meeting the people who run our nation’s tracks. It’s very impressive to come in contact with people I’ve never met (and oftentimes never DO meet) who care enough to direct a trackchaser who is a long way from home. It’s the “caring” that impresses me. Someone once said it’s not how you deal with your boss and your friends that’s important. It’s how you deal with the waitress and bellman that matters most. In these relationships I’m the bellman to them and these folks treat me very well indeed. I’ve met so many nice people around the world while trackchasing that I long ago eliminated the statement “these are the nicest people I’ve ever met”. What I’ve replaced that category with is the “finest people” trackchasing category. There is no higher compliment I can give anyone. Today, I met some of the very finest people! That includes Dickie, his fiancé of 19 years, Linda and Dickie’s brother Pat. They were the ringleaders among an outstanding bunch of men and women that represent Vermont’s ice racing brigade. I can’t really tell you how I discovered these guys. I can’t really tell you how I discovered ice racing in Vermont. The method I used is proprietary. Trackchasing is a very competitive business and in order to remain on top I can’t share everything I do. I don’t think my fellow competitors want a handout from me anyway. I was invited to the track by the ‘Godfather’ of Vermont ice racing. Nevertheless, let’s just say I “came in contact” with “Dickie”. He pretty much runs Vermont ice racing. He and I had several conversations over the phone. Based upon the weather in Vermont I figured it might be better to come up here in February. However, on Thursday night Dickie phoned me. “Why not come up this weekend, we’re racing Sunday” he told me. Truth be told I was planning to see an ice-racing event in New York for today with Minnesota as a backup. However, when the head of Vermont ice racing gives you a personal phone call and extends an invitation it’s hard to say no. I told Dickie I was coming to Vermont! Once I landed in Hartford, Connecticut this morning I checked my phone’s voicemail. I had a message from Dickie. He just wanted to make sure I had made it and asked me to call so he could give me last minute directions. How’s that for caring! The 80-mile drive up to Vermont went quickly. I’m a big fan of New England. It’s especially scenic in the winter with a nice layer of freshly fallen snow. As Dickie had predicted I would see the racers doing their thing on Puffer’s Pond before I reached his location. Soon I was meeting Dickie for the first time in person. Dickie is a racer. In the summer he races at the nearby Monadnock Speedway in New Hampshire. However, he’s on the mend now first from recent rotator cuff surgery and most recently from a fall on the ice that bruised some ribs among other things. I asked Dickie if he ever imagined I would visit his track from California after the first time we talked on the phone. His answer was brief and to the point, “No!”. We both laughed. Maybe I had surprised him. I do show up in some faraway places. I would also get to meet Dickie’s better half. I would also meet Dickie’s fiancée Linda. She’s the “computer person” of the family. She had already checked me out via my website at www.randylewis.org. Linda was nice enough to keep me posted on the publicity the track has received in the past. While I was at the track today, she rushed home to get me photos from the local newspaper, the Brattleboro Reformer. The paper featured the track on the front page back in 2007. She also had some great photos of a pickup truck that fell through the ice a few years ago! Linda was as caring about my comfort as Dickie and the rest of the group was. My car owner today trusted me with his ice racer within seconds of our having met. I also met Pat, Dickie’s brother. Of course, we had never met before. That wasn’t a roadblock. Within 30 seconds of meeting me, Pat was giving me the keys to his #57 ice racer so I could take a few laps. In no time I was racing with the guys on the ice-racing oval of Puffer’s Pond. Pat, thank you very much that was an absolute blast. There were lots of other fine folks too. I also got to meet Mike who owns the land where the track resides. Bruce and Emily were kind enough to allow me to ride along on several of the actual races and to take pictures of my driving. Finally, I met several of the drivers (I didn’t get everyone’s name) who were all fantastic. What a nice group of people! All I can say is don’t miss the video. It’s got to be the best racing action I’ve ever recorded. Also, if you go to enough ice races you might see something like this. What a way to say good-bye to a perfectly good Lincoln Town Car. RACE REVIEW PUFFER’S POND (OVAL & FIGURE 8) – VERNON, VERMONT Today they had an orange green flag! Today was the first day of the 2011 ice-racing season for the boys and girls who race on Puffer’s Pond. From what I could gather they’ve been racing here for more than five years. The track sits just off of Route 142 in Vernon, Vermont. I was told they’ve had as many as 18 racers competing. Today they had about half that many. The races are somewhat informal. The drivers line up and they throw the green flag. Actually the flag is “fluorescent orange”. After seeing more than 1,600 tracks, I can’t ever recall seeing a flag like that to start the races. At nearly every track I visit there is SOMETHING that I have never seen before. How can that be? I did run into an interesting flagging system in Montana last summer. The flags had letters on them. I would later learn that this was because some of the drivers were color-blind! As an example, the yellow flag had a huge “Y” on it. Sooner or later, I will have seen it all……but not yet. These racers just kept racing and racing. I would estimate they ran about 15 events today, maybe more, after I arrived. I have no idea how many races were run before I got there. Each race was for 5-6 laps over a very large oval. The track length was easily one-half mile. The temperature was mild in the high 20s. However, a strong wind of 15-20 M.P.H. made things brisk for those standing outside. Luckily, I was inside a car most of the time. I probably rode in 5-6 of the individual races in the racecar’s front passenger seat. We don’t need no stinkin’ helmets. About half of today’s racecars did not have roll cages or any other racing safety gear. They did have standard passenger seat belts and shoulder harnesses. Somewhat incredibly, the drivers or their passengers do not wear helmets. I’ve seen that at only two other tracks, both ice racing venues in Minnesota. I arrived at about 11:30 a.m. They were racing when I got there. The entire program was finished by 1:30 p.m. I was told that fans had lined up all along Route 142 to watch these races in the past. Today, there wasn’t any crowd of spectators at all…..just us racers. The hot set-up required studded tires. These ice racers run studded tires. Dickie and company have a huge garage where the racers can “stud” their tires in a warm environment indoors. Inside those garage bays were a few enduro racecars being built for summer racing action in nearby New Hampshire. By the end of the day, the studded tires had really eaten up the ice. As I was leaving I saw Pat out plowing the track to make it good for the next race. This ice racing prep requires a lot more than meets the eye. I took some incredible video while riding inside the #57 racecar during actual races. You won’t want to miss this. It’s probably the best racing video I’ve ever taken. You can see it by visiting the home page of my website at www.randylewis.org. I had the biggest grin of anyone at the track today. After first driving the track and then riding along in actual races I don’t think anyone could have wiped the huge grin off my face. I was having a GREAT trackchasing day. Little did I know that it was going to get better. Surprise! When Dickie announced they were plowing the track’s infield for a figure 8 race today I couldn’t believe my ears. I had NO IDEA they ran figure 8 races here. This would end up being another trackchasing “first”. No one in the history of this hobby had ever seen ice racing in Vermont until today. No one in the history of this hobby has ever seen figure 8 racing on ice. Nobody……….ever!! Trackchasing ethics are the most important. I am very much against a trackchaser DIRECTLY influencing a promoter to run a “countable track”. I know this has been done in the past by some of those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers”. Some of those fellas have even paid the track to run a countable track format that was not part of the program. How lame is that? Those boys should be ashamed of themselves. However, if someone mentions the idea of racing on another track first, I will support it heartily. I was corresponding with a track promoter from California the other day where I’ve already seen oval racing. He was curious if I would ever be back to his track. I told him that when a figure 8 race or road course race was on the schedule I would be there. I see this as a HUGE difference from asking and/or paying a track operator to add another track. I was pleased to learn that figure 8 racing has been a part of the Vernon ice-racing program for at least two years. Dickie plowed that very first figure 8 track on the ice. It was his idea. This was one fast, and possibly dangerous figure 8 track. Today’s oval was at least ½-mile in length. For ice racing courses, that is big. Most are half that size. They plowed today’s figure 8 “X” from one oval turn to the next diagonally. I would estimate the figure 8 straights were 100-200 yards long. Contrast to some of the county fair figure 8 races I’ve seen where the length of the straights might be 20-30 yards. For the figure 8 race, six cars took to the ice for five racing laps. I’m guessing the cars crossed the “X” at speeds in the neighborhood of 50-70 M.P.H. They were flying! It didn’t take long for the “action” to pick up at the “X” of the figure 8 track. I was standing some 50 yards from where the track “crossed itself”. I can tell you this. Those drivers were crazy! They never lifted for a second. Watch the video. You will see cars coming within inches of each other at high speeds without regard to life or limb. It was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t prevent myself from uttering an expletive or two while filming the action. One of the drivers told me there were two flips last year in figure 8 races. Fellas, please be careful with this. I never want to hear of anyone getting hurt and at these speeds, somebody could be seriously injured. It was time to head for the barn. The figure 8 race was the last of the day. Soon everyone was heading for the warmth of the garage or their homes. Most of the drivers keep their cars right on the ice racing property. Dickie told me they often celebrate at the end of the day by having pizza for everyone and then doing some “bench racing”. This was a very special trackchasing day. This was quite a day. I had expected something special by getting to see ice racing in Vermont for the first time. My expectations were surpassed by about 1,000% when I got to drive and then ride shotgun in actual races. The figure 8 event was the cherry on top of this icee! STATE COMPARISONS Vermont This afternoon I saw my sixth and seventh-lifetime tracks in the Green Mountain state, yes the Green Mountain state. This allowed me to jump from seventh place in the Vermont state trackchasing standings to a fourth-place tie with P.J. Hollebrand. I trail the nine tracks of both Eleanor and Paul Weidman as well as the state leader Guy Smith who has seen 11 tracks up here. Who would have thought a Californian would rank fourth in Vermont! Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features! My review of the Apple iPhone trackchasing “app” Track Guide powered by the National Speedway Directory. What is the current trackchasing “proposal” being voted on this month? Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Vermont sayings: Yep! TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Washington, D.C. (IAD) – 2,285 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Dulles International Airport – trip begins Williamston, NC – 279.9 miles Richmond, VA – 607 miles Dulles International Airport – 709 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Hartford, CT (BDL) – 324 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Hartford International Airport – trip begins Vernon, VT – 78 miles Hartford International Airport – 163 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE Hartford, CT (BDL) – Washington, D.C. (IAD) – 324 miles Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 2,285 miles San Francisco, CA (SFO) – Honolulu, HI (HNL) – 2,550 miles Honolulu, HI (HNL) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 2,550 miles Total Air miles – 10,318 (6 flights) Total Rental Car miles – 872 (2 cars) Total miles traveled on this trip – 11,190 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Senator Bob Martin Eastern Agricultural Center – $25 Richmond Coliseum – $11 ($2 senior discount savings) Puffer’s Pond – No charge Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $36 COMPARISONS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total. 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. High-speed ice racing….with no helmets! . . A day of ice racing in beautiful New England 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. Puffer’s Pond….the first ever-recorded ice racing in Vermont
