Quad City Speedway

Who drives 300 miles on five minutes notice?……………more in “The Plan”.

600 miles to see three cars race?…………….more in “Race Review”

It’s the people!  It’s the people! ………..details in “The Experience”.

They’ve made a mistake!

Contrary to popular belief my planning does not always go perfectly.  Today I was planning to see a racing event at the Noble County Community Fairgrounds.  Somehow I thought that fairground was in Noble, Indiana.  In point of fact the fairgrounds location was in Kendallville, Indiana.  The city of Noble where the track was NOT located was 119 miles from my hotel in Indianapolis.  Of course, as one might expect, Kendallville (where the track REALLY was) was further away from my hotel at a distance of 164 miles.  However, a difference of 45 miles was not going to ruin my day.

I called the track to confirm tonight’s starting time.  When I made contact with a member of the fair board I was in for a surprise.  I said something like, “I just wanted to confirm the start time for tonight’s figure 8 racing”.  The voice on the other end of the line told me, “We’re not having any racing tonight.  That’s TOMORROW night!”  When I told him I was looking at the fair’s website and it showed the racing was tonight, he simply said, “They’ve made a mistake.  I will get with them to fix it”.  Oh, my.

Could I Google my way out of a pickle?

I was in a pickle now.  It was Sunday at noon.  I was sitting in my Indianapolis hotel room.  All of a sudden I didn’t have a track to visit tonight.  Folks, I do not come out on the road to sit in hotel rooms without a track to see.

I grabbed a chair and started watching the pre-race program for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on TNT.  All the while I was “Googling” like wild trying to find a race that was within driving distance of my hotel.  Since I had already gone through this process a few times over the past several months I wasn’t very confident of a successful outcome.

This would be a long walk for a short slide.

Then I remembered the Quad City Speedway was racing on Sunday nights.  In 2013 they had began a fledgling figure 8 racing program.  Actually the track used to run figure 8 races many years ago.  I had been following the 2013 figure 8 results for this track in the Hawkeye Racing News.  HRN told me they were drawing very small fields of figure 8 cars, just 3-5 from what I had seen.

The Quad City Speedway is located at the Rock Island Fairgrounds in East Moline, Illinois.  They have a very racy little quarter-mile high-banked dirt oval there.  I had not been there in a very long time (1981 and 1983).  I remembered it as a narrow bullring where the crowd sat right on top of the action.

There were a few problems with visiting the Quad City Speedway tonight.  First of all it was 298 miles “up the road” from where I was in Indianapolis.  That meant a 600-mile round-trip drive to see potentially 3-5 figure 8 cars compete.  You’d have to be crazy to do something like that.  I felt qualified to fill that role.

The last time I looked at the track’s results in the paper they didn’t show anything for the figure 8s.  Had they discontinued the class?  I called the promoter to check things out.  He wasn’t 100% sure if any figure 8 cars would show or not.  He would know more in three hours.

Get out of your room….now!

In order to make it to the track I had to leave NOW.  This meant I must drive for three hours, then call the promoter to see if the figure 8 race was happening.  If they weren’t racing I would then turn around and drive back to Indianapolis.  If that happened I would have wasted six hours of my time.

There was one other minor problem with going to East Moline today.  I had planned on going to that location later this summer with Carol.  We were going to tie it into a family reunion.  If I knocked off East Moline’s figure 8 track now that was mess up our trip later on.

Despite these “obstacles” I decided to head on out.  In trackchasing “a bird in the hand is better than two in the bushes’.  That’s true in other things as well.  I would risk driving six hours for nothing.  I was willing to throw Carol “under the bus” for my own immediate personal enjoyment.  Yes, trackchasing is a “dog eat dog” business.

My day of rest was not going to be.

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

I had planned to spend much of the day sleeping in and then watching the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on TV.  Since I was staying in the same Indianapolis hotel for the evening there would be no rush to checkout and get on the road.  I rarely stay in one hotel for more than a single night.  I was really looking forward to a relaxing day in my room.

However, things don’t always work out as planned right?  At 12 noon I embarked on a 298-mile one-way drive.  The original plan had called for “just” a 119-mile one-way drive.  That was a difference of 179 miles…one way.  The round-trip incremental drive would be 358 miles!  Of course, since my planned track was not operating the race in East Moline was my only choice.

Not only am I the “flying” trackchaser I am also the “driving” trackchaser.

Following the races I was looking at a five-hour drive back to Indianapolis.  That would put me into Indy at a bit past 3 a.m.  Now that Ed Esser is no longer trackchasing I clearly drive more than any other trackchaser.  I don’t need “team” drivers to make it happen like those folks on the East coast.  Luckily, I don’t need other people to pay my trackchasing expenses.  I can just motor on down the road doing all of my own driving.  This is true when Carol comes along as well.  I drive and I pay.  However, she makes a great breakfast every day that I’m home!

I must give a “shout out” to Five Hour Energy Drink.  Normally I don’t care much for products like this.  I’ve tried this product a couple of times.  It seems to work great.  I simply don’t get tired using 5-Hour and there doesn’t appear to be any side affects.  At this time I highly recommend the product.

It’s really the people I meet on the trackchasing trail that make this so much fun.

A major portion of my at the track experiences involve meeting people.  One of those folks is Scott Shults.  Scott wears many hats.  I first met him when he was the announcer at the Peoria Speedway.  He was the announcer there for 18 years until the track changed ownership.

Additionally, Scott was the originator of the Peoria Old Timers Racing Hall of Fame.  He was instrumental in getting me inducted into the HoF in 2011.  Scott is a “one man band” keeping this group intact as many of their member’s age and move onto the racetrack that never gets rained out.  If you’re ever in Peoria, Illinois stop by Moonie’s Pub where photos of nearly every driver who ever won a race at the Peoria Speedway are displayed.  I love that place.

I didn’t know until I arrived at the Quad City Speedway that Scott is the announcer up in East Moline as well.  When I arrived I grabbed a seat in the center of the covered grandstand.  As I listened to the announcer I told myself, “This guy really knows what he’s talking about.  He informs and entertains the crowd”.  The announcer and track officials sat in front of the grandstand, near the flag stand, and with their backs to the crowd as they watched the racing action.

I sometimes send my business card up (or down in this case) to the announcer at just about any track I visit.  I’ve had so many people express interest in my hobby that a chat with the track announcer always seems to both educate and entertain the crowd.  It seems fans love a “human interest” story about someone willing and capable to do what I do.

Now this was a great announcer.

It wasn’t until Scott Shults asked me to come down and talk that I KNEW the announcer was Scott Shults!  I hadn’t seen Scott since the Hall of Fame induction more than a year ago.  Soon Scott and I were making up for lost time talking about trackchasing over the robust P.A. system at the QCS.  What makes Scott such a good interviewer?  He asks interesting and short questions.  Then he stops talking and lets the person he’s interviewing answer his questions.  This sounds simple but lots of announcers don’t do it very well.

We talked for several minutes.  Then I went back to my seat.  Several people came up to say hello.  One gentleman had married into the “Thompson” family.  They ran the famous “Thompson Special” Fords driven by John Connolly and others back in the 70s.  He was most interesting to bench race with.

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

Davis Bros. Pizza – East Peoria, Illinois

I’ve been going to Davis Brothers since about 1965.  That’s nearly 50 years ago.  I once remember ordering a pizza under the name of “Carl Yastrzemski”.  Of course Carl was a famous member of the Boston Red Sox.  On that occasion I asked my girlfriend to go inside and get the pizza for us.  I guess she wasn’t as familiar with “Yaz” as I was.  She came out of the restaurant without the pizza because she couldn’t remember/pronounce Yastrzemski.  I guess she failed the test as a sports fan and as a person who could make things happen under duress!

Nevertheless, Davis Bros. is my favorite pizza if for no other reason than nostalgia.  I am loyal to my long-time favorites.  Davis Bros. qualifies on that count.  Carol even orders Davis Bros. pizza sent to San Clemente when I am in need of a special gift.  That’s a special treat.

$1,000 to win 4-cylinder feature event.

Quad Cities Speedway – East Moline, Illinois

I came hear because of the “oath”.

The Quad Cities Speedway is a racy little high-banked quarter-mile dirt oval.  If I lived nearby and wasn’t a trackchaser I would come hear as often as I could.  Alas, I am a trackchaser.  I have taken the “trackchasing oath”.  What is that “oath”?  I will pass up good racing just about any where so I can see a new track that might have good race but more times than not….won’t!

Would a golf tournament cancel the races?

I was lucky to see a race tonight.  Why?  Golf.  Yes, golf!  Originally, the track was going to be “dark” on this Sunday night.  The “John Deere Golf Classic” was being held this week in the Quad Cities.  This is a PGA tour event.  When the tournament is in town they use the Rock Island Fairgrounds aka Quad City Speedway’s parking lot.  From the fairgrounds they shuttle fans by bus to the golf tournament.

When I pulled into the parking lot I saw that nearly every car was a Lexus or BMW.  That seems more than strange for a quarter-mile dirt track.  However, upon reflection those brands are the cars of choice for the golfing set.  For whatever reason the Quad City Speedway management decided to race tonight even though the golf fans were using most of their parking lot.

This was not a ‘normal’ night of racing at QCS.

The major divisions that normally run at QCS, meaning the late models and modifieds, were off tonight.  In their place were some lower level stock cars, mini-sprints and 4-cylinders.  As a matter of fact, the 4-cylinders were having a $1,000 to win race.

Here I had not been to this track in thirty years and they weren’t having their two main classes.  Oh well my main reason for being here was to see figure 8 racing.  Yes, I am now a trackchaser and not a racechaser.

The racing is fast and close at the track.  That’s what fans want to see.  They want to see a little beating and banging and passing.  The Quad City Speedway has all of that and more.

There were close races in every division.  The 20+ 4-cylinder class feature event was excellent.  They had four abreast racing much of the time and three abreast action took place on nearly every circuit.  You do NOT need to have expensive cars racing to give fans some good entertainment.  A division with a good field of cars that race side by side (without a lot of caution flags) and pass each other will do just fine.

300 miles = 3 cars.

I had driven nearly 300 miles on five minutes notice to get to this track.  I was hear to see figure 8 racing.  Would they race the figure 8 in the middle of the program?  If they did I could get back to Indianapolis a couple of hours quicker.  However, that was not part of the plan.

Tonight’s figure 8 race was the LAST race on the card.  Even though the program had begun at 6 p.m. it was closed to 10 p.m. when the figure 8 race began.  Was the figure 8 race a classic barnburner with lots of cars and racing action?  No it was not.

In point of fact, there were just three cars competing.  I had driven (or would drive) 596 miles to see three cars race.  Their race took less than ten minutes.  My drive to see them took ten HOURS.  Folks, if you have a hobby of any kind I hope you have as much passion for it as I do my hobby.  If you do, you will never get tired doing what you’re doing.

When the three-car figure 8 race took the checkered flag the crowd headed to the exits.  The golf tournament had ended a long time ago.  There were no more Lexus or BMW automobiles in the parking lot.  I headed to the nearest convenience store to get a bottle of 5-Hour Energy Drink.  I had a long drive ahead of me and wouldn’t be getting back until past 3 a.m.

STATE COMPARISONS

Illinois

The Prairie State

This evening I saw my 84th lifetime track in the Prairie state, yes the Prairie 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

Illinois sayings:  Illinois: the “s” is silent

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

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

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 – 1,863

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