Greetings from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
.
.
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Road America Asphalt road course short track Lifetime Track #2,636 THE EVENT Editor’s note: I first went to Road America back in the late 60s. My college fraternity was having a weekend camping outing of “brotherhood” which included the Trans-AM races at RA. Now some 50 years later I was returning! As you will come to find out this would be a special visit. I would be seeing racing at my 100th different track in the Badger State. I AM A TRACKCHASER. Are you new to the hobby of trackchasing? If so, let me give you just a little bit of background. Before I go any further I will tell you that a lot of people get pretty enthused about what I’ve been doing with trackchasing. I will offer this warning. If you try it yourself it could become addictive. My name is Randy Lewis (above with Johnny Landers promoter extraordinaire at the Boss Dirt Track Speedway out in Oklahoma). 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. Trackchasing is a “collecting” hobby. Trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. It’s really not all that much different than when you were a kid and you collected stamps or beer cans or bottle caps. Trackchasing is all about visiting new auto racing tracks for the very first time. Believe it or not, trackchasing has “rules“ as to what kind of racetrack and race car and race driver count toward a chaser’s lifetime totals and which ones would not. In a nutshell, a trackchaser can count a track where adult drivers race cars or trucks at ovals, road courses and figure 8 tracks. That covers 98% of the rules. In addition to the racing part of trackchasing for me, I really enjoy seeing the local sights and sounds of whatever area I am visiting. I called these “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. If you go to my website at www.randylewis.org and click on the Trackchasing Tourist Attractions tab you’ll see where I’ve been all over the world. Here’s a link to that tab. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions I also really enjoy the logistical part of the hobby. I have been retired for nearly 20 years. During that time I have not earned a single dime of work income. That means I have to manage my money pretty closely enable in order to be able to do what I do. Logistically I have to handle seven different categories of trackchasing expenses. Those expenses include airplanes, rental cars, hotels, airport parking, gasoline, food and race tickets. As an example, you can just imagine what traveling from Southern California out to the Midwest for four days of racing would cost. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles. I’ll stay in hotels 150-200 nights a year, rent 50-75 rental cars every year and buy a full tank of fuel about 100 days a year just for trackchasing. After each and every event that I attend I post a YouTube video, a SmugMug photo album and a very detailed Trackchaser Report about the experience. My stories are not just about what happened at the track but about my visit to the area and what exactly it took to make the trip happen. That’s where the racing, the touring and the logistical challenges come from. I told you that trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. Trackchasing is ultra-competitive as well. Lots of people don’t recognize that when they are initially exposed to this hobby. Trackchasing has had all of the political drama, cheating, accusing people of cheating and other aspects of poor personal behavior that any other competitive activity might have. This is why I am NOT a member of any organized trackchasing group. The management of these groups has been so poor over the years these groups are not something I want to be associated with whatsoever. As this is written I have seen racing in 85 different countries at more than 2,650 racetracks. During all this time I have never tried to benefit financially from my hobby. This is despite being interviewed by hundreds of track announcers, newspaper reporters and radio and TV outlets as well as doing a TV pilot. I’m a volunteer. I do this 100% for the fun of it. Because I have seen racing in 85 countries at this point I am considered the World’s #1 Trackchaser. That’s good enough for me. Now I encourage you to drop down a few spaces and read about today’s trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on at this track just think about the idea that I’ve done this more than 2,600 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. Yes, 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 Saturday, August 8, 2020. If you have read my Trackchaser Reports for very long you know that I have had some incredible transportation challenges getting from wherever I begin the trip to the racetrack. Today was another one of those adventures. Last night Carol and I and our relatives from Wyoming spent the evening watching the races at the Highway 92 Raceway Park in Gering, Nebraska. I had hoped those races would finish by 9 p.m. If they did I would be able to get three hours of sleep in our hotel. Alas, the racing didn’t finish up there until midnight for us. As the clock struck 12 midnight in the parking lot of the Highway 92 track we bid LeeAnn, James, Jack and Blair good night and goodbye. We had a wonderful time visiting with them for a couple of days and seeing their Wyoming ranch. Way cool. Then Carol and I hopped in the National Car Rental Racing bright orange Audi SUV and began our drive down to Denver, Colorado. The drive with stops for gas and the like would take us about four hours. This was definitely a 5-Hour energy drink night. We had spent the day in eastern Wyoming’s 100° heat so we weren’t exactly fresh as we began our drive…..at midnight! We made it down to Denver and I checked Carol into her more than an upscale hotel at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. She was going to spend the day in Denver visiting her mother who is in ill health. I had intended to sleep a few hours in the hotel myself but that wasn’t going to be possible. I had a 6 a.m. (5:53 a.m.) flight leaving Denver for Chicago this morning. With a solid hug and kiss from Carol, she went to bed at 4 a.m. and I drove over to the airport. It’s somewhat difficult to return a rental car at the Denver airport since the rental car building and the airport terminal are quite a long distance from each other. Nevertheless, I got to the airport in time to catch my 6 a.m. flight and actually had 2.5 miles on my walking pedometer booked for the day before we departed. I landed in Chicago about three hours later. From there I picked up another National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry for the two-hour drive up to Road America’s location in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Today I was returning to a road America for the very first time since 1970. Back in the summer of both 1969 and 1970 my college fraternity at Northern Illinois University, Delta Sigma Pi, organized some camping trips for the brothers and their girlfriends to Road America. This was really just a big party with camping, eating and drinking. Our “brotherhood” in the afternoon came in the form of a visit to the Trans Am races at Road America. Road America, back in 1969, was the very first racing I had seen on a road course in my life. I didn’t really go back to see any road course racing after that for years and years. I grew up as a dirt oval fan. I thought you might be interested in reading just a bit about the history at Road America. RA has a beautiful, long and storied background. Thanks to the folks at Wikipedia for their help with this. “Road America is a permanent road course. It is located midway between the cities of Milwaukee and Green Bay, and classified as an FIA Grade Two circuit. The track is situated on 640. It has hosted races since September 1955 and currently hosts over 400 events a year. Of its annual events, 9 major weekends are open to the public which include 3 motorcycle events including the MotoAmerica (AMA FIM) series, 3 vintage car events, Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events, the United Sports Car Racing Series, the Pirelli World Challenge, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Road America is one of only a handful of road circuits in the world maintaining its original configuration being 4.048 miles (6.515 km) in length and 14 turns. The track features many elevation changes, along with a long front stretch where speeds approaching 200 mph (320 km/h) may be reached. One of the best known features of this course is a turn on the backside known as “the kink.” Road America’s open seating allows spectators to venture throughout the grounds. Grandstands are available in several locations, as well as permanent hillside seating where crowds of more than 150,000 can be accommodated. After the tragedy at Watkins Glen in 1952, where a child was killed, the U.S. ruled to discontinue motorized contests of speed on public highways. This was a major blow for competition auto racing and brought the end of a long-standing tradition. This did not permanently stop road racing, however, it did shift it to private courses. In 1955, Clif Tufte started what is now known as Road America, in a configuration that has changed little over the past 60 years. The addition of Road America as a private track meant a transition from racing through the streets of tiny Elkhart Lake to racing on a big, wide, dedicated race track. Road America is famous for its up and downhill racing on its 4-mile road course. However, from time to time they also race on a shorter 2-mile or so course. I had made the trek from eastern Wyoming through Denver and Chicago and now up to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin simply to see the one and only race offered today on their short course. Folks, that’s what trackchasing is all about for me. From any individual viewing point, you cannot see very much of the racing on this course. The lack of visibility has been my major concern about road course racing all my life. The one advantage that slightly offsets that is as a spectator I can walk around all I want and see so many interesting things in the paddock and the crowd. Today’s racing was going to be affected by thunderstorms. That wasn’t a huge problem because road course racing usually runs in the rain and it would today as well. The lead division on the race schedule today was the NASCAR Xfinity division. As you may know, these are full-bodied stock cars that typically race on oval tracks. I did not come to watch these cars, however. Doing some advanced research I saw that the least expensive race ticket came with a price of $55. Did I want to see the NASCAR Xfinity series so badly that I would pay that much? Er…..No, I did not. Did I want to see racing so badly on the short course at Road America that I would pay $55 for a ticket? No, I did not. However, today was a very special milestone in my trackchasing career. Today I was chasing down my one-hundredth lifetime track in Badgerland, yes the state of Wisconsin. Once I pulled that off I could say that I had seen racing at 100 or more tracks in eight different states. Next week I hoped to add track #101 in Wisconsin. The next leading trackchaser has seen racing at more than 100 tracks in only four states. I am usually not deterred by the higher than normal ticket prices at NASCAR events. I have special methods that I have developed over the years to ensure that I either get my ticket for free or for a maximum of $20. Those methods were not available to me today. Within 50 yards of the time, I pulled off the highway I was at the entry gate to Road America. There I would need to buy my ticket from inside my car with no scalper or fan ticket help. Bummer. It was even more of a bummer to learn that the cheapest ticket price was not going to be $55 but $75. Did I want to pay $75 to see the racing today? No, I did not. Did I want to pay $75 to see my 100th-lifetime track in Wisconsin? Yes, I did I guess because I gave the ticket seller my credit card. I’ve gotten a lot of special deals on race tickets in the past but today was not one of those days. Today was a hot, rainy and humid mess. To compound the issue the racing was delayed three separate times for 30 minutes each time because of lightning. NASCAR has a strict policy that if they see lightning within 8 miles of the track there will be no racing for an additional 30 minutes. The only class racing on the shorter course today was the Robby Gordon Stadium Super Truck series. I’ve seen the stadium super trucks race at more than ten locations. They really put on a good show when they are the featured division at a huge indoor stadium. They don’t do that much anymore. I guess the economics don’t support that kind of race promotion. Today the stadium super trucks were scheduled to race two “motos”. The first moto happened early in the morning. There was no way I could get there from where my day started in time to see that race. Their second moto was scheduled for 3:15 p.m. this afternoon. I had a minor concern that with the entire program being delayed by an hour and a half because of rain and lightning that the stadium super truck show might not go off as originally planned. Luckily that was an unfounded fear. For the next four hours, I walked around Road America grabbing vantage points here and there. I spent some time in the gift shop. I spent some time in the paddock area observing the Trans Am series cars as well as the stadium super trucks. The NASCAR paddock area was off-limits to spectators without the appropriate pass. As I said, I don’t fully appreciate road course racing because as a spectator I can’t see the racing. I know that many of my friends who live in Europe and all over the world feel that road course racing is easily the most entertaining form of racing. It might be for the drivers. But for a spectator? No way Jose! I’m going to ask that you spend a few minutes looking at my YouTube video and SmugMug photo album. The photo album will be extra special because it has lots of great close-ups of the Trans-Am cars as well as what I was able to see walking all over Road America today. I think you’ll like the YouTube video. I got several good racing clips of the NASCAR race and also of the main straightaway for the stadium super trucks. The stadium super trucks ran on a special road course configuration which included four laps on the short track and then continued on with four laps on the long track. In addition, they had special barriers set up that created S curves throughout the course for them. This was definitely not the track configuration I have seen race back in first 1969 and then 1970. If today’s race outing doesn’t prove that trackchasing for me is a counting hobby I don’t know what else would say that. I would never ever I mean never ever ever ever spend $75 for a show like what I saw today. That would be unless I was here to see my one-hundredth lifetime track in the state of Wisconsin. Then that made it all worth it. I didn’t get out of the track until after 6 p.m. From there I had a two-hour drive down to Arlington Heights, Illinois. In Arlington Heights, I have a special “go-to“ hotel. There’s a Motel 6 there that I can rent for less than $50 a night. For a hotel that’s only 10-15 minutes from a major airport like Chicago that’s a heck of a price. It’s actually one of the better Motel 6 properties as well. I’ve stayed there many times when I needed a quick place for a few hours of sleep and had an early morning flight the next day. In summary, I’m just glad to say that I’ve been able to knock off eight Wisconsin tracks this season getting me to 100 in total. Here’s a list of the states where I’ve seen 100 tracks or more. California Illinois Indiana Iowa Michigan Minnesota Pennsylvania Wisconsin With having no official sleep last night in Colorado getting to my Motel 6 by 10 p.m. was a welcome sight. I got almost 8 hours of sleep before I had to get up early the next morning for a flight from Chicago to Kansas City. My trackchasing carnival moves on down the road! Good afternoon from Road America and Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,636 tracks. Wisconsin The Badger State This afternoon I saw racing at my 100th-lifetime track in the Badger State, yes, the Badger State. I hold the #4 trackchasing ranking in Wisconsin. Wisconsin ranks #8, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time Wisconsin state trackchasing list. I have made 57 separate trips to Wisconsin seeing these tracks. 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 Polite Wisconsinites went ahead and tamed down “For Christ’s Sake” and replaced it with a friendlier version. “For cripes sakes Glenda, where’s my brat and brewski?” Endearing, isn’t it? JUST THE 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 770 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries My nearest trackchasing competitor, a native of Belgium, has seen racing in more than 30 fewer countries compared to 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. My return after 50 years to Road America 
Wisconsin sayings: “For Cripes Sakes!”
