Greetings from Joliet, Illinois (home of the Blues Brothers)
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Route 66 Speedway – Dirt outer oval – Lifetime Track #614
Route 66 Speedway – Dirt road course – Lifetime Track #1,583
Route 66 Speedway – Dirt inner oval – Lifetime Track #1,683
Route 66 Speedway – Figure 8 – Lifetime Track #1,684
I’ve been to the Route 66 Speedway on three separate occasions to see four different racetracks. I’ve also seen racing at the Chicagoland Speedway located on the Route 66 property and the nearby (about a mile) Autobahn Country Club road course. It’s not often that a total of seven tracks are located so close to each other. I am amazed at the diversity of racing that was part of my three Route 66 Speedway visits. Back in 2002 I saw USAC sprint cars and midgets race as well as dirt late models and Northeastern modifieds on the track’s larger, maybe 3/8-mile oval. When I came back in 2010 it was to see the TORC off-road racing group put on an entertaining show. On that night they raced on a temporary dirt road course with all kinds of exciting jumps. Finally, in 2011 I returned for their “junk car” racing program. They race demo derby type cars on first a muddy “inner” oval and then a figure 8 track. The huge grandstand was sold out! The Route 66 Speedway might be a microcosm of auto racing today. There has been very little “traditional” racing on the larger dirt oval at Route 66. I can only imagine that this type of racing doesn’t make any money for the track’s operators. However, the off-road racing has been back many times since it first appeared. Granted the off-road racing comes to the area just one time per year so it might be easier to make that show profitable. However, it is the junk car figure 8 and crash ’em bang ’em little oval racing that brings sold out crowds. At the Route 66 Speedway they call this type of racing, “Team Demolition Derby” racing. It isn’t exactly a demolition derby. They do have “races” where all the cars start at the same time and race for a certain number of laps. However, it might still be considered demo to some. They have this event 4-5 times each year. Ticket prices run in the $20 per person range and you can’t find a seat in the huge modern grandstand. Racing is about competition and about entertainment. When the competition part isn’t right the crowd’s don’t come and/or the promoter doesn’t make money. I think, in far too many cases, traditional racing has lost it’s entertainment value. Promoters need to figure out why a “junk car” race can sell out multiple times each year at a hefty admission price. Greetings from Joliet, Illinois (home of the Blooooooooze Brothers!) We go to Maui twice a year. In 2001 we made the trip specifically to see this track. During our vacation to Maui this past week, we drove past the entrance to Paradise Speedway. A track sign mentioned the next race was to be September 7 at 7 p.m. This would seem to indicate the track has lights. It didn’t last November when Carol and I watched races on an 85 degree, windy day that resulted in massive dust problems. If anyone plans to visit Maui in the near future and wants to know about the activity opportunities on the island give me a call. Our best new activity of the trip was a four hour ATV ride up in the mountains near the small town of Ulupalakua. We reached 5,200 feet on our guided ride over some beautiful and rough terrain. Our best tried in the past activity was the Warren and Annabelle nightclub and magic show. This was our third visit and we’ll go back again as soon as we can. Finally, for my golfing friends I can hardily recommend The Dunes at Maui Lani links golf course. This is the Pacific Golf Club refined and located near the airport. Next time you’re on the island try it. My good friend George Robertson, originally from Eden, North Carolina just had a great experience at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania that has a racing connection. George, now a resident of Southern California has a nephew who is the star pitcher of the Clemmons, North Carolina little league all-star team that played in Williamsport during the last month. George and wife Melanie went to see them play. The starting second baseman of the team is the grandson of racing’s Richard Childress, former owner of Dale Earnhardt’s race team. The young second sacker’s father is Mike Dillon, former driver and now race day spotter for the Childress team. George got to meet both Mike and Richard and had a fun trip. By the way, I met George through golf but was successful in getting him to go with me to a DIRT modified event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway dirt track this spring. Well, boy oh boy, the readers write when they’re upset! It seems the group I lovingly refer to as the “non-racing” readers are mightily upset with the possibility that, “the little trackchaser”, wife Carol might be aced out of recognition of being a listed trackchaser when she reaches 200 tracks. Recall Commissioner Will White has not agreed to keep the limit for web site trackchaser recognition at 200 tracks as time goes on. Since this is a family website I can’t quote the comments I’ve received for fear of triggering your censorship software. Suffice it to say several people want to know where Mr. White resides so they can pay him a personal visit. On the other side of the verbal coin has been the noticeable lack of discussion of this topic in the trackchaser email conference. Possibly the group feels the potential for recrimination if they were to speak out in opposition to the powerful Mr. White’s current policies. We’ve all seen the effect NASCAR’s dictatorial policies have had on the “little guy”. I hope that Mr. White will show good reason and confirm that those trackchasers currently in the queue will be allowed to become a listed trackchaser regardless of future changes. In the meantime, Carol is packing her bags and readying herself for a Canadian trackchaser outing in just a few days. The waves at the San Clemente beaches have been huge during the last two days and the weather near perfect. Despite my four-mile runs in the sand with the surfers cresting 10-12 foot surf it’s time to get back to trackchasing. So, it’s off to the flatlands of my birth state of Illinois for a three-day track fest. The weather forecast is for temps in the low 80s each day with very little chance of precipitation. RACING NEWS: Tonight’s racing featured two of my most favorite four racing classes. Those two classes are wingless sprint cars and midgets (to go along with dirt late models and northeastern dirt modifieds). Each class had 25-30 cars. Admission was $20 and could be charged to my Visa card. The Route 66 Raceway is on the same property as the Chicagoland Speedway and the Route 66 Raceway drag strip. Recall that Carol and I visited the Chicagoland Speedway for the NASCAR Winston Cup event just 5-6 weeks ago during her high school reunion trip. Several super speedway ovals have built one-half mile dirt tracks on their properties including Texas Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This allows these facilities to attract short track racing enthusiasts on a weekend the super speedway is holding a major Saturday/Sunday event. The short tracks feature national sanctioning groups and large modern grandstands by short track standards. Tonight’s sanctioning group was the United States Auto Club (USAC). The track is a large sweeping dirt oval. As with most wingless open wheel racing there was multi-groove racing and lots of passing. The track was a bit dry possibly due to the high temperatures the area has been experiencing. When I go to this type of USAC event the folks in the crowd are noticeably different. These crowds are much more male dominated and older. There are lots of guys 20 years older than me. You can just sense that these people have been following racing for a long time and I’m guessing most of it has been USAC Indy cars and open wheel racing. USAC made A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and the Unser Brothers household names. The announcers spent some time with my trackchaser note. They mentioned that Allan Brown and “Gary Storey of Iowa” were “professional” race trackchasers. The announcers did a good job and new their stuff. The midgets ran three heats and the sprinters four. Each class ran a B main. I watched the midget A main but must admit I left on lap two of the sprint car main when a red flag came out for a flipping car. I didn’t want to leave but it was about 11:15 p.m. and I was calculating how far I had to drive, how much sleep I would get and what time my Saturday morning tee time would be. I got five hours sleep by leaving when I did. I think had I stayed I would have gotten closer to four hours sleep. It was just a case of trying to put 10 pounds of sugar in a five-pound bag. I’ll try for better time management next time as I don’t like to leave early when they cars are racing. Upon leaving the track I noticed a flyer stuck on my car. The flyer announced the December 27 & 28 races at the Ft. Wayne Memorial Coliseum “Expo Center”. They’ll be racing midgets, mini-sprints, go-karts, legends and quarter midgets. The same flyer also mentioned an event at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis on Saturday, February 8. They will be running sprint cars in addition to the classes racing at Ft. Wayne. TRACK FOOD: I opened with a 32 oz. lemonade. When I was told it cost $5 I almost cancelled the order. But since it was lemon “shakeup” version I bought it. Other than the fact that the drink had a real one-half lemon in it no reasonable person could have distinguished the taste from plain water. Other track food consumed included a cheeseburger and peanuts. These nutritious foods were supplemented by breakfast at McDonalds, a breakfast snack on the airplane, lunch at White Castle, a mid-afternoon treat at Dairy Queen and a midnight Danish snack at the hotel at 1 a.m. Not exactly the foot of champions or for Body for Life for that matter! RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car Racing Dodge Intrepid had just 66 miles on it when it entered the Route 66 Speedway. That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking and all of the children are above average. Planned upcoming races DAY 1 – “LAST TRIP BEFORE LABOR DAY” TRACKCHASING TOUR Randy, Tim Ciokajlo and Les Lipkin perform their famous Blue Brothers at the National Sales Meeting GREETINGS FROM JOLIET, ILLINOIS (Home of the Blue Brothers!) TODAY’S HEADLINES Having goals and meeting them is both important and satisfying. …………..details in “The Objective”. A mini Delta Sigma Pi fraternity meeting was held at the track tonight………………more in “The People”. NASCAR’s Kyle Busch showed up to race stadium off-road trucks tonight …………..details in “Race Review”. THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Objective Having goals and achieving them is important. It’s important to have goals in life. It gives you something to strive for. For the first time EVER I have achieved the three most important TRACKCHASING GOALS that I have. These are lifetime goals. They can only be achieved over a lifetime in the pursuit this crazy hobby of trackchasing. Everyone has different goals in the trackchasing hobby. We seem to have a “million” rankings of one sort or another. That’s good. It allows nearly everyone to go home with a “blue ribbon”. That’s what keeps ‘em coming back! The three rankings that are most important to me, in order, are: In each of these categories I compete against a different trackchaser. That’s what makes the achievement more noteworthy to me. Everyone seems to have his or her “trackchasing specialty”. That’s a good thing. LIFETIME TRACKS With tonight’s track I have now seen 1,583 different racetracks. My nearest competitors are Ed Esser at 1,318 and Guy Smith with 1,299. As luck would have it (it probably wasn’t luck) Ed Esser was in attendance tonight. I think there is a very good likelihood that I will see Guy Smith tomorrow night. These guys never give up. I’ll have to stay on my tows (get it?) to maintain the significant (for now) lead in this, the most noteworthy trackchasing category of all. LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY In my opinion, this is the second most important trackchasing category especially for a U.S. based trackchaser. These “rankings” marry up the idea of seeing a LOT of tracks in a LOT of American states. A trackchaser can’t score well here if she/he doesn’t do a good deal of traveling in the greatest country on earth. Allan Brown was the early leader when these rankings first started showing up in 2003. Then Gordon Killian took over the leadership position for a few years. I was able to wrest the lead away for just one year in 2007. Then I lost it and regained the top spot in 2009. At long as I continue to trackchase I expect to never lose that lead again. That’s one of the interesting things about trackchasing rankings. In most cases, if a trackchasers stops “pursuing the hobby” he will lose whatever advantage he might have gained. LIFETIME TRACKCHASING COUNTRIES My last track visit took me to El Salvador. That was the 45th different country where I’ve seen auto racing. That broke, just a weeklong tie I had with Belgium’s Roland Vanden Eynde for the lead in this prestigious category. This had been one of the most enjoyable categories in which I compete. Most of my international track visits has resulted in me seeing just one track but getting a one-week vacation to some exotic locale. Carol has added 25 countries of here own while we’ve traveled the world. Of the three most important trackchasing categories, for me, this one might be the most difficult to stay on top of. What’s next? I honestly can’t think of another MAJOR category that I would like to tackle. That’s a minor problem. When a person doesn’t have a goal “out there on the horizon” they might tend to stagnate. I do have a goal that will take me through 2010. It’s a simple one. I’d like to see my 1,600th lifetime track. At the beginning of the year, I set a goal of seeing 50-75 tracks with a likelihood of being at the top of that range. I also said I might try to see 83 tracks since that number would get me to 1,600. Just 17 more. After tonight I have just 17 more tracks to see in order to reach this goal. Carol and I have a good number of “fixed date” activities with our UCLA football and basketball as well as our timeshare commitments. These other activities will take me off the trackchasing road over the next several months quite a bit. Overall, I think that’s a GOOD thing. Nevertheless, I should still be able to scrounge up 17 additional tracks. If all goes well this trip I’m currently on will net seven new tracks. The Trip Don’t worry. It’s what I do. I had been home from our El Salvadorian trip less than 48 hours. I had been home from my Guatemalan trip less than 48 hours before Carol and I left for El Salvador. Don’t worry….it’s what I do. Flights are very tight this summer. Today I wanted to simply fly from Los Angeles to Chicago. There were five non-stop plane rides that would get me there in time for the race in Joliet, Illinois (home of the Blues Brothers). I missed the first one by seven seats. However, I made the next one with a middle seat in the exit row. A trip can’t be successful unless I make that first flight! The People They came from all over the country to meet up in Joliet. It’s not often that I can plan a trip in advance to meet up with other people at the track. When I fly standby there is no assurance that I will get to my primary destination on time or even at all. However, I had an idea this trip might work so I contacted long-time friend and college fraternity brother Mike Skonicki. Mike and his lovely bride Mary live in the “Chicagoland” area. As luck would have it Mike was in New York City on “Morton Salt” business. However, we both hatched a plan to meet in Chicago. As Mike said, “When you think of the logistics it is amazing. Two people starting the day on opposite ends of the country meeting in Chicago and watching a race in Joliet, Illinois!” As luck would have it, I had an easier time getting to Chicago from Los Angeles than Mike did from New York. Nevertheless, despite Mike’s flight being delayed by nearly two hours we made it in time to have a nice dinner in Joliet before the race. Following the race, “logistics” would be tight. We didn’t get back to Mike’s house until past midnight. My wake-up call would come, and did, at 3:45 a.m. (1:45 a.m. San Clemente time). It’s funny. I usually think I get up really early to leave California on these trips. Often, I get up even earlier in the midst of the trip at least a time or two. Mike was quick to point out “You always refer to the early time you get up on these trips when you’re traveling but never mention that you’re going to bed EARLY on your time”. Let’s run the numbers. Yes, this is true. I then pointed out to Mike that I WOULD be going to bed at about 10:30 p.m. my time tonight. However, I WOULD be getting up at 1:45 a.m. my time this morning. That’s not exactly what the surgeon general recommends as the proper amount of sleep! Mike seemed to understand. Secret handshakes and all that. Mike and I are members of the Delta Sigma Pi fraternity. Of course, with that we have special handshakes and secret code words. I can’t really let you in on the details unless you’re willing to go through a “pledge” period and “Hell” night. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to do that. The DSP boys were everywhere. As circumstances would have it we ran into another “Delta Sigma Pi Brother” tonight from the University of Wisconsin. Yes, I’m talking about the “one and only” Ed Esser. Mike had heard and read many stories about the famous Mr. Esser. I had expected we might run into him tonight and we did. The massive grandstands of the Route 66 Raceway hold nearly 10,000 people. They were only about 20% full tonight. Nevertheless, Ed spotted us after we sat down in about row 20 of the row 50 or so high grandstand. He came down and sat with us for the rest of the night. We had an enjoyable visit. I could sense Ed eying my shirt all night. I wonder why? RACE REVIEW ROUTE 66 RACEWAY – JOLIET, ILLINOIS Fan friendly is better than the alternative. Tonight’s racing was sanctioned by TORC, “The Off-Road Championship” series. I really like this type of racing. It’s “fan-friendly” when so much of racing is not. The Route 66 Raceway is a state of the art facility. However, they don’t hold many races here. They have a very nice ½-mile dirt oval track. However, they don’t race on it at all. We’re talking economics. They haven’t figured out a way to make money with it. Lots of race facilities in the area. Across the street in the Chicagoland Speedway. The NASCAR Sprint Cup series races here once a year. There is also a huge drag strip on the Route 66 Raceway property. Then within a mile or so one will find the Autobahn Country Club. This is a state of the art road racing facility available for private use by its members. I’ve seen countable racing at all of these tracks. This is just plain fun. “Stadium Off-Road Racing” is fun. It’s a take-off on the desert off-road racing that recently made the world news when an errant race truck killed eight people in California. This type of racing is much different than most “traditional” racing I see. The competitors drive mainly high-powered pickup trucks and “dune buggy” style racers. The spectator can see the entire dirt road course. That contrasts with desert off-road racing where one lap around the course can be 50 miles or more. This racing program is presented so as to appeal to a younger crowd. There are lots of bouncy young women handing out samples of Red Bull and Monster drinks. Between races they play loud to the beat music and have very active (sometimes too active) announcers. The racing is different. However, it is probably the racing that is the most different. The dirt road course goes for about a mile. There are several jumps where the trucks and buggies fly off into the air. I love taking photos of the competitors in mid-jump. Tonight, the “table top” jump had the trucks flying through the air for some 60-80 yards or more. This has got to be thrilling for the driver and for the fans. There were some spectacular flips when the racers landed the wrong way from these high and long jumps. Don’t miss the racing footage I’ll provide. Kyle Busch – First ever stadium off-road event. NASCAR’s Kyle Busch raced tonight. In his truck class he started in the middle of the pack. There were 12 starters and Kyle never did any better than fifth or sixth place before falling out after just a few laps. I was talking to a Wisconsin TV reporter a few days later. He told me Kyle was practicing with the trucks at the Crandon, Wisconsin track before he arrived at the Route 66 Speedway. The forearm shiver. The weather was coolish. In late August fall is in the air. During a break between races they shot t-shirts from a pneumatic gun up into the grandstand. Mike had come directly to the track from work. He was nattily attired in a golf shirt and dress slacks. However, that wasn’t quite enough for tonight’s cool weather. When one of the shirts flew near us I gave a “forearm shiver” to a young girl and grabbed the shirt. (Editor’s note: Please do not take every statement you read literally. Sometimes I’m just painting a word picture for your enjoyment). I gave it to Mike and then after the race he gave it to Mary. This is classic “re-gifting”. A good night of trackchasing. Mike and I had a nice evening reuniting. We do see each other 2-3 times each year and have done so for more than 40 years. It was fun seeing Ed. That guy never gives up. When I think back on it, I have no idea how I ever was able to see more tracks than him….so far. Overall, a good night of trackchasing. STATE COMPARISONS Illinois This evening I saw my 75th lifetime track in the Illini state, yes, the Illini state. That gives me a second place ranking here. Wisconsin’s Ed Esser has seen 95 and holds down first place in my native state. I don’t like that but there’s not much I can do about it. I still have some 21 tracks to be seen in Illinois although only one races on a regularly scheduled basis. Tonight’s Route 66 Raceway road course was so new, to me, that I didn’t even have it in my database. Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features! I’ve added YouTube slide shows and movies with actual racing footage of the tracks I visit. This is all in the name of “trackchasing promotion”. I’ve got one more promotional idea in the “pipeline”. Soon you’ll see what I’ve got up my sleeve. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Illinois sayings: Please don’t pronounce the “S” TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 2,210 miles RENTAL CAR #1 O’Hare International Airport – trip begins Joliet, IL – 59 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Route 66 Raceway – Joliet, Illinois – $20 (paid by Mike) 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 DAY 4 – “IS THE HEAT WORSE THAN THE HUMIDITY OR VICEVERSA” TRACKCHASING TOUR TODAY’S HEADLINES You can always count on the weather to alter the plan back here …………..details in “The Trip”. Secret handshakes and milkshakes………………more in “The People”. The team race rides again …………..details in “Race Review”. Randy performs as “Jake” in his famous Blue Brothers act presented multiple times at the National Sales Meeting GREETINGS FROM JOLIET, ILLINOIS (Home of the Blues Brothers!) VIDEOS! PICTURES! SEE WHAT I SAW TODAY! It’s simple. There are three different ways for you to see what I saw today at the races. You can watch a movie (always less than ten minutes). Secondly, you can see my still photos via YouTube.com. Finally, you can see my still photos by using Picasa. With Picasa you can view the pictures at your own pace or watch them in a slide show produced by Picasa. Pick the method you like best from below. THE PLAN, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Plan Is a Midwestern winter worse than a midwestern summer? Today’s plan was simple. We would awake at the leisurely hour of 9 a.m. Central Daylights Savings time. That’s right. Carol is with me on this part of the trip. Up to now we have not had any really early morning wake-up calls. As you all know she does all the chores. Nevertheless, I try my very best to make sure she is well rested. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. This wasn’t my first midwestern rodeo. We are traveling in the Midwest. I am a native Midwestern having lived in Illinois for the first 22 years of my life. I have some experience when I speak about the weather “back here”. Most folks think the Midwest had brutal winters with ice, snow and cold. They do. However, many of the other seasons can be just as bad or worse. It’s tough to beat for “badness” an early spring day in the Midwest when the temperature is 40 degrees, the wind’s blowing 30 M.P.H. and it’s raining. Of course, in the summer folks must deal with excessive heat and humidity. Don’t forget the ferocious thunderstorms. It is not very surprising that the four seasons of this area are sometimes referred to as 1) almost winter, 2) winter, 3) still winter and 4) the Fourth of July! Today’s midwestern weather made our “simple” plan minorly more complex. However, I normally travel with a contingency plan or two in my back pocket. Contingency plans usually add more time or expense or both to the equation. That’s why the contingency plan is not the primary plan. Sometimes being flexible is easier said than done. I can’t stress enough the need to be flexible is situations like those that we encountered today. So many people can’t adapt when they are thrown a “travel curveball”. I don’t think it would be stretching the truth to say I am a “travel professional”. I’m about as flexible as anyone can be when it comes to traveling. However, there is something to be learned from people who don’t have the aptitude or capability of “changing in midstream” with a travel plan. Many of those folks don’t travel very much. They are in a foreign environment to them. I’m not nearly as flexible when I’m not in my own environment. What I try to take from the above is to be more open to unusual ideas and approaches when I’m faced with change that is foreign to me. I’m not always the best at that but if I can “mentally” understand the need for change I am far better off to make those changes. The Trip Bad weather altered our travel plan. We woke up this morning in Moline, Illinois. We went to sleep in Rosemont, Illinois. As always, it was a busy day. The plan called for us to fly from Moline, Illinois to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Flight time was short at about one hour. Flying seemed preferable to driving three hours while incurring one-way car rental charges and a gasoline expense. Of course, the midwestern weather had something to say about this plan. What did it have to say? “No!” An earlier morning flight was canceled by the bad weather in the area. All of the paying passengers on the canceled flight “rolled over” to the flights we wanted. That filled those planes up leaving us to worry about getting the last seat on the plane. When we arrived at the Moline International Airport (MLI) we returned our Dodge Journey SUV (with satellite radio). We closed out the contract and decided to try to make the now sold out plane anyway. However, the midwestern weather began to shout again. “No!”. The plane we wanted to use was now delayed by two hours. There was bad weather in and around the Chicago O’Hare Airport. O’Hare is not an airport to be messed with in bad weather during summer, winter or at anytime. I made the executive decision to rent a car and drive. Simply put, I couldn’t and wouldn’t do this without the support of my trackchasing sponsors. This would be a one-way rental. I had a friend call me the other day. He wanted to rent a car from San Francisco to Fresno. The best rate he could find was $200!!. One-way rentals cars are expensive. However, the National Rental Car Company is one of my trackchasing sponsors. Because I am a trackchaser and have been a long time supporter of National they treat me well. How much would they charge me for a one-way rental from Moline to Chicago? I am embarrassed to tell you. The fee would be $3.97. We would still have to buy the gas but our rental through National, a primary sponsor of Randy Lewis Racing, was nearly free. National is a great supporter of my trackchasing. Just to be clear, I already had this car rental reservation made. I did it a few days ago in the event we ran into flight availability problems. This was all part of the “contingency” plan program in place at RLR. Carol travels more miles in the hobby than any other woman. On my trackchasing trips, I travel with Carol 40-50% of the total miles I travel in the hobby. I’ll meet up with fellow trackchasers and/or friends for about 25% of the miles. I will travel solo for about 25% of the miles I travel. For me, that is the perfect ratio. Remember, this comparison is referring to MILES and not trips or tracks. It’s much easier to travel by myself. I can sleep in a car, on the floor of an airport or at the Ritz-Carlton. Most of my fellow companions are not quite as accommodating. I do 90-95% of the driving for the 30,000-40,000 rental car miles I drive. Carol with help out a little bit when needed. She did the driving from Moline to Chi-town while I tried to fight a losing battle by getting my Trackchaser Reports out in a timely fashion. The People We have secret handshakes and everything. Today we would be meeting our good friends, the Skonickis. They live in what is called by the locals the “Chicagoland area”. Mike and I went to college together at Northern Illinois University. We are in the same fraternity as trackchaser Ed Esser. Yes, we have a secret handshake. Mike is married to the lovely, Mary. Mike has tagged along on about ten trackchasing trips with me in the past. This might be Mary’s second lifetime track. She and Mike accompanied me to the Ace High Speedway in Monroeton, Pennsylvania in 2004. Short track racing leaves a lasting impression on brand new fans. That event in Pennsylvania back in 2004 was memorable for two reasons. First, former trackchaser and 50-state club member Andy Ritter started the late model feature from the pole. Secondly, the men’s restroom had an unusual “toilet” facility. It was a eight-inch in diameter, 12-foot long PVC pipe. The pipe had been cut in half, length-wise, creating a bowl-like “aiming apparatus” for the track’s menfolk. Then the pipe was tilted at a 45-degree angle to transport the human waste to who knows where. You’ve got to give it up to Americans for their ingenuity. Was this how Microsoft and Apple Computer were started? Of course, I had to bring Mary into the “men’s room” to show her this example of Ace High Speedway “creativity”. Mary is a proper Midwestern-bred Catholic woman. I am certain she had never seen anything like this. I’m not sure if this was her highlight of the day but it was one of mine. GREAT PLACES TO EAT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! Steak n’ Shake – near Joliet, Illinois Just fun eatin’ on the road. I certainly have my favorite casual dining/fast food restaurants. Most of them are very local or regional outfits. These would include: Chic-Fil-A, Hungry Hobo, In n’ Out, Skyline Chili, Steak n’ Shake and the Waffle House. Steak n’ Shake was founded in February, 1934 in Normal, Illinois. I began eating at Steak n’ Shake about twenty years later at their East Peoria, Illinois location. The “steak” in the brand name stands for “Steakburgers”. Of course, the “shake” represents the fantastic milkshakes Steak n’ Shake serves up. The Steak n’ Shake brand is in about 22 states. Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri all have more than 50 outlets. The entire chain has about 480 stores. Ever been served by a “curbie”? Growing up as a kid we were of less than modest means. When we ate out after church on Sunday the family would often dine at the local Steak n’ Shake. We ate “inside”. However, Steak n’ Shake also offered curb service handled by who else, “curbies”. Check this link to see what the “curbie” scene was like in days (many days) gone by What was the curbie scene like?). Burgers and shakes just like we did 50 years ago. Tonight, Carol along with Mike and Mary Skonicki were stopping at Steak n’ Shake. This was the first trip for both Mike and Mary to SnS. I can understand that from Mary, she’s from Boston. However, Mike has lived in Illinois most of his life. Mike, what have you been doing? We all had burgers and shakes. O.K., Carol would never have a shake, she had iced tea. What was the verdict? The Skonickis can’t wait to come back. When they do, I’ll give you their review. In the meantime if you stop don’t pass up one of those grilled steakburgers, the Chili Mac or a hand-dipped milkshake. I’m partial to the vanilla flavor although I like them all. RACE REVIEW ROUTE 66 SPEEDWAY (OVAL & FIGURE 8) – JOLIET, ILLINOIS This was a trackchasing countable demo derby. Tonight was an interesting trackchasing event. The main attraction was what the Route 66 Raceway called a “demolition derby”. Often times tracks have different names for different things. Tonight’s demo derby was unlike virtually any of the many, many demo derbies I have seen. The “team race” makes a comeback. Back in the 50s and 60s, my home track, Peoria Speedway, used to have what was called the “team race”. Of course, this was well before NASCAR started organizing itself by mega teams. The team race was always the last event of the night. Two local junkyards would each put together a four-car team. There were eight cars in the team race. The racing distance was ten laps. The objective was to have at least one car from your team complete ten laps before anybody on the other team did. Each team would have one “leader”. The other three members were “blockers”. The responsibility of the leader was to complete ten laps as quickly as possible. The blockers were there to both protect their own team’s leader as well as to disable the other team’s leader. Just like in the military if a leader was knocked out, one of the blockers became a leader. Got that? Up until tonight I had never heard of any other track holding a “team” race. That’s how they did it tonight. Eight different teams were in the competition tonight. Each team had its cars painted with the same color. Teams also had names. The crowd favorite was the “Orange Crush”. The “Mean Green Machine” group is the current point leader. The grandstands appeared to be sold out tonight with advance ticket prices at $16 and day of event prices of $20 per person. It was extremely warm with temperatures in the high 80s. There was humidity to match with very little wind. It was a hot and muggy evening. No beers for you. I would estimate tonight’s crowd at 5,000 people or more. They were a well-behaved crowd that was younger than your typical short track stock car crowd. The track sold beer but tightly controlled its sale. I stepped out into the aisle to purchase four Miller Lites for our group. “I can only sell you two beers” the vendor told me. I pointed to Carol and said, “that’s my wife”. The vendor said she would have to leave her seat and physically hold two of our four brews. Folks, that’s pretty tight liquor control. The racing started about 20 minutes late. The first event of the night was the “demolition derby” quarterfinals. In these five-lap races two teams of four competed against each other. The first team to have a team member complete five laps was the winner. I was “golden”. I wasn’t sure this type of racing was countable. However, when I saw that Ed Esser had counted this program a year or two ago I knew I was “golden” as the boys back in the Caterpillar factory used to say. The cars raced around four huge tractor tires that marked out a rough rectangle. From time to time some cars drove directly across the infield to make contact with cars that were racing on the rec-oval. I’ve actually seen that done a time or two in more “traditional” oval racing! Tonight I saw some of the hardest hits I have ever seen. It was not uncommon to see two cars hit each other at speeds of 40-50 m.p.h. Just like the figure 8 racing two nights ago in Stronghurst, Illinois some races didn’t have any cars finishing the prescribed number of laps. In those cases, the last car running was declared the winner. Spectator figure 8 racing. At “intermission” the promotion held figure 8 racing. It was called “spectator” figure 8 racing. I’m not sure why they used that term. The 16-car figure 8 field seemed to be made up of unique eight-cylinder cars just like at any other track. These cars also raced around the four main tractor tires but crossed in the middle of the track between two other tractor tires. Confused? Watch the video! The racing surface was “heavy” with lots of mud. It was also very rough. We had a great view of the action from some 30-40 rows up. Four visits; five tracks. This was my fifth countable track at this facility although I had to come here four times to get those five tracks. Back in 2002 I saw racing on the 3/8-mile outer oval. Also in 2002, I saw Kevin Harvick win the inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Chicagoland Speedway. That track is situated a few hundred yards from the Route 66 Raceway. Last year Mike Skonicki joined me along with Ed Esser to see Kyle Busch race his first ever stadium off-road event. Tonight’s “inner oval” and figure 8 tracks finished off the five countable tracks I’ve seen here. They also have a huge drag-racing complex on property. The highlight of the event was seeing the absolutely ferocious hits that so many drivers put on each other. There were some drawbacks to the program. First, the weather was frightfully uncomfortable with its mugginess. There were also some pretty long delays between races. By 10 p.m. after we had been at the track for nearly four hours, they had completed one figure 8 race and six of the seven oval races. At that point they were going to the kid’s candy toss and we were headed to our car. The truck figure 8 race (about 16 trucks) began while we were making our final bathroom visits. The final event for the two remaining demo derby teams was yet to be contested. I thought the announcers could have been more creative as well. California has two tracks (Perris and Irwindale) that offer professional announcers and kind of a rock concert atmosphere. That was lacking at the track tonight. This was certainly an example of “novelty” racing that I don’t endorse as a “racechaser”. However, as a “trackchaser” I guess this must have been exactly what the rules were supposed to allow. Entertainment or competition? Give them what they want. By the way our companions for the evening, Mike and Mary very much enjoyed the program. Mary said she liked it much better than the oval races in Pennsylvania. “They took too much time lining up the races at that track”, she said. Mary’s view seemed to be shared by so many others here tonight. Maybe that was why the grandstand was absolutely packed at premium admission prices. Promoters are you listening? Fans want entertainment more than competition. If you’re a racer turned promoter you’ll probably continue to take ten minutes relining up your race after the fifth caution. Then you will see your crowd decline every week and you will turn over the “promotional reins” to the next guy who wants to promote more races. On the other hand, if you can get your arms around the “entertainment” aspect of your job, you’ll have a job for a long time to come. STATE COMPARISONS Illinois This was my first trackchasing effort in Illinois, my native state this year. Tonight I was seeing my 79th and 80th lifetime tracks in Illinois, the Illini state, yes the Illini state. I rank second behind Ed Esser here. He’s seen some 96 Illinois tracks. I have just seven tracks remaining to be seen here. One of them races on a regularly scheduled basis. That’s not much activity remaining for my home state. Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features! How is the transition going from unofficial trackchasing commissioner Will White to his successor? Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Illinois sayings: Naked as a jaybird (a favorite of my mothers). TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Minneapolis, MN (MSP) – 1,535 miles Minneapolis, MN (MSP) – Moline, IL (MLI) – 273 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Moline International Airport – trip begins Stronghurst, IL – 81 miles Charles City, IA – 274 miles Moline International Airport – 580 miles – trip ends FRIEND’S CAR O’Hare International Airport – trip begins Joliet, IL – 47 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Henderson County Fairgrounds – $6 Floyd County Fairgrounds – $10 Route 66 Raceway – $16 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 A pictorial video from the TORC off-road racing championships at the Route 66 Speedway: Racing clips and FLIPS from the TORC off-road racing championships at the Route 66 Speedway:
Fun with the figure 8 and demo type racing at the Route 66 Speedway:
Click on this link to see our night at the TORC Off-Road racing championships from the 2010 season: A night at the TORC Off-Road racing championships at the Route 66 Speedway Click on this link to see the sold out show of figure 8 and mud oval racing: Just plain fun figure 8 and mud oval racing! 
Editor’s note:
PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS
615
SAT
7-Sep
Figure 8s
What Cheer Speedway
What Cheer, IA
616
SUN
8-Sep
Figure 8s – 1 p.m.
Fairgrounds
Barnes City, IA
617
SUN
8-Sep
3 p.m. program
Fayette County Raceway
West Union, IA
618
THR
12-Sep
Regular Program
Ottodrome
Ottawa, ON
619
FRI
13-Sep
Regular Program
Kawartha Speedway
Fraserville, ON
620
SAT
14-Sep
Road Course (aft)
Mosport Intl Raceway
Mosport, ON
621
SAT
14-Sep
Regular Program
Peterborough Speedway
Peterborough, ON
622
SUN
15-Sep
Enduro – 2 p.m.
Delaware Speedway Park
Delaware, ON
New racetracks visited in 2002
