Southern Illinois Raceway

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

 

Day 25 of 42….things would get better.

I woke up this morning in Bettendorf, Iowa. I had spent the previous four days getting no trackchasing results. Monday was for travel. Tuesday was for golf. Wednesday was for the Peoria Speedway but they cancelled their show because of complaints over noise. Thursday was intended to be a trackchasing day at the Kankakee County Fairgrounds. However, the folks decided that their “Extreme Figure 8 Races” were really just a school bus demo derby. Oh, my. Nevertheless, I never give up. Today would be day #25 of my 42-day mega trackchasing trip. I went to bed in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

 

 

The weather looked bad; I made a U-turn.

I would love to close in on Ed Esser’s state leading trackchasing total of 99 tracks seen in Illinois. After not getting a track in Kankakee last night I am stuck on 89. Today I had Nebraska on my original plan. That’s why I drove from Kankakee (somewhat near Chicago) to the Quad Cities last night. However, when bad weather threatened in the Cornhusker state I made a big U-turn and headed down to Marion Illinois. Marion, Illinois is way down in the southern part of this rather long and narrow state. When I was playing high school basketball Marion always had good teams.

 

When I go back to my hometown where do I stop?

The route to Marion, Illinois would take me through my hometown of East Peoria. What did that mean? What should it mean? It pretty much meant I was obligated to stop at the Davis Bros. pizza parlor. This was the situation even though I had done that earlier on this trip. I never know how many times I’ll be back to Davis Bros. in the future. I usually believe in the adage “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.

 

 

When I make many of my long drives I enjoy the radio program “Car Talk” featured on NPR. They always have the “Car Talk Puzzler”. They offer a verbal puzzle of sorts that often times is very interesting and challenging to answer.

 

 

Here’s the puzzler they were talking about. See if you can get the correct answer. I’ll place that correct answer at the bottom of this report.

 

 

“You have $100 to spend at a pet store. You have to buy 100 animals. Dogs cost $15. Cats cost one dollar and mice cost 25 cents each. How many dogs, cats and mice do you have to buy so that you spend exactly $100 on 100 animals?

 

 

THE RACING

 

Southern Illinois Raceway – Marion, Illinois

 

 

Finally!

Tonight I would be trackchasing at the Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion, Illinois. SIR is the last weekly track for me to see in Illinois. I’ve had this track on my radar screen FOREVER!

 

 

SIR marks the 90th track I’ve seen in my boyhood state. Fellow competitor ED Esser has seen 99 tracks in Illinois. I need just nine more Illini tracks in order to catch him someday. I’m up for the challenge. There’s just one problem. Right now I don’t know of nine more Illinois tracks I still need to see. Nevertheless, I have the Randy Lewis Racing research team on my side. They never let me down.

 

 

A special weekend at SIR.

The Southern Illinois Raceway was having their micro sprint nationals racing program this weekend. When I arrived on this Friday night they were just about set to begin their heat racing.

 

 

Tonight’s program would include seven heats with 10 cars in each heat. That meant they had about 70 cars on hand. The top finishers in the heats would transfer to four 20-lap qualifiers. The top six open wheel cars from each of those races would transfer to tonight’s “A” feature.

 

 

Wingless, my favorite.

All the micro sprints racing tonight were wingless. The entire operation at SIR reminded me somewhat of Ascot Park. Of course that would be Ascot Park on a miniature scale. This was a very well run operation.

 

 

The venue.

The PA was stout and the announcer did an outstanding job of describing the action. He knew his racing. The grandstands were a little makeshift. There were some bleachers and some boards sitting on poles from the ground.  Others brought their lawn chairs and some watched from the pit. The pit area was located beyond turns three and four.

 

 

There is one minor drawback to watching the racing as a trackchaser.

The racing was simply outstanding. The only drawback was that I didn’t know any of the drivers. Racers had come from as far away as Oklahoma. Several states were represented. If you are a race fan please don’t miss the videos from tonight’s tracing. This would be some of the best racing of my 42-day trip.

 

How does THIS happen?

During the course of the program the track announcer learned of my presence. When you figure out how this happens let me know! He gave me a very nice trackchasing mention. Then he asked me to come up and talk. I was more than happy to share the “trackchasing story”. I’ve done this at various tracks I’ve visited more than 100 times. We must’ve talked for well over five minutes.

 

Illinois…middle of the summer…weather.

There was just one somewhat major issue with tonight’s program. Bad weather was approaching from the Northwest. I could see the bad stuff getting closer and closer on my iPhone’s radar. My visual of the impending weather matched what I saw on my phone.

 

 

The announcer kept telling the crowd that “If you feel your personal safety is at risk please go to your car. We will do everything we can to keep the program running tonight if at all possible. We will keep you posted over the PA system”.

 

 

The ‘Eldora of micro sprint racing’.

He also mentioned that SIR was the “Eldora of micro sprint racing”. He could very well be right with that comment. The little 1/8-mile track was high-banked just like Eldora. It had a tacky surface and the cars raced in both the low and high groove creating a good deal of drama. This was excellent open wheel racing.

 

 

The racing started promptly at 7 p.m. That’s how Eldora does it too. The seven heat races and three of the qualifiers were finished before the thunder and lightning turned into high winds and rain. I’ve been in a lot of these situations.

 

 

When the wind picks up the temperature cools off. When that happens you can bet the rain is not far off. At the first sign of raindrops I began to head for the car as did many other fans. I just beat the torrential rain that lasted for a good 20 minutes. After my life threatening experience in the bad weather of Kansas last summer I have tried to learn my lesson. I sat tight in the parking lot as the yellow and red colored images on my weather radar passed over Marion. I was lucky to see the amount of good racing that I did. The weather forecasters said the weather would come in on exactly the same timing that it did with a 20% chance of rain. Twenty percent isn’t much. However, it does mean that two times out of 10 you’re going to get wet. Tonight we got wet.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

Would there be a place to stay?

After just about everybody had left the spectator parking lot it was time for me to motor on up to the Motel 6 in Mount Vernon, Illinois. I had tried to get a hotel via Priceline with the Marriott in St. Louis. However the baseball Cardinals are in town and nearly every hotel was booked. The entire Marriott chain, which includes several brands, was sold out in all of St. Louis and the suburbs! 

 

I had waited for the rain to slack up before I left the racetrack parking lot. However about 50 miles north of the track I ran into another “red” Radar cell just before I reached my hotel.

 

I can’t drive past one of these.

Before checking into my hotel room I noticed that a Steak N Shake restaurant was located across the street. I grew up on Steak N Shake for Friday night dates and Sunday after church dinners. Today my favorite menu item is the large cherry Diet Coke. If you like drinking straight cherry maraschino juice this drink is for you. There was just one problem. It was raining cats and dogs. That made rolling down the window in the drive-through as well as making direct eye contact and payment at the delivery window a real challenge. Folks, it can rain in Illinois!

 

 

I wanted to get checked in; I didn’t want to get wet.

With a large cherry Diet Coke in hand I pulled up in front of the hotel office. It was pouring. I didn’t know how long it would last. I just wanted to get checked into my room. So I made a run for it. This was a two-story hotel. I had asked for a top floor room. I always do that so I’m not underneath hotel guests that want to have a track meet in their room above me.

 

 

Oops. Wrong button at the wrong time.

After check-in I made a run for it from my car up the stairs to the second floor of the hotel. There was a small roof protecting me from the rain at the top of the stairs. From the second floor I pressed my car’s remote key to lock all the doors. For some reason I wasn’t hearing the beep of the horn signifying the doors had locked. With the car slightly out of my view I kept pushing the button but still couldn’t hear the confirmation of the doors locking. The rain was coming down harder than ever now. I stepped out from my shelter to see what was up with the car. That was when I noticed the trunk was wide open. In the dark and heavy rain I had been pushing the trunk unlock button rather than the door LOCK button.

 

 

What did it all mean?

The trunk was about 6 inches ajar and it was raining like crazy. What did that mean? It meant that I was going to have to go back out in the rain to slam the trunk door shut. Yes this was a comedy of errors. When I got back into my room I was soaking wet and couldn’t stop laughing for the longest time.

 

 

 

Illinois

 

 

The Illini state

Tonight I saw my 90th lifetime track in the Illini state, yes the Illini state. Just nine more to go.

 

 

 

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: Yes, I’m from Illinois. No, I’m not from Chicago.

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #1

O’Hare (Chicago) International Airport – trip begins

Charlotte, MI

Cortland, OH

Davisburg, MI

Davisburg, MI

Mechanicsburg, IL

Harlan, IA

Primghar, IA

Knoxville, IA

Bucyrus, OH

O’Hare (Chicago) International Airport – trip ends – 3,516 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #2

O’Hare International Airport – trip begins

Carlyle, IL

St. Louis International Airport – trip ends – 412 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #3

St. Louis International Airport – trip begins

Hastings, MI

Greenfield, IA

Atchison, KS

David City, NE

Dighton, KS

Malvern, IA

Eldon, MO

St. Louis International Airport – trip ends – 2,760 miles

 

 

Editor’s note: The above did involve three different rental car contracts. However, I did it all with the SAME car. When I pulled in for the final time to the St. Louis airport the car was huffing and puffing. In 15 days I had driven it 6,688 miles.

 

RENTAL CAR #4

Denver International Airport – trip begins

Powell, WY

Plentywood, MT

Crary, ND

Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada

Denver International Airport – trip ends – 3,044 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #5

O’Hare (Chicago) International Airport – trip begins

Marion, IL

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Eaton County Fairgrounds – $10

Trumbull County Fairgrounds – $4

Oakland County Fairgrounds – oval – $10 ($10 to park!)

Oakland County Fairgrounds – figure 8 – $10 ($10 to park….again!)

Ealyville Speedway – Complimentary pit pass

Shelby County Speedway – $5

Primghar Raceway – $5

Knoxville Raceway – Complimentary admission

Crawford County Fairgrounds $10 ($5 fair; $5 grandstand)

Clinton County Fairgrounds – $10

Barry County Expo – $13 ($3 fair; $10 grandstand)

Adair County Fair – $6

Atchison County Raceway – $12

Butler County Fairgrounds – $10

Lane County Fairgrounds – $10

Mills County Fairgrounds – $10

Miller County Fairgrounds – $10

Parker County Fairgrounds (Night #1) – Complimentary admission

Parker County Fairgrounds (Night #2) – Complimentary admission

Sheridan County Fairgrounds – $10

Devil’s Lake Speedway – $20 (ouch!)

Yellowhead International Speedway – $10 Canadian

Southern Illinois Raceway – $10

 

 

 

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 400 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,997

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 68

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.96

 

 

 

 

Answer to the puzzler: Three dogs, 41 cats and 56 mice.

 

 

That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

 

Click on the link below for a photo album from my trackchasing day:

 

 

A fun but rainy night from the Southern Illinois Raceway