Greetings from Jeffersonville, Indiana
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Sportsdrome Speedway
Asphalt figure 8
Lifetime Track #750
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Sportsdrome Speedway
Asphalt outer oval
Lifetime Track #751
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Sportsdrome Speedway
Asphalt inner oval
Lifetime Track #2,163
THE EVENT Today’s undertaking was just one of more than 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the 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. I’ll try my best to respond. Thanks! I sometimes see two or more tracks in a single day. When I do I will commonly combine my observations from both tracks into a single Trackchaser Report. That is the case today. This Trackchaser Report covers a visit to the Sportsdrome Speedway 2015. Earlier in the day I went to a UTV race at a place called “Cactus Jack” in Terre Haute, Indiana. This post will also feature Carol’s and my visit to the Sportsdrome Speedway from all the way back in 2004. That was an interesting trip. ON THE WAY TO THE RACES No. It really was a dust bowl. Last night I checked into my hotel room near Louisville, Kentucky at 3:30 a.m. I needed to be out of the hotel by 11:30 a.m. this morning in order to make my very active day a reality. Last night’s trackchasing visit to the 191 Speedway was a real dustbowl. If you have never followed short track racing I don’t think you really understand what I mean by dustbowl. Maybe you understand the process of sandblasting more than sitting in a dust pit at a local Kentucky strip mine. Nevertheless, neither situation is ideal. Opposites attract. I am a “morning” shower person. Carol is a evening shower person. She’s Catholic. I’m Protestant. I love desserts. She likes salads. Yes I guess opposites do attract. Because I am a morning shower person no matter how dirty and dusty I am the night before I never take a shower at night. I was in my room last night at about 3:30 a.m. I was in bed by about 3:35 a.m. This morning I needed to check on flight availability to cities including Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Austin and San Antonio. I’ll probably be touching down in most of those places in the next 36 hours. I would also have to manage my checked baggage in a most efficient way. I didn’t want to get a hernia moving them around all of the airports mentioned above. Rental car management is important. I was under a time press to return my rental car to the Indianapolis International Airport. Five days ago I had picked it up at 2:33 p.m. It was going to be a two-hour drive from my hotel this morning up to the Indy airport. If all went well I should be able to get the car up there fully gassed and ready to roll by about 1:30 p.m. I didn’t have a lot of time to waste. I was hoping to close out the contract on my current rental car and reopen a new contract by keeping the same car. That would keep me from having to move my luggage from one car to another. However I would need to refuel the National Car Rental Racing Hyundai Sonata just in case I came across a stubborn rental car agent. Once I got the rental car situation figured out I would have to hustle over to Terre Haute, Indiana. My race there was expected to start at 4 p.m. I couldn’t miss the start. It would be a one-hour drive from the Indianapolis airport over to Terre Haute. Hotfooting it. Following the racing in Terre Haute I would immediately have to hotfoot it down toward Louisville, Kentucky. Of course I had SLEPT in Louisville just LAST night. Following the racing in Louisville it was back to the Indianapolis airport area for a short hotel stay. Yes I would be returning to Indianapolis after I just been there exchanging rental cars at 2 p.m. It sounds like some wasted and/or duplicative effort but it was the best idea I could come up with. I had a “white and red” rental car. My white rental car was filthy with the red southern dust from last night’s racing in Kentucky. This drew a stern look from the rental car agent when I closed out my contract on the five-day rental I had. I told her I wanted to keep the same car. She leaned her head in the window and said, “When you return the car as dirty as this we won’t be able to confirm you have no damage until we wash it. After we wash it we will be able to see if there are any scratches and dings.” She reminded me of a fourth grade schoolteacher scolding a pupil for poor penmanship. I didn’t like that. Revenge is sweet. However I did get a bit of revenge. When she took her head out of the window (and out of my face) she noticed she had been resting her hand on my driver side outdoor mirror. Of course it was covered in red dirt and mud. Now she was covered in red dirt and mud, which was on her hand and now on her blouse. I needed to get out of there quick before anything bad happened. However I was now in a playful mood. I took my car to the rental car exit counter. As I checked out I said to the young male agent, “They don’t clean up these cars very well anymore do they?” Gotcha. He looked at my car and could barely figure out its color was white. He started into a full array of apologies when I stopped him. I told him I was just keeping my car from yesterday on a new contract. He breathed a collective sigh of relief. I smiled and told him, “I gotcha didn’t I? ” He assured me that I had. Folks, you’re going to have to trust me on this. I am a professional. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I have established systems that allow me to maximize the efficiency of both logistics and expense. If there was a better way of doing it I would have done it that way. However even as a professional I am going to make some mistakes from time to time. I have so many details that are important to the success of each trackchasing day. Sometimes it is difficult to keep track of everything. You’ve heard me tell you about the “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers”. Those are the people with the huge trackchasing budgets. You might think because I’ve seen more tracks than anyone else and travel more extensively that it is ME with the big trackchasing budget. However if you read my reports closely you know I manage expenses tightly. I’ve been doing this a long time on the meager savings that Carol and I accumulated during my working career. We’ve got to make that meager savings last a lifetime. THE RACING Cactus Jack – Terre Haute, Indiana Sorry. I was broke. I had arrived at the my hotel in the middle of the night last night. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep and was now on a bonsai run over to Terre Haute, Indiana for their 4 p.m. start. I thought I had all my bases covered. I had been communicating with my contact Erica to confirm the race was on as well as the starting time. Everything was perfectly on schedule. By the way Erica is the best person I have ever communicated with when it comes to quick follow up and fantastic texting capabilities. Good job Erica. However there was just one small item I had overlooked. Today’s admission fee was going to be $15 if it was like the other programs this group has organized that I have attended. Normally $15 for an admission ticket isn’t a problem for me. Today it could be. Why? I only had eight dollars to my name! That’s right I had been spending money right and left and center and somehow I was down to eight dollars. I had not thought about some sort of cash replenishment plan. I guess I did have a little bag of quarters that I use for my laundry. However I didn’t think everything I had with me on the trip would add up to 15 bucks. I’m sure I could have talked to Erica. She would have let me “slide” on the admission price one way or the other. However I never ask folks for free tickets. That’s not polite or ethical in my mind. I would do my best to come up with the money. I would pay my fair share when I arrived at the spectator gates. Robbing a bank….or finding a Citibank ATM? I figured that short of robbing a bank finding a Citibank ATM would be my best option. We use Citibank at home. Citibank has a business relationship with 7-Eleven convenience stores. Most 7-Eleven’s have a Citibank ATM. However after searching my 7-Eleven iPhone app as I drove down the highway at 80 MPH I found no Citibanks between Indianapolis and Terre Haute. Nevertheless I soon found an ATM at a Pilot Truck Stop. There would be an additional $3.50 ATM charge from Pilot. Then I would get hit with another charge on our bank’s end. I would now have to go front and center in front of Carol and explain myself. She doesn’t like incurring ATM fees. I wasn’t looking forward to that. Now with some “green in my jeans” I finished the last few miles over to Terre Haute, Indiana. Erica from the Midwest Cross County Racing group was nice enough to text me about some road construction. There was a road detour that might slow me down. She texted a complete set of directions that would get me to the track with little delay. I arrived at 3:41 p.m. for the 4 p.m. start. When you’re making a three hour drive that includes a trip to the airport to return your rental car and get a new one, filling up with gas, stopping for a drive-thru lunch and finding an ATM at the last minute, arriving 19 minutes ahead of an appointment is cutting it close. Lots of Terre Haute memories. It was hot and humid in Terre Haute. This was not my first visit to the “Crossroads of America” city. When I was in college, Northern Illinois University played at Indiana State University in basketball. From time to time when I was in college I followed the NIU Huskies when they played on the road. That was always fun. Additionally my am uncle Bill and aunt Lucille lived in Terre Haute. Uncle Bill worked at the Indiana state penitentiary. They were a fun loving couple. Both weighed in at about 300 pounds and rode on one huge motorcycle. Lucille was the best baker of sweet rolls I knew at the time. If you’re not early you’re late. The good thing about the Midwest Cross Country Racing group is that they start their racing on time. If they say 4 o’clock they will start on time. This was my third visit to a MWCC racing event during my 66-day trip. Each time I’ve shown up at the “last-minute” and each time I’ve seen the ATV racers leaving the track on their trailers. The ATVs had raced earlier in the day. This racing organization has a core group of about 10-12 UTV racers. The racers are divided into two classes in general. The “900s and 1000s” are in one group. The smaller 800 “lites” run in their own classification. Woods, brush and sand. Today’s course was going to be run over a 2-mile dirt, really sand, road course. It wound itself into the woods and brush. You’ll see from my video that despite wearing my brand-new Tanger outlet slip on shoes I made my way out into the dirt and brush. I was intent on getting close-up video of the never before seen racing action. When you go out on the trail like that with UTV racing machines flying all around you better keep an eye out or you will become road kill. When the green flag is raised…. I grew up watching oval racing. When the green flag drops the cars start racing on an oval track. With UTV racing lots of things are much different than what you would find at an oval racetrack. They don’t start their race with the drop of the green flag. They “raise” the green flag. The starter takes the green flag and points the top of his flagstick into the ground. Then when he raises the flag from the ground into the air all of the racers take off. Today they were starting the race with “dead engines”. That meant that when the green flag was raised the racers would START their engines and drive away from the starting line. Not all drivers are as fluent in getting their engines started as others! Today’s racing would feature two separate races in one. First the higher powered machines, about eight of them, all started at the same time for their race. Then 30 seconds later the four 800 UTV racers took off. Within about 50-75 yards they were totally out of sight for two reasons. First the course turned into the woods at that point. Secondly and more importantly the cloud of dust was so severe that all of the racers were totally obliterated by the dust just 50 yards from the starting line. Can we just stop and think about this? Let’s think about this for a moment. It’s nearly 90° and humid. The dust is so thick that when the racers leave the starting line you can’t see them after 50 yards. Couple that with the fact that the surface they were racing on was nearly pure sand. It was under these conditions that I ventured out into the dirt, brush and woods to film close up racing action for your viewing enjoyment. Yes, I like you, feel that it was a sacrifice too. Today’s racing was on a 2-mile track. Spectators who stayed at the start/finish line probably couldn’t see more than 5-10% of the racing action. Where I chose to go I could see most of the track as long as I kept moving around. The Midwest Cross County Racing group races motorcycles, ATVs and UTVs. Each of these three groups race on a slightly different course. The racers follow arrows painted on pieces of paper attached to trees and brush. Today the UTV competitors would follow the green arrows. Who does this? When I was out in the brush I could see pathways through the woods. I was really amazed at how sandy the surface was. I tried to stay 5-10 feet off the racing surface. I looked both ways before I crossed the track when I needed to. My best bet was to simply to listen for the engine noise. That helped me determine whether a racer was coming in my direction or not. Most of the racing machines carry both a driver and a guide. The side-by-side machines are jumping and bouncing around a good deal. It’s got to be a heckuva ride. It wasn’t long before I had seen pretty much all I could see. I got several good pieces of videos and lots of photos. I even have one video clip of a pit stop that happened right in front of me on impromptu basis. Don’t miss the video. I like watching these guys race. They perform at a number of different venues and start the races on time. I’ve got some good contacts within the group now and that helps a lot. I very much appreciate their help. Sportsdrome Speedway – Jeffersonville, , Indiana Trackchasing doubles the lifeblood for a trackchaser. From Terre Haute I was heading down to Jeffersonville, Indiana. Jeffersonville is just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. Jeffersonville is also home to the Sportsdrome Speedway. That track has been operating there since 1947. I was hoping for a “day/night” trackchasing double. If successful I would end up seeing my 111th track of the year in just 86 trackchasing days. You can do the math. That’s 25 days where I’ve seen two tracks in a single day. I would have thought that long ago doubles would have dried up for me. However, in 2015, I’m having one of my best trackchasing doubles years ever. Some promoters are just good guys. That was the case tonight. I have been following a group that races champ karts on the dirt in southern Indiana for a couple of years now. Earlier this spring I spent some time on the phone with their organizer Dean Worrall. Dean’s a nice guy. He took the time to explain to me what their racing program was all about. I was about as shocked as anyone with what I learned a few days ago. Dean and his group would be racing on the asphalt at the Sportsdrome Speedway. In 2004 I had seen a combination “same facility” trackchasing double at Sportsdrome. On that night they raced on the quarter-mile asphalt oval and the Sportsdrome figure 8 track. What I didn’t know, but I could confirm from Google Earth, is that the Sportsdrome Speedway also has a 1/6 mile flat asphalt oval. I’m not sure how long it’s been there. I don’t know if they have raced on it in the past. This was the race plan. Tonight the plan was to race three different classes of go-karts as sort of an exhibition. Dean wanted to expose his kart classes to a broader spectator base. Tonight the Sportsdrome Speedway was having a figure 8 special. They were going to have a 100-lapper on the figure 8 track. They would have a huge crowd on hand to see the racing given the go-karts the exposure Dean was looking for. Logistics. Logistics. Logistics. There was one minor but significant logistical obstruction. The go-karting heat races were scheduled to run off at 6 p.m. The Sportsdrome Speedway prides themselves in keeping a strict racing itinerary. Dean told me the kart feature events were going to begin at 7:50 p.m. That was the news I was most interested in. It was going to be a three hour drive from Terre Haute down to Jeffersonville, Indiana. There was no way I could make it in time for the heat races. However if I kept the pedal to the metal I thought it might be able to make it to the track by 7:50 p.m. Promoter Dean understands my trackchasing hobby reasonably well. He knows that the flat carts do not count in my program. Therefore he offered up a suggestion. Permit me to explain. This is important. Before I tell you what his idea was I want to explain something. I NEVER attempt to influence a promoter to do something that they weren’t planning on doing in the first place. I know that trackchasing’s Guy Smith and some of his cronies have paid people to run a race on a track that they hadn’t planned on using. I know he’s offered other “Elements of Encouragement” to get tracks run off in a way that benefits him. I don’t do that. I think it’s unethical. I think it’s frankly dishonest. During my conversation with Dean I told him I was going to be at a race at 4 p.m. in Terre Haute. I told him I would do my best to get down to the Sportsdrome Speedway in time for the feature events. I explained that I expected the drive to take three hours basing that on what my Waze GPS system was telling me. Dean, a knowledgeable Indiana native, said the drive from Terre Haute might take a little bit less than the three hours I was planning on. I don’t know what the original order of the three-kart classes was going to be for tonight’s race program. There were two groups of flat carts and one group of champ karts. Dean told me he would have the champ kart feature event run last giving me the maximum amount of time to get there. I very much appreciated that. Just to be clear….perfectly clear. However I must reiterate a very important point. I did not ask nor did I suggest that Dean run the champ karts as the last event of the racing program. My objective in trackchasing is to run a 100% honest and upright program. I wish all the other trackchasers did the same. Dean told me one more thing about his champ kart racing for tonight. He would be combining both senior champs and junior champ racers into one feature race. There was no problem with that idea according to trackchasing rules. Junior champ karts…senior champ karts…what’s the difference? Let me take a moment to explain the difference between junior champ kart racing and senior Champ kart racing. For the most part the karts themselves are the same. Tonight it appeared that the junior karts in some cases were just a little bit smaller than the senior champ karts. However the main differentiator between junior champ kart racing and senior champ kart is the age of the drivers. In virtually every circumstance junior champ car drivers are racers aged 17 and younger. The age ranges will vary but normally no “adults” are allowed to race junior champ karts. On the other hand the senior champ karts do not have an upper age limit. Drivers younger than 18 may race senior champs. However, the key is there is no upper age limit on who can race a senior champ. A historic trackchasing ruling. Long ago then trackchasing Commissioner Will White ruled that a combination of senior champ karts and junior champ karts could race together as a trackchasing countable group. As a matter fact my 1,000th lifetime track at the Auburndale Speedway kart track in Auburndale, Florida was a contest between one senior champ kart and one junior camp kart. On that night a father/son combination had shown up to race. The son drove the junior champ kart and the father was in the senior champ kart. From what I could tell they had a wonderful time racing each other. At the time of the race I didn’t know if that situation was going to be accepted by the trackchasing commissioner or not. I didn’t learn until after I returned home whether or not I had seen my 1,000th lifetime track or not! On that night my stepfather Bill and his wife Betty as well as Ed Esser and Carol joined me in Auburndale. It was a festive night. I needed a car wash…and got one. This afternoon I had gotten great cooperation from the UTV folks in Terre Haute as well as the kart organizer in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Now all I had to do was get to the track on time to see the champ kart feature racing event. That would prove a little more problematic than I had originally anticipated. I must tell you the weather forecast on the drive south was bad. Rain was everywhere. However, I was looking forward to the rain! My car was so filthy. I was planning to get a car wash if there was time. That might prevent some hassle when I returned the car to the airport. The rain did a good job of cleaning up the National Car Rental Racing Hyundai Sonata and its white paint job. However the car is so aerodynamic that when I drove down the highway despite it raining like cats and dogs the rear window was completely dry. The trunk deck was dry…and still very dirty. This rainstorm fooled me. I was driving down Interstate 65 from Indianapolis toward Louisville. The really bad rain seemed to be around Seymour, Indiana. I figured I would drive through that storm and have 20 miles or more of dry pavement before I got to the Sportsdrome Speedway. However even that rainstorm moved south or a new rainstorm, with lots of yellow and red radar, developed quickly just north of Louisville. I was in a driving rainstorm for 30 or 40 miles. Trees were laying all over the interstate. Find your friends. I was in texting contact with my buddy Greg Robbins. He was following my progress using the “Find your friends” iPhone app. With that app we can see each other’s location down to the house just about. When I got within 20 miles of the track I forwarded Greg a 15-second video of the rainstorm that was pelting my car. When I got to within 15 miles of the track, then within 10 miles and five miles, I sent him a video each time. The weather radar looked like it was just on the edge of what might be the Sportsdrome Speedway location. Amazing but true. As God is my witness the rain that has been disturbing my drive for 40 miles stopped less than a mile from the track! Although the radar seemed to indicate that in advance I could hardly believe it. I pulled into the Sportsdrome Speedway parking lot. The place was jammed. This is one of the 50 tracks or so in the country that still does box office business. I didn’t know if the rain that I had been driving through was going to move over the track or away from the track. I hurriedly parked my car in a grassy parking area. That wouldn’t be a good spot if the heavy rains came in. My name would be on the list. Promoter Dean told me my name would be on a list of folks allowed a complementary pit admission tonight. That was the most generous offer. Tonight pit passes were selling for $25. However not everything goes smoothly all the time. No one could find Dean’s list. Another gentleman was waiting ahead of me with the same problem. There wasn’t much time to debate things. Time it was of the essence. It was 7:40 p.m. Bad weather was in the area and possibly moving in. The go-kart racing features, according to the advance plan from Dean, were to begin at 7:50 p.m. That was in just 10 minutes. Using my salesmanship persuasion skills I convinced the speedway powers to be to let us into the general admission area if nothing else. They agreed to do that. I promised I would track Dean down for the pit pass admission approval. Off I went. Despite some uncertainties I had perfect timing. Just as Dean had said the go-kart feature racing was beginning at 7:50 p.m. The first thing I saw moving onto the track tonight was a group of flat carts starting their feature race. Great. I was in time. I was going to see lifetime track number 2,163. I just had to wait 10-15 minutes for the senior champs to get on the track. Nothing worthwhile in life is easy. If it were then everybody would have everything they wanted. While the first flat kart race was happening it began to rain. It rained hard enough for the packed grandstand to empty. The fans sought shelter underneath the grandstand. Was I going to go through all of this and come so close and be rained out? The funny thing was that off to the west there was a beautiful sunset even though it was raining at the track. These guys wee hysterical. The announcers were funny. It was raining steadily. They told the crowd the track had gone into a “weather delay”. Duh. They announced that if the program were rained out they would resume tomorrow night Sunday. That wasn’t a bad plan considering Monday was Labor Day. They kept saying, “It is raining and the surface is getting wet. Because the surface is wet we won’t be racing until we make a decision a little bit later.” They were masters at stating the obvious. Luckily for me the track had an asphalt surface. The rain soon dissipated. They brought out a school bus dragging a huge tractor tire as well as other vehicles to help dry the track. I also met up with Dean. This was my first personal meeting with him. He conferred with the racetrack owner. I was allowed into the pit area. Thank you Dean! The rain stopped. The track was dry enough to continue. That meant the go-karts would come back onto the track for their exhibition racing. I’m sure some of the fans were happy to see the karts because it was new racing for them. Others probably thought the karts were putting the rest of the program in jeopardy with the uncertain whether. Nice folks. I had a chance to talk to several of the senior champ and junior champ drivers and owners. They were a nice group and happy to be performing in front of a large crowd. I moved from the pit area up into the grandstand. There I could get a better view of the kart racing on the small 1/6-mile asphalt oval. That’s where I took most of my photos and all of my video of the racing action. The pictures will explain how the racing went. I enjoyed it especially considering the harrowing circumstances that preceded the drop of the green flag on the champ kart race. Oval racing on the quarter-mile too. When the karts were finished I went back down to the pit area to thank Dean for his hospitality and generosity. He was standing by himself next to the fence of the quarter-mile track. He appeared to be lost in deep thought. There is been some banging in the champ kart race and the flat kart races as well. I asked him how he thought the kart racing went. He said it was pretty good except for the arguing after the race, which he didn’t like. I’m sure some of the racers were a little mad at each other for the pushing and shoving that went on. A mini stock race was ready to begin for 20 laps on the quarter-mile oval. Dean told me that his son was driving car #92. He was starting on the pole for the feature race. I’m happy to report that Dean’s son led every lap despite lots of pressure from a couple of guys and lots of lapped traffic. It was a fun race to watch just 10 feet or so from where the cars were pounding around the track. How lucky can one guy get? This just goes to show how lucky I was tonight. It started to rain again. This time the rain was much harder. I didn’t have a lot of time to stay around for another rain delay and track drying process. I would love to of stayed to see the 100-lap figure 8 feature event. They race late model looking stock cars with large plastic side boards in the figure 8 class. I did take the opportunity to buy a two-dollar hotdog and a $2.50 20-ounce plastic bottled Diet Mountain Dew. That would be “supper”. I had no time to stop earlier. The rain was coming down harder now. Lots of fans were heading to the parking lot. I was one of them. I would have to check back later to see if they waited out this rain or if they canceled and raced on Sunday evening. AFTER THE RACES 62 days – 22,000 driving miles. Now I was facing a two-hour drive from the Louisville area back up to Indianapolis. This would make seven hours of driving today. I have now driven about 22,000 miles on this trip through day #62. When you back out about 10 days when Carol and I were vacationing and not using the car virtually at all that’s 22,000 miles over 50 days or so. I would be staying in a Country Inn and Suites Hotel in Indianapolis. Priceline charged me just $45. The best online rate for this property was $79. That was a nice savings. This is all just part of it. However the good luck I had with racing today did not transfer over to my hotel. When I arrived my room was on the third floor. I learned the elevator was broken. I had dragged my extra bag with me to re-organize stuff in the hotel room. After I lugged it up to the third-floor I found out my room keys were not working. This required another trip down to the front desk and back up to the third-floor again. I would only have three hours of sleep tonight before departing for a very early morning flight to Minneapolis. The last trackchasing day. Tomorrow will be my last day of trackchasing on this 66-day trip. It seems like it really went fast actually. However I am sure I will enjoy relaxing in Southern California when I get home. Of course that won’t be until I spend three more days visiting grandbabies in Austin, Texas. More about that in my next report. Good night. Indiana The Hoosier state This afternoon and evening I had seen my 86th and 87th lifetime tracks in the Hoosier state, yes the Hoosier state. I’ve seen 87 or more tracks in six states. 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 Indiana definition: Tornado Most people see the word tornado and think, RUN AWAY! In Indiana, it is custom to grab a beer, sit out on the lawn, and watch the twister pass you by. QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles RENTAL CAR #1 O’Hare International Airport – trip begins London, KY Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 766 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins Bedford, KY Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 603 miles RENTAL CAR #3 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins Aitken, MN Morten, Manitoba, Canada LaGrange, IN Manchester, IA Oskaloosa, IA Bowling Green, IN Buncombe, IL Ionia, MI Osgood, IN Hemlock, NY Taylorville, IL Cambridge, MN Mora, MN Urbana, IL Bedford, KY Owenton, KY LeMars, IA Belleville, KS Grayslake, IL Brazil, IN La Grange, KY Grayslake, IL Sturgis, SD Martinsburg, WV Tazewell, VA Henry, VA Belmar, NJ Berryville, VA Croton, OH Stockton, KS Bates City, MO Farmington, MO Barnum, MN Victoria, British Columbia Springfield, IL Scotland, SD Russellville, MO Put-in-Bay, OH Kinross, MI Sitka, KY Campton, KY Terre Haute, IN Jeffersonville, IN TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Laurel County Fairgrounds – $10 (not a trackchasing expense) Trimble County Recreational Facility – $10 Aitken County Fairgrounds (oval) – complimentary admission Aitken County Fairgrounds (RC) – $8 ALH Motor Speedway – complimentary admission LaGrange County Fairgrounds – $10 Delaware County Fairgrounds – $10 Mahaska County Fairgrounds – $5 Sandstone – $15 (include pits) HBR Raceway – $10 (included pits) Ionia Free Fair – $13 Ripley County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Hemlock County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Christian County Fairgrounds – $8 Isanti County Fairgrounds – $12 Kanabec County Fairgrounds – $10 Champaign County Fairgrounds – $6 Dirty Turtle Off-Road Park – complimentary admission Owenton County Fairgrounds – $10 Plymouth County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Belleville High Banks – $20 Lake County Fairgrounds – $8 Staunton MX – $15 Oldham County Fairgrounds – $10 Lake County Fairgrounds – $10 Buffalo Chip – $20 Berkeley County Youth Fairgrounds – $10 Tazewell County Fair Speedway – $10 Providence Raceway – $10 Wall Stadium Speedway – no charge Clarke County Fairgrounds – $7 Hartford County Fairgrounds – $7 Rooks County Speedway – $10 JSI Off-Road Park – No charge St. Francois County Raceway – $5 Carlton County Fairgrounds – $15 Western Speedway – $5 Canadian (about four bucks U.S.) Multi-Purpose Arena @ Illinois State Fairgrounds Lonetree Creek Race Park – Complimentary admission Russellville Lion’s Club – $8 Put-in-Bay Airport – no charge Chippewa County Fairgrounds – $12 201 Speedway – $20 191 Speedway – $15 Cactus Jack – $15 Sportsdrome Speedway – Complimentary admission (pit pass) 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 500 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS Where do they make baseball bats? Jeffersonville, Indiana is a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky. Jeffersonville is located across the Indiana-Kentucky state line and only a mile from Louisville. When we came through Louisville, a minor league baseball game was going on in a beautiful open air baseball stadium at Louisville Slugger Field. Carol and I have been to the Louisville Slugger Museum a couple of times. At the museum, you can see Louisville Slugger baseball bats being made. It’s such a great tourist attraction that I will offer my RANDY’S SPECIAL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Just as a reminder, if you try one of my recommendations and don’t like it, you get your money back from me. Please make sure to read about the Southern Indiana humanitarian of the year nominee below the racing news section. RACING NEWS: A lot like Saugus. The Sportsdrome Speedway races cars on both a nearly flat asphalt quarter-mile oval as well as a traditional asphalt figure 8 race course. The oval reminds me a lot of the old Saugus, California track. These two tracks were my 750th and 751st lifetime tracks (Carol’s 157th & 158th). This facility has been racing since 1947. There are just a handful of tracks that have been racing since the 1947-1955 period on a continuous basis. A seasoned trackchaser knows that any track that has been racing for this long is going to be a well-run track. The Sportsdrome was an entertaining track, although it’s in a well developed commercial area and it’s hard to tell how much longer the track might be there. You can see the track on the west side of Interstate 65 at exit 2. The weather was gorgeous with a bright blue sky. Admission was $10 per person. We bought a track program for $2. Very few tracks are offering a program these days. The Sportsdrome Speedway has ample grandstand seating on both the front and back stretches. I recommend sitting on the front straightaway since the sun faces directly into the backstretch. Dromers…and more. The program started at its scheduled 7 p.m. time. There are four classes at this track. They have street stocks for the oval and figure eight tracks and “dromers” for both tracks. This is down home racing as several drivers raced in t-shirts (no fire protection) and open-faced helmets, similar to the helmet Dale Earnhardt Sr. was wearing when he was killed at Daytona. It is very rare to see either of these safety requirements being ignored. There were 13 heat races in all. After the 13th heat race, they went directly into the 22-car dromer oval A feature. This was all completed by 9:10 p.m. The P.A. is a bit weak at this track. It seems that tracks have a hard time with the volume of their P.A. systems. They either blow you away with the sound or you can’t hear the announcer very well at all. The pit area is located off of turns three and four. They have an old time electronic scoreboard that lists laps completed and the top five running positions. Like many tracks I’ve attended recently, the announcer stands at the top of the grandstand in full view of the spectators and does his commentating. A drawback to the figure 8 racing. There was one significant drawback to the figure 8 racing during the heats. Although they started nine or ten cars in each race the track was so big and the cars so equally matched that their was no action at all at the “X”. Carol commented that the figure 8 track was too big for any real action. The opposite, meaning the track is too short, is the problem at many of the “made for figure 8 racing” venues that are popping up at county fairs. After each race, the winner comes by, picks up the checkered flag, and drives a slow lap around the oval in the clockwise direction. Winston Cup champion Allan Kulwicki made this lap famous as the “Polish victory lap”. Actually, Peoria Speedway had their driver’s take a “backwards” victory lap like this since the early 50s. I always thought it was so the crowd could see the driver up close as he paraded near the fence at a slow pace. Billboard advertising at the track. The track has a series of advertising billboards along the turns one and two area. I liked this one: WORLD FAMOUS TATOO CHARLIES “Where your daddy got his” But what about Thunder Valley? Carol agrees with Guy Smith and says, “It’s the best one (track) I’ve been too in a awhile”. Although I enjoyed the racing, I did not find it so compelling that I couldn’t get up after seeing one feature and head for a nighttime triple at the Thunder Valley Speedway in nearby Salem, Indiana. Editor’s note: As of February 2016 I still have not seen any racing at the Thunder Valley Speedway. For those interested in a heart-warming human nature story please read the following: Just 37 miles from the Sportsdrome Speedway. The Thunder Valley Speedway in Salem, Indiana is only 37 miles from the Sportsdrome Speedway. Half of that distance is along Interstate 65. We had another big advantage in attempting this quadruple trackchasing day. We were moving from the Eastern time zone to the Central time zone. It was 9 p.m. EDT when we left Jeffersonville and it would be 9 p.m. CST or earlier when we were expected to arrive in Salem. The final 17 miles is along the infamous Indiana State Route 160. I don’t know if you’ve driven on southern Indiana back roads but it is not for the faint-hearted. The speed limit is 45 M.P.H. if that gives you a clue. If you’ve been on the roller coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm recently then you will understand what SR 160 is all about. Nevertheless, Carol is an adventurous soul, at least when she’s strapped in the passenger seat and I’m controlling the door locks. Limited sight line. Where can you have the fun of going over a hill where the road sign announces, “Limited sight line?” When you drive up and over the hill it looks and feels like you’re being launched toward the moon. Speaking of the moon, it was full. It lit up the tobacco fields almost like daylight. We also stopped to watch a deer along the side of the road illuminated by the moonlight. After we viewed him for a few seconds, the deer bounded, from a standing start, over a fence and was gone. We followed the National Speedway Directory directions as well as the track’s feeble small signs to the Washington County Fairgrounds. We knew we were in the right area but there was no track to be found. Had aliens swooped down on a full moon lit night and abducted all of the IMCA modifieds and their fans? Excuse me, we can’t find our way. We drove a bit further into town and spotted a family of four just leaving a restaurant. I rolled down the power window (I’ve always wanted to write that) and asked for directions. The father in the group began to give directions to the Salem Speedway, a second track in the small town of Salem. We didn’t want to go there, although I do have fond memories of visiting this track back in about 1971. I was there with my stepfather and Ken Poole for an ARCA 500 lap race. Notably, Bobby Allison was there in a Roger Penske Matador and Peorian, Jim Strube raced. It was also my first visit ever to Kentucky Fried Chicken, which was very appropriate since we were only a few miles from the KFC headquarters in Louisville. However, I digress. The father knew where Salem Speedway was but he didn’t know where we wanted to go, which was the Thunder Valley Speedway. We drove around some more and ended up in a residential neighborhood. Would YOU do this? We happened across a car parked in the street in front of one of the houses. Inside the car were two young women. I asked for directions. I don’t know what I might have been interrupting. The driver said the track was right at the fairgrounds, although she admitted she had never been there for the races. I told her we had driven all over the darkened fairgrounds and had not seen anything. At this point, she volunteered to drive over to the track and have us follow her. Now I ask you, if you were parked in front of your house (and why would you be?), would you have a complete stranger follow you AWAY from your house and into a completely darkened area? No, I didn’t think you would. However, that was what this girl did. And what did we do? We knocked her in the head and killed her. No, we didn’t do that, although Carol wanted too (no, she didn’t!). We simply followed her to the fairgrounds and found a very dark and wet Thunder Valley Speedway. It was only due to the moonlight that we could make the track out at all. I could see large puddles in the infield. I had attempted to call the track earlier in the day, but the NSD listed phone number provided a number that was no longer in operation. This is my third or fourth track this year that has cancelled early and had the weather be perfect at race time. Pin-sticking voodoo dolls? Could this adventure be the result of Guy Smith sticking pins in a Randy voodoo doll because I was being sacrilegious and trying for a pre-arranged trackchasing triple? Probably. Nevertheless, I have to compliment the young woman for going out of her way to help us out. Her graciousness, along with a couple of other people in the area has now put Southern Indiana people in a tie with Iowa residents as the nicest people in the United States. Editor’s Note: Carol wants it known that she disavows herself from all of the words written above. RACE TRACK FOOD: Beers were a buck and a half. Carol bought them (because I am always carded) while I went to the food line. She said they had a bowl of pretzels at the beer tent you could munch on while waiting for your brewskies. We went with the BBQ sandwich, cheeseburger, popcorn and peanuts. I asked the food server, which was, better the BBQ sandwich or cheeseburger. He said they were about the same. Wrong! Carol’s pre-packaged cheeseburger was much better than my BBQ sandwich. Of course, everything of value is in the eye of the beholder. I just wished Carol hadn’t been holding that cheeseburger. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix has good air-conditioning vents. This is Carol’s favorite part of the car. ED ESSER & P.J. HOLLEBRAND UPDATE: Check this area on my last report of this trip to see what Ed and P.J. have been up too. As of July 20, 2004, the battle for positions 7-10 in the worldwide trackchaser standings is as follows: CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES: Chicago O’Hara Airport – trip begins Grand Rapids, Michigan – 221 miles (Allan drove to Ionia, Munger & Auburn – 431 additional miles) Roseville, Illinois – 629 miles Madison, Illinois – 779 miles Jeffersonville, Indiana – 999 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES (U.S. DOLLARS): Ionia Fairgrounds – $10 ($5 parking) Munger Fairgrounds – $0 Tri-City Speedway – $0 Warren County Fairgrounds – $7 Gateway Intl Raceway (road course) – $0 Sportsdrome Speedway – $10 Thanks for following the trials and tribulations of my trackchasing hobby. Randy Lewis 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. **Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, June 12 **Charleston Speedway, Charleston, Illinois, May 22 **Sunshine Speedway (oval), Pinellas Park, Florida, April 3 **Central Arizona Raceway, Casa Grande, Arizona, January 20 1-Aug Regular program Jackson Speedway Jackson, OH 1-Aug Regular program Ninety-three Spdwy Oak Hill, OH Click on the links below to see the “Video Plus” productions from the off-road racing at Cactus Jack and the kart racing at the Sportsdrome Speedway. . . A picture is worth more than 900 words. That’s right. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. Double click on a photo to begin the slide show or watch the photos at your own pace. Hover over a photo to read the caption. 2015 – Midwest Cross Country Racing from Cactus Jack – Terre Haute, Indiana 2015 – Sportsdrome Speedway – inner oval racing and more 
Greetings from Jeffersonville, Indiana
Racetracks visited in 2004 (** not the first time to visit this track)
Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)