Greetings from Stafford Springs, Connecticut
From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Stafford Motor Speedway – 1/2-mile – asphalt oval – Lifetime track #76
Stafford Motor Speedway – Inner oval asphalt kart track – Lifetime track #1,079
Stafford Motor Speedway – Asphalt road course – Lifetime track #1,454
Downtown Ridgefield, CT In 1979 my family and I moved from Mission Viejo, California to Ridgefield, Connecticut. I would be working out of our corporate offices in Wilton, Connecticut. Talk about culture shock. The nearest McDonalds to our home was 45 minutes away. I had a brand new 1980 Cadillac Sedan Deville with a diesel engine. Diesel stations were so rare that I ended up putting a 200-gallon fuel tank inside my garage. I only had to “fill-up” up a couple times each year that way. I was a Darrell Dake fan! Although luckily he never had to race this Caddy. We had a beautiful executive home that I only saw during the daylight on weekends. Our major heat source was wood. Our wood stove would run out of wood fuel about 5:30 a.m. each morning. In the cold I would be stuffing it just to keep everyone from freezing to death. I had to keep telling myself “You got a promotion to come here”. It sure didn’t feel like it. Just three weeks after getting delivery of my new red Cadillac (my boss drove a pretty well used up Honda Civic hatchback) it was broken into at the LaGuardia airport causing $2,000 worth of damage. Then during the course of ownership the car required THREE diesel engines. That was the worst, by far, new car I ever owned. Luckily, from a quality of life standpoint we got out of Connecticut after just 15 months. Then we were moved to the Siberian ice box that Americans call Chicago. OMgosh. Nevertheless, the highlight of my stay on the East coast was the racing. I saw racing at Danbury, Orange County Fair Speedway, Lincoln, Grandview, Fleming, Nazareth, Lebanon Valley, East Windsor and Wall Stadium just to name a few. I grew to love dirt modified racing. Since those visits in 1980 I’ve been back for racing on their inner oval kart track and road course. The racing was excellent back in those times at this track. You might have remembrances about the racing in Stafford Springs. If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. The half-mile asphalt oval. In 1980 I was not a “trackchaser” but a “racechaser”. I chose the tracks I wanted to visit based upon the quality of racing and which drivers were expected to show up. In those days many of the top drivers followed the circuit. That meant I followed my favorite drivers and I followed the circuit they did. As time passed the number of tracks I was seeing began to build up. One of those drivers was Richie Evans. He always drove an orange car with #61 on its side. He was a winner and arch rival of Geoff Bodine. Evans was killed at the Martinsville Speedway in a practice crash in 1985. In 2011 Richie Evans elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and inducted with the 2012 class. We was the first NASCAR short track driver to enter the HoF. Reprinted from my July 17, 2006 Trackchaser Report GREETINGS FROM STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT AND THE READERS RESPOND From an Ontario, Canada reader, regarding my comments about the unusual number of rules and regulations we found at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Fair Haven, Vermont. “Both Devil’s Bowl and Albany Saratoga (Malta NY) have the same draconian rules. the Richards family aren’t the most fan friendly promoters, I would not attend another one of their shows if it was across the street from my house.” CAROL AND I WOKE UP IN RUTLAND, VERMONT. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY. PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS The Strategy Our trackchasing strategy worked very well on this trip. We were overnight for six days. For the trip, Carol saw nine new countable tracks and I saw seven. We would have seen more except for a rainout and another track that cancelled when enough racecars did not show up. You would not believe how much time I put into planning the logistics of a trackchasing trip. Nevertheless, as soon as the plane lands, the entire trip can be thrown into a state of flux if the weather does not cooperate. Unbelievably, we did not end up seeing even half of the tracks that were on the original schedule because of bad weather or a bad weather forecast. The Trip Today we would have time for a TTA (Trackchasing Tourist Attraction). We did have nearly 300 miles to drive to tonight’s track, but that would still leave us a couple of hours to do some local sightseeing. We had two such things in mind. The first potential stop was the Basketball Hall of Fame (http://www.hoophall.com/). The entire Lewis family had visited this place about 20 years ago. It’s one of the best halls of fame I have ever visited. I believe the museum has expanded a good deal during the past several years. They have all kinds of interactive displays and basketball memorabilia. Growing up in East Peoria, Illinois exposed me to the NIBL (National Industrial Basketball League). Caterpillar Tractor Company has their world headquarters in nearby Peoria, Illinois. “Cat” had an entry in the NIBL appropriately called the “Caterpillar Cats.” The coach of the Cats was Warren Womble. Coach Womble was the head coach of the gold medal winning U.S. basketball Olympic teams in 1952, ’56 and ’60. This is all documented in the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Our other TTA choice was located in Shelburne, Vermont. It was the Vermont Teddy Bear (http://vtbear.stores.yahoo.net/) Factory. I’m sure you’ve heard this company’s radio commercials around Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. The TTA choice was Carol’s. I tried to explain the pros and cons of each visit based upon location, what we were likely to see, etc. I was secretly chanting to myself, “Pick the Hall of Fame, Pick the Hall of Fame.” Upon significant reflection, Carol picked the Vermont Teddy Bear factory. That’s O.K. with me; I’ll just be on the look out for a chance to see the Basketball Hall of Fame some other time, hopefully soon. We headed to “Bear” country and took the 12:30 p.m. tour (one hour tours are given each 30 minutes). Surprisingly, there is a $2 charge for the tour. By the way, www.factorytoursusa.com was our source of information for this factory tour. Our guide was great and we were able to see women actually making the bears. It was a bit awkward at first. When our tour started, the women were having their lunch at their sewing machines. With a tour group of 30 people, I felt like we were staring at animals at the zoo. Nevertheless, the workers appeared more comfortable with us watching them eat lunch than I did and finished eating and relaxing. We also visited the “Bear Hospital” where abused teddy bears are returned for refurbishment. This factory tour seemed to focus on selling much more so than other tours we take. Carol did buy one for her mother. Nevertheless, if you’re in the area, I recommend a brief stop at this place. If just goes to show that you never know where trackchasing might take you. I would be remiss if I did not comment on how bad getting into and out of Boston is. The city has now taken over first place in the “Worst traffic” anywhere sweepstakes. To begin the trip, the traffic was so bad it took us four hours to go 40 miles. Some tunnel ceiling tiles that fell unexpectedly and killed a motorist exacerbated this traffic problem. We ran into one horrific traffic jam when returning to the airport area on Monday night. I had strategically picked a hotel just three miles from the airport, so we wouldn’t have a traffic problem for our early Tuesday morning flight. Following tonight’s races, we reached the airport area at about 11 p.m. When we were within about three blocks of our hotel (Rodeway Inn, Revere, MA), we encountered police blockades. These blockades prevented us from getting to our hotel. Instead, we were rerouted in a circle that would not allow us to reach our hotel at all! It seems a gasoline tanker had overturned a few blocks from the Rodeway Inn and all traffic was being prevented from entering the area. After being in bumper-to-bumper traffic for an hour with no end in sight, I took matters into my own hands. When the police weren’t looking, I crashed a police barricade. Yes, I can admit it now. It was an act of desperation. Nevertheless, I was successful. We reached our hotel at just past midnight. Our wakeup call came at 5:20 a.m. (That’s 2:20 a.m. California time). The significance of California time related to Tuesday night’s activity. After flying cross-country from Boston to Los Angeles we had (by direction of Carol) to go to a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball game against the Cleveland Indians. Recall, we have a mini-season ticket package that takes us to 10 games. I have to plan all of my trackchasing activities around these 10 baseball dates. This trackchasing trip butted up against our game tonight. Getting up at 2:20 a.m. California time and then getting back home after the ball game at nearly midnight California time made for a very long day. The People We spent six nights out on this trip and met or reunited with several nice people. It was great seeing you all. We did have a few observations of people, in general, that we met or observed. New Englanders seem to love their ice cream. We were surprised at all the ice cream stores we saw. We were also surprised at seeing a Dunkin’ Donuts store on nearly every corner. Carol thought it was a waste of resources to have live people handing out tickets at the toll road ticket booths. I suspect this has something to do with union contracts that protect jobs. We were surprised to learn from Bruce Spencer that the state of New Hampshire has neither a state income tax nor a sales tax. I didn’t know that existed anywhere, although I think Alaskan residents may have the same advantage. Carol will need 400 tracks to become an eligible voter. I am already assembling a consortium of voters to pass a new rule. I think trackchasers should only be allowed to visit one venue per day. Yes, I have benefited from seeing multiple venues in a day; however, it comes with a cost. If there was such a limitation, then we would see a dramatic increase in Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. This would go a long way in making the typical trackchaser a much more rounded person. We saw an abnormal amount of golf driving ranges on the trip. Almost none of them were being used. This was probably due to the excessive heat and humidity. RACE TRACK STATS: STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY (INNER OVAL), STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT – TRACK #1,079 – 7/17/06 CAROL’S TRACKS INCLUDED – STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY (INNER OVAL), STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT – TRACK #268 – 7/17/06 This was only my seventh lifetime track to see in the Nutmeg state. The family and I lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut for 15 months during 1979-80. During that time period, I saw two new tracks in the state. My last visit to Connecticut was in 2002. This was my 29th trackchasing state of the year. Today’s track moves me from a tie for 10th place into a tie for 9th place with John Osowski. This improves my state NGD score by one point. Even though I saw seven new tracks during this trip, this was the first NGD point gain during the entire trip. This was Carol’s second track in this state giving her a tie for 27th place in the state. She added an incredible nine new tracks during this trip. This accomplishment is even more remarkable considering we had one track rained out and another cancel due to lack of competitors showing up. RACE TRACK NEWS: STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY (INNER OVAL) I last visited the Stafford Motor Speedway back in 1980. That’s 26 years ago! I went there on two different occasions in ’80. Geoff Bodine and Ron Bouchard, both winners in NASCAR’s Winston Cup, won those two races. I remember Stafford Springs as being a very old looking town back then. I wanted to show Carol that town. It’s still old, but didn’t look as old as my imagination made it. We had dinner at the House of Pizza in downtown Stafford Springs. There is not a lot to choose from, but this is not a bad place. Tonight we were here to see the Senior Champ Karts race on the track’s inner oval. The inner oval’s main straight overlaps with the outer oval’s main straight. The asphalt inner oval is about 1/5 mile in distance. Tonight there was a surprisingly large field of 13 Senior Champ Karts. All of them ran in one heat race and then one feature. I was surprised at the $8 admission price, which seemed high. During intermission, I asked the ticket seller how many tickets she had sold tonight. Her answer, “62.” The place seats 4,000-5,000 so just 62 adults and a few kids had room to spread out. The announcer did announce the races, which is unusual for go-karts races. The major drawback is that the speaker system only worked in the pit area, which is located behind the grandstand. We could hear the P.A. perfectly in the parking lot, but not very well in the grandstand. Go figure! There were about eight classes of go-karts. The Senior Champ Karts were the only trackchaser countable class racing tonight. The group started a few minutes late, but once they did start the races ran off smoothly even though the starts were the most ragged I’ve seen this year. The big track’s lights were turned on when the feature racing started at about 9:30 p.m. The racing wasn’t much but where else can you go to get a track that races almost each Monday night in the summer? If I were a racechaser, I would love to come back to see the modifieds run on the Stafford Motor Speedway outer oval again. CAROL’S COMMENTS All of the tracks we’ve seen on this trip were very efficient. I don’t know why the P.A. only worked in the pit area. I have never seen a track with so many blue placarded handicap parking spaces. (They had more than 30.) It was a good trip for getting many tracks. WEATHER CONDITIONS Again, it was hot and humid. Surprising to us the heat and humidity followed us all the way back to San Clemente. RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The Massachusetts plated National Rental Car Racing Pontiac Grand Prix increased my rental car mileage for the year to 25,101 miles. I have now traveled a little more than 105,000 miles (airplanes and cars) for my 2006 trackchasing. Wednesday total driving miles – 204 miles Thursday total driving miles – 462 miles Friday total driving miles – 428 miles Saturday total driving miles – 296 miles Sunday total driving miles – 323 miles Monday total driving miles – 394 miles Tuesday total driving miles – 6 miles The driving portion of this trip covered 2,113 miles. I filled up five times. I paid an average price of $2.95 per gallon. The Pontiac Grand Prix gave us 25.5 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at an average cost of 11.6 cents per mile. The car cost 12.5 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included. LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total. 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,079 2. Rick Schneider – Bay Shore, New York – 1,046 (-33) 3. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,037 (-42) 4. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,021 (-58)* 5. Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 1,018 (-61)* 6. Andy Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 1,015 (-64)* 7. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 914 (-165)** * Warning, you are within 50 tracks of being removed from this list. ** Special exemption. The widespread use of the “*” is causing my printer cartridges to run dry much faster than they should. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 34. Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 278 (+10) 34. Sammy Swindell, Bartlett, Tennessee – 278 (+10) 36. Dale Danielski, Onalaska, Wisconsin – 269 (+1) 37. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 268 37. Bob Schafer, Oshkosh, Wisconsin – 267 (-1) 2006 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 88 2. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 54 3. Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 46 4. Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 44 5. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 38 6. Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 36 7. Gordon Killian, Sinking Springs, Pennsylvania – 32 7. Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 32 7. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 32 10. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 24 Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis #1 Trackchaser Living West of the Mississippi I should never care to argue for anything that would lesson the difficulty of the game because difficulty is its greatest charm. CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES: AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – Boston, MA – 2,567 miles RENTAL CAR Logan International Airport – trip begins Little Valley, NY – 547 miles Claremont, NH – 1,037 miles Canaan, NH – 1,074 miles Loudon, NH – 1,207 miles North Woodstock, NH – 1,258 miles Wentworth, NH – 1,290 miles Fair Haven, VT, – 1,686 miles Stafford Springs, CT – 2,016 miles Logan International Airport – trip ends – 2,113 miles AIRPLANE Boston, MA – Los Angeles, CA – 2,567 miles Total air miles – 5,134 miles Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 7,247 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES: Little Valley Speedway – $12 Twin State Speedway – $10 Canaan Fair Speedway $10 senior rate (Reg. $15) New Hampshire International Speedway – $50 White Mountain Motorsports Park – $15 Legion Speedway – $10 Devil’s Bowl Speedway – $12 Stafford Motor Speedway – $8 Total race admissions for the trip – about $127 I needed to take this coming weekend off from trackchasing. It’s British Open weekend. This is probably my favorite golf tournament of the entire year. Yes, I watched eight hours of coverage each day for four consecutive days. I would have watched more if I could. Of course, I watched it on a recorded basis, which probably saved me two hours each day. The next time you hear from me, I’ll be with daughter Kristy trackchasing somewhere in this great country of ours. Stay tuned. Reprinted from my July 11, 2009 Trackchaser Report DAY 2 – “ONE LONG JULY” TRACKCHASING TOUR RANLAY RACING EXCLUSIVE One of my goals is to be a “balanced” trackchaser. If I were a pro basketball player, I would not want to be near the top in just one category. If I could, I would like to be among the leaders in points scored, field goal percentage, rebounds, assists and steals, etc. Of course, you rarely see any basketball player doing well in all of these categories. It is almost as if strength in one area precludes effectiveness in another. This is also true in trackchasing. Nevertheless, I have identified twelve major trackchasing categories where I want to be listed among the leaders. I thought you might be interested in seeing those categories. I will use the most recent date of May 15, 2009 for comparison purposes since that is the date where most chasers results have been posted. Career Tracks Leader Right now, I have a 220-track lead over my nearest fellow competitor, Guy Smith. As of May 15, 2009, I have been credited with 1,423 tracks (my current total is 1,454) and Guy has 1,203 tracks. In all likelihood, Ed Esser will soon become the new #2 man. From that point, both Ed and I should maintain the two top positions until we decide to stop doing this. When we hang it up, Guy Smith should be able to narrow the gap and eventually pass both of us. Of course, that’s if “Guy doesn’t break a hip” as Carol puts it. Don’t get me wrong. Carol doesn’t want Guy to break his hit, but the point is anything can happen. Of the eleven categories that I focus on this is the most important by far. Lifetime National Geographic Diversity This contest has been going on for years. Up to this point, I’ve only led the standings once in 2007. However, I am on track to once again take over the leadership here. If I do, I might hold it for a good long time. Within the U.S., I consider this the most meaningful trackchaser category of all. It effectively measures both a chaser’s quantity of tracks seen and well as the diversity within the U.S. of those tracks. Foreign Country tracks seen I consider this an important category if for no other reason that it gives me the motivation to take a vacation in a foreign country. To date, I have seen races in 34 different countries. I rank second in this category behind Belgium’s Roland Vanden Eynde who has seen racing in 41 countries. I hope to add several more foreign country visits in the coming months and years. Annual National Geographic Diversity Although the annual NGD results are not as significant to me as the lifetime award is, it is still important. The trackchaser who wins this is likely the person who trackchased in the most states in the current year. I’ve won this a couple of times but did not win last year. If you want to see a great “fat” picture of me, simply click on the “NGD Annual Results” tab at my website. Lifetime oval tracks seen I’m an oval track fan. I was raised on oval tracks and to this day, they are my favorite. Currently (remember as of May 15, 2009) I lead Allan Brown by 106 oval tracks. My total is 1,121 and his is 1,015. As you can see about 80% of the tracks I have seen are oval tracks. Lifetime dirt oval tracks seen It makes sense that if one trackchaser leads the “all ovals” category then he or she would lead the dirt or asphalt oval category. That doesn’t have to be true but it is true currently. I hold a 72-track advantage over Ed Esser. His total is 847 and mine is 919. Dirt track ovals are my favorite type of racecourse. Lifetime paved oval tracks seen I’m not nearly as big of a fan of paved, usually asphalt, oval racing as I am dirt. That shows in my results. I lead Guy Smith by just 26 tracks. My total is 473 and his is 447. I’m surprised I’ve seen that many. It is also surprising to see that Allan Brown holds the second place ranking in “total ovals” but does not rank second in either dirt of asphalt ovals. Lifetime figure 8 tracks seen I’m currently in a tie with Guy Smith for second place with 143 lifetime figure 8 tracks visited. We both trail Ed Esser who has seen 146 of these critters. I can’t ever recall going to a freestanding figure 8 event until we added them to trackchasing’s agenda 5-6 years ago. This is a “fringe” type of racing, but an important filler to the leading trackchasers. Lifetime indoor tracks seen I’m stuck down in 10th place in the indoor lifetime rankings with the Racing Eckels, Andy Sivi and John Osowski. We all have 29 tracks. Ed Esser leads Guy Smith 53-52 in this category. I never really gave this grouping too much thought. Most indoor racing takes place during the winter. Prior to securing my airline sponsorships it never made sense to fly back into cold weather just to get one indoor track. I’m not sure it makes sense to do this even WITH airline sponsorship. I guess my ranking in this category shows that I don’t have to be the leader to have an interest in doing as well as I can. Lifetime ice racing tracks seen I’m proud to say that I rank sixth here. For a California boy that’s not bad. It takes the most dedicated of trackchasers to score an ice track. Again, without airline sponsorship, I never would have even 10 frozen water tracks. Guy Smith leads in ice racing with 51 tracks. Annual Trackchasing Championships We’ve been recognizing Annual Trackchasing Champions since the 1969 season. The champion in this category is simply the person who has seen the most tracks in a given year. Of course, to qualify in this category you must tell the commissioner the exact data you visited the track. You can find a complete list of all Annual Trackchasing Champions on my website under the tab “Past Trackchasing Champs”. Back in the day, champions were crowned with as little as eight tracks! I’m proud to say that I won four consecutive titles from 2004-2007. I won’t likely win any more. The more tracks you see, the harder it is to get a big annual total. My “other interests” diversity program will also prevent me from getting a fifth championship. Lifetime Husband/Wife Track Totals Trackchasing attracts a certain demographic. Most trackchasers are men. Most of those men are either single or divorced. Still other trackchasers are married but can’t get their wives to go to the races. There are only five major trackchasing couples who hit the road together. This is how these couples stack up. Randy & Carol Lewis – 1,800 Guy & Pam Smith – 1,788 Allan & Nancy Brown – 1,700 Paul & Eleanor Weidman – 1,235 Bruce & Pat Eckel aka “The Racing Eckels” – 1,183 Carol and I will have a hard time holding on to our lead her. She’s just not that interested in racing. However, she is a good sport (much better than I would be if I were in here position) and goes along to support me. I know that Pam Smith is not all that interested in racing either. I guess it will be up to who (Guy or me) insists/encourages their spouse to attend the races. I’m lucky in being retired from work as regards this category. I can go racing on the weekend knowing that I get to see my wife 24/7 during the week. Conclusion I hope you have enjoyed my take on the trackchasing categories that are important to me. I consider every one of these to be important rankings within our hobby. It also goes to show you, in my case anyway, that you don’t have to be #1 to enjoy competing in a particular grouping. I don’t hold the leadership position in several of these categories and never will. Nevertheless, it is fun to see where I stack up against the people who do dominate certain rankings. GREETINGS FROM STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT TODAY’S HEADLINES Lifetime NGD points are this trip’s theme. …………..details in “The Objective”. Like any retiree I have to pinch my pennies……………..more in “The Trip”. It pays to have patience …………..details in “The People”. THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED HAD YOU BEEN PAYING MORE ATTENTION IN SCHOOL I will maintain my policy of affording anonymity to readers who send in interesting bits of information or who provide cutting edge analysis. FROM THE BEST READERS IN RACING I received several interesting comments regarding my recent drag racing visit in Ohio. From a longtime reader in Florida. I forgot to save the exact quote of this reader’s comments so I will recreate them the best I can. “When I was in the Navy I was stationed in Virginia. I had a part-time job working for a Pontiac dealership. One of my weekend responsibilities was to take a camera over to the local drag strip. Once there I would photograph the license plates of every one racing a Pontiac at the strip. Then when those people came into our dealership telling us they had broken a transmission or rear end in the normal course of use, we would go through our inventory of license plate photos to see who used their car for drag racing. We saved a lot of warranty repairs with this system!!” TODAY’S TRAVEL WAS SIMPLE. FOLLOWING LAST NIGHT’S RACE IN MASSACHUSETTS, IT WAS A SHORT 100-MILE DRIVE TO MY CONNECTICUT HOUSING. THEN AFTER TODAY’S CONNECTICUT RACE I STAYED ANOTHER NIGHT IN THE CONSTITUTION STATE BEFORE HEADING TO MAINE. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED ON DAY 2 OF MY 20TH TRACKCHASING FLYING TRIP OF THE 2009 SEASON. THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE The Objective The flavor of the month is lifetime NGD points. Why was I trackchasing in Connecticut on the sunny summer afternoon? I have to be honest….because it’s in the RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report bylaws. I was in the “Constitution” state because I was chasing lifetime National Geographic Diversity points. Today I moved into a tie with Mike Knappenberger for 8th place. That was good for one more lifetime NGD point. The Trip I still trackchase on a budget. As you might imagine, trackchasing on the road can be expensive. I have seven major expense budgets for this hobby. They include airfare, airport parking, rental cars, gasoline, hotels, food and race tickets. No, I do not have the big expense capabilities of my Eastern-based competitors or the geographical advantages they get from where they live. Nevertheless, I continue to contest the hobby from the faraway trackchasing outpost of Southern California. Let me give an example of how easy it is to spread my trackchasing budget dollar to get as much value as possible. Following this afternoon’s race in Connecticut I had planned to drive six hours to the north for a race in far upstate New York. However, my iPhone Weather Channel app told me they were expecting a 90% chance of rain at race time. With that forecast it was too far of a drive to risk it. I saved some $50 in gasoline by not making that drive. The New York race would have put me further out of position for tomorrow’s trackchasing activity in Maine. With no Saturday evening racing activity, I had a choice. I could drive four hours tonight up into Maine. Alternatively, I could stay the night down here in Connecticut and make the northward drive tomorrow morning to Maine. How would I decide? Like any low-budget racer, I chose the least expensive alternative. There was a hotel just off the Maine turnpike (called the Turnpike Motel!) in Kennebunkport. I had stayed there just a few weeks ago at a cost of around $55. However there rate for tonight was $95. I asked why? “This is July” was the simple response. Yes, I guess you must make your hay while the sun shines. I have absolutely no problem with that. Businesses are in business to make a profit. However, I am a meager pensioner living on a small monthly stipend, or something like that. I decided to try a Motel 6 up in Maine. The best rate I could find there was $65 a night. That seemed expensive for this motel chain. Next, I decided to see what I could get a Motel 6 for near this afternoon’s track. While munching on a Subway sandwich I fired up my laptop. Soon I had booked a “Click 6” rate for the Motel 6 in Windsor Locks, Connecticut for the princely sum of just $35. Yes, a little shopping around had saved me a good deal of money. By the way, if you stay at this Motel 6 don’t miss the Indian (Ghandi style) restaurant just across the parking lot. I didn’t eat there this time but I have in the past. This trip is going to be for 17 days. One can imagine what 17 nights of hotels might cost. Throw in 5-6 rental cars, 6-8 airplane flights, 17 days of eating, 15 race tickets, 17 days of airport parking and 2,000-3,000 miles worth of gasoline and you end up with a fairly wide column of figures in your Excel spreadsheet. Remember, I do this nearly every weekend, so you don’t have too. You can simply go to www.randylewis.org, view the pictures, and get nearly the same thrill I had and much less the cost. I hope you do just that. The People It pays to have patience. Following today’s afternoon road racing, I ventured into a Subway Sandwich store for a quick lunch. I had actually stopped at this store before today’s race. However, they had a long line of customers. The servers were chatting away without much concern about everyone’s time agenda. I didn’t have time to wait. After seeing all of the “road racing” that I cared to see I now had some extra time for a casual lunch. Nevertheless, I still did not want to waste my time. I ordered from a male server who seemed to be carrying on a conversation with about three people at one time. This dramatically slowed down his ability to make my sandwich in a timely fashion. When we got to the “spicy mustard” part, he decided he would need to refill the mustard bottle. He asked me if I would mind waiting. My mind was saying, “You bet your bottom dollar I would mind waiting. I was in here a few hours ago and your service was so low I left without getting anything. Now, because you didn’t think ahead and refill your mustard bottle, I have to wait again. Yes, I DO mind waiting.” However, I simply said, “No problem” and seethed inside. My less than able server then went to the corner of the room and continued to kibitz with his co-workers while he ever so slowly filled the spicy mustard bottle. Finally, after about five minutes, he was back. I wasn’t feeling too good about this particular Subway worker by this time. Finally, my sandwich was made. I slid across my American Express (Starwood points, baby) card to pay. The clerk processed by transaction and then said, “Would you mind having a cookie on me since you were so patient with the delay”. Suddenly, this worker wasn’t such a slouch. I was beginning to think he was a downright nice fella, even though he would never break a speed record making a Subway sandwich. Yes, even when you don’t want too, if often pays to have more patience. RACE REVIEW STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY – ROAD COURSE, STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT Racetrack variations are not very entertaining. I really wish we had never gone the route of “racetrack variation” in the hobby of trackchasing. What does that mean? The Stafford Motor Speedway is a long-time well-respected asphalt oval racetrack. I first went to this track back in 1980. We were living in Connecticut at the time. I went to a race in April of that year to see Geoff Bodine win the feature event. Then I saw Ron Bouchard win in July. Both of these drivers later went onto to win races in what is now NASCAR’s Sprint Cup. Back in 1980, I was a racechaser, not a trackchaser. I was more than willing to re-visit a racetrack just for the pure thrill of seeing the races. However, that has changed for me and for most everyone in our group of trackchasers. However, at Procter and Gamble, a common saying is you “get what you measure”. If you measure the NUMBER of tracks seen, then you will get people chasing numbers. If we were to measure tracks by those that sell onion rings, you would get people going only to tracks that sell onion rings. We have lessened our hobby by adding racetrack “variations”. These come in the form of inner ovals, figure 8 tracks and hokey road courses. The Stafford Motor Speedway is a perfect example. The racing on their “regular” oval is some of the best asphalt racing in the country. Since I became a trackchaser have I returned to see racing on their famous oval. The answer is “No”, but I have returned to the Stafford Motor Speedway. As recently as 2006, I was here to see a somewhat lame senior champ kart affair on a Monday night on the track’s inner oval. I do recall the kart count being very large for such an event. I saw my share of lemons today. Today I was returning to see some racing on the track’s “road course”. The event was sanctioned by the “24 Hours of Lemons”, as in the fruit, race group. What’s the best part of this organization? It’s got to be their website. Check out their humor at www.24hoursoflemons.com. Today’s road course had a couple of small chicanes added to the track’s half-mile oval. In all the cars needed to make four left hand turns in order to negotiate the course. A huge positive was the car count. I counted just over 50 cars taking the green flag. Interestingly, they started them in single file formation. Today’s “24 hours” of Lemons race was actually scheduled for 15 hours spread over two days. I guess they were taking a bit of editorial license with the “24 hours” theme. The race started a few minutes late from the scheduled 12 noon beginning. Today’s racing would run continuously until 10 p.m.! Then on Sunday they would reconvene for five more hours of racing. There was no track announcer, which seemed odd to me considering their verbal dexterity on the group’s website. There was a small crowd of 200-300 people spread over the large grandstands that seat several thousand. The weather was nice with a temperature of about 75 degrees, ample sunshine and steady winds. I don’t know what the exact rules were but there was very little contact between the drivers. When a car became disabled on the track, a yellow flag flew until the broken car could be removed. When a car began to smoke, the black flag was shown. With no announcer to liven up the event and no contact to entertain the fans, this was more like setting up your lawn chair alongside your nearest interstate highway. It didn’t take long to get bored. Where was everybody? I had expected to see some other trackchasers at today’s event. I did spot a car and some fans in the stands that might have been associated with trackchasing. However, when I looked over at their location in the stands and the parking lot they had left early. Wouldn’t you know it! After being at the track for nearly two hours, I had hunger pangs. The only items being sold at the track were off the “fat grams chart” so I decided to go “off-campus” for lunch. Soon I was at the local Subway store as described above. It’s all about strategy and diversity. Since I was in no rush to get back to the “racing” action at Stafford I popped open my laptop and munched on my double meat turkey sandwich. I spent the next hour developing strategies to effectively compete and possibly destroy my fellow trackchasing competitors. You would never guess how much “brain power” it takes to accomplish this. Following lunch I stopped by a local driving range. I ordered a medium bucket of balls and prepared to prepare for the “Illinois Cup” that is planned for competition next Tuesday. I soon learned that imperfect practice makes for imperfect performance. I need both a good golf lesson and a chiropractor! Following lunch and some golf, I did what no trackchaser has likely ever done. I went back to the track to see some more racing! I was anxious to see how many cars were still running some 4-5 hours after the start. I counted about 25 or slightly less than half the field. Gee, how many would still be going by 10 p.m. tonight? Today I was pretending as if I were a European trackchaser. Almost all racing outside of the U.S. and Canada takes places during the day. Almost all racing in the U.S. and Canada runs at night. I could not find a single track that was racing tonight that did not have one of the following obstacles associated with it 1) weather problems, 2) poor location relative to tomorrow’s track in Maine or 3) a track I had not already seen before. Since I couldn’t solve the above issues I went to my hotel and watched the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from the Chicagoland Speedway. It wasn’t that great of a race overall but did have a super exciting last 30 laps. I’m a big fan of the “double file” restarts that NASCAR began just recently. If they don’t end up killing a driver, it will add tremendous excitement for the fans. STATE COMPARISONS Connecticut This afternoon I saw my 11th lifetime track in Connecticut. This moves me into an 8th place tie with Mike Knappenberger. There are quite a few trackchasers bunched together in this state. I will be lucky to hold onto a top ten finish for the year, but I might. Guy Smith, trackchasing’s founding father leads here with 18 tracks. RENTAL CAR UPDATE Boston, MA – Friday/Monday I’ve got another Hyundai Sonata on this trip. I like it because it can go nearly 500 miles on a tank of gas. That’s about 100 miles further than most other rental cars I drive. It’s also got XM satellite radio, a major plus with the amount of time I spend in the car. Coming Soon – RANLAY Racing Exclusive Features! Why I fear Ed Esser. (Delayed! Coming, hopefully, by July, 2009). My six-month trackchasing budget results (coming July, 2009) How do fellow P&G retirees really think? (Coming in Trackchaser Report #1,464) What is Randy’s (speaking in the third person) trackchasing future? (Coming August, 2009) Who have been Randy’s three toughest trackchasing competitors? (Coming soon) Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser I’m still trackchasing out of a tiny three-car garage in the faraway but sunny seaside village of San Clemente, California. TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA – Boston, MA – 2,608 miles RENTAL CAR Logan International Airport – trip begins Seekonk, MA – 60 miles Stafford Springs, CT – 178 miles TRACK ADMSSION PRICES: Seekonk Speedway – $5 (no senior rate) Stafford Motor Speedway – $10 (pit pass $20) COMPARISONS LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS Past Champions 2003 – Allan Brown 2004 – Gordon Killian 2005 – Gordon Killian 2006 – Gordon Killian 2007 – Randy Lewis 2008 – Gordon Killian Top 10 – Final 2008 lifetime National Geographic Diversity standings. Current 2009 lifetime NGD leader board Note: When a trackchaser improves his or her state ranking that reduces the NGD score. The objective is to get a low score. As an example, by improving from sixth to fourth in a particular state the NGD score goes from six to four. That equates to a net change of -2. Conversely when a trackchaser falls in the state rankings from seventh to tenth, the NGD score goes from 7 to 10, a net change of +3. As an example, when you see “Alabama -6” that means the trackchaser has improved his state ranking in Alabama by six positions. If the scorecard reads “Alabama +4”, the chaser has fallen by four positions in that state. Notably, an individual trackchaser’s ranking is affected by any other trackchaser that moves ahead of him/her. Randy Lewis – current score = 5.39 (tracks posted thru July 11) 2009 changes Connecticut -7 Maine -6 New Hampshire -11 North Dakota -1 Rhode Island – 8 Texas +1 Net changes -32 Gordon Killian – current score = 5.88 (tracks posted thru May 15) 2009 changes Georgia -6 Kansas +1 New Jersey +1 North Dakota +1 Ohio -1 Rhode Island -1 South Carolina +2 Net changes -3 LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total. 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,454 Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 26. Kevin Eckert, Indianapolis, Indiana – 460 27. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 393 28. Ken Schrader, Concord, North Carolina – 374 2009 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Lifetime track totals in ( ). 1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 54 (1,454) 2. Bing Metz, Tatamy, Pennsylvania – 48 (359) UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
Official end of RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report 
In 1980 I made two visits to the Stafford Motor Speedway. In April I saw Geoff Bodine win the famous Spring Sizzler. Then I returned in July to see Ron Bouchard win. These were the days of Richie Evans and Geoff Bodine battles. It was wonderful racing. 
As mentioned in the ‘highlights’ section I was able to see a lot of famous racetracks during our short stay in Connecticut. As this is written my first visits to Stafford were some 34 years ago. That’s a long time. However, I remember Stafford Springs as being a most rural New England town. My memories such as they are were the best from my visits to see the modifieds race at the Stafford Motor Speedway. 
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
This was day two of my longest trackchasing trip of the 2009 season. Although it’s early, things are going well. The weather forecast for the next week looks good, although there are some rain problems at tomorrow’s track. I’m just pacing myself for all of the big activities coming up.