Greetings from Rosamond, California
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Streets of Willow Springs
Asphalt road course
Lifetime Track #2,214
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. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! ON THE WAY TO THE RACES This was a big day. Today was going to be a very big day for my trackchasing hobby and me. I have had my share of accomplishments chasing tracks all over the world. However, what I was about to do today was very important to me. The greatest racechaser….ever. The greatest racechaser I have ever known or heard about for that matter is Gary Jacob. Gary, now deceased, was the most ardent race fan. He hailed from Turlock, California. I would say that I didn’t know Gary all that well. I first met him all the way back in the mid-70s at the long defunct Speedway 605. I would see him at the races from time to time. We would usually chat. I would marvel at the long trips he had made all over California and surrounding states. He went just for the joy of racing. Gary was a racechaser. He was not by any stretch of the imagination a trackchaser. His lifetime trackchasing total when he passed away unexpectedly was only 301 tracks. However it was racechasing where Gary excelled. He would see more races in any given year for more years than anybody else anywhere in the world. The funny thing about his racechasing travel was the races he was seeing weren’t all that good in my judgment. The West Coast simply doesn’t have the quality of short track racing that can be seen in the Midwest or the East. The West does have a few tracks that have been at the top of the short track racing game. However, a couple of them including Ascot Park and Manzanita no longer exist. The quality of racing on the West Coast lags other parts of the country in terms of the number of tracks offering quality entertainment. When I first encountered Gary Jacob. I first learned about Gary Jacob when he was writing racing stories for a racing trade paper I subscribed too. The paper was named Racing Wheels. Most racing papers from back in the day no longer exist. Neither does Racing Wheels. More than once I asked Gary why he would drive overnight to visit a faraway track with car counts that might not even reach double digits by class. He told me these tracks and the drivers they attracted deserve to be covered in his Racing Wheel stories. He said those drivers raced just as hard as anybody else. Despite racing at rural far out of the way location they needed to get some recognition for what they were doing. That helped me better understand why Gary was making such a commitment to follow some very far-flung speedways. Gary paid me a nice compliment about my trackchasing stories. I believe Gary lived with his parents in Turlock. He told me he would frequently be reading one of my stories and have to print it out and run downstairs to show his parents what I had been writing about. We both got a smile out of his story. The last California track for Gary Jacob. Gary posted his last California new track visit in 2003. At that point Gary had seen racing at 149 different California tracks. Sadly he would pass away while attending a race in Red Bluff, California sometime later. At the end of the 2003 racing season I had seen racing competition at just 91 California speedways. At that time there were less than 10 California tracks operating that I had not seen. I never gave any serious thought that in the ensuing years I might catch up to Gary’s total of 149 Golden state tracks. To be honest I never thought I would come anywhere close to his totals. Never say never. However, in the hobby of trackchasing one should never say never. Over the past 13 years lots of unusual racetracks have popped up in the Golden State. When they did I tried to pick them off one by one. That brings us to today. Today’s the day and tomorrow will be even better. Today, May 14, 2016, I backed the Carol Lewis owned and MFunds sponsored Lexus RX 350 out of the driveway. I pointed it in the direction of the Willow Springs International Raceway. Today I was hoping to tie Gary Jacob’s at one time seemingly insurmountable total of seeing 149 California racetracks. I’ve been wanting to see racing at the freestanding “Streets of Willow Springs” road course for well over 20 years. Because this circuit is very narrow it is rarely, if ever, used for wheel-to-wheel racing. My Willow Springs history. I have a fairly long and storied history with Willow Springs. I first saw road racing on the Willow Springs signature main track, informally called “Big Willow” all the way back in 1991. Then in 1995 I made it to what was then called the Kern County Raceway for some racing on their ¼-mile asphalt track. Then last year in 2015 I ventured back to the now named Speedway Willow Springs. There I saw racing on four different track configurations. Those included their mixed surface figure 8 track, an asphalt road course as well as both the north and south inner ovals. All of that racing took place in what was the Kern County Raceway complex from 1995. They certainly had some unusual promotions at this place. It was the first time I could recall seeing racing at a mixed surface figure 8 track. The two separate inner ovals raced at exactly the same time. I credit promoter Andy Daddario as being one of the most creative folks in his business anywhere. But what about the Streets of Willow Springs. I’ll bet I’ve checked up on the potential of seeing wheel-to-wheel racing at the Streets of Willow Springs layout nearly 100 times. The racetrack itself has never been very good at getting back to me when I asked questions about the possibility of seeing racing there. Speed Ventures to the rescue. However, a couple of years ago I discovered a group called “Speed Ventures”. From what I can tell they are mainly a time trialing and driver education group. However, they do dip their toe in the world of W2W racing, actual races, once in a while. In 2015 they actually ran a real race at the Streets of Willow Springs. However I had a conflict at the time. Seeing a race then wasn’t going to work out. However, I placed a note on my Google calendar to call them back. I wanted to see what the plans were for 2016. I’ve been traveling a good deal already in 2016. Beginning next weekend my travels will increase even more. Carol and I have some international trackchasing plans on our agenda. Then it won’t be long before I hit the mid-summer county fair circuit. I was ready to kick back and just watch the waves crash in from the Pacific Ocean. That’s right. I had been looking at this weekend as just hanging around our modest seaside cottage and relaxing before the heavy-duty travel showed up on my calendar. It was with great surprise and joy when I learned that Speed Ventures would be racing this weekend at the Streets of Willow Springs. They were holding one 30-minute race on both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. That was perfect. I called my Speed Ventures contact, Adam, to confirm their race plan. Their one and only race for today would be held at the unusual starting time of 4:50 p.m. Earlier in the day they would be doing their practicing and qualifying. Timing is everything. Something else made the timing of this Streets of Willow Springs race really fantastic. I had discovered ANOTHER California track racing TOMORROW. A weekend with no trackchasing had now turned into a weekend of staying home and still seeing two new tracks….both in California. I love it when a plan comes together. As the song goes, “Seems it never rains in Southern California.” Today’s weather would be perfect. If all went well over this trackchasing weekend I would tie Gary Jacob’s record today and beat it tomorrow. Now I simply needed to make the 150-mile one-way drive straight up Interstate 5. Just north of Los Angeles I would branch off toward the Willow Springs International Raceway located in Rosamond, California. It was a cloudy overcast Saturday morning. That’s normal for California near the course. By mid afternoon those clouds burn off to full sunshine. The traffic seemed heavy for Saturday morning. Nevertheless, I gave myself plenty of time to make the trip. I didn’t want to be late. I don’t normally drive to racetracks. I was doing something that I don’t normally do on these trackchasing trips. I was driving my own car (O.K. Carol’s car – I don’t own a car that I drive) to the track. I rarely if ever do that. There are two big reasons why that isn’t a good idea for me. Most races I attend are way beyond a normal person’s driving circle. I need to hop on airplane and then rent a car to make those trips work. Even when I trackchase in California, Nevada or Arizona where I could drive my own car I am most reluctant to do so. I have seen and heard about other trackchasers wearing out their brand new cars in two or three seasons of trackchasing travel. I don’t think that’s a prudent financial idea. More often than not I will rent a car when I am trackchasing from my home in the west. However today’s trip was right on the borderline of renting a car or driving my own. Yes I would be putting 300 miles on the car’s odometer. I figured the hassle of getting a rental car wasn’t worth it for only 300 miles of driving. That’s a lot of rental car miles. Last year in 2015, in just 12 months, I drove rental cars more than 49,000 miles. That’s a set of new tires if I had been driving my own car. I’ve been driving the Carol Lewis owned and MFunds sponsored Lexus RX 350 for 3 1/2 years. It’s odometer has only 45,000 miles on it during that time. Lots of people think of me as a flying trackchaser. Yes I do fly a lot. However I am also a driving trackchaser. For the past several years I have driven more miles to tracks than any other trackchaser. Good eatin’ in the Golden state. One of the big pluses of trackchasing in California is the long list of quality eating establishments in the Golden State. I think the tastiest chain hamburger outlet is In N Out Burgers. Yes, the Habit, also California based, is right there with In N Out. I think In N Out is the only chain I have ever seen anywhere in the country that operate at 100% capacity pretty much from the time they open until the time they close. Their drive-through window always has a back up even though they serve their food quickly. Inside it isn’t much better. You’re going to have to wait. The staff at In N Out burgers is also top-notch. Chick-fil-A and Culvers do a great job too. No one can top In N Out for quality service and outstanding food. Obviously their simple menu is a highlight with their customers as well. In N Out rocks. It was a great place for lunch today. Every dollar counts right? Following lunch I used my Gas Guru iPhone app to a identify the lowest gas prices in the area. I was soon directed to Costco. There I saved about three dollars or nearly half the price of my lunch. THE RACING Streets of Willow Springs – Rosamond, California Made it. I pulled into the Willow Springs International Raceway about two hours before the scheduled 4:50 p.m. race time. I paid my $10 gate admission fee. The Porsche club was racing on the main track. However I was interested in the Streets of Willow Springs configuration. Meet Speed Ventures. It wasn’t long before I found Adam my Speed Ventures contact. His group, Speed Ventures, has been operating since 2001. They focus on racing competition and high performance driving schools. Today Adam was driving in the wheel-to-wheel race in his blue number 15 Miata. Although he was busy changing tires on his racing machine he took the time to greet me and answer my questions. Today there would be eight Miatas competing in the race on the Streets of Willow Springs. Tell me about the Streets of Willow Springs. The Streets of Willow Springs is a 1.6-mile road course with skid pad. That is a large elevation change in the beginning part of the course. Spectators can see the racing over about 75-80% of the entire layout. Of course the track’s racing surface in asphalt. There was continuous “lapping” action on the big track while I waited for the race of the day at the Streets course. The big track wasn’t of much interest to me. It didn’t take me long to walk through the paddock area of the Streets of Willow Springs. Racing in Cuba? What did that have to do with today’s racing at Willow Springs I had just enough time to watch an iTunes movie on my MacBook Pro inside my car. The movie of choice was titled, “Havana Motor Club”. This was a story about motor racing in Cuba. Someday I hope to visit that country. If I do I will likely be seeing a race. Racing stopped in Cuba with the onset of the Castro Revolution in 1959. Earlier in 1958 a major accident during the Cuban Grand Prix killed 10 people and injured more than 40. There’s been no racing in Cuba since then with the exception of some amateur drag racing. They have had some limited drag racing in the last couple of years. During the revolutionary years, under Castro, auto racing was considered an activity that didn’t benefit the general population of the country. It was considered a capitalist sport. We’ll have to see whether or not that changes in the coming years. Once a year? It was very possible that the Speed Ventures W2W event this weekend would be the only trackchasing countable racing on the Streets of Willow Springs all year. In the past I’ve researched the track’s schedule. I hadn’t seen any other racing that looked like it would meet trackchasing’s somewhat stringent requirements. Today’s race would begin from a standing start. At precisely 4:50 p.m. to the second, the cars pulled onto the track from the paddock area. Just as Adam had indicated the cars took a slow practice lap around the course. They pulled up to the starting line and paused until it green flag was shown. Then off they went around the 1.6-mile Streets of Willow Springs road course. From in and around the starting line area I was able to get some good video and photo opportunities of this very unique action. In talking with the fellow running the timing charts I learned this was going to be a seven-lap race. When the race finished the cars took a cool down lap. During this circuit around the course they inverted themselves by finishing position from the first race. Then they pulled up to the starting line and stopped waiting for the green flag. Off they went for their second race of the day. In another six or seven laps they were finished. AFTER THE RACES It was a long wait. Let’s celebrate. I had waited more than 20 years to see racing on this configuration. Today’s drive would take me a little bit more than 300 miles to complete on a round-trip basis. All the racing for the day was finished in about 25 minutes. I was most satisfied on a couple of counts. I had been able to see racing on a very unique configuration that no trackchasers had ever been able to do in the past. Secondly, and probably more importantly, I had tied Gary Jacob at 149 California tracks. If all goes well I will beat that mark tomorrow. I felt like celebrating. However I was by myself. Carol had elected to stay home and supervise the window washers who come once a year. She’ll join me tomorrow. Excellente! Tonight’s celebration would be held in Rosamond California at a Yelp! recommended Mexican restaurant. Roberto’s Mexican Food restaurant had a 4.5 star rating. From the restaurant’s reviews and pictures it looked like it would be just perfect. I would spend an hour dining on albondigas soup as well as a shrimp dinner prepared like scampi with a garlic butter sauce. Everything was delicious. Yelp! had come through like it always does with flying colors. Now all I needed to do was drive about 150 miles through the heart of the second biggest city in the world on freeways that never got smaller than eight lanes…even out in the boonies! However I’ve been doing this for nearly 40 years. It’s really not a very big deal. Along the way I listened to a series podcasts. All of the podcasts are broadcast commercial free. I will go out of my way to listen to quality entertainment without commercial interruption. Mechanization. I also used my iPhone Evernote app to dictate this report. By the time I got home I had more than the skeleton of the entire Trackchaser Report completed. When I get time I’ll work on photos and videos so that you can get a good idea of exactly what I was seeing today. Good night. California The Golden state This afternoon I saw my 149th lifetime track in the Golden state, yes the Golden state. I’ve seen more tracks in California than any other state. That makes some sense. I’ve lived in California longer than I have lived in any other state. 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 California sayings: Alcohol: For some reason, beer and wine don’t count as “alcohol” in Southern California. Only hard liquor. If you’re going to the store, you may just hear “I’m getting beer, are we okay with that or do we want alcohol too?” If you’re in SoCal and you hear “alcohol”, it’s liquor. We just call beer and wine… beer and wine. QUICK FACTS TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Streets of Willow Springs – $10 Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $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 525 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 Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure. Speed Ventures….Miata racing from the Streets of Willow Springs 
