Greetings from Sturbridge, Massachusetts
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Sturbridge Ice Oval
Ice oval
Lifetime Track #2,527
THE EVENT I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Before you discovered my site had you ever heard of trackchasing? Maybe not? So….what the heck is trackchasing? Sit back, take a read and you’ll be an expert on my hobby of trackchasing when you’re finished. Here’s my best explanation. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Trackchasing fills the need for all of the above. The racing part of my trackchasing has me trying to see wheel to wheel auto racing at as many different racetracks as I can all over the world. Yes, all over the world. So far things are going pretty well. As this is written, I’ve seen racing in 82 countries at more than 2,500 tracks. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen racing at more tracks than anyone else in the world. Equally important to me are the things I get to see and experience over the “long and dusty trackchasing trail”. I call these adventures “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page. Here’s the link: Trackchasing Tourist Attractions or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page, Sports Spectating Resume on my website at www.randylewis.org. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. As a matter of fact, my average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 82 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many other cultures, spend time in their homes and meet their friends is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. It’s takes a good deal of planning to do the above and not spend my entire retirement portfolio. I enjoy the challenge, the travel and every other aspect of “trackchasing”. In reality, my trackchasing hobby is a lot like being with the carnival. I breeze into town, stay a little while and then head on down the road. Today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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! FOREWORD Editor’s note: People often ask me, “How do you find all of these tracks? Aren’t you about ready to run out of new tracks to see?” Great questions. How do I find all of these tracks? First, I have the Randy Lewis Racing Research Department on my side. They use proprietary methods to find tracks. What does “proprietary” mean? It means I can’t tell you what those methods are. The casual reader might ask, “Do you really have proprietary methods and do they really work?” The answer to that question is in the data. I’ve seen racing at 2,527 tracks. My nearest fellow competitor is somewhere in the low 1,800s. Only about ten trackchasers has seen racing at more than 1,000 tracks. The balance of “official” trackchasers have seen racing at far less than 1,000 tracks. I applaud any trackchaser who takes the time, money and energy to see new racetracks. It’s just that they don’t have the resources nor the ingenuity of the RLR research department. I wish there was a stat on who has seen the most tracks for the very first time. I’m talking about when a trackchaser discovers a track that is racing and sees it before anyone else does. I am certain I would lead that list by a wide margin. Trackchasing is a VERY competitive hobby. A leading trackchaser once told me this story. Both Allan Brown and Guy Smith needed the state of Rhode Island to become the first members of the 50-state club. These two people were friends. They communicated frequently. Guy Smith learned there was going to be a race in Rhode Island. Did he tell his friend Allan about the race date? No, he did not. Guy Smith saw that race on 9/7/98. Allan was left to see it a few weeks later on 11/1/98. I got this story first hand. I know it to be 100% true. When I asked the storyteller why Guy Smith had not shared the Rhode Island news all I got was a shake of the head and a roll of the eyes. Does that tell you how competitive the hobby is? Does that tell you the lengths that one “friend” will go to be “first”? I believe it does. I have an ethical dilemma when I discover that a new track will be racing that no one else has ever seen. Should I disclose this information? I don’t have the same moral situation that Guy Smith had when he withheld new track information from Allan Brown. I’m already first by a large margin in lifetime tracks. I’ve already seen racing in all 50 states. So, what was my ethical dilemma? I had lots of things to consider before I set foot on the grounds of the Sturbridge Ice Oval in Sturbridge, Massachusetts today. Obviously, Massachusetts is an eastern state. It is equally obvious that trackchasing started on the east coast and to this day remains dominated by east coast people. No other trackchaser had ever seen countable racing in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Today an old-timer told me they have been racing here since the “70s”. Why had no east coast trackchaser ever come here? I didn’t know the answer to that question. Did they have a reason for not making the short drive to Massachusetts? Forget for a moment that this was a new track opportunity in Massachusetts. When I visit a new track ANYWHERE I have to make some decisions before I release that information to the world. I have to be able to confirm the race date, the track’s location and that there is going to be “countable” racing. What if I announced a new track race date and someone made a long drive and spent a lot of money coming to this new track? Then, what if that track cancelled? Would I be blamed? What if I made that advanced announcement and other trackchaser(s) came and didn’t have a good time? What if they came and somehow injured themselves? What if they were injured coming to or from the track? There are just too many risks involved in sharing this new track news. I don’t want to take responsibility for any of the above. I did go out of my way to let another trackchaser know I was coming to a track that had never ever been visited by any other trackchaser. I made a special phone call. I didn’t have to do that. However, I was told this trackchaser’s schedule was already set. He was proud to have a free Sunday to call his own. Far be it for me to intrude on that plan. Had he said, “I don’t have a thing to do and would love to get a new track in the books, especially a new track that no one else had ever seen” that would have been different. What if I decide to share my news about the Sturbridge Ice Oval and then any of the above risks come into play? No, thank you. As long-time readers know I provide a very thorough summary of each new track visit I make. As you can see I am doing that as regards my visit to the Sturbridge Ice Oval. In this way other trackchasers can assess their own risk tolerance for attending at some time in the future. I’m going to guess I have discovered more than 100 tracks where I was the first trackchaser to visit. In virtually every domestic example other trackchasers have soon beat a path to that track’s door. Today, the Sturbridge Ice Oval was having their first race of the year. That meant they had been totally shut out during the month of January. Not enough usable ice. There are only three or four more weekends where the ice will be good enough to race. I am concerned as the weather begins to warm with spring on the way that the future trackchasing opportunities will be few at Sturbridge. Heck, with warm weather coming in this weekend this might have been the first AND last race for Sturbridge in 2019. If no trackchaser makes it to Massachusetts this year then I’m pretty sure they will in 2020. If they do come they will find a very entertaining program of ice racing. I wish them all the very best in their trackchasing travels. Saturday, February 2, 2019. Late Saturday afternoon I grabbed a flight from Minneapolis to Boston. It seems as if I get to both of these cities frequently. Once I had safely landed at the Logan International Airport I went looking for a quiet place to do some trackchasing logistical work. I needed a hotel. Priceline.com was up for the task. Soon I had a highly ranked Sheraton hotel in Framingham, Massachusetts booked. The Sturbridge Ice Oval was located about an hour’s drive from the airport. The hotel was situated between the airport and the track. When I woke up tomorrow morning the drive to the ice track would be only 40 minutes in duration. I paid just $76 plus tax for my hotel. When I arrived at the Sheraton I was given several upgrades that were valued at more than the $76 I paid in the first place! First, the $10 per night parking charge that comes with third party reservations was waived. Then Martin, the front desk manager, upgraded me to a “king suite”. That was probably close to a $76 upgrade right there. My room was huge. Martin also gave me a complimentary coupon for their $17 per person breakfast buffet. Finally, he gave me access to the concierge executive lounge. The lounge was available 24/7 and offered free drinks and snacks. It was also open at other times of the day with free hot food. Yep. Priceline, the Sheraton and my Platinum Elite status had done me proud. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was just “lucky” to get such good hotel fortune. No, I don’t think I was lucky. First, I was able to bond with Martin. I learned he was a soccer fan and not an NFL Patriot’s fan even though we were in the Boston area. I learned he was also a member of the Sheraton frequent stay program. Martin was my buddy shortly after we first met. Buddies like to help buddies. How did I get “Platinum Elite” status in the first place? I stayed at Marriott and Sheraton properties more than 1,000 nights during my business career. Folks that’s about three years of staying with the same hotel brand. Because of that loyalty they’ve given me lifetime Platinum Elite status. As you can see I try to take advantage of those benefits at every opportunity….I earned them. Sunday, February 3, 2019. It’s Super Bowl Sunday! That’s not a big deal for me. At one time I was a huge NFL fan. At one time I personally owned nine season tickets for Los Angeles Rams games. Then they had their first strike and another strike. That was enough for me. I dropped the NFL. I don’t think I have watched a full quarter of NFL regular season football in the last twenty years. I’ve only watched the Super Bowl a three or four times in all those years. This year I planned to watch the big game. What did I expect to be the highlight? The commercials, of course. My favorites turned out to be the “elevator going down for new car shoppers” and the Bud Lite ads pointing out that their fellow competitors brew their beer using corn syrup. If your fellow competitors do stupid stuff it’s a good idea to point it out right? Each year I will have a few really “big” and important days in trackchasing. Today was one of those days. This is going to be a big day on many levels. First of all I was planning on seeing racing on an ice track in Massachusetts. I have never ever seen an ice race in Massachusetts. No trackchaser has. Coming into today I had seen ice racing in 19 different countries, states or provinces. I was also seeing racing at my 99th lifetime ice racing track. Those numbers are some of my fondest accomplishments in trackchasing. Massachusetts joins the following list of countries, states or provinces where I have ice trackchased. My nearest fellow competitors, who almost all live in cold weather climates, can only count about six in this particular category. Massachusetts was going to be special today. Belarus Maine Massachusetts If you read my Trackchasers Reports very much you know that the three most important things to me in trackchasing, from a counting point of view, are seeing the most tracks in total, seeing racing in more countries than anyone else and doing well in the National Geographic Diversity rankings. Before seeing the racing at the Sturbridge ice track I ranked just outside the top 10 in lifetime Massachusetts race tracks visited. Today the Sturbridge location would move me into the top 10. What does that mean? It meant that my NGD score would be lowered by a full 10th of a point. In this competition that is huge. THE RACING Sturbridge Ice Oval – Sturbridge, Massachusetts Today racing was expected to begin at 11 a.m. At 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 31°. It was going to go up to 42 for the day’s high temperature. That would make for a very comfortable day of ice racing.. I had stayed the night at the Sheraton hotel in Framingham, Massachusetts. My hotel was only a 40-mile drive to Sturbridge. That meant I could sleep in relatively late, enjoy the hotel’s buffet breakfast and still be at the track before they had their first race. I had a street address that took me directly to the Hamilton Rod and Gun Club. In the distance I could hear the shooters doing their thing. I just hoped they didn’t point any of their guns in the direction of the ice track! Today’s event turned out to be very popular with spectators as well as competitors. One fellow I talked to during the day told me he had never seen this many racers at the track. They’ve been racing here since the 70s. Today’s racing would take place on a small pond. The photo above was my “first view’ of the track that had proven so elusive for my fellow competitors. The track was an oval configuration and approximately 1/5 of a mile in length. Spectators parked their cars in a lot that overlooked the track but that did not offer a direct view in most cases of the racing. Admission today was $10 per person. I definitely arrived in the first half of the entire spectator base. Even after the first several heat races were run there was still a line of 5-10 cars waiting to get a parking spot. The key to this event was the appearance for the first time in a very long time, maybe ever, of a class called UTVs. Depending upon who I talked to UTVs had not raced here in years and years, when they were much smaller in size. Today there were five UTV racers in the field. The program would begin with a series of heat races. As a matter of fact, before the feature races could be run there were 31 heat races to complete. With only five UTVs that class would have just one heat race. When do you think that heat race fell in today’s 31 heat race lineup? You guessed it. Thirty-first and last. UTVs and senior champ karts have something in common with our trackchasing rules and also how the tracks handle these divisions. In the world of kart racing most racing karts are what would be called “flat karts”. Trackchasing rules prohibit the counting of flat karts. Please do not ask me why. I didn’t make the rules! Senior champ karts are an unusual breed of race car in the general karting world. If I went to a kart race and there were 100 karts racing there’s a reasonable chance only 3-5 of them would be senior champs. Additionally, in kart racing almost all senior champ kart races seem to run at the end of the program. Now let’s move over to the UTV situation. At a lot of places, especially on ice, UTVs are part of a motorcycle and quad racing program. They are about as unusual within their genre as senior champs are in theirs. That’s why it did not surprise me today that the UTVs would be racing in the very last heat race of the day’s program. I took a lot of photos and made a series of video clips of all of the different divisions competing today. They had some really on the gas motorcycle racers. The motorcycle riders with sidecars were both unusual and at the same time very entertaining. Do not miss my photo album or video. You’re gonna love it. After every five or six races they took some time to plow the track. This needs to be done because ice dust and slush builds up on the track. The debris makes racing more difficult if the track is not plowed. The plowing process took about 10 minutes or more each time they did it. With a temperature in the mid 30s and not too much wind it wasn’t all that cold for ice racing. Nevertheless, after you stand on snow and ice for the better part of 3 1/2 hours it will get cold. Luckily the rod and gun club had an indoor concession kitchen operating. They also had a big fire in the fireplace. I took advantage of the warmth of the fireplace and the ability to sit down on two different occasions. They had a reasonably extensive sandwich menu as well as several different kinds of drinks. I went with a hot cocoa that included marshmallows and whip cream. It was a great value at a dollar. The chili dog was less of a value. It came in at four dollars. The diameter of the hotdog was roughly the equivalent to that of a dime! I did notice a stack of books near the fireplace. There were multiple copies of a book titled “The Second Amendment”. Remember I was inside a gun club lodge! It was nearly 2 o’clock when the UTVs took to the track for their heat race. I noticed my camera’s meta-data was telling me that I was in Fiskdale, Massachusetts. I didn’t know that. Today’s UTV racing would take place on the Sturbridge Ice Oval in Fiskdale, Mass. The UTV races were not all that special. As one spectator had jokingly reminded me the UTVs would probably be the slowest machines on the track today. Three of the four competitors finished their six-lap race. Slower speeds made the UTVs have one more thing in common with the senior champs. Normally, the champs are one of the slowest classes in the kart racing animal kingdom. I would be leaving after the heat races. Seeing 31 races over a period of more than three hours gave me all of the entertainment that I could possibly expect from a $10 bill. I thought I might be one of the only people leaving at this point. Not true. There was a long line of 30 or 40 cars or more leaving at this juncture in the program. Some of the individual classes had enough racers to put four or five cars in multiple heats. That meant that some of the feature races might have as many as 12-15 competitors. Those races with more entries would’ve been fun to see but like I say 3 1/2 hours to see the one class that I came to see with four competitors was plenty for me. I will tell you that the track’s organization was excellent. They had a PA system and an excellent announcer. He did a good job of informing people as to what race was being run, what race was next and who the drivers and riders were. He did a really good job. I was very impressed with the quality of the racing. In hindsight if I just showed up for the features I might’ve had even a better time than watching so many heat races with only four or five entries. Nevertheless, the racing was great. There were a few spills and I’m happy to say no one was seriously hurt. AFTER THE RACES On the way back to the hotel I stopped at a rest area along the Interstate 90 tollway that comes into Boston. They have some above average rest areas in this part of the country. They are not as good at the Welcome Centers in the U.K. but still very good. I did notice that McDonald’s wasn’t very price competitive. A large Diet Coke sold for $3.09. At virtually any McDonald’s in America a large Diet Coke sells for a buck. Everything seems to be just a little bit older, a little bit more rundown and a little bit more expensive on the East Coast. The roads are terrible in both the planning efficiency as well as the roughness of their pothole-filled surfaces. I was amazed at the huge solar arrays that I saw driving along Interstate 90. They can’t get that much sun here most of the year. Nevertheless, the arrays were some of the largest I have seen anywhere. They rivaled what I have seen in Germany. I had elected to stay overnight for another night at the Sheraton in Framingham, Massachusetts. I figured I might as well try to see the Super Bowl since I had an 80-inch TV in my room that was super high definition. This had been such a big and successful day of trackchasing on the ice. In my little world seeing ice racing in my 20th country, state or province was simply huge. Moving into the top 10 of all trackchasers in the state of Massachusetts was excellent as well. To my knowledge no other trackchaser has ever seen any countable racing at the Sturbridge ice races. That stands to reason. If what I was told is fact that they hadn’t run any countable race machines here for years and years then no one would have seen any racing here. After I publish my Trackchaser Report the Sturbridge Ice Track will be inundated with trackchasers trying to add this track to their lifetime totals. They may have to wait to do this in the year 2020. Spring is coming. When spring comes the ice melts. I’m doing my best to get this Trackchaser Report out so that others can benefit from what I just saw this weekend. However, I have a small staff and it takes us some time to get a quality product on the road. Tonight, even though the Super Bowl was lower scoring I enjoyed the game. My TV was so large and the picture was so clear I felt almost as if I was at the game. I have seen one Super Bowl in person. That was back in 1976 at the Rose Bowl. Oakland beat Minnesota 32-14. If you’re interested you might like to check out my “Sports Spectating Resume”. I’ve had the opportunity to see sporting events from just about every major sports including many of their marquee events. Monday, February 4, 2019. I could have flown back to California today. However, I was on the East Coast. I figured I might jet down to Florida for one night of dirt late model stock car racing at East Bay Raceway. East Bay is my all-time favorite Florida racetrack. I am I dirt late model fan from way back in the day. I remember when dirt late models were ’57 Chevy’s! I had to get up at 4:15 a.m., which is 1:15 a.m. California time. I will have to do the same thing tomorrow when I actually do fly back to California. This morning I landed safely in Tampa, Florida. I had just enough time to take in a Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. None of the more traditional attractions appealed to me. I did a search for “car museums” in Tampa. I enjoy car museums. I soon came up with the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum. It was only 15 minutes from the airport. I took a trip over there in the National Car Rental Racing Nissan Maxima. That black beauty had less than 500 miles on it and dual exhausts! This museum is privately owned. It’s a very unusual and relatively small museum with about 65 to 70 cars. I had never heard of the makes of more than half of the cars. The museum included models such as these: 1938 Panhard Dynamic, 1928 Alvis, 1929 Ruxton and a 1937 Puegeot Darl’Mat. Could you have picked these out of a litter? They were all extremely rare and coming from companies that didn’t last all that long in the automotive business. I took a picture of every car in the museum I’ll be sharing it on my website for your enjoyment. From there I checked into my Howard Johnson’s hotel located near the Tampa airport. Let me tell you this. It was no king suite from an upscale Sheraton. I just hoped the cockroaches wouldn’t carry me away in the middle of the night. I took about an hour’s nap and then got all my gear together for a night of late model stock car racing at the East Bay Raceway. Tonight would be my 23rd visit to the EBR after first visiting in 1980. I was very much looking forward to tonight’s racing. THE RACING East Bay Raceway – Gibsonton, Florida Dirt late model “speedweeks” has been going on since the 50s and 60s. Several of the tracks that hosted those races are not active anymore. In today’s world major sanctioning bodies like the Lucas Oil Late Model Series and the World of Outlaws totally dominate the late model scene. Back in the day, just like today, fans migrated from cold weather climates to take in a week or two of auto racing in a relatively warm winter climate, Florida. Tonight I sat with two guys, one from Illinois and the other from Michigan. The lady in front of me and her husband were from Louisiana. We all talked to each other about racing like we had known each other for years. The guy from Illinois (Streator) had a background in racing very similar to mine. He knew the same drivers and tracks that I grew up with. He even told me about going to the Rockford Nationals to see Dick Trickle race. He laughed at his one visit to the Freeport Raceway Park. They raced on Sundays. My friend had seen Trickle race at Rockford on Sunday afternoon and then on the dirt at Freeport that evening. I did the same double! The gentleman from Michigan used to drive push trucks for the super modifieds at Kalamazoo. He remembered Allan Brown’s brother selling peanuts at local Michigan tracks. The lady from Louisiana sat in front of me. She must have turned around to talk to me fifty times with comments and questions. I got a little self-conscious after a while. I didn’t want her husband to take offense! However, I could tell she was a “keeper”. Do you know the racing phrase “How many they takin’”? That’s a question people ask when they want to know “how many cars will transfer from the B to the A”? If a woman knows that AND comes with a good boat motor you know you got something. This woman was a Tim McCreadie fan. He drives late models. I asked the woman if she had ever heard of Tim’s father, Bob. She didn’t. Tim’s father was the famous “Barefoot” Bob McCreadie (above). Barefoot Bob was probably ten times better known than son Tim and with many more racing accomplishments. Barefoot Bob was my all-time favorite DIRT modified driver from the Midwest. I asked the fellow from Michigan if he liked NASCAR racing. He sort of snarled and said, “Too much money in it. Not as good as when Fireball raced. Their TV ratings are way down”. Hmmmmm. Everybody comes with a different opinion. Yes, there are a lot of NASCAR racers that have the support of some big name sponsors who bring a lot of money to the race team. However, it’s not just a few teams that have the money. Probably 20-25 of the forty starters are high dollar teams. Who cares if they are big money teams? It is true. NASCAR TV ratings are down a lot. Did the viewers who used to watch NASCAR move over to some other form of televised motorsport. No, they did not. IndyCar is probably the second most watched racing series on TV. Their TV eyeballs are probably less than 25% of what NASCAR gets. Saying NASCAR doesn’t get the attention is a lot like saying the rich guy who lives down the block from you doesn’t have as much money as he used too after a stock market crash but he STILL has ten times more money than you do! The guy from Michigan told me the racing was a lot better when Fireball raced than now. Really? How would that be measured? Would the closeness of the racing be a rating factor? Would the speeds being something to compare things by? Would the number of entries be better in one era compared to the next? I think so. Do some Charlotte comparisons from the 60s and 70s compared to today. Lead lap, speeds, Yes, opinions are like elbows most everybody has a couple. I don’t care for opinions that are supported much more by emotion and irrationality than facts. Then, that’s just me. I will say this. I am 70 years old. However, I feel as if I am 35 years old. My behavior is that of a 35-year old and not a 70-year old. As long as I feel like I’m thirty-five I will never be seventy! I talk to a lot of people in my line of work. That’s why I find what I do so interesting. Some of the people I talk too are older than me. Most are younger than me. I really don’t like talking to people who are 5-10 years younger than me who come with the “old guy” attitude. Everything was better back in the day! Come on people. Look at your life. Look at all of the things that you enjoy and that make your life easier than 30-40 years ago. Folks, it ain’t even close. I also don’t like talking to younger people who look at my physical appearance and immediately think I’m one of those “old guys” with the “it was better back in my day attitude”. I’m not. Not even close. I can handle a phone and a computer better than half of the youngsters I meet. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to give a tutorial (just yesterday as a matter of fact!) to a McDonald’s employee on the use of ApplePay with my iPhone! I was only going to be at East Bay for one night, tonight. The late models were racing for six nights. I could have stayed for another night or two. However, I have a goal of reducing my nights out for the year by 20%. I needed to get home. I was leaving in three days for Minneapolis for the fifth Friday in a row. I wanted to get a good seat. Tickets, both reserved and unreserved, were $35 each. That seemed a bit strange. Reserved seats were the same price as non-reserved? The first 17 rows were unreserved. There were only 21 rows in section C where I would be sitting. The top row was priced at $40. Since I was only here for one night and since I love sitting in the top row I grabbed a $40 ticket. There were only two left. Considering I showed up while they were running hot laps I was pretty happy to get such a good seat. I tried to pay by credit card. I try to pay for 100% of the things I buy with my credit card. I absolutely HATE carrying change. You won’t find a coin on my person 99% of the time. I don’t like to spend my cash bills either. The more that happens the more times I have to visit my bank’s ATM. If could pay for everything all the time with my credit card and even better with my phone I’m all for it. Of course, the older lady couldn’t get the credit card machine to work. She threw up her hands in frustration. Lots of older people don’t handle tech real well. We waited. The machine wouldn’t work. I could feel the eyes of the people waiting behind me with cash in their hands. I always feel self-conscious when paying by credit card in situations like this. Credit cards always take a little longer even when the machine works well. I feel the people waiting behind me with cash think I’m some rich guy paying by credit card. So? Wouldn’t everyone like to be wealthier than they are with no other change in their life? Lay off the rich guys, not saying I’m one. For whatever reason the lady gave me the top row seat for $35 cash and not the $40 she originally quoted me. Then I asked how much more to upgrade to a pit pass. She didn’t know. When I showed my ticket to get into the grandstand area I asked the same question. This woman didn’t know either. When I had called the track earlier in the day to ask what time the races started the lady didn’t know. She asked me to call back. She told me she wouldn’t answer the phone and it would roll over to the office. They might be able to tell me what time the races started. They didn’t know either. Folks, I just spent time last month at something called the “Race Track Business Conference”. Most of the time was spent talking about social media and other technology that in many cases even I didn’t understand. I was with the movers and the shakers of the auto racing industry. Those women and men know their stuff. Now I was at “ground level” of the auto racing industry. This wasn’t some rural racetrack out in the middle of nowhere running seven hobby stocks in their feature event. This was the friggin’ East Bay Raceway. When I called they couldn’t tell me what time the racing started. They couldn’t get their credit card machine to work. They didn’t know how much a pit pass would cost. Is it just me? No, it is not just me. Things like this have driven race fans away and they are not coming back. At the conference I attended I heard a racing statistic that was said in jest but had so much truth to it. One of the racing leaders said they did a survey last year. The survey told them that the average age of their racing fan was 54 years old. This year the average age of their racing fan would be 55 years old. Very few new fans were coming into the sport. Tonight’s crowd was typical of a traveling, experienced race fan attending a top level short track racing show. They were older and they were male. I felt right at home! There were several t-shirt trailers located inside the grandstand area of the track tonight. Folks, the ship has sailed on that industry. I didn’t see virtually anyone buying anything. There were no customers. Don’t get me wrong. The racing at East Bay tonight was excellent. I might now see any better racing all year and I will see racing at about 100 different tracks. I did find out how much it would cost to upgrade my grandstand seat to a pit pass. It was only five bucks That was a steal! That was the bargain of the night. Despite having been to East Bay more than 20 times I couldn’t recall ever having been in the pits before. They were busy. This was a one class show. There were 53 late models in the pits tonight. The pits were small, busy and more than cramped. One had to be on their toes so as not to get run over. I was in my seat when the first heat began at 7 p.m. I was using my Race Monitor app to see the lineups. What a great app with live scoring. I first used it at the USAC midget show last year at Indy. For one month’s usage the price is only 99 cents. A year’s subscription will set you back only $4.99. I chose the 99 cents option because I didn’t like the automatic renewal policy. The 99 cent option automatically renewed as well. I wonder how many people don’t buy the $4.99 option because they fear they will forget to stop the auto renewal the following year if they don’t want this feature anymore? When I got back to the hotel I cancelled my one-month subscription. I just don’t go to that many races when I could use this feature. A good dirt late model show will have lots of passing, few yellows, little to no long delays between races, name drivers, quality refreshments, a good announcer and PA system and get fans out at a reasonable time. If every show in American could do these simple things with any racing class and will only drivers known locally they would have a success on their hands. How did East Bay do? The East Bay Raceway did very well!. Folks, they had 53 late models. They started on time. Duh. They ran six heat with nine cars in each heat race. There were no four car heat races. Duh. They ran two B mains, a dash for 16 cars and a thirty lap feature. Remember, they started at 7 p.m. Any guesses on when the A main took the final checkered flag? Guesses? That happened at 9:04 p.m. Wow! Double wow! They didn’t have an intermission of any consequence. The announcer was good. The PA system where I sat in section C wasn’t the best. I could hear the announcer better when I was BEHIND the grandstand getting some kettle corner from an outside vendor. The had a scoreboard that counted the laps and show the leading drivers. In the top row there was no dust until the feature events. Remember, I sat in row 21. Fans in the first ten rows would be going to the emergency room immediately seeking lung transplants. Admittedly, with high powered dirt late it is almost impossible to now have any dust. At least the dust controls the gender population. With dust you’ll get 80% plus males and not have to worry as much about keep the ladies’ restroom clean. In closing was I happy with my 23rd visit to East Bay. Absolutely. There will not be many times (any times?) where I will see 53 late models race, have lots of passing and have the show finish in two hours and four minutes. Success! Overall experience: 9+. AFTER THE RACES I had parked on the entrance road coming into the track. I couldn’t recall doing that in the past. It really wasn’t needed despite a good-sized crowd showing up on a Monday night. I was remined that Florida is one big sandbar. There really is now dirt, only sand. They must have to import all of their corn! I wasn’t looking forward to going back to the Howard Johnson’s motel near the Tampa airport. There were two risks if not more. First, I might be mugged in the parking lot. Secondly, my computer might have been stolen despite the fact that I locked it to the coat rack. Yes, I could be carried away by the aforementioned, way aforementioned, Florida state animal, the cockroach. I took a chance and walked around the room on the mostly carpeted floor barefooted. Carol would never do that! Tuesday, February 5, 2019. It was time to head home now. Last year I traveled overnight away from home for 213 nights. That was too much. I set a goal to reduce that by 20%. How am I doing. Not well. In 2018 through February 5 I had travelled overnight 11 times. This year, 2019, I have traveled 16 nights in the first 36 nights of the year! At least I have almost eleven months to right the ship! This morning’s wake-up call came at 4:15 a.m. My day will finish with my fellow Californians on the west coast in the Pacific time zone. That meant I will have awakened for the day at 1:15 a.m. “our” time. I’m not sure I will meet up with another Californian who got up that early this morning. My flight was leaving at 7:30 a.m. bound for Los Angeles. My hotel was only three miles from the airport. Why get up so early? I was to use my Priority Pass sponsorship. Yesterday, when I arrived into Tampa, I had lunch at the Café by Mise en Place. Pretty fancy name for an airport eatery. They are located in terminal F. At the Tampa airport each terminal has its own security entrance. That’s not very convenient especially for a traveler like me. I wanted to have breakfast in terminal F and then fly home from terminal C. That meant two security clearances just to have my sponsor pay for $28 of my breakfast expense. However, that is how I live my life. The Café by Mise en Place served me their French toast option and an order of huevos rancheros. Each entrée came in the $13-14 price range. That meant that Priority Pass, one of my newest trackchasing sponsors picked up all but about $1.50 plus tip for my breakfast. Thank you P.P. From there I headed over to terminal C for my flight. After I cleared security there I remembered I had left my credit card back at the restaurant. Yikes! That meant I would need to clear security one more time in terminal C and one more time in terminal F. Don’t worry. It’s what I do. When I get to LAX I will land at terminal 1. Terminals 1, 2 and 3 don’t connect with any other terminals at LAX out of the eight terminals they have. I chose today’s airline because they land in terminal 1 and Rock & Brews, a Priority Pass option, is in terminal 1. That way I won’t have to clear security anymore while getting my lunch. However, when I finish lunch I will head to terminal 4 (security clearance) so I can get supper to bring home to Carol from the Tom Bradley International terminal. In the space of about 30 hours Priority Pass will buy me $126 in gourmet food. Don’t worry. This is how I roll. Randy Lewis – 82 countries – 2,527 tracks. Massachusetts The Bay state This morning and afternoon I saw racing at my 12th lifetime track in the Bay state, yes, the Bay state. I hold the #10 trackchasing ranking in Massachusetts. I’ve seen 12 or more tracks in 44 different states. No other trackchaser comes close to matching that stat. 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 The milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard is the frappe (pronounced with a silent “e”). It’s an ultra-thick blend of milk, flavored syrup, and any flavor of ice cream available. If you order a milkshake in New England, you’ll likely get a soupier concoction of just milk and syrup. QUICK FACTS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS The threemost 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 695 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries The nearest trackchasing competitor has seen racing in 30 fewer countries compared to 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. The first ever trackchaser trip to the Sturbridge Ice Oval in Massachusetts! 
Alaska
Alberta
Andorra
British Columbia
Finland
Iowa
Manitoba
Michigan
Minnesota
New Hampshire
New York
Ontario
Quebec
Russia
Saskatchewan
Vermont
Wisconsin
This was the first race of the year for the Sturbridge Ice Oval. This was also the first weekend in February. Sturbridge has to be one of the most southernly located ice tracks that I’ve ever seen. That means they would get less cold weather and probably less snow, although the Boston area is noted for getting more than their share of the white stuff.
Massachusetts sayings: “Frappe”
