Greetings from Rock Springs, Wyoming
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Sweetwater Speedway Dirt oval Lifetime track #351 Sweetwater Events Complex Dirt figure 8 Lifetime track #1,240 Reprinted with permission from my Tuesday, July 31, 2007, Trackchaser Report. THE CLASSIC TRACKCHASER REPORT Editor’s note: This is a CLASSIC Trackchaser Report. What the heck does “Classic” mean? It’s simply a Trackchaser Report that comes from my trackchasing archives. Typically these will be stories from tracks I visited five years or ten years or more ago. For whatever reason (usually not enough time) this trackchasing adventure didn’t get posted to my website when I first made the track visit. Often a classic TR will not have a video and/or photo album attached. I didn’t begin producing my YouTube videos until 2009 (YouTube channel: RANLAY). I didn’t begin writing a complete Trackchaser Report until I had seen about 425 tracks. This was during the 2000 trackchasing season. Photo albums were sort of hit or miss during the early years of my trackchasing. Additionally, if you see a website link know that link worked when the TR was originally written. Will it work now? Your guess is as good as mine! Nevertheless, this CLASSIC Trackchaser Report has finally bubbled to the surface and is now available for everyone to see at www.randylewis.org. I hope you enjoy it. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with my friends during my Guatemala trackchasing trip). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. 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. 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 from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org I hope you will take the time to imagine in your mind what it took to make this trip from SoCal and understand the fun I had doing it. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. 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 Monday, August 12, 2002. ROCKY MOUNTAIN SUMMER TRACKCHASING TOUR Editor’s note: Back in August 1998 I first went to the Sweetwater Speedway in Rock Springs, Wyoming. That evening I saw Mark Kinser, driving his #5M, win the World of Outlaws sprint car feature on a very dusty 3/8-mile dirt oval. On a rare Tuesday night trackchasing effort, the Sweetwater Speedway became my 351st-lifetime track where I had seen wheel to wheel racing. Here’s the rub. I didn’t begin writing my famous Trackchaser Reports until I had seen about 430 tracks. That would have been in the middle of the 2000 trackchasing season. Therefore I don’t have many notes about my 1998 visit to the Sweetwater Speedway. I do know that the Saturday before my Tuesday night visit to Wyoming Jim Sabo and I watched Danny Lasoski (above) win the Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa. Then the next night I went by myself to see the Sunday night racing at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, Iowa. Two days later I made it over to the Sweetwater Speedway. Then I took three weeks off (trackchasers did that back in 1998) before heading out to Ohio to see Billy Moyer Jr. win the World 100 at the Eldora Speedway. TODAY’S HEADLINES SPECIAL NOTICE The ongoing series of Trackchaser Reports from Belgium’s Roland Vanden Eynde (above with Carol) concludes with his fifth report of five, the epilogue. You can read about his adventures at the bottom of this Trackchaser Report. Don’t miss it. I frequently comment about the tattoos that so many people are sporting these days. Want to get them removed?……………….more in “The People”. Tonight I moved into a tie for the worldwide figure 8 track title…………..details in “The Objective”. What does a trackchaser do on a day off during a trackchasing trip? ……………….more in “The Trip – Sunday”. What does a trackchaser do when the motel room is the “motel room from Hell”? ……………….more in “The Trip – Tuesday”. GREETINGS FROM ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING. First, you might not know this but I am married to a Wyoming girl. Yep. When I first began dating Carol at the age of 19 she and her family were living in Dayton, Wyoming. Dayton is a small town of only about 300. It’s located near the bigger town of Sheridan, Wyoming. Carol and I get back to Wyoming from time to time to trackchase and visit her kinfolk. On this moring we woke up in Sheridan, Wyoming and then spent the night in Saratoga, Wyoming. Then…due to a scheduling mix-up (described below), I spent two nights in Salt Lake City, Utah (Carol one night). This is what transpired today. PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS The Objective My objective for the final day of the Rocky Mountain Summer trackchasing tour was simple. I was looking to get one more track in Wyoming. I needed just one additional track in the Cowboy State to move into a tie for the Wyoming state trackchasing lead. If I could get that track, I would be in first place in eight of the thirteen Western states. Therefore, this was an important track to get. In trackchasing, we count three separate types of track configurations, ovals, road courses and figure 8 circuits. I have seen racing at 1,001 different oval tracks. I am the leader by a wide margin (47 tracks) in ovals seen. I am tied for fourth place in road courses with 112. I am just three road course tracks from tying Guy Smith for the U.S. lead in this category. Tonight’s figure 8 track was my 126th-lifetime figure 8 track. Only 18 of those have been seen in the 13 Western states. Figure 8 racing is not that big out here. Tonight’s figure 8 track puts me into a tie for the all-time figure 8 lead with Ed Esser. The Rocky Mountain Summer trackchasing tour had gone exactly according to plan up to now. Would this be the one trip each season that goes exactly according to plan? Nope! Just when it looked like everything would be perfect, things went downhill fast. I’ll tell you more about that in “The Trip”. The Trip Sunday We had one off day from trackchasing planned for this trip. I often smile when I hear other trackchasers proclaiming they are taking a day off from trackchasing in the midst of a trip. That usually means they can’t find a racetrack to visit that day! This was the case for the Lewis twosome. However, we had a very capable substitution planned for our off day. Carol’s sister, Patty (above left) and Patty’s husband Neil (the Forbes) live in southern Wyoming. Their home was on the way from last night’s races in Billings and tomorrow’s figure 8 racing in Rock Springs, Wyoming. They live out in the country. It’s more than a five-mile drive on dirt roads just to get into town from their ranch, where the population is only 1,500. They are 40 miles from the nearest McDonalds! By the way, this is how I measure ruralness. How far are you from McDonald’s! We would stay with them one night before heading to our final track of the trip. I have not talked about this much, but the RANLAY does not roll well with animals. I’m not sure why this is the case, but it is. I am not a dog person and I am not a cat person. Of course, the Forbes, living out in the country, have lots of animals. They have two large black labs and three big fat stray cats. Couple these domestic animals with 10 chickens and sometimes a cow or a pig and you get the picture of rural ranch life. This scenario cements my position in the family as a “city slicker”. After we arrived, we wanted to have a nice dinner out. The best place in town was closed on Sunday. This forced us to drive 50 miles (one-way) for a lovely steak dinner at an elevation of more than 10,000 feet in the town of Centennial, Wyoming. We saw a number of deer along the roadside during our drive into the mountains. As always, we had a nice visit with our relatives and didn’t wear out our welcome by staying just one night. Monday The trip was going exactly as planned. On Monday, Carol and I made the slightly less than three-hour drive over to Rock Springs, Wyoming. The figure 8s were scheduled to run at 7 p.m. We arrived at just past four and were able to use a GPS aided visit to the local movie theatre for a viewing of “Chuck and Larry”. I’m not sure what to think about this film. When we left the theatre at 6:30 p.m., it was still 93 degrees. The 10-minute drive over to the fairgrounds was easy. Once I knocked out this track, I would be the #1 trackchaser in Wyoming (tied) and would be the #1 figure 8 trackchaser of all time (tied). This one little track was going to be big. When we showed up at the fairgrounds, I could see there was no action at all in the large covered grandstand. That worried me some, but I figured they might be holding the figure 8 races in some other part of the fairgrounds. We parked our car and organized all of our racing paraphernalia. This fair runs from July 26 – Aug 5. Tonight, July 30, was pretty much right in the middle of those dates. However, there seemed to be a problem. Other than a horse show going on in one of the covered arenas, there was nothing else going on. The carnival rides were not being used. The food booths were not being used. I had a bad feeling! Ultimately, we found out the figure 8 races were not being run tonight. According to a fair manager, the figure 8 races were going to run TOMORROW night!! This was not good news. We already had a hotel room booked for tonight in Salt Lake City some 190 miles away. This is one of the reasons, I hate booking rooms before I know for certain I will see my planned race. It seems that as soon as I book a room that I can no longer cancel, something unusual comes up and I’m stuck with a room in a location I don’t need. Tonight’s experience further cements my point of view on this. Now, decisions had to be made. Carol needed to get back home as planned on Tuesday. I wanted to get back home as well, but I also wanted to get the Wyoming track that would put me into the state lead. There are two other states (Colorado and Hawaii) where I trail first place by just one track. Had this situation occurred in any of the other FORTY-SEVEN states where I do not trail first place by just one track, I would have simply chalked up tonight’s problem as a lesson learned and headed home. Carol and I discussed the situation over a nice dinner in Little America, Wyoming located just off I-80 in Southwestern Wyoming. We made our decision. We would drive back to Salt Lake City tonight (Monday). I would put Carol on the plane we had both planned to be on originally for Tuesday morning. I would stay in the area for another day. This would involve the expense of an extra hotel night. This would involve the expense of an extra rental car day. I would also incur a gasoline expense for nearly 400 miles of incremental driving. These were substantial expenses just to add one more figure 8 track. However, I didn’t know when my next visit to Wyoming might be. It might be less hassle and involve less expense to stay one more day than initiate an entirely new trip out here at a later date. I’m willing to put more time and resources into this hobby than any of my fellow competitors and this plan certainly proved that point. Tuesday When I travel with Carol, I try to upgrade the trip whenever I can. On Monday night, I bypassed a Super 8 Motel near the Salt Lake City airport for a Quality Inn property. Yes, I paid a little more, but she’s worth it, right? Of course, as Carol is fond of saying, “no good deed goes unpunished”. Why would that be anyway? We woke up on Tuesday morning after one of our worst motel night experiences ever. When we went to bed, it was 95 degrees in Salt Lake City. Despite moving our air conditioning controls to “max cold”, the air conditioning system didn’t work at all! It must have been 95 degrees in our room. When I went to get on-line I found a “there are too many users on the system now, try back later” message on my screen. I have never had a problem like this in a hotel before. I was lucky enough to contact a live “help” person, who told me he would “boot off all the users who were not using the system now” to help me out. Ya! Go ahead and boot ‘em off! I had selected an 11:20 a.m. departure from Salt Lake City to Orange County for Carol. We had not gotten to bed until late the night before so this schedule would allow us to sleep in a bit. However, the Quality Inn had different plans for us. At 8:30 a.m., we had a knock on the door. “Were we out of the room yet?” was the question from our knocker. After a poor night’s sleep, I was beginning to get irritated by the unconsciously incompetent. I dropped Carol at the airport and bid her farewell. I had Wyoming trackchasing work to do. But, before I would make the nearly 200-mile drive back out to Rock Springs, Wyoming I planned to return to the motel room for two more hours of internet work. I have my biggest trackchasing trip of the year coming up next week and I needed to be ready. At noon, I went to the desk to check out. I met a serious young man who was staffing the front desk. As the checkout procedure was being completed, I offered this. “I’ve just had the worst hotel experience ever. Our air-conditioning did not work. The internet system told me there were too many users online for me to use the system. Finally, a hotel employee knocked on my door at 8:30 a.m. asking if we were out of the room yet.” The front desk clerk looked at me and said, “I don’t care about your problems. I have problems of my own. My landlord is raising my rent, my car’s radiator just blew up and my girlfriend has herpes”. Wow! What do you say to that? Fortunately, I’m just pulling your leg about the desk clerk’s response. What he DID say was this. “Those are three very important issues. I’m sorry that happened. Your stay is on us”. Wow again! I was expecting a minor discount at most. His compassion will now allow my incremental expenses for staying an extra night in Salt Lake City to be more manageable. However, I won’t stay in that Quality Inn again, that would be too much. My drive out to Rock Springs took me through some beautiful and rugged country. When I left Salt Lake, it was 95 degrees again. I drove through a major thunderstorm where it rained for several miles. The temperature dropped to 64 degrees! Then by the time I reached Rock Springs the temperature had returned to 95 degrees. However, there was another major storm just on the edge of Rock Springs when I arrived at 6:30 p.m. Along the way, I stopped at a Mcdonald’s for a grilled chicken Caesar salad. I couldn’t keep eating 16 oz. sirloin steaks on every day of the trip. This was the most upscale McDonald’s I had ever seen and it was in Wyoming! The restaurant had a huge stone fireplace. They had multiple flat screen TVs showing live commercial programs. They even had a flat-screen TV above the urinals in the men’s room. Please! Finally, in the kid’s play area, the seating at each small table was a series of horse saddles positioned just a foot off the floor for the little cowboys and cowgirls. This McDonald’s is in Evanston, Wyoming. Anyway, it wouldn’t rain me out after I had come out here for the second time in two days, would it? The wind started to pick up. It began to sprinkle. The temperature dropped 10 degrees to 85. I was only minorly concerned. The weather didn’t look bad enough to be a major problem. Even if it was, I suspected they might race rain or shine since this was a once a year fair figure 8 race with a covered grandstand. The People I believe the folks in Wyoming are starved for entertainment. What else could explain the wild excitement from the capacity crowd last Thursday night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming? What else could explain more than 400 people showing up tonight for just 10 figure 8 racecars tonight? Yes, these folks are starved for entertainment. These folks are very appreciative of what they get to see at their Wyoming racetracks. Wyomingites don’t have many tattoos compared to most states I visit. I suspect that as some people grow older they may regret their decision to have their skin permanently marked. If so, they can call 1-888-UNDO-INK to get them removed. Consider this my public service announcement for the month. ROADFOOD RESTAURANT REVIEW Just trying to find the unique eating places listed in my ROADFOOD book can be fun. We didn’t have an exact address for the Waldorf A’Story restaurant in Story, Wyoming, we only had a street name. Carol plugged that into our GPS and the search was on. Less than a mile after we exited I-90 between Sheridan and Buffalo we found ourselves on a dirt road! A couple of minutes later we found ourselves at the end of a dead-end road WAY out in the country. We knew we were lost, but Story has less than 1,000 people so we weren’t THAT lost. A second drive through town put us back in touch with the Piney Creek General Store. There were several men and women bikers enjoying themselves outside the store while seated at picnic tables. A little more investigation told us the Waldorf A’Story restaurant was inside the general store! There was a short wait to get a seat for breakfast. We nosed around the general store that stocks all kinds of gourmet foods, most of which you would never expect to find in a remote place like this. The restaurant has only 4-5 tables and a few seats at the counter. When we were seated, we discovered the service wasn’t the fastest, but it was Sunday morning one of their business times I’m sure. We started off our meal with a piping hot cinnamon roll smothered in melting chocolate frosting. Ya! I selected the “German Sausage Bake”. For $8.99 my entrée came with sausage, noodles, mustard, beer, Swiss cheese, caraway seeds and rye bread. This was all mixed together and served with fresh fruit and toast. I can almost feel the saliva dripping onto your computer. The ROADFOOD book is fantastic. Not only is the food both unique and tasty, it becomes an adventure to find these places. I suggest you run right out and get your own copy of ROADFOOD. STATE RANKINGS Tonight’s track was my 8th career track in Wyoming. I am now in a first-place tie with Allan Brown. We each have twice as many tracks as the third-place chaser, Dale O’Brien. There are 14 trackchasers holding on by the skin of their teeth with one lifetime Cowboy state track and a 10thplace ranking there. RACE REVIEW – SWEETWATER COUNTY FAIR (FIGURE 8) – TRACK #1,240 The website for the Sweetwater Fair continues to this day to proclaim the race is scheduled for Monday, July 30. However, tonight is not July 30. It is Tuesday, July 31. The races did not start at 7 p.m. as the website told me, they began at 7:40 p.m. No, Wyoming was not going to go quietly as I tried to become its #1 trackchaser. Tonight’s race event was small compared to the figure 8 racing in Jackson Hole. They had only 10 cars racing tonight. Jackson Hole had 30. They ran just three heats and a feature event tonight while Jackson Hole ran eight races. Watching a three-car, 10-lap figure 8 race is not very entertaining. By definition, there cannot be much action at the “X”. The feature event started all 10 cars. Only three finished! The announcer promised a “grudge” match race and encouraged the crowd to stick around after the regular schedule was completed. For a moment I thought that maybe the “grudge” race might be some kind of oval track. However, when the track’s heavy equipment came out and repositioned the huge figure 8 tractor tires, I knew it was time to hit the road. The first race had begun at 7:40 p.m. The last of the three heat races finished just eight minutes later. After a brief intermission, the feature event checkered at about 8:20 p.m. I had been at the track for 40 minutes. I had driven nearly six hours round-trip to come back after being misled by their website mistake. Tonight the arena and grandstand were located at least one-half mile from the fairgrounds and carnival area. I didn’t have much interest in visiting that fair with 200-miles of mountainous driving ahead of me. I grabbed a bag of caramel “Kettle corn” and headed back to Salt Lake. RENTAL CAR UPDATE Salt Lake City – Thursday-Tuesday (5-day rental) My National Rental Car Racing Chevrolet Malibu felt a bit flimsy when navigating these mountain roads. Nevertheless, it did give us good mileage. Carol and I drove the Malibu 2,026 miles. We paid an average price of $3.01 per gallon. The little Chevy gave us a stout 32.8 M.P.G. in fuel mileage at a cost of 9.2 cents per mile. The car cost 15.0 cents per mile to rent, all taxes included because of the drop off charges. Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser I live in my own world. People know me here. TRAVEL DETAILS AIRPLANE Orange County, CA – Salt Lake City, UT – 588 miles RENTAL CAR – SALT LAKE Salt Lake International Airport – trip begins Jackson, Wyoming – 306 miles Belgrade, Montana – 552 miles Billings, Montana – 722 miles Rock Springs, Wyoming – 1,824 miles Salt Lake City International Airport – trip ends – 2,026 miles AIRPLANE Salt Lake City, UT – Orange County, CA – 588 miles Total Air miles – 1,176 (2 flights) Total auto and air miles traveled on this trip – 3,202 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Teton County Fairgrounds – $12 Gallatin International Speedway -$9 ($1 senior discount savings) BMP Speedway – $12 Sweetwater County Fairgrounds – $7 Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $40 RANKINGS LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. Other notables These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus) of Carol’s current trackchaser total. 2007 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS Tracks have been reported by 39 different worldwide trackchasers this season. Past trackchasing reports are available at: www.randylewis.org UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS I am about to embark upon my longest trackchasing trip of the 2007 season. The trip will involve lots of driving, lots of golf and hopefully lots of tracks. I’ll be petal to the metal until Labor Day wraps up. Then we’ll be talking UCLA football. 1,139. Meremere Dirt Track Club, Meremere, New Zealand – January 1 1,140. Meeanee Speedway, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand – January 1 1,141. Top of the South Speedway, Richmond, New Zealand – January 2 1,142. Woodford Glen Speedway, Christchurch, New Zealand – January 3 1,143. Robertson Holden International Speedway, Palmerston North, New Zealand – January 5 1,144. Taupo Motorsports Park, Taupo, North, New Zealand – January 6 1,145. Waikaraka Park International Speedway, Auckland, New Zealand – January 6 1,146. Angels Stadium of Anaheim (inner oval), Anaheim, California – January 13 1,147. Angels Stadium of Anaheim (outer oval), Anaheim, California – January 13 1,148. West Valley Speedway, Surprise, Arizona – January 14 1,149. Sandia Motorsports Park (road course), Albuquerque, New Mexico – January 28 1,150. Grand Prix De Lanaudiere, Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada – February 3 1,151. Ste-Eulalie Ice Track, Eulalie, Quebec, Canada – February 4 1,152. St Guillaume, St Guillaume, Quebec, Canada – February 4 1,153. Caldwell Rodeo Arena, Caldwell, Idaho – February 10 1,154. Balsam Lake Ice Track, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin – February 18 1,155. Northeast Pond Ice Track, Milton, New Hampshire – February 24 1,156. Lee Pond Ice Track, Moultonborough, New Hampshire – February 25 1,157. New Hendry Country Speedway, Clewiston, Florida – March 3 1,158. Florida Sports Park, Naples, Florida – March 4 1,159. Honeoye Lake Ice Track – Road Course, Honeoye, New York – March 10 1,160. Houston Raceway Park, Baytown, Texas – March 16 1,161. Houston Motorsports Park, Houston, Texas – March 16 1,162. Dawgwood Speedway, Chatsworth, Georgia – March 17 1,163. Toccoa Speedway, Toccoa, Georgia – March 17 1,164. Tazewell Speedway, Tazewell, Tennessee – March 18 1,165. Malden Speedway, Malden, Missouri, Tennessee – March 23 1,166. Dacosa Speedway, Byhalia, Mississippi – March 24 1,167. Swinging Bridge Raceway, Byram, Mississippi – March 24 1,168. Florence Motor Speedway, Florence, South Carolina – March 25 1,169. Foothills Raceway, Easley, South Carolina – March 30 1,170. Mileback Speedway, Gray Court, South Carolina – March 30 1,171. Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida – April 1 1,172. Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas, Nevada – April 8 1,173. Huntsville Speedway, Huntsville, Alabama – April 13 1,174. Low Country Kartway, Aynor, South Carolina – April 14 1,175. Dillon Motor Speedway, Dillon, South Carolina – April 14 1,176. Valley Dirt Riders, Berthoud, Colorado – April 15 1,177. Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Lancaster, California – April 22 1,178. Sertoma Speedway, Tularosa, New Mexico – April 27 1,179. Sandia Motorsports Park (outer oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28 1,180. Sandia Motorsports Park (inner oval), Albuquerque, New Mexico – April 28 1,181. Hollywood Hills Speedway, San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico – April 29 1,182. Meridian Speedway, Meridian, Idaho – May 11 1,183. Diamond Mountain Speedway, Vernal, Utah, Idaho – May 12 1,184. Rocky Mountain Raceways (oval), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12 1,185. Rocky Mountain Raceways (figure 8), Salt Lake City, Utah – May 12 1,186. Modoc Speedway, Modoc, South Carolina – May 18 1,187. Possum Kingdom Super Speedway, Belton, South Carolina – May 19 1,188. Laurens County Speedway, Laurens, South Carolina – May 19 1,189. Fairplex at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, Pomona, California – May 20 1,190. Lowes Motor Speedway (inner oval), Concord, North Carolina – May 24 1,191. Lowes Motor Speedway (road course), Concord, North Carolina – May 24 1,192. Madison International Speedway (inner oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25 ** Madison International Speedway (outer oval), Oregon, Wisconsin – May 25 1,193. Thunderbird Stadium (figure 8), Bremerton, Washington – May 26 1,194. Thunderbird Stadium (oval), Bremerton, Washington – May 26 1,195. Whispering Pines Motorsports Park, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada – May 27 1,196. Magic Valley Speedway, Twin Falls, Idaho – May 28 1,197. Owyhee Motorcycle Raceway Park, Boise, Idaho – June 1 1,198. Race City Motorsports Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,199. Edmonton International Raceway, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,200. Castrol Raceway, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,201. Hidden Valley Motorsports Park, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada – June 2 1,202. Boyd’s Speedway, Ringgold, Georgia – June 8 1,203. Fayette County Fairgrounds, Washington Courthouse, Ohio – June 9 1,204. Brush Creek Motorsports Park, Pebbles, Ohio – June 9 1,205. Brown County Speedway, Russellville, Ohio – June 9 1,206. Vinton Speedway, Vinton, Ohio – June 10 1,207. Hilltop Speedway, Millersburg, Ohio – June 10 1,208. I-70 Speedway – dirt (outer oval), Odessa, Missouri – June 13 1,209. L A Raceway, La Monte, Missouri – June 14 1,210. Valley Speedway, Grain Valley, Missouri – June 22 1,211. Jamaica Raceway, Jamaica, Iowa – June 23 1,212. Calhoun County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Rockwell City, Jamaica, Iowa – June 23 ** Hamilton County Speedway, Webster City, Iowa – June 23 (new for Carol only) ** Iowa Speedway (outer oval), Newton, Iowa, Iowa – June 24 (new for Carol only) 1,213. Butler Motor Speedway, Butler, Missouri – June 24 ** Peoria Speedway, Peoria, Illinois – June 25 1,214. Kart Kanyon Raceway, Aztec, New Mexico – June 30 1,215. Aztec Speedway, Aztec, New Mexico – June 30 1,216. Sunvalley Speedway, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada – July 1 1,217. Georgetown Speedway, Georgetown, Delaware – July 6 1,218. Delmarva Motorsports Park, Middleford, Delaware – July 6 1,219. Hunterstown Speedway, Hunterstown, Pennsylvania – July 7 1,220. Shippensburg Speedway, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania – July 7 (Randy only) ** Hagerstown Speedway, Hagerstown, Maryland – July 7 (new for Carol only) 1,221. Blanket Hill Speedway, Whitesburg, Pennsylvania – July 8 1,222. Lincoln County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Troy, Missouri – July 13 1,223. Pike County Speedway, Pittsfield, Illinois – July 13 1,224. Iowa Speedway (road course), Newton, Iowa – July 14 1,225. Mitchell County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Osage, Iowa – July 14 1,226. Scott County Fairgrounds (oval), Scottsburg, Indiana – July 15 1,227. Barry Expo Center (figure 8), Hastings, Michigan – July 16 1,228. Lycoming County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Hughesville, Pennsylvania, Michigan – July 17 1,229. Delaware County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Muncie, Indiana – July 18 1,230. Delaware County Fairgrounds (oval), Muncie, Indiana – July 18 1,231. Van Buren County Youth Fairgrounds (road course), Hartford, Michigan – July 19 1,232. High Banks Speedway (oval), Philpot, Kentucky – July 20 1,233. High Banks Speedway (figure 8), Philpot, Kentucky – July 20 1,234. SOIL MX, Bone Gap, Illinois – July 21 1,235. Western Kentucky Speedway, Madisonville, Kentucky – July 21 ** Windy Hollow Speedway (oval), Owensboro, Kentucky – July 23 1,236. Windy Hollow Speedway (small figure 8), Owensboro, Kentucky – July 21 1,237. Teton County Fairgrounds (figure 8), Jackson, Wyoming – July 26 1,238. Gallatin International Speedway, Belgrade, Montana – July 27 1,239. BMP Speedway, Billings, Montana – July 28 1,240. Sweetwater Events Complex (figure 8), Rock Springs, Wyoming – July 31 In the business world, the U.S. is often divided up into geographic areas that are referred to as East, Central and the “eleven Western states plus Alaska and Hawaii.” No, I don’t know why they don’t just say the “thirteen western states.” Those states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming and, of course, Alaska and Hawaii. The far west probably has the most beautiful scenery per square mile anywhere in the United States. This got me to thinking. Over the next 2-3 years, I’d like to put a “full-court” press on these far west states for trackchasing purposes. I want to establish a goal of becoming the number one trackchaser in each of these states except California by the end of 2009. Becoming #1 in California is not a realistic goal at this time. Below is a listing of these thirteen Far Western states. The state’s name is followed by my current rank and how many tracks I need to see to gain at least a tie for 1st place. As an example, I’m currently in ninth place in Alaska and trail first place by three tracks. I’m looking forward to spending more time than usual is the Far West, a great part of our country. Alaska – 9th by 3 Arizona – 1st California – 2nd by 48 Colorado – 2nd by 1 Hawaii – 3rd by 1 Idaho – 1st Montana – 1st Nevada – 2nd by 2 New Mexico – 1st Oregon – 1st Utah – 1st Washington – 1st Wyoming – 1st You might have remembrances about this Wyoming track. If so, please feel free to share your memories 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. 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 Excerpts from a recent Trackchaser Report from Belgium’s own Roland Vanden Eynde. Allow me to start with an epilogue to my American trip. I thoroughly enjoyed spending some time with my trackchasing friends and I’m very honoured by all of you who sometimes drove a long distance to meet me. Thank you all very much for that. On the positive side was also the relaxed driving, with the possible exception of Chicago. During my 6145 miles I never had to deal with any aggressive driving, which in my home country is out of the question. But since my first visit in 1994, I’ve seen the USA becoming a much less open and inviting country. I don’t really feel at ease in a country where one in three crop fields in Iowa is bordered by such slogans as ‘Guns save lives’, where national media (Fox News) label Amnesty International, one of the least biased and most honourable institutions I know, a bunch of terrorist friends and where balanced views on political or ethical issues are few. I’m an atheist, but I consider anyone equal, regardless of his or her religion (which I all respect as long as they don’t force me to convert), and I only believe in the universal declaration of human rights. To me there are always two sides of a story and an open debate, without diabolising people with a different view, is essential. This seems increasingly difficult in the USA. To someone of my cultural background starting a motor race by playing the national anthem is weird already, let alone these ‘invocations’ asking Jesus Christ to watch over the drivers and the troops defending overseas the freedom which allows the organiser to continue to stage such events. And there’s also the fundamentalist talk on the numerous ‘Christian’ radio stations. The public radio (which I listened to at Milwaukee, Chicago and NYC) was a nice counterbalance, but how many people listen to those? That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2007
(** not the first time to visit this track)
Anyway, I was glad to be back in my cosy home country, and ready to do some trackchasing in Belgium and the Netherlands.
