Greetings from Thermal, California
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
The Thermal Club Asphalt road course – 2.4M Lifetime Track #2,674 THE EVENT Editor’s note: I see racing at a lot of places with a lot of spectator viewing situations. Most tracks want MORE fans to attend their events. That is not the case with the private members only “country club” style tracks. Their members are generally looking for the more exclusive racing/spectator experience. No problem. My job is to work with all racing organizations as I pursue my own spectating/trackchasing experience. I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with buddy Greg Robbins during one of my trackchasing trips). I live in San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Trackchasing for me is all about three things. First, I enjoy auto racing. Secondly, my hobby requires a good deal of overnight travel. When I venture out to see a race at a track I’ve never seen before I do not want my trip limited to racing only. The very last thing I want when I’m done trackchasing is to have memories of only racing. I want to take some time to see the local attractions of wherever I might be visiting. Those visits in many cases will provide more long-lasting memories than whatever I saw on the track. Finally, I want to create a logistical plan that allows me to accomplish the two points mentioned above without depleting my retirement account. That’s trackchasing for me. Hundreds of trackchasers have stopped for a moment to create their own personal trackchasing list. I think that is great. However, I will tell you that no one has ever taken trackchasing more seriously than I have. Do I have any data to back up that assertion? I do. To date, I have seen auto racing in 85 countries at more than 2,690 different tracks. Does that sound serious to you? I’ve been able to see the world doing this. If you’re interested in exactly what I’ve been able to experience all around the U.S. and the world I recommend you click on this link. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions After each and every event that I attend I post a YouTube video, a SmugMug photo album and a very detailed Trackchaser Report about the experience on my website at www.randylewis.org. My trackchasing contributions generate a good deal of interest in what I am doing. My YouTube channel (ranlay) has more than 1.3 million views. My website gets more than 20,000 views every month. Because I have seen racing in 85 countries at this point I am considered the World’s #1 Trackchaser. That’s good enough for me. Now I encourage you to drop down a few spaces and read about today’s trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on at this track just think about the idea that I’ve done this nearly 2,700 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to the hobby of trackchasing. It’s just fun! If you’re interested in looking back and seeing where I’ve been the following link is for you. 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 Sunday, January 17, 2021. Last night I watched a famous Chili Bowl midget racing event on TV. I’ve been to the Chili Bowl a few times. It’s a great venue for short track dirt racing fans. It’s one of the best. We’re still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. That being the case I’ve decided not to fly to any more trackchasing adventures until I get the vaccinated. I stopped flying on November 15, 2020. That was after I had flown somewhere to trackchase for 24 consecutive weeks during the height of the pandemic. I just figured that being this close to the vaccine it might be better to cut back just a little bit. My new travel “strategy” would not preclude me from driving to events. I guess driving is the perfect real-life example of social distancing! However, living in such a remote part of the continental United States there are not many tracks that I could realistically as well as want to drive to especially during the winter. Last weekend Carol and I tied in a visit to the Grand Canyon in the state of Arizona with a race over in Kingman, Arizona. That got our 2021 trackchasing season off to a robust start. We were able to see racing at two different tracks in Arizona. Now the very next week I have another trackchasing opportunity in my home state, the Golden State. I would be returning to the Thermal Club. This would not be my first visit to the most private of private racing venues. Back in 2019 I made my very first trip to the Thermal Club. I saw racing on what I was told was a combination of the red and blue circuits. I was also told The Thermal Club has three separate circuits in total, named red, blue and green. Each one of the circuits can have a standalone race configuration or various combinations can almost make an infinite number of potential configurations. I think I have been to every private “country club” racing venue in the United States and Canada but one. I’m going to guess there are about 20 of those facilities. The one track that I’ve never even attempted to see up to this point is the Club Motorsports track in New Hampshire. One of these days when I’m out that way I’ll figure out how I can see a race there. Steve Williams – New Zealand Saloon Car Champion I knew that the Thermal Club runs two or three wheel to wheel races during the winter out at their location near Palm Springs. While doing some research on the Thermal Club I discovered a great contact. This gentleman and I had a mutual friend, New Zealand saloon car driver, Steve Williams. Oh, by the way, if you’ve never heard of Steve and his racing career you might have heard his name as being the golf caddy for Tiger Woods for eleven years. It was this contact that would open the door for me to the Thermal Club this weekend. I was able to confirm there would be a racing date at Thermal in January, 2021. My track contact was excellent at giving me information and helping to confirm that the race in January would be on a different configuration than I had seen back in 2019. This meant I had a race date and a race venue. Now all I needed was a little help him being able to get inside the Thermal Club to see the racing for myself. This is where my contact came to provide even more help for a struggling trackchaser. He was more than willing to get me in on a guest pass. That was of upmost importance as the Thermal Club from what I can tell is the most private of private country club tracks. Gaining admission would open up my world to see racing at this ultra-posh facility. The Thermal Club is located in, where else, Thermal, California. Thermal is about 150-mile drive from our modest seaside cottage in San Clemente, California. I have never been a big one to drive my own personal car to trackchasing events. It’s pretty easy to stick to that particular principal since 99% of the tracks I visit are well beyond what anyone would consider to be a normal driving distance anyway. Nevertheless, since the pandemic began, I have driven my 2020 Tesla Model X to two different race tracks in Arizona and another southeastern California. In my mind I’ve allocated 10,000 miles for driving to “local” tracks. When this trip is finished, I will have used up about 3000 of those miles. Today I cruised through the Thermal Club admission gate with ease. This was a little bit different than my experience the last time I came to Thermal but that’s in the rearview mirror now. The track security guard gave me a nice little souvenir placard with my name and license plate number on it. I’ll keep that and cherish it. I even got my temperature taken. I came in at 95.5°. I didn’t think that was correct but I also didn’t think it was worth debating with the more than friendly security guard. Today’s weather was going to be perfect especially considering the date was January 17, 2021. We’re in the middle of our American winter. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The high temperature was expected to be about 85°. Thermal is located out in the desert. In the summer temperatures have been known to reach 120° here. There was only one race scheduled for the entire day. One of the folks I met at the track told me that competition would begin at 11:20 a.m. and finish 40 minutes later. That meant I would likely be home in time to take Trackchasing’s First Mother to dinner. Since I arrived nearly an hour and a half before the scheduled start time, I took the opportunity to walk all over the grounds. I had already done this on my first visit. However, wandering all over the place allowed me to reunite myself with what the Thermal Club had to offer as well as to get in a majority of my 4-mile daily walking requirement. The private country club auto racing aspect of today’s operation has grown in popularity since beginning about 20 years ago or so. It models the private country club golf model which has been in existence for more than a century. I was a member of a private golf club for 20 years. It worked out very well. We had a very upscale and challenging 27-hole Gary Player designed golf course. The club featured an upscale clubhouse that could be used for dining and various other social occasions. I very much enjoyed my golf country club time but when I retired from golf it was time to retire from the country club as well. I don’t know the exact details for membership at the Thermal Club. I’ll just say that in general these private auto racing facilities have an upfront initiation fee and then monthly memberships. The memberships can often be for an individual, a family or even a corporation. The member gets to bring his or her car out to the track and race it nearly as often as they want to. Again, I’m not speaking for the Thermal Club individually. I know these memberships are not inexpensive. However, if you’ve got a $100,000 car or a $500,000 car that will go 160 miles an hour a private country club auto racing location is about the only place you can attempt to do those speeds. From doing research on my first Thermal Club visit I learned that they begin with a relationship with BMW as a private test track. Interestingly along the San Diego Freeway, Interstate 405, there is a Porsche test track that runs within a few feet of the interstate itself. As far as I know they don’t have any racing at that track…yet. I’m sure these private tracks have multiple revenue streams. In Southern California tracks can benefit from different people who want to do TV commercials or movie scenes or whatever. It’s got to be a challenge, especially whenever the economy turns down, to maintain all of the different revenue sources that would make one of these operations successful. One of the benefits of The Thermal Club membership is the members can build homes along the perimeter of the race course. I think the Thermal Club has been around for about a dozen years or so. There are several homes that are completed and a few more that are under construction. I have no idea how many lots they still have to sell. Sometimes folks buy the lot and hold onto it for a number of years before deciding to build if they ever do. When I came here the first time, I saw a racing on a 2.7-mile configuration that I am told included a combination of the red and blue courses. My track contact told me that today’s course distance would be 2.4 miles. It would be a combination of the configurations. I was assured this new “variant” met and exceeded trackchasing’s somewhat arbitrary rules on this matter. The race circuit’s terrain is pretty close to flat. Honestly if I didn’t know what the distances and configurations were from the last race and what I was told they were for today’s race as a spectator standing around in the paddock area, I would not have noticed a difference. Trackchasing rules allow for the counting of two separate road course configurations that overlap in certain circumstances. The best I could do was to rely on the information that members and racers had given me about today’s racing at Thermal. I have talked to a few trackchasers who in opinion aren’t quite as diligent in their “counting of tracks”. I’ve been told by one trackchaser that when he/she (trying to be clever) visits a road course with multiple configurations for the first time that is automatically track number one. When he/she comes back to the same facility again that is track number two almost without consideration as to which configuration was seen the first time or the second time. Trackchasing is just a hobby. Everyone looks at it a little bit differently. My main goal has always been the meet and exceed the rules in place at the time. I’ll go with that thought until I retire from the hobby. During my walk around the facility, I discovered a “used car” lot. O.K. the cars for sale here were not what you might find at the used car lot in the shady part of town that you’re familiar with. These were UPSCALE previously owned cars. A 2019 Porsche 935 was selling for $1,399,000! There were several “bargain” options in the $200,00-$300,000 price range. Don’t miss seeing my SmugMug photo album. For today’s race there were at least a couple of classes racing at the same time. I think your best bet is to take a look at my YouTube video from today’s racing. If you do you will see some very unique, beautiful and fast race cars. Folks who can afford to be members at The Thermal Club and own and race these cars are more than affluent. They might be more than rich. I say, “well done”. America is a capitalist country. These folks have figured it out! I can only admire people like this. Yes, nice job! Last night I had watched racing from the Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today I was watching sports car racing in Thermal, California. Those cars and tracks were just about as far apart in every way as you might imagine. That’s what trackchasing is all about. It offers a little bit of everything. Good afternoon from Thermal, California. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,674 tracks. California The Golden State This afternoon I saw racing at my 174th lifetime track in the Golden, yes, the Golden State. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in California. California ranks #1, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Here’s a link to my all-time California state trackchasing list. I have made 146 separate trips within California seeing these tracks. 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 Californians are deeply proud of their In-N-Out, a fast-food burger chain that comes with its own jargon and a secret menu not advertised in stores. A burger served “animal style” has mustard fried into the patty and comes with extra spread and grilled onions. You can also order your fries animal style. If you’re especially hungry, try a 3×3 burger, which comes with three beef patties, or even a 4×4, which comes with four. JUST THE FACTS 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 800 tracks of my lifetime total. That’s a fact, Jack. Total Trackchasing Countries My nearest trackchasing competitor, a native of Belgium, has seen racing in more than 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. See it in pictures! 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 trip out toward the Thermal Club and their exclusive “used car” lot! 
California sayings: “I’ll take a Double-Double, animal style.”
