I’ve been to the Tucson International Raceway several times.  As a matter of fact I’ve seen racing on four different tracks at this facility.  However, I had to go back to Tucson MORE than four times to do it.

 

I’ve been rained out in Tucson.  I’ve been told by the promoter they would race on their smaller oval….but when I showed up they didn’t!  I’ve seen the winter nationals at T.I.R., formerly known as the USA Raceway.

 

 

You will get to see the evolution of my Trackchaser Reports during my visits to Tucson.  I first went to see racing on the larger oval in 2005.  In 2010 I was back to see racing on the figure 8 track.  During the 2012 trackchasing season I finally saw some racing action on the inner oval at the Tucson International Raceway.  Finally, in 2014 I returned to the facility to see some stadium off-road racing on their dirt road course.

 

I’m happy to hear that my good buddy and race promoter, Chris Kearns will be taking over the promotional responsibilities beginning in 2014.  Chris runs good shows.  If you get the chance make a trip to Tucson to see what they have to offer with their special events.

 

 

 

 

Drive, eat, sleep, and repeat.

 

If you ever get the chance to do this do it.

 

 

They may be stronger than me but I can beat their butts all around a golf course.

 

It pays to be persistent.

 

Don’t mistake activity with achievement.

 

 

This was not my first rodeo at the Tucson International Raceway.

 

Paying to park? Gimme a break.

 

Then I got to thinking.

 

This ain’t your father’s oval track demographic.

 

It’s a rare day when I pass up a Waffle House.

 

 

 

Drive, eat, sleep, and repeat.

I woke up this morning at home in San Clemente, California. I didn’t exactly “go to bed” in the traditional way. After tonight’s races I had a nine-hour drive to make in order to get where I was going for a 1:40 p.m. race start tomorrow. I drove and I napped. Sometimes I stopped the car and I napped.

 

 

This trip was scheduled to be almost identical to last week’s trip. Last week I drove 1,498 miles. I intended to see three Far Western tracks but ended up with only two.

 

 

THIS weekend I was also scheduled to drive about 1,500 miles. I was also planning to see three new Far Western tracks just like last weekend.

 

 

Four visits; four tracks.

Tonight I was returning to the Tucson International Raceway in Tucson, Arizona for my fourth time. Previously, when the track was named “USA Race Track”, I had seen racing on their 1/3-mile dirt oval. Later I would see racing at T.I.R.’s figure 8 track and inner oval. Once I had been rained out here as well.

 

 

Tonight I had come for my fourth countable track at this facility in Tucson. It wasn’t easy to get four tracks here. I had to come back four times to do it!

 

 

If you ever get the chance to do this do it.

We’ve had a fun week in San Clemente. Carol and I have had three young U.S. Marine lieutenants living at our house since they returned from Afghanistan. It’s a nice experience to have these bright young folks who certainly know what discipline and being in good shape is all about. They’re graduates of the University of Colorado, Carnegie Mellon and Oklahoma State University. I will tell you this. If every young person was similar to these three guys no one could touch America in just about anything. Sadly that is not the case.

 

 

They may be stronger than me but I can beat their butts all around a golf course.

I helped host those young Marines in a golf outing. They’re just learning to play for the most part but with handicaps the scores were evened out. Luckily, I was not the one stuck with the dinner bill after all the scores were tallied up.

 

 

When I left San Clemente this morning they were all heading home for their two-week leaves. This would be the first time they had seen their families in the better part of a year. One was heading back to Boston to deliver the eulogy for the one and only Marine who was killed in action during their 7-month deployment to Afghanistan.

 

 

Carol and I have been given a real life demonstration of the type of people who are fighting for us in far away places to preserve our freedoms. It’s been a great feeling to have them all staying with us.

 

 

This trip called for a rental car even though I was starting from San Clemente.

It was a brisk 474-mile drive from San Clemente to Tucson. Of course, I rented a car just like last week to do the heavy lifting.

 

 

I was saving money by spending money on a rental car. How is that you might ask? I would save about $135 U.S. just in gas by renting a car and getting most of my gas in Arizona. How did I figure that?

 

 

I could have driven my own car (actually Carol owns the car I drive), a 2013 Lexus RX 350. If I had done that I would have gotten about 23 M.P.G. If I had bought all my gas in California, which I could have done, I would have paid about $4.20 per gallon. However, I rented a Hyundai Sonata from my long-time trackchasing sponsor the National Car Rental Company. The Sonata would give me about 36 M.P.G. I also bought about 1,200 miles of fuel at Arizona gas prices of just $3.40 per gallon. When I did the math it came to a savings of well over $100.

 

 

Thousands of dollars saved.

Of course I was not wearing out my car with 1,500 miles of driving in just 40 hours. Normally, I wouldn’t drive my own car that far in a month. I’ve known for well over 10 years that it’s foolish to wear out your own car trackchasing. I’ve tried to convince others in the hobby to follow this lead. Most are a stubborn bunch. I estimate I have saved literally THOUSANDS of dollars using rental cars compared to my own.

 

 

It pays to be persistent.

However, it was not easy getting the car I wanted at the John Wayne (Orange County) Airport this morning. I strongly prefer Hyundai Sonatas for their gas mileage and satellite radio capabilities. However, when I arrived there were none available.

 

 

I had several other options but they likely would not give me the gas mileage a Sonata would. I also didn’t want to be stuck out in the California/Arizona deserts with little radio reception if I had been forced to take a car without satellite radio. However, after getting the car rental agent to check the “back lot” and call down to the “wash area” a dripping wet Sonata was found. I was all over that knowing it had saved me money and would make the drive much better.

 

 

Hard to some people; easy to me.

This type of trip might seem difficult to the novice viewer of the trackchasing hobby. Actually, this is a very EASY trip. I’m only gone from home for 40 hours. I will hopefully rack up three tracks. That’s excellent trackchasing productivity. It’s not unheard to have to stay out on the road for four nights to get three tracks. The cost of the trip will be about half of what a normal three-track trip would cost and maybe less. If I could do a trip like this every trackchasing weekend…..I would.

 

 

A little bit at a time adds up to a lot.

These types of time and money cost saving strategies are the types of things I’ve been doing every day of my life for probably about 50 years. It’s not buying cheap stuff cheap but buying good stuff cheap. If you have 50 years of mainly small “wins” you’re going to have something special after all that time.

 

 

Never mistake activity with achievement.

The rental car idea is a special example. If you know what you want you have to be willing to work hard, and more importantly smart, to get it. I have never been a big fan of working hard. However, I do my best to work smart. If I work smart I don’t have to work as hard. I never want to mistake activity with achievement.

 

 

After the races……..

 

 

17 hours to drive 9 hours.

I needed to be in Ridgecrest, California by 1:40 p.m. for tomorrow afternoon’s racing. Ridgecrest would be a 9-hour drive and about 561 miles from Tucson. I left the Tucson International Raceway at about 8:40 p.m. I would have 17 hours to drive nine hours. My plan was to nap from time to time on the drive back into California.

 

 

I could have gotten a motel. However, I figured if I did that I might not get to where I was going if I had any type of car trouble along the way. I would try to get to Ridgecrest as soon as I could and then rest the best I could.

 

 

 

THE RACE.

 

 

 

 

Tucson International Raceway – Tucson, Arizona

 

 

This was not my first rodeo at the Tucson International Raceway.

As you have read this was not my first visit to T.I.R. Tonight I was seeing my fourth different track here. I had also been rained out once at this track. Who gets rained out at a track in Arizona!? On another occasion I had come to see racing on the inner oval. On that night, and only on that night all year, the hornets raced on the big oval so I was shut out. On still another night my brother Mark and I showed up for a mid-week “winter nationals” late model and modified race. Folks, that’s a lot of track visits to a location that’s nearly 500 miles from my house!

 

 

Paying to park? Gimme a break.

I arrived early, as I normally do, for the 6 p.m. start time. General admission would be $15. That wasn’t bad. However parking would be an additional ten dollars. That wasn’t good. If I can park at any NASCAR track for free why would I think it was a good deal to pay ten bucks for a small event like this?

 

 

Paying to park was really a pit pass?

I questioned the ticket seller. He told me it really wasn’t a “parking charge” even though that’s what the sign said. “We’re really charging you to get into the pits. By the way it’s the ‘Lucas Oil’ people who are responsible for this. They rented the track. This had nothing to do with the Tucson International Raceway”.

 

 

I wasn’t too wild about this approach. At most of these stadium off-road events pit admission was included in the price of the general admission ticket. However, in those instances, the ticket price might have been higher than tonight’s $15 U.S.

 

 

Then I got to thinking.

Yep, I got to thinking. That’s always a scary thing. I was just one person. I was paying $15 to park. What about a car of four people? If the “parking charge” was really a “hidden pit pass” charge would all four people have to pay ten dollars extra. Or, would a car filled with four fans have to pay just ONE ten-dollar parking charge? If that were the case then they would end up paying $70 for four people or about $17.50 each. I was paying $25 for my admission. Whatever, I didn’t care for this approach.

 

 

I like stadium off-road events.

Since I now had a pit pass wristband I had better take a walk through the pits. I noticed a wide variety of stadium off-road racing vehicles. There were “trophy trucks” raced by kids. There were “UTVs” also known as “SXSs” or side-by-side vehicles. Then there were dune buggy type racers and a couple of classes of trucks. However, there weren’t all that many of any of these racers.

 

 

This was a “regional” series race sponsored by Lucas Oil. In this region they race at several different Arizona track locations. Initially I thought this was the last Arizona track for me to see with this group. However, I may have to check that out a little further.

 

 

Warm but then chilly.

When I arrived the ambient temperature was 89 degrees. However, when the some goes down and the wind picks up it gets cold in the desert. That was the case tonight. With little humidity and a 20 M.P.H. wind 80 degrees felt chilly!

 

 

Don’t listen to my description of the track; watch the video.

Tonight’s track was a dirt road course. The competitors took the green flag at the same place the oval track racers do. They race down into the oval’s first turn. As they exited the second turn of the oval they made a left hand turn into the oval’s infield. There they did a couple of “U-turns” and leaving the infield and rejoining the oval in the fourth turn.

 

 

The track had some smaller jumps but nothing too great. They also used “moguls” extensively. That had to be hard on the kidneys! The youth divisions (2) race on a slightly different smaller course.

 

 

This ain’t your father’s oval track demographic.

Stadium off-road racing attracts a decidedly different demographic. They get a younger “hipster” type crowd. Some people would describe them as “skaters”. They’re likely to be wearing black Vans tennis shoes with black socks, a black t-shirt and a “skater” black hat maybe even with the bill turned up. In San Clemente these folks would be “surfer dudes”.

 

 

What do Skittles and butt cracks have in common?

Nevertheless, they are well behaved. I guess that might be one minor exception to that sentence. The guys sitting in front of me were trying to throw Skittles down the butt crack of a large fan seated a few rows lower. They got a kick out of that. However, at the same time, they unfailingly said “Excuse me” when they had to cross in front of an elderly fan seated nearby.

 

 

Skinny fields.

I stayed for five feature events featuring seven different classes. I think there might have been one race to go. Except for one class of trophy karts (kids) all classes had ten competitors or less. Two classes had just ONE racer. Stadium off-road racing, like most racing, is a lot more entertaining with larger fields of cars.

 

 

Boycott.

There were a wide variety of concessions and souvenirs available. I boycotted the concessions for two reasons, calorie control and to protest the parking charge. The P.A. system was far less than robust which hurt my enjoyment of the program.

 

 

It’s a rare day when I pass up a Waffle House.

Following the races I “spent” my last 300 calories on a large chili at Wendy’s. That’s noteworthy because the Wendy’s was next to a Waffle House! I’m pretty sure Arizona is the furthest west for any Waffle House location in the U.S.

 

 

 

Arizona

 

 

The Grand Canyon state

This evening I saw my 34th lifetime track in the Grand Canyon state, yes the Grand Canyon state. When challenged for the Arizona state lead by the “Racing Eckels” I was forced to put the pedal to the medal. I hope they understand that I am not a trackchaser to be messed with…..especially on my home turf of the Far West.

 

 

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

Arizona sayings: We’re so damn Hot.

 

 

 

 

 

QUICK FACTS

 

 

AIRPLANE

No Airplanes!

 

 

RENTAL CAR #1

John Wayne (Orange County) International Airport – trip begins

Tucson, AZ

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES:

Tucson International Raceway – $15 (Parking – $10 L)

 

 

 

 

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 350 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,950

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 68

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.96

 

 

 

That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

 

 

“FROM HUMID HOT TO DESERT HOT IN JUST A FEW HOURS” TRACKCHASING WEEKEND!

 

 

Tip of the day!

I attended this race event with my brother, Mark. We had a good time except a dispute arose between us on where was the right time to leave the track. This “dispute” was captured by the Randy Lewis Racing Film crew and is now available on YouTube. You can see just about everything there. If you want to see the nearly knock down drag out battle between two brothers with different agendas click on this link NOW

 

I gotta see this I clicking on this link NOW

 

 

THE KEYS TO THE TRIP 

 

Let’s meet Mark aka ‘Marko’…………….more in “The Trip”.

 

Who are the ‘racing Eckels’?……………more in “Race Review”.

 

Food and fun………..details in “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions and One cannot live well…….”.

 

 

RLR – RANDY LEWIS RACING SPECIAL REPORT

 

My special reports are meant to be “critical thinking” pieces on the state of trackchasing. Sometimes they are just “news” items.  Often times the “trackchasing hierarchy” will consider them controversial.  At other times they are just good ways to think about the right things. The topics won’t always directly relate to trackchasing but they will always at least indirectly tie to the trackchasing hobby. Remember the best way to learn about new things….is to listen.

 

Sometimes my special reports will be major “news flashes” about the direction I am going with trackchasing.  I will always try to stay ahead of the curve as I continue to pursue more and more tracks.  Regardless of where you stand on the trackchasing “political fence” everything is meant to stimulate thought about what can, should and frequently will be done in this hobby or with subjects that relate to the hobby.  I hope you enjoy the commentary*.

 

• Whenever non-subscribers receive significant mentions in my special reports I make an effort to make certain they are copied.

 

 

The background.

 

 

Folks,

 

You might remember when I met my brother Mark in Tucson for the races in January. If you do you’ll recall his dilapidated, poorly maintained and just generally used up Oldsmobile Alero gave up the ghost just a mile or two before he reached the Tucson airport to pick me up. That sucked.

 

Of course, that fiasco cost ME money AND it cost my brother a lot of money to get the piece of #$%^ fixed. It’s never a good idea to pour money into a loser of an automobile. From that day forward I have been on my bro to get a new car. Left to his own designs he would likely have bought another used car clunker. If that’s O.K. with him that’s fine. However, when it causes inconvenience and expense for me that is “less fine”.

 

 

Finally.

 

Yes, finally, Mark decided to pull the trigger on a new car! I had convinced him that buying a new car and keeping it ten years wouldn’t cost much more than buying a “piss pot” every three-four years. It might even cost less. Do you doubt that? I’ve got the data to back up my assertion. When you consider the comfort, convenience (no stranded brothers) and cost (lack of expense in the maintenance area for several years) it’s a no brainer.

 

However, most people need help when it comes to buying a new car. Many might think they don’t but they DO. I consider myself an expert when it comes to buying new cars at the lowest cost possible. As my old pal, Dizzy Dean used to say on his baseball game of the week broadcasts, “It’s ain’t bragging if it’s true or you can do it”.

 

 

I hope you never come to our dealership.

 

A couple of years ago I flew next to a new car Ford dealer from Canada. He was a friendly fellow and we spent most of the plane ride talking about his dealership and the art of buying and selling cars. He was big on service and customer relationships. I was big on price. At the conclusion of our conversation, he said to me, “I’ve really enjoyed our conversation. You’re a great guy. I just don’t want you ever coming into MY dealership”. Of course, he said that with a smile. He was right. He would never make much, if any, money off me.

 

 

 

My brother had decided he wanted a Honda Civic. I approved of that since I had recommended either a Honda or Toyota. They will run like sewing machines for years. I took over the project 100% from this point. Except for my brother’s somewhat tepid credit score we would take the Honda boys and girls to the cleaners. Check out the “process” below. If you do it step by step (not missing any of the steps – that’s important!) you too will have money left in your pocket. You’ll do so well when you sit down you’ll feel like you’re sitting on a lopsided booster chair from the extra cash in your wallet. Here goes!

 

 

Follow these steps to the yellow brick road.

 

I’ve developed an easy, fast and cheap way to buy a new car.  The steps are fairly simple.  I’ve done this 6-8 times and most recently for my brother today.  If this is of interest take a look at the steps involved.

 

1.  You should go to an auto dealer and test drive the model you might like to buy.  Then decide what options you want.  You won’t want to make ANY commitments to the dealer during this stage.   My brother, who lives in Phoenix completed this step.  Then he turned the rest of “his” car buying experience over to me.

 

2.  I went to Edmunds.com to get the invoice cost of the vehicle and its options.  My brother was interested in buying a 2012 Honda Civic.

 

3.  I did a Google search for “Phoenix area Honda dealers”.  This yielded nine dealers within 25 miles of my brother’s home.

 

4.  I updated a one-page offer letter (which I had from previous deals) that simply stated we were willing to buy a Honda Civic today.  The letter included the details of the car and the options we wanted and their invoice cost.  I reminded the dealers we were serious buyers and told them the letter was going out to all area Honda dealers.  At most we were willing to pay invoice cost and the low dealer bidder would get the deal.

 

5.  I then emailed the best contact I could find from each dealer’s website.

 

6.  Within minutes (seconds?) I began to get email responses from the dealers.  Six of the nine dealers responded within 30 minutes!

 

7.  Even though I had reminded the dealers they had “one shot” at the deal and to give us their best price the dealer offers differed in price by $2,000.

 

8.  When all of the dealer offers had been received I sent out a few clarifying questions to the dealers.  I was careful not to give them my phone number at any juncture so that everything could be done over email.

 

9.  We accepted the lowest of the six dealer offers which was $1,000 below invoice cost.  Of course, dealers receive advertising holdbacks and other incentives in addition to whatever invoice price they paid the manufacturer.

 

1.  The next morning (today) my brother showed up at the dealer to sign the papers at the agreed upon price.  He was out the door with his new car in less than an hour.

 

Summary

 

The entire process of checking invoice prices, identifying the Phoenix area Honda dealers and contacting them with my offer letter took about one hour.  That seems pretty easy and fast.

 

When you can buy a $20,000 car for $1,000 below invoice that seems pretty cheap.

 

I’ve also purchased three Lexus automobiles in this fashion so the process works for luxury cars too.

 

This is such a no brainer I’m surprised that more people don’t do it.  I’m also surprised that even this approach, when the dealer is told they have just one shot at making a bid, that the offers can be $2,000 apart on a relatively inexpensive $20,000 new car.

 

Hope this helps some folks when it comes time to buy a new car.  I wouldn’t do it any other way.

 

Randy Lewis

San Clemente, California USA

 

 

I’m a member of one of the best groups of folks in America.

Yes, I’m a member of a 2,000+ person email group of Procter & Gamble retirees. The conference is very active and many people share their best ideas on all manner of topics. This group is chock full of really bright people who share their thoughts and experiences daily on all kinds of issues (except their political ideas) that I find interesting. I recently shared my new car buying strategy with the group. Here’s feedback from someone who followed my advice.

 

 

Feedback from a satisfied follower.

“I’d like to say thanks to Randy Lewis for his write-up on buying a new car over the internet by asking for bids from multiple dealers. It works, and it works well!



 

Last week I helped our son purchase a Subaru Outback. After test-driving and color/options selection, we emailed the request-for-bids to 6 dealers at 10AM, received 3 bids within an hour, 6 bids within 4 hours, chose a deal at 3PM, and drove it home at 5:30PM. Absolutely painless!



 

Frankly, the bids were much lower than I expected. For reference (including destination charge, but not taxes/title/paperwork processing rip-off charge):


 

36.6k – Sticker Price


33.7 – Dealer Invoice, per Edmunds.com


33.0 – Buying Service Price (USAA Insurance)


32.8 – My hoped-for offer


32.6 – Dealer Cost (TrueCar Price Report)


32.0 – Lowest offer.

Others were 32.4, 32.4, 32.8, 32.8, and 33.7. Amazing!



 

A couple of notes, which may affect your results:


 

1. The car was the loaded model….. which have a much higher mark-up versus stripped models.

2. June is the beginning of the current model year cleanout.

3. Purchase was made in the first week of June, so end-of-month sales pressure was not a factor.

4. We got our first choice color.

5. One dealer emailed a second time (3PM) with a “we’ll match any bonafide written offer” offer, which we ignored.

6. Processing at the dealer was painless.



 

Seems car dealers are seeing that internet buying is soon to become a major impact to the retail car industry, and the smart dealers are jumping on the bandwagon.



 

For me, I will not engage in showroom negotiations again.



 

Once again, thanks go to Randy!”

 

 

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED HAD YOU BEEN PAYING MORE ATTENTION IN SCHOOL 

 

 

THE BEST READERS IN RACING TAKE TIME TO CONTRIBUTE

 

From a person in the witness protection program… 

“I did have a devilish idea a few days ago which i think you will like and that would be to contact ‘the guiness book of records ‘and see if you could be included as the worlds #1 trackchaser that would really blow smoke up a certain persons exhaust pipe.”

 

 

From out Ohio way on eating at unique places such as Tony’s a stop on the trackchasing trail a few months ago… 

Donna and I were in Dayton this afternoon, so I suggested checking out Tony’s.  Donna really liked it and I did too.  She says you have the right idea of trying out local places on your travels.

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM TUCSON, ARIZONA

 

 

PHOTOS! VIDEOS! SEE WHAT I SAW TODAY! IT’S JUST LIKE BEING THERE!

 

It’s simple. There are three different ways for you to see what I saw today at the races. You can watch a YouTube movie. Secondly, you can see my still photos via YouTube.com. Finally, you can see my still photos by using Picasa. With Picasa you can view the pictures at your own pace or watch them in a slide show produced by Picasa. Pick the method you like best from below.

 

 

MOVIE TIME!!

 

Click on the link below to see the short movie I made from today’s track visit. You’ll probably enjoy it best when you can see it on the FULL SCREEN of your computer with the sound volume turned up.

 

A long time ago in a faraway place two brothers ate tamales, watched some hornet racing and tried to resolve their dispute

 

 

STILL PHOTOS ON YOUTUBE.

 

To see my still pictures via YouTube right now, click on this link:

 

Tucson International Raceway….Inner ovals, major league baseball and more

 

 

STILL PHOTOS ON PICASA

 

To see my pictures at your own pace using Picasa (slide by slide) click on this link:

 

Tucson International Raceway – Racing, eating and a major league baseball game

 

 

 

WHO, WHAT, WHY AND WHERE

 

 

The Plan 

 

 

Being flexible really isn’t that hard. 

The plan for this weekend was to trackchase in Montana and Canada. However, bad weather there drove me to North Carolina for some Friday night racing. Then while fiddling around on the internet in NC on Friday afternoon, I noticed the Tucson International Raceway was running the next day. And, then the NEXT day after the racing in Tucson they were having a major league baseball game in Phoenix.

 

A quick call to brother Mark told me he was free. In a matter of minutes I had a new Saturday trackchasing plan! Nope! I couldn’t do this without my sponsors and son J.J. O.K, I have done it in the past, but I like doing it this way much better.

 

 

The Trip

 

 

How many people seeing racing in North Carolina one day and then Arizona the next? 

I woke up this morning in Charlotte, North Carolina. I went to bed in Phoenix, Arizona. Then on Sunday evening I flew home to LAX. Of course, my car was parked at the Orange County airport. That was a minor problem that could be solved by throwing a little money at it. This is what today looked like.

 

 

Let’s meet Mark aka ‘Marko’.

I was with my brother Mark aka “Marko”. He lives in Phoenix where he is the general manager of a major hotel in downtown Phoenix. Mark would be picking me up in Tucson. He’s done that before (see above). Then following the races we would drive back to Phoenix. Once there I would be housed in a suite at his hotel (at a special rate) befitting the status of an older brother.

 

 

Booted.

However, when Mark pulled up to the nearly deserted Tucson International Airport (a few minutes late as sometimes befits my brother) he had “new news” about my evening sleeping arrangements.

 

The Arizona Diamondbacks were in town. They were playing a game at Chase Field just five blocks from his hotel against the Oakland A’s. Of course with the Dbacks playing demand for the hotel increases. When demand increases the price goes up. When the hotel rooms can be sold for “gouging” prices then big brothers get booted. I got booted.

 

It wasn’t all bad. I would be able to stay at Mark’s house. He rooms with an old-time buddy of his. However, the buddy just got a new girlfriend. With the new girlfriend’s arrival did that mean Mark got booted? Surprisingly, no! Mark’s buddy has moved in with the girlfriend across town and left the house, at least for now, to brother Mark. Wow!

 

 

Isn’t true love grand?

Now Mark’s buddy shows up at the house about once a month. He even left his golf clubs in the garage. That’s true love! The house does need a woman’s touch though. So if you have a niece, younger sister, older sister who might like to live in Phoenix and get some good hotels deals once in awhile (when the Dbacks are on the road) give me the details. I’ll pass them on to Marko.

 

 

 

Observations

 

 

Which would be the best? 

I’ve been thinking about getting an SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle). I rented several recently to see what they’re like. I like being able to ride up high. However, I’m not into the “truck” ride that some offer.

 

One of my dilemmas is my current ride situation. Most of you know that I don’t own any cars myself. My lack of ownership is a strategic play. I can’t share the “whys and where fors” as you never really know when those “federales” are listening. You just need to know that it makes sense for me to drive but not own the Carol Lewis owned and Lincoln Financial Group sponsored Lexus LS 430. It’s a 2004 model that I bought new when it was “O.K.” for me to own a car. The Lexus now has 116,000 miles on it and still looks and drives like it was a new car (about 95% as close). I suspect that car will continue to perform at a top level to 200,000 miles or more.

 

On the other hand, no one lives forever. I doubt that when someone is lying on their death bed they’re going to say, “Gee, I wish I had attended one more business meeting or I’m sure glad I never got a new car when I had the chance”. Stay tuned. We’ll see how this all turns out. If I had to guess I would say I’ll get another luxury car before I spring for an SUV.

 

 

Daily strategic decisions (good decisions!) make life a lot easier and more enjoyable.

Seeing a race in Arizona made sense on so many levels. Knocking off an inner oval track that races just a few times each year is better than burning a regularly scheduled Saturday night track even though those are the most plentiful category of any yet to be visited tracks. Of course, breaking a tie with the ‘Racing Eckels’ was nice as was seeing my brother in Arizona and attending a major league baseball game at a stadium I had never visited. It was a little more convenient to get back to California from Arizona than it would have been from North Carolina.

 

This type of “analysis” is something I do multiple times every day. I figure the “plusses and minuses” of doing one thing vs. another. I feel if you make these “mini” decisions for the best in areas of your personal, family, financial and health life they will all add up to a very happy, healthy and successful life. Of course the proverbial bus COULD hit you. If that happens then you just get to “watch the action” from a grandstand seat up in the clouds.

 

 

One proud mama.

While on my flight from Charlotte to Phoenix via Minneapolis the flight attendant saw me reading a copy of the Orange County Register sports page. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I’d like to get your paper when you’re finished. I’m the mother of the right fielder for the Dodgers.

 

However, I don’t follow the Dodgers at all. I couldn’t tell you the names of just three of their players. I had no idea who their right fielder was…but I didn’t mention that to the flight attendant. I Googled “Dodger’s right fielder” and came up with the name Andre Ethier. I had never HEARD of Andre Ethier although research tells me he’s a pretty good player. I can’t blame the mother for being proud of her son. She has a right to be. How many parents can say their kid plays in the major leagues?

 

 

Winning isn’t everything….

One of things I enjoyed the most while visiting the Steward-Haas NASCAR racing shops were the sayings printed on the walls throughout the shop. I guess my favorite came from Vince Lombardi a coaching hero of mine. It read, “Winning isn’t everything but wanting too win is”. When I compete I want to win although winning surely isn’t everything. Other quotes that appeared in the shop were “Your true character is what you do when nobody is looking” and “Sports do not build character they reveal it”.

 

 

We didn’t even have a pool.

I’m happy to announce that our local high school, San Clemente High School won their twelfth national championship in……..surfing. Heck, my high school didn’t even had a swimming pool.

 

 

 

TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION

I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home.

 

I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day.

 

 

Chase Field – Phoenix, Arizona 

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Oakland A’s.

 

(http://www.azchasefield.com/)

 

 

We have a ‘Phoenix’ history.

Carol and I lived in Phoenix for a year back in 1974. In fact, our first son J.J (Jeffrey John) was born in the “Valley of the Sun”. The fellow we bought our house from was the program sales manager for the NBA Phoenix Suns and the AAA hockey team, the Phoenix Roadrunners. I guess that’s where the Phoenix “Coyotes” name was derived.

 

We got tickets to their games whenever we wanted. As I recall the previous owner held our mortgage. I guess he wanted to keep us happy. I remember one of my manager’s coming to Phoenix when they were playing the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. We had seats just five rows behind the bench! He was pretty impressed.

 

 

We had tickets!

For this weekend (the day after our race visit to Tucson) brother Mark had secured tickets to the Sunday afternoon baseball game at Chase Field featuring the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Oakland A’s. Chase Field has a retractable roof. That’s a good thing during the summer. It gets hot in Phoenix from May through September. There will be more than 100 days of 100-degree heat every year in Phoenix. Please don’t say it’s a “dry heat”. You can get kicked out of the group for saying that. Ya, it’s a dry heat just like sticking your head inside an oven would be!

 

Mark and I joined about 27,000 others to fill the arena to about 70% capacity. For the first few innings we sat at field level down the left field line. About mid-game we went exploring to see what the stadium had to offer.

 

 

This was a good deal.

There was one major surprise. They had “value pricing” on a few food items. There were hot dogs and soft drinks for just $1.50 U.S. each. Value priced beers were just $4 U.S. each. I guess the housing debacle in Arizona was worse than advertised. Anyway, that was a nice touch by the management of Chase Field.

 

For the last few innings we watched from the very last row of the upper deck right behind home plate. I don’t car to watch baseball games from the field level or the top row of the upper deck. I like our seats at Angels’ Stadium. They’re about midway between those two extremes.

 

 

It’s fun going to major league sporting events.

I’ve seen major league baseball at many different arenas. Off the top those would include:

 

Angels

White Sox (Comiskey)

Cubs

Yankees (old and new)

Reds (old)

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Cardinals (0ld)

Royals

Giants (old and new)

A’s

Mariners (old)

Mets (old)

Twins (old and new)

Red Sox

Padres (old)

 

Three World Series locations – New York (Yankees), Oakland, St. Louis

One MLB All Star Game – (Angels Stadium)

 

 

ONE CANNOT LIVE WELL OR SLEEP WELL IF ONE HAS

NOT DINED WELL

 

 

 

Tucson Tamale Company – Tucson, Arizona

 

(http://www.tucsontamalecompany.com/)

 

 

Yelp! wins again.

Mark and I like to eat. However, Mark’s been working out lately and has lost 75 pounds. Now I’m the little devil sitting on his shoulder saying, “You need to eat like you used too”. He does a pretty good job resisting.

 

I used Yelp! to land the Tucson Tamale Company. The reviews were fantastic. The tamales were pretty good too. The place has only been open since 2008. They’ve won the “best tamales in Tucson” every year since they’ve been around. They even had a “chocolate/cherry” tamale for dessert! We bought three and took two home for Mark. Of course, he left them in the car overnight in 100-degree temps. Maybe he was trying to tell me something.

 

 

RACE REVIEW

 

 

 

 

TUCSON INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY –

TUCSON, ARIZONA

 

 

This was not a great racing program.

We were here to see racing on T.I.R.’s inner oval aka their “smaller oval”. As you know trackchasing rules say that you can count more than one oval track if the tracks meet certain requirements. This one did.

 

Mark and I were at T.I.R. for the stock car winter nationals racing program in January. Although it was chilly that racing effort was fantastic. They attracted a field of stock cars from all over the nation (modifieds too). The races started on time and it was a very competitive program.

 

Tonight could not have been more different. They overwatered the track and started more than an hour late. Of course, we had arrived well before the original starting time. Often times (almost always) the “early bird does NOT get the worm” in short track racing.

 

 

This was not my first ‘inner oval rodeo’ at T.I.R.

I had attempted to see racing on the inner oval hear a few years ago. I had both emailed and called the promoter. “Yes” he told me. The hornet division would race on the inner oval. You might have guessed it. They didn’t!

 

On that evening the hornets, which always race on the inner oval, raced on the outer oval. That track was too fast for the skinny less safety conscious hornet group. One driver wrecked and the program was delayed nearly an hour getting him out of the car and to the hospital.

 

Later on I emailed the promoter to ask “what was up”. He never responded. I guess that was expected too. At least on that faithful night I saw one of the lamest (of several) figure 8 races ever.

 

 

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Tonight we would sit through a track drying delay. Then we sat through a long “hot laps” delay before we finally got started. After nearly two hours of sitting my butt was swearing at the trackchasers who so dearly wanted to see racing on inner ovals. Nevertheless, I am a trackchaser and I do what trackchasers do.

 

Fortunately, the first race of the night was on the inner oval. The inner oval was about 1/6-miles long and almost more circular than oval configured. The hornets are little four-cylinder cars. They race with the four-cylinders of years ago. You know the ones where it was almost impossible to make it up a hill with three people and their luggage.

 

The track was wet, the cars were slow and they didn’t go very fast because of it. At least there were several of them. They ran two heat races and a feature. The feature was run before intermission.

 

 

See my brother, Marko, in action as he pleads, demands and finally walks out on YouTube.

You really won’t want to miss the begging, the pleading and then the demanding from my brother Mark that we NOT stay for the feature. Of course I had come all the way from Charlotte, North Carolina for this event today. I would have been “unfulfilled” had I seen the heat races and not the feature.

 

On the other hand Mark is not “invested” in trackchasing. His butt and his mind was saying, “Please don’t make me sit here any longer. I can’t take it. I’ve got the car keys and I’m driving to Phoenix right now”. It was all I could do to keep a brotherly fight from breaking out.

 

Folks all around us were stopping what they were doing to find out how this was going to turn out. Would they leave without seeing the hornet feature or would they stay? Finally, I won out. We stayed for the hornet feature. You won’t see video like this anywhere (Mark first pleading then demanding) plus some 16-18 hornets trying to drive in a circle for twenty nerve-racking laps.

 

Since we had stayed for the hornet feature we needed to stay for the sprint car heat races on the big track right? I hadn’t seen the sprinters in a long time. It wasn’t the World of Outlaws but then I didn’t think it would be.

 

When THOSE races were over another class, the mini-sprints, came out to race on the little oval. We needed to see this class race right? Mark wouldn’t hear of it. He stormed down the grandstand as if to exit it. However from the top row of the grandstand I could keep an eye on him. He simply went to the bathroom and made some phone calls. One brother wouldn’t leave another brother alone at night in the desert…..would he?

 

 

I will tell you this.

Yes, I will tell you this. This was one of the poorest run shows I’ve seen in awhile. The announcer did his best to act as if the show was moving along. It wasn’t. I don’t think the decent sized crowd was convinced at all. That track plan will work for a night or two but then the crowd will begin to drop off. When the crowd drops off, the purse drops off. When the purse drops off the cars drop off. When the cars drop off more of the crowd drops off. Want to see a visual of what I’m talking about? Pour some water in your bathroom sink then watch it run down the drain.

 

 

The racing Eckels, rich people or just wise people?

Nevertheless, I have now seen 29 racetracks in Arizona. Without looking it up I believe that puts me one track up on the racing Eckels (Bruce and Pat). They live in Pennsylvania. Why do they do so well in Arizona? I think it’s because they have a timeshare out here.

 

I could act like one of those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers” and accuse the Eckels of being some rich couple that can afford to have a second home in the desert. I could berate them for working hard at their jobs, accumulating some vacation time and being smart enough to first buy a timeshare property and then, more importantly, use it. Yes, I could berate the achievements of others but then I WOULD be a “Dreaded East Coast Trackchaser”.

 

However, that’s not how I roll. As far as I know the Eckels are fine people. They can’t help where they live and who they have to see at the races. They’ve been guests at our home in San Clemente. They seem to have fine table manners and good taste in pumpkin pies.

 

I commend them for taking the initiative to trackchase so well in Arizona. Even though I have seen 29 tracks in Arizona their accomplishment of seeing 28 is excellent. Do I want them to see another track here and tie my results? Not really. Do I want them to some day see thirty tracks to my twenty-nine in Arizona? Heavens no!

 

I have a goal of seeing the most tracks in every one of the thirteen Far Western states (except California). Right now I hold a first place ranking (sometimes tied) in 12 of those thirteen states. It is literally impossible to ever reach first place in California thanks to Gary Jacobs’ accomplishments. I accept that.

 

I hope the next time the Eckels come to Arizona they have a great time. The area has great restaurants, lots of golf, movie theaters and much much more. It just doesn’t have any more racetracks for the Eckels to see….I don’t think. Time will tell.

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

 

Arizona

 

The Grand Canyon state.

This evening I saw my 29th lifetime track in Arizona, the Grand Canyon state, yes the Grand Canyon state. I have now seen all of the countable tracks that I know about, in Arizona. Will I ever set foot in Arizona again? Of course, I will. My brother Marko lives there.

 

 

Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features!

 

 

Do some trackchasers carry an unfair geographical advantage?

 

Should foreign trackchasers be given a handicap so they can enjoy the fruits of trackchasing glory?

 

 

 

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

 

Arizona sayings: You know you live in Arizona when….

 

• You buy salsa by the gallon.
• You think a red light is merely a suggestion.
• All of your out-of-state friends start to visit after October but clear out come the end of April.
• You think someone driving while wearing oven mitts is clever.
• You think six tons of crushed rock makes a beautiful yard.
• You notice your car overheating before you drive it.
• You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
• You can say 115 degrees without fainting.
• Vehicles with open windows have the right-of-way in the summer.
• You discover, in July, it only takes two fingers to drive your car.
• The pool can be warmer than you are.
• Most homes have more firearms than people.
• You notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• You realize Valley Fever isn’t a disco dance.
• You can finish a Big Gulp in 10 minutes and go back for seconds.
• The water from the cold water tap is the same temperature as the hot one.
• It’s noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is moving on the streets.
• You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• No one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car.
• People with black cars or have black upholstery in their car are automatically assumed to be from out-of-state or nuts.
• You know better than to get into a car with leather seats if you’re wearing shorts.
• You discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• You have to explain to out-of-staters why there is no daylight savings time
• Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, “What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?”

 

You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

 

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Charlotte, NC (CLT) – 2,120 miles

  

RENTAL CAR #1 

Douglas (Charlotte) International Airport – trip begins

Woodleaf, NC – 50 miles

Douglas (Charlotte) International Airport – 118 miles – trip ends

 

AIRPLANE

Charlotte, NC (CLT) – Minneapolis, MN – 929 miles

Minneapolis, MN – Tucson, AZ (TUS) – 1,300 miles

 

BROTHER’S CAR 

Tucson International Airport – trip begins

Tucson, AZ – 6 miles

Sky Harbor (Phoenix) International Airport – 119 miles – trip ends

 

AIRPLANE

Phoenix, AZ (PHX) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 369 miles

 

 

Total air miles – 4,718 (4 flights)

Total rental car miles – 118 (1 car)

Other’s (brother) cars – 119 (1 car)

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 4,955 miles*

 

 

*Yes, I traveled nearly 5,000 miles to see a few senior champ karts race one night and then some four-cylinder clunkers race the next night. Should I be committed? Maybe.

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: 

Woodleaf Speedway – $10 (included pit admission)

Tucson International Raceway – $10 ($2 senior discount)

 

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $20 U.S.

 

 

 

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 300 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,760

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 60

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 5.29

 

 

That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

 

DAYS 1 & 2 – “BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY” TRACKCHASING TOUR

 

 

 

RLR – RANDY LEWIS RACING SPECIAL REPORT

 

After seeing more than 1,500 tracks, it’s a little more challenging to come up with race dates for tracks I have never seen race. I subscribe to just two racing papers. These are the National Speed Sports News and the Hawkeye Racing News. I’ve been with these papers for more than 30 years each.

 

 

Back in the day, I used these paper for two reasons. Their most important quality for me was to learn of upcoming race dates. The various tracks would advertise their special events a week or three in advance. However, I’ve seen virtually every track that can support an ad budget to tell fans when their big races are.

 

 

What was the SECOND reason for subscribing to racing papers? It was to get the racing results from the previous week. This was especially true with the Hawkeye Racing News. The paper is located in Iowa. I haven’t lived near there since 1983. Nevertheless, I used the HRN to search for results of my racing hero, Darrell Dake who frequented the tracks in the Hawkeye state.

 

 

Much of my racing is now at the “novelty” tracks. I consider pretty much any non-permanent racing facility to fall into this category. This would include the county fair figure 8 shows, enduros that run on inner ovals, kart races and other shows that pop up here and there. I’m glad to say that my “diet” of non-permanent tracks is not as bad as most of my fellow competitors. Nevertheless, these “novelty” events fall behind seeing racing on most permanent ovals in most locations.

 

 

It is with this background that I opened with “glee” the special racing calendar section of the National Speed Sport News earlier this year. They were posting the race dates for many of the nation’s major sanctioning bodies such as NASCAR, Formula 1, Izod Indy Cars and many many more sanctioning groups. Surely, I would be able to find loads of race dates from this special insert.

 

 

This “calendar of events” included the big races at Daytona, Indianapolis and LeMans just to name a few. These sanctioning bodies have scheduled more than 525 dates. Any guesses on how many of these dates are at tracks that I haven’t seen? Just 44! Of those 44 racing dates all of the sanctioning bodies will race at only 10 tracks in the U.S where I haven’t already seen racing. I guess I won’t be seeing the “big boys” race much in 2010. From here on out it will only get worse.

 

 

Take a look at the data below. Here’s how to read the table. The NASCAR Sprint Cup series is holding 39 races during 2010. I have seen racing at every one of their facilities. Thusly, the NASCAR Sprint Cup “number” reads “39/0”. They have 39 race dates and not a single one will be held at a track that I have not already visited.

 

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup 39/0

Lucas Oil Modifieds 9/0

Lucas Oil Off-Road 8/2

World of Outlaws Sprints 70/1

USAC Silver Crown 11/2

USAC Sprints 48/0

NASCAR Nationwide 35/2

Lucas Oil ASCS Dirt Series 38/0

NASCAR Camping World Trucks 25/1

World of Outlaws Late Models 53/4

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Cars 12/3

Lucas Oil Late Models 49/2

USAC Midgets 39/0

American LeMans 8/0

Izod Indy Car Series 16/5

Grand Am Continental Sports Cars 10/2

Midwest Late Model Racing Association 25/2

ARCA Late Models 20/2

Formula One 19/15

 

 

 

It looks like the “Formula 1” sanctioning body will be my best trackchasing bet for the future. They have 15 locations that would be “new” for me. A real bonus to seeing their racing is that most of those locations would also be new “country visits” for me. That’s a huge plus.

 

 

Formula 1 racing is very popular in Europe. Whenever I visit that continent race fans want to know what “Formula 1 races” I’ve seen. Truth be told, I have only seen Formula 1 racing in the U.S. Now, Formula 1 doesn’t even race in the U.S.

 

 

I’m not looking forward to seeing the racing offered by Formula 1. I don’t even watch their races on TV. From what I know about it the tickets are very expensive. The crowds are humungous. The major sticking point for me is that fans can’t see much at a Formula 1 road course race. Who wants to pay $200 or more for a ticket and then only be able to see 10-20%, if that, of the racing action. Not me!

 

 

However, touring these countries is fantastic from a “vacation” point of view. Carol and I will visit these countries mainly for the cultural and entertainment value. The racing will be an afterthought. I’m sure we will have a wonderful time adding new countries to our lists.

 

 

In summary, I won’t be seeing that many “major” events in the future. I’ll still plan to see one or two NASCAR Sprint Cup races each year. I really enjoy their racing on TV. It seems like almost every race has a nail-biter of a finish.

 

 

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that “novelty” racing events are devoid of entertainment value. It’s not unusual to see one of those race types that are more fun to watch than a permanent oval track. However, I enjoy side-by-side short track dirt oval racing more than anything when all else is equal.

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM TUCSON, ARIZONA

 

TODAY’S HEADLINES

 

 

This was not a successful trackchasing endeavor. …………..details in “Race Review”.

 

I never trackchase on July 4 (almost never)………………more in “The Objective”.

 

I had been anticipating this trip for a very long time.…………..details in “The Trip”.

 

 

 

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED HAD YOU BEEN PAYING MORE ATTENTION IN SCHOOL

 

 

THE BEST READERS IN RACING TAKE TIME TO CONTRIBUTE

 

 

From a baseball fan out in the Midwest regarding my recent visit to the Roger Maris Museum.

 

‘I enjoyed your report from North Dakota.  Your description of the Roger Maris museum and the 1961 season brought back a lot of memories for me.  I spent the summer of 1961 with my grandparents in Williamsport, PA (the home of Little League baseball).   The local radio station was part of the Yankees baseball network so I was able to listen to every game.  My grandfather also subscribed to the New York Daily News, so we got all the latest coverage of Yankees baseball.  I also liked Mickey Mantle, who was the real star of the team, although I also rooted for Roger Maris. The Yankees had so many good players that season.  One of my favorites was Yogi Berra (then playing left field).  He was the most unlikely looking athlete and was a real clutch hitter.  Elston Howard was the catcher and hit .348 that season.   Of course, Whitey Ford was an amazing 25-4 that season.  Thanks for the memories!’

 

 

 

 

THE OBJECTIVE, THE TRIP, THE PEOPLE…AND A WHOLE LOT MORE

 

The Objective 

 

 

Just keep at it!

 

The objective in trackchasing if one wants to compete at a “World-Class” level is to simply “keep trackchasing”. For me that’s a challenge to do. I have several other things that keep me busy. I rarely trackchase over the major holidays. The Fourth of July is when I almost always stay home.

 

In my hometown of San Clemente, California, the Fourth of July is a MAJOR holiday. The town’s landmark is an ocean pier (http://www.beachcalifornia.com/san-clemente-pier.html) that juts out into the Pacific Ocean more than 400 yards. We live just 500 yards south of the pier.

 

The city offers up a major fireworks show every Fourth of July. They shoot the fireworks off from the end of the pier. The beach over the Fourth of July weekend is absolutely packed. If you arrive late and want to go to the beach, you’ll have to park BLOCKS away.

 

 

I almost never leave home on July 4

 

Of course, we have a beautiful view of the fireworks display that starts at 9 p.m. on July 4 each year. We moved to our little town back in 1989. I have only been trackchasing on July 4 one time in the past 21 years! That one and only July 4^th trackchasing trip took Carol and I just up the road for our first ever visit to the Perris Auto Speedway. The date was July 4, 1996. That was track #278. A lot of water has run under the “Trackchasing Bridge” since then.

 

I have come to find out that my “fellow competitors” in the hobby of trackchasing never let up. Yes, this is a “competitive” hobby. In order for a retired pensioner like me to keep up I have to “keep at it”.

 

I won’t be trackchasing on July 4. However, I will be on the road in Tucson, Arizona on the evening of July 3. I’ll catch a flight back home and be breathing the sea air by early afternoon. Then I’ll be in my “normal spot” with family and friends when that first bombshell explodes at 9 p.m.

 

 

The Trip

 

I’ve been thinking about this double for a very long time.

 

I’ve been looking forward to this trip for two years! Carol and I first visited the USA Raceway back on April 30, 2005. This was during my record-breaking year when I saw 182 different racetracks, for the very first time, in just 12 months. The USA Raceway oval was track #837.

 

Was this the magic day?

 

Since that time the USA Raceway has added an “inner oval” and a “figure 8” track. They only run on both of these tracks for a single day each year. That’s makes it tough to get both. In 2010, the “magic day” was going to be Saturday, July 3. With our Fourth of July family traditions the trip would be tough….but doable. I picked out a non-refundable reservation with Southwest Airlines.

 

When I was flying on business I hated to use Southwest Airlines. American Airlines was my choice. However, now that I have to “pay my own way” I like Southwest and don’t care much for American. The people are so much nicer on Southwest than American in general. However, I still have hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer miles to use on American. Carol and I will fly them on our international trips as I try valiantly to catch up to current “international tracks” leader Roland Vanden Eynde of Belgium.

 

 

The People

 

I think it was the beer talking.

 

They sold a lot of beer tonight. It wasn’t long before the “beer was talking” and the fellas in front of me wanted to fight with each other. Security was on the spot and a riot was alleviated.

 

 

Where’s the best place to eat?

 

RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Money Back Guarantee

 

El Torero – Tucson, Arizona

 

(http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/604/el-torero)

 

 

This was a real ‘hole in the wall’…..that made it perfect.

 

You’ll be seeing me use my Roadfood.com membership more and more as I seek out those unique “hole in the wall” eateries that hide behind so many telephone poles in the good ol’ U.S.A. I love discovering new places like this where the food is good, the clientele is local and the place is just so darned unusual compared to the “cookie cutter” places that have taken over our country.

 

‘Garth” my faithful and loyal GPS buddy stores more than 1,600 such places in his small little belly. As soon as I picked up my rental car, I asked Garth to take me to lunch. “Not so fast good buddy” he seemed to say. “Tucson has about a dozen Roadfood.com listings”. And so it did. It didn’t look like I could go wrong with any of them.

 

 

If at first you don’t succeed try, try again.

 

I selected “La Taqueria La Cha Cha” on 22^nd Street in Tucson. They were noted for “Tucson tacos” with ingredients such as Cebeza (that means head) tongue and tripe. Maybe I was lucky. They were out of business! Not a problem. I never give up. I went down the list until I found El Torero on 26^th Street. Bingo! This was going to be good

 

This is a down home place. Once I had secured my computer in the trunk of my rental car I made my entrance. Much of the place looked like a bar with a good-sized dining room. The place has been here since 1956. I suspect that might have been the last time the décor was updated. Nevertheless, this was exactly what I was looking for.

 

Cheese crisps…the way Mexican food was meant to be.

 

Soon my server, Yolanda, was welcoming me to El Torero. She quickly brought me some tortilla chips and two kinds of salsa. The menu was broad but included a Mexican food item that I’m not sure I’ve seen since my Manzanita Speedway (Phoenix) days back in 1974. That’s when I first started eating “real” Mexican food. Manzanita served “cheese crisps” and so did El Torero.

 

A cheese “crisp” looks like a pizza. The crust is made from lightly fried thin flour tortillas. Think “thin crust pizza” and then make the crust much thinner. Cheddar cheese is then used as the food’s base with, in my case, dried beef sprinkled on top. I couldn’t help but text a photo of the finished product to several of my friends. One came back and told me it looked “from here like a hamburger pizza”. And so it did. The entire diameter of the “crisp” was about 16”. It was large but since the crust was so then it didn’t seem to weigh me down.

 

Don’t miss the pictures.

 

I was able to get some great photos of this place. If you go to Tucson I highly recommend this place. I easily give it a RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Money Back Guarantee. The uniqueness of the surroundings and the friendly service were as good as the food.

 

 

 

RACE REVIEW

 

USA RACEWAY – TUCSON, ARIZONA

 

The day started out perfectly but didn’t end up that way..

 

Today started out being a beautiful trackchasing “strategy” day. Then things turned “south”. I came to the USA Raceway to trackchase not race chase.

 

The USA Raceway has three countable tracks. They have a 1/3-mile oval, an inner oval and a figure 8 track. According to the track’s schedule information posted on their website, the figure 8 track races just one time per year.

 

I thought I had confirmed this.

 

I had confirmed with the promoter is email communications that the figure 8 cars would be racing. They were…..just barely.

 

I thought I had also confirmed the track would be using their inner oval for racing as well. That point must have been “unclear”. They didn’t do any racing on the smaller track. I’ll tell you more about that as we go along.

 

This trip made sense if I were going to get two new tracks. However, it did NOT make sense if I could only add one new track. There was no way I would travel over the Fourth of July weekend AND pay for an airline ticket to see a figure 8 show. Adding one new track was not “worth” it either logistically or economically.

 

I do some crazy things to get more tracks added to my list. I NEVER waste money or time when that money or time could be used more productively elsewhere. I was disappointed! Let me tell you the story.

 

If you want the “four seasons” get a CD.

 

It is hot in Arizona in the summertime. Where I live we have what some call the “World’s Most Beautiful Climate”. Our high temperature averages range from 67-77 degrees Fahrenheit all year long. We have no humidity or bugs and average only about ten inches of rain each year. Of course, we get no snow, hurricanes or tornadoes. Virtually every day is the same weather-wise……a perfect or near perfect day.

 

For the people who say they like the “four seasons” I tell them to go out and buy one of their CDs. Don’t waste your time living in an “ice box” or a “sweat locker”.

 

As I said it is hot in Arizona in the summertime. Today, the car’s thermometer reached 105 degrees. At 6:45 p.m., race time, it was 97 degrees. Some say this is a “dry heat”. I ask would you rather die of heat exhaustion in a tropical jungle or with a jet engine blowing hot air into your lungs until you succumb. I don’t think 100 degrees is good whether it’s “dry” or “wet”.

 

The track had a huge crowd tonight. Regular admission was $12 but as a “senior” I paid just ten dollars. I’ll tell you soon why that was important. They accepted credit cards. I liked that convenience. For some reason, crowds flock to fireworks shows. I’ve seen a million of them. Probably the best was when our family was traveling in Liechtenstein (no racing there) on their “National” day where we walked the streets of Lichtenstein with the country’s prince.

 

I was thinking ‘thrill show’ they weren’t.

 

I was thinking this was going to be more of a “thrill show” night of activity than a regular racing night. With almost all of the racing on the bigger oval, this resembled a “regular” night of racing at the USA Raceway. Since I had already seen that in 2005, I wasn’t here to see racing on the bigger oval.

 

Somewhat early in the program they ran a figure 8 heat race. This race featured only three cars. One dropped out “midway” in the six-lap affair. Almost by definition there can’t be much action in a three-car figure 8 race.

 

I guess since they only run figure 8s once a year there isn’t much interest from the drivers in a race like this. The final race of the night would be the figure 8 “feature” event. The announcer told the crowd the promoter was offering $1,000 to win that race. In that event, the announcer told us several cars from the “hornet” and “factory” stock divisions would be joining in. Whatever. Track #1,561 was “in the books” when that little 3-car figure 8 race took the green flag. It is races like this that earn the full “novelty” race description.

 

I leaned back with a large Diet Coke is more “dry heat” than I cared to experience and watched some pretty decent stock car racing on the big oval.

 

They had some good racing.

 

The modified stock car race was probably the best. They started 21 cars in the feature event. One driver, according to the announcer, had dominated the entire season winning nearly every race easily. This driver started the 20-lap feature event in the fourth row. I figured he would be in the lead by the first few laps.

 

Who would have thunk it?

 

There had been three modified heat races. One of those heat races was won in a sharp-looking #29 modified who had towed from Deming, New Mexico to race tonight. The driver’s name was “Mercedes Harris”. That fella had what I call a “NBA” name. I could see “Mercedes Harris” being a small forward for the Miami Heat.

 

Nevertheless, that #29 car won his heat race and took the early lead in the feature event. I was hoping someone could defeat the driver who had been winning every race all season long. However, with several restarts Mercedes Harris’ lead got smaller and smaller. The last couple of laps were exciting as the top two cars raced nose to tail with Mercedes Harris prevailing.

 

That win was surprising but the biggest surprise was yet to come. During the victory lane ceremony, held under the flag stand, the winning driver removed his helmet to reveal this wasn’t a “he” but a “she”! Mercedes Harris was a girl!

 

She wasn’t just any kind of a girl she was a beautiful young girl. She was thin, bordering on skinny with long flowing golden blonde hair. She was prettier than just about any trophy girl I had ever seen. When she was interviewed she had a “little girl” voice. I wouldn’t have guessed that the “Mercedes Harris” who had just held off 20 other drivers on a hot night like this would be of the “weaker” gender. Very impressive! Somebody needs to take this girl to NASCAR.

 

Fight!

 

With that excitement and the near “fan fight” in front of me now over, I was anxious to see the racing on the inner oval track. With that my “strategy” would be both successful and complete.

 

The announcer did a nice job over one of the stoutest P.A. systems I’ve heard in a long time. He even mentioned on more than one occasion that the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” was in attendance. He didn’t mention anything about my fellow competitors although that information was provided to him in my “at the track” press release.

 

He told the crowd that the “rear wheel drive” hornets were going to race a 50-lap special event on the BIGGER oval. What? I thought the hornets raced on the smaller oval. This was not good news. However, he kept focusing on the words “rear wheel drive”. That led me to believe their must be some smaller “front wheel drive” cars that would race on the smaller, inner oval.

 

Don’t count your chickens.

 

I have learned a simple adage in trackchasing. A track is not “in the books” until it is “in the books”. Sounds simple doesn’t it. It is!

 

The track was “dry slick”. It was also a bit dusty but the winds blew everything away from the grandstand. I didn’t need 97 degrees of “dry heat” and a lung full of dust to take home from the track as well.

 

When the RWD drive hornet race wrapped up some smaller FWD cars came onto the track. Great! This was going to be my “entrée” to a new track. I had waited almost three hours in the heat for this. My reward was coming.

 

True chagrin.

 

However you can imagine my “chagrin” when the announcer gleefully told the crowd the “front wheel drive” cars would be racing for 50 laps on the big oval. What??!!! These guys shouldn’t be racing on the big track. They had a perfectly good little inner oval to race on. Nevertheless, they did race on the big track. That was a bummer.

 

Some might say that little cars like this shouldn’t be racing at faster speeds the big 1/3-mile oval track offered. They might be right. There was an accident in this race that had two drivers crashing in turn three at a high-speed heavy impact. This resulted in a more than 30-minute delay while the ambulances and their crews worked to aid the injured drivers.

 

A misunderstanding?

 

The next morning I emailed the promoter asking him if I had misunderstood his confirmation that the hornets division really does race on the smaller track. This is what he replied:

 

“Yes the hornets normally race the small track. They were on the big track for the special event last night.” Oh, my.

 

This means the figure 8s that race only one time per year never race on the same night the inner oval track races. No, this trackchasing “thing” is not easy.

 

My evening was sunk. I had just wasted a good deal of “time and money” to see three cars race six laps on a dirt figure 8 course. There were three events remaining. I had been at the track for three and a half hours. Did I want to stay for the fireworks, a factory stock feature and then the figure 8 feature with whatever amount of cars they might attract? The answer was no.

 

I did watch the fireworks show from my car in the parking lot. The explosions were enough to set off several car alarms! It did cross my mind that the factory stock might race on the inner oval. But, I figured if the little hornets had to race on the big track, the factory stocks would too.

 

Crestfallen describes it.

 

As I drove out of the track, I was crestfallen. However, to show you how sick I am, I was already crafting a plan to better amortize my “time and money” for a return trip to Tucson that would “recoup my losses”. We’ll see if that comes to pass.

 

 

 

STATE COMPARISONS

 

Arizona

 

 

This evening I saw my 25^th track in the Grand Canyon state. This keeps me at the top of the heap in Arizona. Somewhat surprisingly, to me anyway, the “Racing Eckels” (Bruce and Pat) are tied for second with 21 tracks here. Why is that surprising? They live in Pennsylvania. There are 20 trackchasers who have seen at least five tracks in Arizona. I guess that proves that people don’t like cold weather.

 

I show just three tracks remaining to be seen for me in Arizona. None of them race on a regularly scheduled basis. Arizona is so close to where I live that it won’t be too difficult to wipe those tracks off the face of my “trackchasing earth” when the time comes.

 

 

 

Coming Soon – RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Exclusive Features!

 

 

Has a conspiracy been committed in the international tracks “counting world”?

 

I’ll soon be introducing two new promotional ideas to the hobby of trackchasing. Neither has ever been offered by any trackchaser in the hobby.

 

By mid-summer, I will announce a new charitable giving program that will be funded from my trackchasing.

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

 

Randy Lewis

World’s #1 Trackchaser

Arizona sayings: But it’s a dry heat!

 

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

 

 

AIRPLANE

Los Angeles, CA, (LAX) – Tucson, AZ (TUS) – 450 miles

 

RENTAL CAR #1

Tucson International Airport – trip begins

Tucson, AZ – 24 miles

Tucson International Airport – 47 miles – trip ends

 

AIRPLANE

Tucson, AZ (TUS) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 450 miles

 

 

Total Air miles – 900 (2 flights)

Total Rental Car miles – 47 (1 car)

 

 

Total miles traveled on this trip – 947 miles

 

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: 

USA Raceway – $10 ($2 senior discount)

 

Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $10

 

 

 

COMPARISONS

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS 

 

 

There are no trackchasers currently within 200 tracks of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,561

 

2. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 1,297

 

3. Guy “The Kid” Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,272

 

 

 

Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report

 

 

 

 

GREETINGS FROM TUCSON, ARIZONA,

 

 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE

 

I was saddened to learn of the passing of veteran Iowa race driver, Ronnie Weedon. Ronnie passed away this month. I first started watching Ronnie Weedon race stock cars at the Davenport Speedway back in the mid-60s. I remember him racing a 1955 Ford when he lost the left front wheel. The left front wheel is the least valuable on the car. He went on the finish third in the feature on three wheels!

 

Ronnie raced out of Blue Grass, Iowa. He was a frequent visitor to my boyhood track, Peoria Speedway and one of Carol’s favorite drivers. He won several season championships almost always in a blue Ford powered car with his famous number of “00”.

 

In his later years, Ronnie switched from late models to modifieds. He won a couple of features last year at the age of 71. His career feature win total was 504.

 

Just a few days ago, Ronnie was working on his racecar by himself. The car slipped off the jack, fell on him and he was killed. That might seem like a sad story to some, but not to me. He was still competing in life at the age of 72, in a sport dominated by people less than half his age and doing very well against them. I would rather compete and bow out at an earlier age than not compete at all.

 

R.I.P. Ronnie Weedon.

 

 

 

PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS

 

Today, I am going trackchasing the gentleman way. There is no early morning departure. There is no fighting my way through airport security. There is no sitting in an airplane seat built for a 110 pound, five feet, four-inch person.

 

Carol and I slept to a reasonable hour. We had a leisurely breakfast. Then Carol went off to her aerobics class and I spent an hour on my elliptical trainer. At 10:30 a.m., we hopped in the car and headed to Tucson.

 

I must admit that a few days ago, I was not sure this trip would ever come off. When I mentioned the idea of our driving to Tucson, Carol was already yelling (my description) at me about something else. In the midst of that “discussion”, she pointed out that we had already driven to Tucson only just six weeks ago and we had driven to Reno only two weeks ago.

 

Being a well-trained husband, I have learned to keep quite during these assaults. I will admit that it took me several years to learn this marital technique. I have found that if I don’t try to defend my request at the time, I have a much better chance of success, when a little time passes. That plan worked this time.

 

I was explaining to Carol that there are very few, if any, two tracks or more in a weekend trips left within a day’s drive of San Clemente. She seemed to empathize with me (possibly sensing a future opportunity) and more than agreed to drive the 1,000-mile round-trip trek through the dessert.

 

On this trip I was also implement my “Short-term automobile expense reduction plan”. Check out that strategy in the rental car section.

 

In an effort to quell consistent rumors being aired within the trackchaser email group, please check my May trackchasing schedule in tomorrow’s trackchaser report. I hope this will quiet the “talk” regarding my upcoming schedule.

 

We stayed overnight at the Palo Verde Inn & Suites (800-997-5470). This hotel is listed on the USA Race Track website. They offer a special racer rate of $39. The non-racer rate was $69. The hotel is located less than two miles from the track.

 

 

RACE TRACK NEWS:

 

 

USA RACE TRACK – TRACK #837 – TUCSON, ARIZONA

 

 

Tonight’s track was my 20^th lifetime track to see in Arizona. Arizona is the only state in the union where I lead all other trackchasers in number of tracks seen.

 

The USA Race Track is Carol’s 7^th track of the season and her 175^th of her trackchasing career. She is only 25 tracks from becoming a listed trackchaser.  The requirement for a trackchaser listing is 200 tracks. There are only 44 listed trackchasers in the world.

 

Tonight’s visit to the USA Race Track is the first half of a blended double. There were three classes racing tonight. These classes were the factory stocks, street stocks and modifieds. We saw two factory stock heats, two street stock heats, three modified heats and the factory stock feature. Following a much longer than needed 31 minute intermission, the 17-car factory stock feature was very good. They had only two yellow flags. The winner was a driver just back from his tour of duty in Iraq. The crowd loved it.

 

Why was tonight’s effort a blended double and not a traditional double? A traditional double almost always means that a trackchaser spends 80-90% of his time at first track of the double and only 10-20% of his time at the second track.

 

A blended double means a trackchaser spends about the same amount of time at each of the track’s making up the double with the travel time between the two tracks being less than the time spent at each track.

 

By way of further explanation, a blended double does not preclude seeing a feature event, just like it did not tonight. If a track can get to a feature event during the first hour and one-half to two hours then you will see a feature with a BD. If the track is inefficient, you will not see a feature event during this period. In reality, the vast majority of racetracks I visited have as least one class where the heat racecars and the feature event cars are identical. That means the class has only enough cars for one heat race. Many times a racing class has a feature event that is not nearly as good as another class’s heat races such as the 24 car, 16-lap heats common in the U.K.

 

There are not many tracks located just 10.5 miles apart that race at the same time. That was the distance between the USA Race Track and tonight’s second half of the BD at Tucson Raceway Park. I had remembered that trackchaser Andy Ritter visited the USA Race Track earlier this year. By the way, the USA Race Track has only been in existence since January 1, 2005.

 

I love it when other trackchasers give their personal opinions of the tracks they visit. If I read someone else’s report and I’ve already been there, then I have a point of comparison. If I have never been to the track, then someone else’s report tells me what to look for.

 

It didn’t take me long to search within the Yahoo Groups section to see Andy’s past comments. I’ve been schooled on this technique by Guy Smith as a matter of survival. Of course, when you read someone’s report about a track, your experience might have many similarities and usually some differences.

 

I’ll take a moment to compare our experience with Andy’s feedback about the track. Without ever seeing Andy’s comments, Carol loved the gravel rock parking lot with white parking lane stripes as well as the restrooms just as Andy did. We also appreciated the efficient race program. When one race finished, the next race was on the track quickly. We did not see the “no high heels” sign!

 

Carol liked the two disc jockey like track announcers who played off each other’s comments for the benefit of the crowd. She also noted that the track was more of a circle than an oval. She was surprised by the size of the crowd, it was larger than she expected. She did not like the placement of the concession stand’s menu. Unless you were the first person in line, you couldn’t read it because of the small windows of the concession stand. I run into this problem all the time. The taller you are, the more difficult it is to see the menu.

 

 

TRACKS WITHIN 600 MILES OF SAN CLEMENTE

 

There are just 13 tracks within 600 miles or less of San Clemente that I have not seen. Only one of those, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s “Bull ring”, races on a weekly basis. Three other tracks race once a year and another 6-7 may not have any countable racing at all.

 

Therefore, you won’t see many driving trips from me from this point on. Maybe, I’ll step up my trackchasing outside of North America. Below is a list of tracks that are located within 600 miles of the little Spanish city by the sea that I have yet to see countable racing.

 

Antelope County Fairgrounds, Lancaster, CA – 132 miles, new fairgrounds opened in 2004, runs figure 8 races once a year.

 

Willow Springs Street Course, Willow Springs, CA – 151 miles, this street course may not race any countable racing.

 

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV – 288 miles, asphalt oval, “bull ring” races every Saturday night.

 

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV – 288 miles, the inner road course may or may not hold countable racing.

 

Chowchilla Speedway, Chowchilla, CA – 337 miles, races on figure 8 track about once a month.

 

AKA Speedway, Phoenix, AZ – 387 miles, track raced champ karts, two showed up, in a December 2004 special.

 

Arizona Motorsports Park, Phoenix, AZ – 387 miles, this road course does not have any countable events listed on their website.

 

Antioch Speedway, Antioch, CA – 446 miles, purported to race figure 8s, but there is no mention of F8 racing on their site.

 

Tucson Kart Raceway, Tucson, AZ – 459 miles, track may run the hornet class on their small dirt oval.

 

Tucson Raceway Park, Tucson, AZ – 459 miles, track runs figure 8 races a few times each year.

 

Colusa Fairgrounds, Colusa, CA – 513 miles, runs once per year in some years with modified midgets.

 

Great Basin Raceway, Ely, NV – 532 miles, track races every other Saturday.

 

Lakeport Speedway, Lakeport, CA – 569 miles, the track’s inner oval may not race any countable classes.

 

 

 

RACE TRACK FOOD:

 

The only thing I really didn’t like about tonight’s track was our wait in the food line. There were two concession stands at each end of the track. Each stand had only one window to handle customer orders. We were fifth in line when he joined the queue. It took us more than 10 minutes to have our order taken after being only fifth in line. Two heats races were run while we stood in line. Fortunately, we could see some of the racing action from in our position.

 

The food was good. Carol had the “dirt” dog. This was a very large hot dog with chili, cheese and onions. I went with the quarter-pound cheeseburger, after giving serious consideration to the half-pound cheeseburger. Once we ordered, the food came out pretty quick and we hustled to our seats.

 

On our way back to the stands, the announcers began to talk about my visit to the track. This was an inopportune time to videotape their comments. I was holding my cheeseburger, a large Diet Coke, a bag of peanuts and a bag of potato chips while trying to juggle the video camera. Carol had a similar supply of vittles and was trying to swat a large bug from my neck with her chilidog stained fingers. The announcers provided some very complimentary trackchaser recognition.

 

RENTAL CAR UPDATE:

 

As mentioned above I will be using my “Short-term automobile expense reduction plan” on this trip. What is this and when is it used? Whenever we are driving a long distance in a short time, it does not make sense to put a ton of miles on our personal cars when we can put the wear and tear on a rental car.

 

For this trip, I rented a nearly brand new Buick LaCrosse. As a National Rental Car “Executive VIP” member, I get my pick of the very best cars National has to offer. I picked up this car at the Orange County airport. I rented the car for the grand total of $40.84, taxes included for a two-day period. We probably could have turned this trip around within a 24-hour rental period, and reduced our costs by half, but there was no real incentive to do that.

 

We’ll put slightly more than 1,000 miles on the car during this trip in about 30 hours. It doesn’t make any sense to put those kind of miles on my Lexus for such a short, time-wise, trip.

 

The rental car uses regular gas and the Lexus uses premium. The Lexus gets about 22 M.P.G. while the rental car also got about 22 M.P.G. Most rental cars get better gas mileage than this. Based upon regular gas being 20 cents cheaper than premium per gallon, the rental car cost about $10.00 less in gas for this trip. Deducting the gas savings from the rental fee meant the rental car was an $30.84 incremental expense.

 

Of course, I can’t take this logic too far, or I never would buy a Lexus in the first place. I just didn’t want to put 1,000 miles on my personal car for a trip that only took 30 hours. The overall incremental cost of the rental car was about three cents per mile. There is no way I can cover both the depreciation and maintenance of my automobile for that amount.  

 

So, what’s the tip here? If you are still in the accumulation phase of your financial life, you can apply this strategy in many areas of your daily existence. Just remember, we’re not just talking about rental cars here! The sooner you get from the accumulation phase to the consumption only phase of your life, the more fun you’ll have. If you are already in the consumption only phase of your financial life, you can dismiss this strategy as pure folly and/or simply an intellectual exercise.

 

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:

 

The battle for positions that could change in the near future is as follows:

 

 

5. Guy Smith, Effort Pennsylvania – 951
6. Jack Erdman, DePere, Wisconsin – 872
7. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 837
8. P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 804
9. John Moore, Knoxville, Tennessee – 787
10. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 761

 

 

 

2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

 

1. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 33
2. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 28
3. P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 16

 

 

 

 

CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:

San Clemente, California – trip begins

USA Race Track – 504 miles

 

 

TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:

 

USA Race Track – $7 (includes $3 senior citizen discount)

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

The #1 trackchaser living west of the Mississippi

 

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, all of the children are above average and the real estate prices are way above average.

 

 

Planned new racetracks (on the last day of each racing trip I will post my tentative plans for my next trip)

 

April 30 – Tucson Raceway Park (inner oval), Tucson, Arizona

 

 

 

 

Racetracks visited in 2005 (** not the first time to visit this track)

 Sungold Stadium aka Premier Speedway, Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, January 1

 Freedom Hall – Oval – Louisville, Kentucky, January 15

 Freedom Hall – Figure 8 – Louisville, Kentucky, January 15

 Southern Illinois Center, DuQuoin, Illinois, January 16

 Golden Aisles Speedway, Waynesville, Georgia, February 25

 Zephyrhills Antique Racecar Track, Zephyrhills, Florida, February 26

 Dirt Devil’s Speedway, Land O’ Lakes, Florida, February 26

 Ringwood Raceway, Ringwood, England, March 25

 Birmingham Wheels, Birmingham, England, March 26

 Boiling Hills Farm, Sleaford, England, March 27

 Snetterton Circuit, Snetterton, England, March 27

 Great Yarmouth Stadium (oval), Yarmouth, England, March 27

 Great Yarmouth Stadium (Figure 8), Yarmouth, England, March 27

 The Grove Farm, Monkland, England, March 28

 Grimley Raceway, Grimley, England, March 28

 Castle Combe Circuit, Castle Combe, England, March 28

 Boyd Raceway, Boyd, Texas, April 1

 Port City Raceway, Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 2

 Outlaw Motor Speedway, Oktaha, Oklahoma, April 2

 Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, Jennings, Oklahoma, April 3

 JPR Speedway, Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 3

 Charlotte County Speedway – Figure 8, Punta Gorda, Florida, April 9

 CORA Speedway, Dixon, California, April 16

 Reno-Fernley Raceway – Road Course, Fernley, Nevada, April 17

 Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas, April 22

 Salina Speedway, Salina, Kansas, April 23

 Jetmore Motorplex, Jetmore, Kansas, April 24

 Oberlin Speedway, Oberlin, Kansas, April 24

 USA Race Track, Tucson, Arizona, April 30

 

 

 

Tucson International Raceway – Stadium Off-Road Racing – Dirt Road Course

 

 

 

Tucson International Raceway – Hornet Racing – Dirt Inner Oval

 

 

USA Raceway – Figure 8 Racing

 

 

USA Raceway – Wild West Shootout 8 Racing

 

 

 

 

Stadium Off-Road Racing from the Tucson International Raceway

 

 

Tucson International Raceway – Dirt Inner Oval – 2012