Turner County Fairgrounds – oval

 

 

 

THE EVENT

 

Today’s undertaking was just one of more than 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the long and dusty trackchasing trail. If you would like to see where I’ve been and experience those adventures here’s the link:

 

 

Randy’s Complete Track List

 

 

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!

 

Randy on Facebook

 

 

 

 

ON THE WAY TO THE RACES

 

 

MONDAY

There will be no trackchasing today. Why? Am I showing some type of restraint? Hardly. I’m not going trackchasing today because I cannot find any new tracks to visit.

 

 

I routinely travel overnight from some 150 to nearly 200 nights every year. I truly love it or I wouldn’t do it. However, there is one small segment of my overall travel that I don’t care for much at all.

 

 

I don’t like being out on the trackchasing trail by myself on a day when there are no tracks to see. I love travel by myself as well as being on trips with family and friends. However, it seems like a bit of a waste to be out in the middle of nowhere on a trackchasing trip with no track to see!

 

 

Nevertheless, I do my best to entertain myself on an off day in the middle of a hectic trackchasing trip. Today I woke up in Bettendorf, Iowa. But what would I do in and around Bettendorf?

 

 

First I took a 45-minute power walk through a residential neighborhood. That’s always a little bit tricky. It’s easy to get turned around in these types of neighborhoods. If I do get lost I just use my iPhone’s GPS to find my way back to the hotel.

 

 

Next up was lunch at the Hungry Hobo. There I met manager Ron who has been with the chain for nearly 40 years. I’m a big fan of the Hobo. I was happy to see this location was located less than a mile from the hotel.

 

 

Next up was an afternoon movie. Carol and I go to the movies a lot. I’m a big Meryl Streep fan. However today’s film titled, “Florence Foster Jenkins”, about an aristocrat woman who is a terrible opera singer and no one would tell her wasn’t all that great by Meryl Streep standards. The movie did give me something to do and kept me out of the heat and humidity.

 

 

Later on this evening I was going to be attending a Clinton Lumber Kings minor-league baseball game. They play in the Midwest league. Tonight they were hosting the Quad City River Bandits tonight. Yes, minor league teams have the most unusual nicknames.

 

 

The game was being played in Clinton, Iowa. Clinton was less than an hour north of where I was this afternoon. I would plan to have dinner in advance of the game. I consulted Yelp. There I got an excellent recommendation.

 

 

If you’re ever in Clinton, Iowa and need a good place for lunch or supper I can hardily recommend Hillbilly Jack’s BBQ. They have all kinds of gourmet barbecue servings. This ranges from the meats they offer to the sauces through the cornbread and their sides.

 

 

There was just one unusual thing about my visit to Hillbilly Jack’s. There was virtually no one in the restaurant when I arrived at 5:30 p.m. My impression has always been that Midwesterners eat early.

 

 

All of the food, service and pricing was excellent. By the time I left the restaurant at nearly 6:30 p.m. I was the only patron of the place. I mentioned this to my server. She told me that things really “pick up” at 6:30 or 7 p.m. I wondered about that.

 

 

I’m getting an impression after walking through the neighborhood this morning and now with tonight’s dinner plans that this area is not doing well economically. I know some of these locations were devastated by the 2008 financial crisis and are slow to recover. It looks as if they are still trying to get back on track from that financial blow of nearly ten years ago.

 

 

Nevertheless, I moved on and was soon in my seat at the Ashford University Field home to the Clinton Lumber Kings. I paid just six dollars for my general admission ticket. Does that seem inexpensive? Normally, I pay less to see a major league game!

 

 

My ticket would allow me to sit virtually anywhere in the park I wanted. There were probably 300-400 fans watching the game tonight.

 

 

The temperature was in the low 70s with a very cloudy and overcast environment. Baseball can be a very slow game. It almost seems like when I attend the games they are extra slow. It took them nearly an hour and a half to complete the first three innings. That’s when a smartphone comes in handy! I’m still amazed that some people use these smartphones to make telephone calls. Amazing indeed.

 

 

During my time in the park I explored every nook and cranny. I like to do that with any venue that I attend for the first time. The Lumber Kings had a huge sign, which showed the number of players that had come through Clinton’s system and made it onto the major-league teams.

 

 

Considering that this poster went all the way back to 1937, nearly 80 years ago, not all that that many players have made it from Clinton to the majors. Two names that registered with me were pitchers Denny McLain and Orel Hershiser. I took a picture of another board showing tonight’s starting lineup. Maybe I’ll look back on that photo and know that I was seeing the next Mike Trout. Maybe I won’t.

 

 

From the ball game it was an easy one and a half hour drive over to tonight’s hotel in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During my early years in business, nearly 45 years ago, I used to stay in Cedar Rapids all the time. There wasn’t all that much business there but it was a great place to be in the summer in the middle of the week for those famous Iowa late model stock car specials!

 

 

I would have almost thought that by mid-August the bugs in the area would have begun to decline. However, my windshield gives me different feedback. The bugs are heavy. I stopped at a gas station, not to get gas, but to clean the windscreen. That was a welcome bit of relief.

 

 

 

Good night from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on a non-trackchasing day.

 

 

 

 

TUESDAY

Today is one of the five most important trackchasing days of my entire 2016 trackchasing season. I’m headed to Parker, South Dakota. Once in Parker I’ll find the Turner County Fairgrounds.

 

 

My last visit to the Turner County Fairgrounds was all the way back in 2001. Just as I entered the fair on that long ago evening who would be coming around the corner but Wisconsin’s most famous trackchaser, Ed Esser (pictured above with his Cheese Challenge award). We would enjoy an evening of trackchasing together on that summer August evening some 15 years ago. Over time Ed and I met up like this more than thirty times.

 

 

Why is a simple trip to South Dakota so important to me? If I can successfully see the enduro race on their county fair dirt oval track I will increase my South Dakota lifetime track total to twenty. That will tie me with good buddy Butch Knouse. Butch is the leading South Dakota race historian in his home state.

 

 

It will also give me the lead or a share of the lead in 22 different states. I’m not sure how I long I can fend off my fellow competitors on 22 different fronts. It’s just a nice accomplishment to get a number one ranking in that many locations.

 

 

Returning to South Dakota is going to be a very expensive proposition. Last year I hung around Minnesota for two full days waiting for a confirmation about the SD oval track race. Weather conditions were deplorable. Ultimately they ended up canceling the show amidst a virtual quagmire of precipitation.

 

 

That meant I would return again this year to try for my elusive 20th South Dakota track. I would have to endure trackchasing off days in front and probably in back of the trip to Parker, South Dakota. Those unproductive days would drive up my total expenses. Nevertheless, I never give up.

 

 

I woke up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I was leaving the hotel by 10 a.m. for the projected 5 ½-hour drive over to Parker. Without stops that would give me an arrival of 3:30 p.m. I would have 3 ½-hours of “play” time in advance of the 7 p.m. race start. I was surprised somewhat by the large amount of road construction.

 

 

My first stop was at Casey’s Country Store. Casey’s is a large gasoline/convenience store retailer in and around Iowa. I wasn’t planning to buy anything. I simply need to get my windshield cleaned. The bugs were baked on. I figured I had done enough business with Casey’s over the years that I could get a complementary windshield cleaning today.

 

 

During my drive over to South Dakota I was in communication with a fairgrounds in upstate Michigan. I was inquiring about the type of track configuration they would be using at their fairgrounds tomorrow night. I had calls into a number of people. The jury was still out. I’ll keep you posted.

 

 

If I went up to Michigan I had two plans on how I might get there. I would trackchase in the Wolverine state for two days. One plan involved flying. Of course that was the most expensive plan. The other option was all driving. Below is a table on how the comparison stacked up.

 

 

Drive only

Parker, SD-West Branch, MI – 14 hours

West Branch, MI-Gaylord, MI – 1 hour

Gaylord, MI – Carlisle, IA -10 hours

 

Total driving time – 25 hours

 

 

Drive /fly

Parker, SD-Omaha, NE – 2.5 hours

Fly Omaha, NE-Detroit, MI

Detroit, MI-West Branch, MI – 2.5 hours

West Branch, MI-Gaylord, MI – 1 hour

Gaylord, MI-Detroit, MI – 2.5 hours

Fly Detroit, MI-Omaha, NE

Omaha, NE-Carlisle IA – 2.25 hours

 

Total driving time – 10.75 hours

 

 

More on that decision later. I arrived into the town of Parker, South Dakota at about 4:30 p.m. Parker’s population is only about 1,000 people. I took a spin around town, which didn’t take all that long.

 

 

At the fair I found a great parking spot for no charge right next to the bingo parlor. Since I was early I had a complete tour of the fair. It is not large but nicely laid out with lots of good displays.

 

 

At about 5:30 p.m. I figured I might as well go over and buy my grandstand ticket. The racing wasn’t scheduled to start until 7 p.m. However, at some of these fairs the line to buy tickets can get very very long just before race time.

 

 

As I often do I was wearing my “World’s #1 Trackchaser” hat. Of course, the Mall of America is just one place that sells these hats. The fellow just ahead of me in the ticket line asked what my hat was all about. I told him but I spared him the sordid details about the “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers”.

 

 

In a way this guy seemed just a bit strange. He looked to be about two or three years older than me. We talked a bit. I could see that he wanted to talk about politics. It was just the two of us standing there in the very hot sunshine. I was dripping wet.

 

 

I must tell you I do not care to talk politics with virtually anyone. Why is that? Because most people don’t want to “talk” politics they want to tell you how they feel about politics. They want to convince you to feel like they do about whatever the issue may be. That is not my cup of tea.

 

 

The fellow I was speaking with had the strongest of political views. He told me he had fact checked everything in great detail on the Internet. He was more than confident that he had all of his facts straight. I suggested there might be other people who held entirely opposite political views. They likely felt they could back up there thinking with facts well. The line of thinking seemed to go straight over his head.

 

 

Finally I simply had to say to him, “It’s been nice talking to you. I hope you enjoy the fair”. I bid him good day. That was one of the most disliked experiences I’ve had in a very long time. It definitely reinforced my thinking that very few people want to talk politics. They simply want you to listen to THEM talked about politics. No thanks.

 

 

The next item on the agenda was getting something for supper. I went to the pork producer’s café. There I ordered a couple of pork loin sandwiches along with some potato salad and softs drinks. I was disappointed in the pork loin. I was sort of expecting a pork chop but got something that you might find at Subway.

 

 

However, just across the hall from the pork producers was the Mennonite Church’s homemade ice cream concession. I had to go with a large order of their vanilla homemade ice cream. I had too.

 

 

I grabbed all of my goodies and found a bench where I could sit down and eat. Just as I was beginning to eat I got a call from a fellow in Michigan. This wasn’t a convenient time to get this call, with me balancing the potato salad on my lap and all, but it was a productive call.

 

 

He had lots of details about a potential race up in Michigan tomorrow. What he was telling me was going to change the entire rest of my evening.

 

 

Sorry. I’ll have to tell you about that in tomorrow’s report. Tonight was what I was thinking about now. As mentioned I’m going to tell you that tonight was probably in the top five most important trackchasing dates of my entire 2016 season.

 

 

Coming in tonight I was just one track short of being in the #1 South Dakota trackchasing spot. That title was held by Butch Knouse. I had attempted to come here last year in order to catch up with Butch’s total. However, torrential rains canceled the race at this old county fairgrounds.

 

 

Let me tell you something about Butch Knouse’s South Dakota trackchasing exploits. Butch has never been a TRACKchaser. He’s always been a RACEchaser. As a South Dakota native son he has traveled the state watching races just for the fun of it. Along the way he ended up seeing some nineteen different SD tracks.

 

 

But wait! “Randy, I thought you told me that Butch had seen twenty not nineteen tracks in his home state”, the wary reader might likely ask. Yes, Butch has seen racing at twenty tracks in South Dakota.

 

 

However, I feel I am nearly 100% responsible for Butch seeing that twentieth track. Back in 2013 I was headed to the Rushmore Civic Center Plaza in Rapid City. They were having some novelty mini-sprint racing as part of a bigger monster truck program.

 

 

Butch doesn’t drive long distances. He wasn’t planning on going to that track despite never having been before. However, I was driving somewhat close to where he lived. I couldn’t just drive past his house without offering to pick him up and drive him to and from the race. That’s what I did.

 

 

We had a nice lunch and then went over to the race. The mini-sprints were running some exhibition races of sorts on a flat concrete floor. After the races were over I drove Butch back to where he had parked his car. Then I drove all night back to where I was headed. I can still remember driving into the sun as it rose over the eastern horizon. NOW you know how Butch Knouse ended up seeing his twentieth track!

 

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

Turner County Fairgrounds – Parker, South Dakota

 

 

Last year I tried to catch up with Butch’s total only to be rained out. There would be no canceling tonight at least for the start of the race. When I walked into the grandstand I learned there were 30 cars racing tonight. They were racing over a permanent dirt oval of about one-third mile in length.

 

 

This was going to be an enduro style race. Enduros are supposed to be races where there are no stoppages except in the most extreme conditions. The rules for tonight’s race were clearly stated. They would only throw a red flag if the track was blocked.

 

 

Tonight the 30 or so V-8 powered Detroit big iron stock cars would race for 50 minutes. Then they would take a 20-minute break and race for 50 minutes again. The driver who could complete the most laps during this time would be the winner. First prize was paying a hefty $1,750 U.S.

 

 

The cars were all parked at the edge of the infield just a couple feet off the track’s racing surface before the race started. At 7:05 p.m. the green flag was thrown to start the contest. Surprising to me the cars started the race from their parked position just inside the race surface. That was a little strange. I liked it.

 

 

The track was extremely muddy to begin with. Additionally they had a number of red flags in both the first and set second segments of this race. Every time a car stalled on the track they red flagged the race and moved the stalled car back into the pits. From time to time a bumper or some other major part was left on the track. This created a red flag as well.

 

 

I would say there was a minimum of 10 red flag stoppages during the entire race. With only about five minutes to go in the event one driver was coming down the backstretch and slid sideways. As he did that one of his wheels broke and dug into the dirt race surface. This sent him into a series of side-by-side barrel rolls.

 

 

In an event like this that was a pretty wild accident. Emergency personnel were on the scene quickly. Soon the driver emerged in a short sleeve button-down shirt and blue jeans. He was none the worse for the wear.

 

 

I have to be honest. This wasn’t the most compelling race. The announcer did a nice job of entertaining and informing the crowd over a robust PA system. The covered grandstand was home to a nearly packed audience.

 

 

I had been to the Turner County Fairgrounds all the way back in 2001. On that trip I saw racing on their figure 8 track. There was something a bit surreal about that figure 8 race. What could that be? The South Dakota state sitting governor competed in the figure 8 race!! This week during the fair the figure eights will race tomorrow night.

 

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

Currently I don’t have any more South Dakota tracks remaining to be seen. However tracks are always “popping up”. I never really know when I’ve seen them all.

 

 

I told you that while I was eating my dinner I got a call from a man in Michigan. The news he provided me was going to change the entire rest of my evening as well as the next day. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. This will reconfirm, as if this particular fact needed any reconfirming, that my schedule is as fluid as it possibly could be. I have the type of schedule and personality that makes me quite comfortable with ambiguity. I’m willing to discover next best idea and replace whatever my current “best” idea is on a microsecond’s notice. More on that tomorrow.

 

 

Good evening from Parker, South Dakota.

 

 

 

South Dakota

 

 

The Mount Rushmore state

This evening I saw my 20th lifetime track in the Mount Rushmore state, yes the Mount Rushmore state. I hold the #1 trackchasing spot in South Dakota along with Butch Knouse. I’ve seen 20 or more tracks in 28 separate states.

 

 

 

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

South Dakota definitions: Dinner.

 

 

What it means everywhere else: The last meal of the day, eaten in the evening.

 

 

What it means in South Dakota: The second meal of the day, eaten after breakfast and before supper.

 

 

 

 

QUICK 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 575 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me.

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,265

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

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

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 72

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.47

 

 

 

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

 

 

Click on the link below to see the video production from the racing action today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day.  You can view the album slide by slide or click on the “slide show” icon for a self-guided tour of today’s trackchasing adventure.

 

Trackchasing in South Dakota and more….the photo album