- Greetings from Alton, Virginia
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From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Virginia International Raceway – North
Asphalt road course
Track #626
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Virginia International Raceway – South
Asphalt road course
Track #2,048
A span of 11 years separated my trackchasing visits to the Virginia International Raceway. Back in 2003 we were just moving into our new home in San Clemente, California. We had just sold the house pictured above and moved closer to the beach. We bought the property in 2000, tore down the existing house and built a new one. Some 29 months late we moved in. . . You will notice that back in 2003 I was posting my upcoming schedule to tracks to be seen. I always enjoyed doing that. Then I discovered that my fellow competitors never shared their upcoming race dates. That put me at a competitive disadvantage so I had to stop my sharing practice. Don’t be mistaken. The trackchasing hobby oozes with competitiveness. . . There are not many places to trackchase in December. I was lucky to find a road race happening at V.I.R. in December 2014. I tied the trip to Virginia in with a race in Florida and another in South Carolina. I will rarely travel out of my time zone for less than a three-track trip. By the way I was just beginning to get involved with the trackchasing strategy of counting more than one track configuration at a road course. Belgium track chaser Roland Vanden Eynde proposed this idea. It was approved by the trackchasing people who vote on such things. I am not a member of that group. . . You might have remembrances of racing at the Virginia International Raceway. If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. Reprinted with consent from my April 26, 2003 Trackchaser Report Greetings from Alton, Virginia, We’ve moved! The racing commute from the west coast can be a long and tortuous one. You might think I would move closer to the heart of racing which would be the Midwest or maybe the Northeast. Well, that’s not the case. My lovely bride and I have moved both north and west. We’ve moved north one mile and west 100 yards to our retirement home at the beach in the sleepy seaside town of San Clemente. . . The construction of our house has taken two and one half years (including 11 months of architectural planning). When we moved in on March 30, the house was only 90-95% complete. Just this past Thursday we had 10 different sub-contractors at the house for all or parts of a day completing work. This construction process has caused my trackchasing, and many other things, to take a back seat time wise. I hope that with the house nearly complete I can get back on the trackchasing trail with a greater frequency. . . This weekend’s trip will take me to North Carolina and Virginia. The first few days will be for racing and the last few for golfing with my California residing but North Carolina born friend, George Robertson. I’ll be housed in his home town of Eden, North Carolina. As many of you know, I like the south. . . I had a secretary years ago who wanted to get into radio broadcasting. She thought her best bet was being employed at a small radio station in the south. As a native Californian, she was always saying she wanted to move to an “A” state. Something like Alabama, Arkansas or Atlanta. I don’t even think she knew where the capital of Atlanta even was! She wasn’t that hot of a secretary either. . . My journey began with the typical 4:30 a.m. wake up call in San Clemente. I arrived at the Raleigh-Durham International airport at about 6 p.m. The weather was bad with lots of rain and dark clouds. Everyone (that I know of within 150 miles of Raleigh) had cancelled. No racing on Friday. Therefore, the next event on the schedule was the Saturday afternoon race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). . . This was an unusual drive that took me from Eden, NC into Danville, VA (for just a couple of minutes), then back into Milton, NC (for about 2 minutes) then back into Alton, VA. Allan Brown, were you playing a cruel trick on your National Speedway Directory patrons? . . BEST COUNTRY T-SHIRT: Shut up and fish! . . . RACING NEWS: . Well, another road course is in the books. How many more can there be? VIR is a newly built facility along the “country club” lines of road racing venues. Today’s afternoon race was run under very threatening weather conditions but they snuck in the races. . . The Skip Barber racing series was the sanctioning group. They are the largest amateur race series in North America and host 31 race weekends throughout the U.S. Today’s races were a combo event for the Eastern and Mid-Western regional series (two of the four Skip Barber racing series). . . Five different race groups had competition races on both Saturday and Sunday. They started at 12:15 p.m. and raced a new group every hour from that point. I stayed for one complete 11-lap race. This was creatively named the “Race 1, Group 2 Regional Championship”. Fifteen cars competed on the mostly level 2.25-mile road course. There really wasn’t much action. A lap took about two minutes and 15 seconds to complete. From my vantage point on a deck about the concession stand, I could see the cars for about 40 seconds. . . For the VIR event, the Skip Barber racing school brought the following: 56 racecars, 24 mechanics, 15 coaches, 4 testers, a pit lane coordinator, timing and scoring personnel, a hospitality person and a chief steward. On Friday morning, each driver drew a number to see which car he would race for the weekend (sort of IROCish). If a driver got four wheels off the course, he/she had to come in for a pit consultation. . . The one good thing about road courses is they usually compete during the day. This makes it easy to pad the trackchasing total without missing any good racing. . . RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The Avis racing Chevy Malibu was leased via www.hotwire.com at a consumer friendly rate of just $25.95 a day. These types of cars make a nice rental car. When I was checking in at the counter, I handed the clerk my Hawaii drivers license. She asked me how it felt being back in the states. Makes you wonder how we won the war doesn’t it? . . That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking and all of the children are above average. New racetracks visited in 2003 Planned new racetracks for 2003 * Not a new track. Reprinted with consent from my December 7, 2014 Trackchaser Report Greetings from Alton, Virginia From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” Virginia International Raceway – South Course – Lifetime Track #2,048 Topics in today’s Trackchaser Report. The responsibilities of a family man. My theory about early morning activity. The benefits of one-way rentals and sponsorship. Ahead of the tech curve. You have to spend money to make money. I’m not a big fan of counting a second road course. Why share these secrets? The devil is in the details. This question surprised me. The truth hurts. A nearly fatal flaw. Putting things into perspective. #$%^#. Kissing and Google. Hello, INEX? Fist pump. Self-policing. Track counting manipulation. . . . The responsibilities of a family man. I woke up this morning in Fort Mill, South Carolina. I went to bed at home in San Clemente, California. If I were not married I would not feel the need to head home so quickly after these events. However, as a family man when my work is done I try to get back home as soon as possible. This is how the day turned out. . . My day began with a wake up call at 6:50 a.m. (that’s 3:50 a.m. California time) in the Quality Inn of Fort Mill, South Carolina. My alarm woke me from a dead sleep. When that happens it usually means I haven’t gotten all the sleep I need. . . My theory about early morning activity. Considering only the California time zone, 3:50 a.m. is the latest I’ve been able to sleep for the last three days. My golf friends may find this surprising. They know I’ll do everything I can to avoid an 8-9 a.m. tee time. I prefer to play in the afternoon. However I think of golf as an optional activity. If I want to get to particular track in the trackchasing hobby starting and waking times are much less optional. The track’s starting time and the distance I need to travel to get there dictate when I wake up. Make sense? . . I had gotten a decent price on a nice room at the Quality Inn. They also served a very good breakfast this morning. I dined on sausage and gravy a southern staple. To my credit I did avoid the biscuits. . . It was going to be a cool and breezy day in southern Virginia. Temperatures would hover around 50° with winds as strong as twenty miles an hour or more. The drive from the hotel to the racetrack would be about two hours. Along the way I stopped for two 12-minute power naps. . . Another benefit of using Priceline.com. After checking out of the hotel this morning I needed to return my rental car to the Charlotte Douglas international Airport. There is a nice benefit, other than a reduced price, for paying for a hotel room through Priceline.com. In the morning when I am leaving there is no need to stop at the front desk to check out. Everything is taken car of. I simply leave my room and walk to my car….no waiting in lines at the front desk. . . The benefits of one-way rentals and sponsorship. I had picked up my rental car as part of a one-way rental in Atlanta. I planned to drop it off in Charlotte after just one day. Rarely would I want a “one-way” rental to last for more than one day. One-way rentals can be very expensive unless you have the proper car rental sponsorship. I do. . . Let’s say I’m landing in Atlanta (which I did). Then let’s say I plan to depart a few day(s) later from Charlotte (which I will). My strategy is to rent a car for just one day in Atlanta and return it to Charlotte. Then I start a new contract in Charlotte and keep the car until I’m ready to leave Charlotte. Then I simply return the car to Charlotte. Some folks will need to re-read this paragraph for the best understanding. Yes, the Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers may need to read the paragraph several times. Then they will have to ask a non-Dreaded East Coast Trackchaser what it means. . . What did the National Car Rental Company charge me for my one-day rental? Just six bucks! O.K., the total bill was $6.84. The average price for a one-way rental probably comes in at around $80 to over $100 per day. I’ll repeat for the 1,000th time I could not do this without help from my sponsors. . . Simplification. I was returning a good rental car, the Hyundai Sonata to Charlotte. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of taking all the stuff out of one car and then putting it into rental car #2. Therefore I just pulled into the National Car Rental return lot and told the attendant to close out my contract, which he did quickly. Then, without getting out of the car, I drove over to the exit booth and re-rented the same car! Handling one-way rentals and then turning them into normal rentals, using the same car, is a strategy I developed years ago. It cuts down on cost and hassle two things that need to be controlled when I’m out on the trackchasing Trail. . . After the races…. . . Considering my options. After the races it was an easy two-hour drive southward to Charlotte. I considered attending a University of North Carolina basketball game later in the afternoon. However, I didn’t for two reasons. First, I wouldn’t be able to get home tonight if I did. Secondly, I had already done that with a previous Trackchasing Tourist Attraction (TTA). TTAs are a lot like trackchasing. Often times one time is all it takes to give me enough lifetime memories from that event. . . As it was I stopped at a Waffle House for a late afternoon lunch. It was my second Waffle House stop in this three-day trip. That might have been one too many for my waistline but you only get to live once or so I am told. . . Cheap gas. Then I filled my rental car tank with gas. In South Carolina earlier on the trip I paid just $2.35 per gallon. Yes, they DO give the gas away in the United States! . . Ahead of the tech curve. Finally I stopped at a Subway sandwich store. I would need a sandwich to consume on my nearly five-hour airplane ride back to Los Angeles. Of course, I used my iPhone 6’s capability to “pay by phone”. What a nice convenience. . . Thanks Dustin. I used one of my airline sponsorships to book my last minute flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles. Thanks to Dustin for helping out with flight load information. That’s a huge help. . . I arrived home at about 10 a.m. local time or 1 a.m. Virginia International Raceway time. It makes for a long day but it’s better than getting home tomorrow. . . You have to spend money to make money. As you read the above I hope you will notice one thing. See how many strategies were employed to save time, reduce expense and just make life a little easier. Some of my “equipment” that make these things happen cost money. However, I long ago learned that you sometimes have to spend money to make money. Some people don’t understand that concept. They are the folks whose life is just a little bit harder. . . Why share these secrets? I share these “secrets” with you not with the expectation that you are going to drop everything and become a world-class trackchaser. However, these are “universal” approaches to life that you can use wherever and whenever you want. I hope you do re-apply some or all of these approaches. Then writing these Trackchaser Reports will see even more worthwhile! . . . ONE CANNOT LIVE WELL OR SLEEP WELL IF ONE HAS NOT DINED WELL . . Waffle House – All over the south I might be addicted to Diet Coke with cherry flavoring at Waffle House. I always order it in a “to go” cup. Then when I leave I get one last re-fill. . . I needed something to wash down with my Diet Coke. A waffle with peanut butter chips started the process. Then a cheesesteak completed my meal. I always tip generously in a WH. The folks are nice and they seem like they might need an extra dollar or three. THE RACE Virginia International Raceway – South Course – Alton, Virginia . . I had been here….more than 1,400 tracks ago. Today I was headed to the Virginia international Raceway. I first visited this facility back in 2003. At that time I was seeing my 626th lifetime racetrack. . . Yes, that last visit was more than 11 years ago. Importantly, that track was more than 1,400 tracks ago. Let’s say you travel a good deal for business or pleasure. Would you remember the details of a hotel you stayed in some 1,400 hotel rooms ago? . . Configurations. The Virginia International Raceway offers five track configurations. That’s not too unusual for a road racing facility. Here’s how the V.I.R. website describes those five configurations. . . Grand Course: 4.20 miles / 6.76 km Full Course: 3.27 miles / 5.26 km North Course: 2.25 miles / 3.62 km South Course: 1.65 miles / 2.66 km Patriot Course: 1.10 miles / 1.77 km . . I couldn’t recall for sure but I was thinking I had seen racing on the full course back in 2003. Back then only one track at a road course facility could be counted in the trackchasing hobby. . . A successful proposal. A few years ago Belgium trackchaser Roland Vanden Eynde proposed that a SECOND road course be allowed to count if it was somewhat different than a first road course track that had been counted. The official rule needs a team of lawyers to decipher. However, I like to simplify things. My interpretation of the rule is that in order for two road course tracks to count they must have a difference of at least one straight and two turns. For the most part when two road course configurations have a significant difference in their track LENGTHS they would meet this requirement. . . I’m not a big fan of counting a second road course. Overall, I am not a big fan of this rule. I’m also not a big fan of trackchasers proposing rules where they stand to be the biggest beneficiary. . . I can understand the need to be “consistent” with other track types. For the longest time trackchasers have been able to count a second “oval” track. That’s where a facility may race on a “big” oval and a smaller, sometimes called “inner” oval. . . Most trackchasers, including me, have “gone back” to a track to see racing on the smaller oval (which often times was created after the bigger oval already existed). In almost all cases it’s easy to see the difference in the racing visually on the big oval and the smaller oval. Also in most cases the smaller oval has races on the same day the bigger oval does. That means that when a trackchaser returns to see racing on the smaller oval they will also get to see racing on the more entertaining (usually) bigger oval. . . A second oval is not the same in some ways as a second road course. The elements that apply to the second counting of ovals are NOT the case with road course racing. Often when one road course configuration is being used the other track that was seen previously is not holding a race event. Additionally as an example, and this is important to me, it is usually VERY difficult to see the difference on the track when a 4-mile road course configuration is being using compared to its smaller 2.8 configuration. . . I’ll do it in order to remain competitive. Nevertheless, in order to remain competitive, I’ll see a “second” road course track when I can. Prior to this rule I didn’t always define which road course configuration I had seen race. It’s hard to tell if you are seeing a new “second” track if you aren’t sure which “first” track you had seen often years ago. . . This is one way to do it. One trackchaser told me that if he was going to see a race at a road course a second time, then THAT visit automatically became track #2 and his first visit became track #1 (wink!). I can’t go with that plan. . . The third track type beyond ovals and road courses is the figure 8 track. Rarely does a figure 8 track offer two “configurations”. Therefore, up to this point a single figure 8 track has been counted in 99% or more of all figure 8 counting instances. . . The devil is in the details. Luckily, I have the most detailed Trackchaser Reports of anyone in the hobby. Often I have video or photographic proof of which track I saw the first time. I will also frequently have a description of the track’s length, lap times or some other identifying marker to remind me of the track I saw in the past. . . I was pretty confident I had seen racing on the “Grand or Full” course configurations at the Virginia International Raceway. Later I would learn that people’s memories are often not what they think they are. I went to V.I.R. confident that the “North” track would become lifetime track #2,048. From the sound of things you might be thinking there was more to it than that. You might be right! . . Virginia International Raceway. The Virginia international Raceway is located on a beautiful piece of property. There are lots of trees and rolling hills. Now that it’s December most of the grass is brown but it was still a beautiful place. . . Admission today was a somewhat steep $20 US. On the chump car racing website I could have bought an advanced ticket for $10. However I didn’t know for sure if I would be here today for sure or not. Therefore I paid the $10 penalty based upon my lack of commitment. . . This question surprised me. I was surprised when the ticket seller asked me “Are you here to see the chump car racing or the legends?”. I told him I come to see the chump cars race on the North track. Frankly I had no idea the legends were even racing at V.I.R. today. The track calendar didn’t mention a thing about that. . . He said, “That’s okay. Your ticket will allow you to see the legends on the South course and the chump cars on the North course. Wow! If I had never been to the Virginia International Raceway I could count TWO tracks today. Such as it was with my previous visit to this facility I can only add one of the two tracks racing today. It’s all part of somewhat complicated trackchasing countability rules that I won’t bore you with anymore today. Trust me I understand the rules of trackchasing very well. Heck several of those rules were developed just to keep my trackchasing corralled. . . I would try to South course first. I first decided to take a tour of the South course. I was just in time for a Bandolero race there. You might think that the South course would be my countable racetrack of the day. However, I was thinking the Bandolero class was for younger drivers. One teen age driver told me that he “thought” adult drivers could race in the Bandolero class but he wasn’t sure. . . From the paddock area of the South track I could see the chump cars racing on the North track. This was one of those unusual places where you could stand in one location and see countable racing on two different tracks at the same time. . . The truth hurts. I continued to speak to the young legends driver who must’ve been about 15 or 16 years old. He told me that “Kids can race in these classes and even people as old as you are can”. I replied, “Even people as old as ME can race?” Without batting an eyelash or even considering how his statement might’ve been interpreted by me he said “Yep”. Maybe I was speaking to the next Jeff Gordon. . . A nearly fatal flaw. It was cold and windy. I took a complete walking tour of the South track paddock area. There were a lot of legends racers on hand. I also watched and video taped the Bandolero race. I didn’t bother to watch any of the legends racing. I had come to watch the chump cars race on the North track. . . Although I took walking tours of the paddock areas of both the South and North tracks the best way to see things today was from my car. It was cold with the strong wind and there was a lot of ground to cover. The Virginia international Raceway facility has a number of large opulent public buildings. They have lodges and clubhouses and other supplemental buildings. It looks as if they are either making a lot of money or they started with a lot of money. There IS a difference. You will not want to miss the photographs that I took today. Those pictures will give you a good idea of what this track is all about. . . I also took a good deal of video recordings. You’ll see what the chump cart racing is all about with their $500 USD racing machines. Today they had a large number of them on the track. I suspected the racers were getting in one last shot before the end of the 2014 season. , . I was satisfied. When I was satisfied that I had taken a photograph of everything that needed having it’s picture taken and roamed all over the property in my car it was time to leave. I honestly didn’t recall much from my previous visit to the Virginia international Raceway. I guess that’s to be expected. It was a long time ago and I had seen more than 1,400 tracks since my last visit to V.I.R. . . When I left the track I was in a rural Virginia. With any luck I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight in San Clemente. I find that pretty amazing. However, I would not sleep well when I did arrive home. . . There was time to reflect. Sometimes that’s a bad thing. Once I got on the airplane to Los Angeles I had some time to reflect. I took a look at my Trackchaser Report from my April 26, 2003 visit to the Virginia International Raceway. What I found was most disturbing. My report read: . . “Fifteen cars competed on the mostly level 2.25-mile road course. There really wasn’t much action. A lap took about two minutes and 15 seconds to complete. From my vantage point on a deck above the concession stand, I could see the cars for about 40 seconds.” . . Now I WAS worried. This got me to wondering and fidgeting. A “2.25-mile” track didn’t sound like the Grand or Full course. They are much longer. I didn’t have an internet connection on the airplane. What if the “2.25-mile” track I had seen back in 2003 was really the North course…..the exact configuration I had seen countable racing on today? This thought worried me. . . Putting things into perspective. Let me pause for a second. If you are retired and you are lucky enough to only have to worry about whether you have come back to the same racetrack for a second time then….you are lucky enough. . . This WAS the North course! As soon as I got back to my car (really Carol’s car) in the airport parking lot I opened up the V.I.R. website. Yes, the 2.25-mile track WAS the NORTH course, the course I had seen back in 2003! Yes, I had seen racing on the North course today but that would not be a new track. . . #$%^#. #$%^# was my only thought. Yes, I HAD seen racing on the 1.65-mile South course today. However, I had only seen Bandolero racing. I was asking myself, “Why didn’t you stay to see a countable legends race on the South course?” I didn’t have a good answer to that question. . . I had one last possible saving grace. What if the Bandolero racing class today did allow “adult” drivers to race? If they did it would be “countable”. Long ago then commissioner Will White had defined an adult driver as being 18 years or older. There are many definitions as to what constitutes an “adult”. I won’t go into all of those. However, I am proud to tell you that I pestered Will White long enough in order to “encourage” him to make a decision on this issue, which is used in the trackchasing hobby to this day. . . Kissing and Google. As soon as I got back home at past 10 p.m. I gave Carol a kiss. Then I went directly to my office to see what the rules were for Bandolero racing at V.I.R. today. I searched and searched and could get no definitive answer. . . It was a sleepless night. Prior to visiting V.I.R. this weekend I had seen seven senior champ karts race in Florida on Friday night. Then I spent the entire day Saturday sitting through a rain delay in Georgia and ultimately didn’t get to count the track. Had I not been able to count the track on Sunday at Virginia International Raceway I would have driven nearly 1,000-miles, been away from home for three nights for just ONE seven-kart senior champ event! . . Was this good information or not? Editor’s note: I would later learn the only countable class at the Laurens County Speedway in Dexter, Georgia, the mini late models, didn’t end up racing. Due to damage and handling problems they decided to leave early and donate their potential winnings to the children’s Christmas fund. . . Then I learned from the track promoter that they did finally get their show in the books. Practice was scheduled to begin at 12 noon. The rain came at 2 p.m. The promoter told me, “Yep we got to race. We started qualifying about 6 and was done qualifying and racing at 12 (midnight). With 21 classes not to bad lol. Track got down to 13.4s in 50 lap race.” . . I’m glad I left at 5 p.m. Wow! Had I stayed for all of that I still would have had a 5-hour drive up toward the Charlotte area beginning at midnight. That would have been a long day. . . Monday morning time to get busy. My first Monday morning agenda item (after kissing Carol good morning) was to do more research on the countability of Bandolero racing. I know that some of you had to begin your Monday morning going to work. I know what that’s like. I’ve been there. It sucks doesn’t it? . . Anyway my Monday morning “work” was to determine if the class I saw race on the South course at V.I.R. was limited to a certain age or not. In the big picture the value of my work wasn’t all that much different than the value of a lot of people’s work. . . Hello, INEX? My research led me to calling INEX racing headquarters themselves. I had a simple question. It was not a leading question. My question, “Was there any age limitation with the Bandolero racing at V.I.R. yesterday?” . . Fist pump. My contact was Katie McNabb a well-spoken and well-informed INEX representative. I asked my question and waited for an answer. Ms. McNabb told me there was NO age restriction for drivers wanting to race in the Bandolero division. She went on to explain further, while I was silently doing a major fist pump, that drivers are encouraged to move up from the Bandoleros into another division but they are not required too. She told me there are several older drivers, as old as being in their 50s and 60s that race Bandoleros with the INEX group. She closed our conversation with this comment, “No there are not any age restrictions on the Bandoleros group you saw race yesterday”. Thank you Ms. McNabb. You made my day! . . Yikes. That was a close one. I need to be a little more vigilant in determining what type of road course configuration I have seen in the past and what I’m expecting to see in the future. . . Self-policing. I will tell you this. There is not a single soul on this earth who could have disputed my counting racing on the south course if I had decided to count it with one exception. Me! I could not have lived with the idea of counting a track in a situation like this. Yes, it would have cost me hundreds of dollars to return to V.I.R. in the future to see a second track there. I would have done it. . . Track counting manipulation. Maybe now you can see why I feel so strongly about “manipulating” track counting. What is manipulation? Well, it’s the idea of being at the track and paying a promoter to run a “special” race on a configuration that hadn’t been planned for. Trackchaser commissioner Guy Smith and his cronies have done this more than once. I’m also against the idea of being at the track and “encouraging” in any way that a certain track configuration be used. Guy Smith has admitted to doing that too. Of course, Mr. Smith was the first to accuse P.J. Hollebrand of cheating about a track he counted. All I can say is “OMG”. . . This is the way I do it. I simply want to show up at the track. If they run a race on a track I can count I will count it. You will never see me paying a promoter to stage a special race. You will never see me trying to influence a promoter at the track to schedule something that was not part of the schedule. People who do those things have very low personal ethics. They should be banned or heavily penalized in the trackchasing hobby. Virginia name The Old Dominion state This afternoon I saw racing at my 2,048th lifetime track. That track was in the Old Dominion state, yes the Old Dominion state. It was a close call but I did it. 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 Virginia sayings: WELCOME TO VIRGINIA Two Hundred Years of History Unimpeded by Progress QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Orlando, FL (MCO) – 2,210 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Orlando International Airport – trip begins Wimauma, FL Orlando International Airport – trip ends – 166 miles AIRPLANE Orlando, FL (MCO) – Atlanta, GA (ATL) – 405 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Hartsfield-Jackson (Atlanta) International Airport – trip begins Dexter, GA Charlotte-Douglas International Airport – trip ends – 438 miles RENTAL CAR #3 Charlotte-Douglas International Airport – trip begins Alton, VA Charlotte-Douglas International Airport – trip ends – 330 miles Total air miles – 4,749 (3 flights) Total rental car miles – 930 (3 cars) Total miles traveled on this trip – 5,670 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Ambassador Racing School – Complimentary admission Laurens County Speedway – $15 – no countable cars – not a trackchasing expense Virginia International Raceway – $20 Total racetrack admissions for the trip – $20 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 430 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 10 countries of my lifetime total. Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report Click on the link below 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. My trackchasing trip to V.I.R. – December, 2014 
PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS
26-Apr
Regular program
Bowman Gray Stadium
Winston-Salem, NC
27-Apr
Regular program
Oak Level Raceway
Martinsville, VA
2-May
Regular program
Ionia Raceway Park
Lake Odessa, MI
23-May
Oval program
Elko Speedway
Elko, MN
23-May
Figure 8s
Elko Speedway
Elko, MN
24-May
U.S. MODIFIED TOURING SERIES
Deer Creek Speedway
Racine, MN
25-May
U.S. MODIFIED TOURING SERIES
Dodge County Speedway
Kasson, MN
26-May
CORR
Trollhaugen Ski Area
Dresser, WI
26-May
Regular program
Madison Speedway
Madison, WI
6-Jun
Regular program
Path Valley Speedway
Spring Run, PA
7-Jun
The Dream
Eldora Speedway*
Rossburg, OH
8-Jun
Regular program
Ninety-Three Speedway
Oak Hill, OH
11-Jun
Wacky Wednesday
Speedway 95
Bangor, ME
12-Jun
Thursday Night Thunder
Beech Ridge Mtr Speedway
W. Scarborough, ME
13-Jun
Regular program
Wiscasset Speedway
Wiscasset, ME
14-Jun
Oval & Figure 8s
Riverhead Speedway
Riverhead, NY
15-Jun
“R” rated racing
Muddy Acres
Mecklenburg, NY
17-Jun
DIRT Modifieds
New Egypt Speedway
New Egypt, NJ
11-Jul
Regular program
Fergus Falls Speedway
Fergus Falls, MN
12-Jul
Fair race
Jamestown Speedway
Jamestown(Busti), ND
13-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Nodak Speedway
Minot, ND
14-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Estevan Motor Speedway
Estevan, SAS
15-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Williston-Basin Speedway
Williston, ND
16-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Southwest Speedway
Dickinson, ND
17-Jul
Dakota Modified Tour
Dacotah Speedway
Mandan, ND
18-Jul
TBA-must confirm
River Cities Speedway
Grand Forks, ND
19-Jul
TBA-must confirm
Saaga International Raceway
Doyon, ND
20-Jul
Regular Program
Buffalo River Speedway
Moorehead, MN
