Wall Lake International Speedway

 

 

THE EVENT

I have had the opportunity to follow my trackchasing hobby all over the world. As this is written I have seen racing in 74 countries. My lifetime track total exceeds 2,300. Each and every year I will trackchase in 25-30 states.

 

 

At track #1,040 I moved into the “World’s #1 Trackchasing” spot. Here’s the funny thing about that. I was perfectly content to remain in about seventh place in the worldwide trackchasing standings. Then I had rotator cuff surgery, which knocked me out of golf for about six months. With no golf and time on my hands I turned up my trackchasing by a notch or two. I discovered I liked MORE trackchasing and LESS golf. It didn’t take all that long to move up to the top of the world trackchasing standings at that point.

 

 

I am very appreciative of the hospitality that local promoters show me when I come to their track. Wall Lake’s promoter, Craig Brotherton, knew that I was going to visit today. He and I had talked on the phone during the week. Craig had asked me if I would do an interview about my trackchasing hobby with his announcer. I was happy to oblige.

 

 

I was very surprised to get a call from Craig this afternoon. He was phoning to ask if we had any interest in a private tour of Andy Williams’ boyhood home. This was the first time we learned that Andy was born in Wall Lake, Iowa and lived here for the first few years of his life. Of course, we were interested. That’s what this hobby is all about!

 

 

I’ll tell you more about our tour in the body of this report. However, what blows me away is the hospitality people are willing to show a complete stranger. Craig went out of his way, just a couple of hours before the show he was promoting was about to begin, to make sure we were going to have a good time in Wall Lake, Iowa. I don’t forget hospitality like that!

 

 

My hobby is not only about racing. Trackchasing for me centers around three things. The racing part is pretty obvious. However of equal importance is the logistics of trackchasing and the opportunity to see the world.

 

 

I live in Southern California. The vast majority of tracks are located in the Midwest and East. It takes a good deal of logistical planning to get from where I live to where the tracks are. For the past 15 years I have traveled about 175 nights each and every year. Surprisingly to some, more than half of those overnights were not part of trackchasing.

 

 

Then there’s the travel just for the fun of seeing new things. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page on my website at www.randylewis.org. That will give you some understanding on how important seeing the world is with my hobby.

 

 

Today’s adventure was one more of the 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

 

 

 

 

FOREWORD

Yesterday was a big driving day. After having our rental car for just three days we had already driven about 1,200 miles. Thankfully, today was going to be a relatively light driving day. Yes, we would be driving for five hours. However, our driving would be broken up into smaller chunks. That way it wouldn’t seem too bad.

 

 

Tonight’s figure 8 racing location in Wall Lake, Iowa was only a two-hour drive from where we were staying in Des Moines. We would stay in Des Moines again tonight but in a different hotel. That meant that after the races this evening it would take us two hours to get back.

 

 

All of this meant we would have some time for touring today. Touring is a big part of my trackchasing. Not only do I see more tracks than any other trackchaser I do more touring than anyone else as well. There’s so much to see in our beautiful United States.

 

 

I consulted TripAdvisor to see what the most notable “things to do” were in Des Moines, Iowa. You probably know that Des Moines is the capital of the Hawkeye state. Did you know what the number one rated tourist attraction is in Des Moines?

 

 

It’s the state capital building! If you ever driven through Des Moines you’ve seen the beautiful gold topped state capital building from a distance.

 

 

I contacted the capital building staff. I found out they do Saturday tours every hour on the half hour. There was no charge for the tour. That was perfect.

 

 

Last night we stayed at the Marriott hotel in Des Moines. I’ve told you many times that when Carol comes along on the trip we stay in better places. She lets me stay with her so I get upgraded too.

 

 

When we checked in last night at nearly 1 a.m. the desk clerk gave us a coupon. It entitled us to a complementary buffet breakfast at the hotel. Even though I had made a reservation for the Marriott using the Priceline.com, I still get the perks of being a lifetime platinum member of the Marriott Marquis program. The value of our breakfast coupon was $30 for the two of us. We had a lovely buffet breakfast and soon we are on our way to go downtown to the state capital.

 

 

I haven’t tried every TripAdvisor recommended touring attraction in and around Des Moines. Therefore, I guess I can’t tell you that the state capital would be ranked number one. However I can say that it’s beautiful building. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. The nearly 1 ½-hours we spent on the tour was well worth it.

 

 

The state of Iowa has 100 elected House of Representatives and 50 elected senators. Civilians can come in during their legislative sessions and watch things from a gallery level. I’d like to do that sometime. In total I would highly recommend a tour of the Iowa State capital.

 

 

Another top rated Des Moines activity was visiting the West End Architectural Salvage Company. I’m a big fan of the American Pickers TV show. I can’t get enough of it. The guys who do that are also from Iowa….LeClaire Iowa.

 

 

 

Today’s stop to see antiques was heavily focused on furniture. They had some signs, some bicycles and the like as well. They were awfully short, in my opinion, on antique toys. I seem to be most interested in that particular genre. We did about 30 minutes of window shopping and then consulted Yelp for a luncheon idea.

 

 

I can’t say enough nice things about Yelp. Yelp is really simply a summary of the recommendations and reviews of people who have actually used the restaurants they review. Often times the number of reviews for each restaurant is fifty or hundred or even more. I have found this group thinking to be an excellent lead for where to eat in foreign located places.

 

 

I’m on a Mexican food kick right now. It used to be that the very last place you would want to eat Mexican food would be the Midwest or the south. That has changed dramatically.

 

 

Obviously the Hispanic population and culture is expanding across America at a rapid pace. We have been driving through these smaller cities and towns of the Midwest that used to be devoid of Mexican food. Now it almost seems as if Mexican restaurants are the dominant ethnic cuisine being offered.

 

 

Yelp recommended the Mariana’s Mexican restaurant. It was only a mile and a half from our antique store. Off we went.

 

 

I must tell you that the exterior of this particular restaurant was minorly off-putting. However I have walked into a lot of restaurant doors where the outside didn’t look that great but the food on the inside was fantastic. That would be the case today.

 

 

The interior of today’s restaurant was very artistic and could have been right out of Mexico itself. We opened our meal with beers that were served with limes. You won’t have that little amenity everywhere you go.

 

 

The Yelp users had recommended the homemade guacamole. How could we pass that up? We loved it except it did have cucumbers in it. That’s the first time I’ve tasted that in a guacamole dip. Neither Carol nor I are big fans of cucumbers. Nevertheless, it was still very tasty. We enjoyed the quac with a full complement of good tasting chips.

 

 

I’m on a queso fundido kick. That’s simply melted Mexican cheese with chorizo sausage. Today that item was on the menu as queso fundido con chorizo. I could even say that in Spanish without Carol wanting to correct me too much. Our lunch was just perfect.

 

 

Before I go any further I’d like to say that I don’t think anyone should eat at a Mexican restaurant unless they are playing a soccer match on the restaurant’s TV. The TV commentator needs to be announcing in Spanish. A strong second-place would be when the restaurant has a Mexican game show on the TV, again with all of the audio in Spanish.

 

 

If I ever hear anyone tell me that his or her favorite Mexican restaurant is Taco Bell my head is going to explode. A good Mexican restaurant should have 100% Spanish-speaking employees. Taco Bell is not a Mexican restaurant. It is an American fast food eatery offering a combination of ingredients that should never be confused with authentic Mexican cuisine.

 

 

From the restaurant we headed up to Story City, Iowa. If you go back a couple of reports you’ll know we had breakfast with a longtime family friend of ours Jack Lund. Jack is going to be 92 years old in another week or so. He hails from Story City, Iowa.

 

 

We wanted to check out some of the highlights of Story City that Jack had told us about. One of those highlights is an indoor carousel. It was originally built back in 1913. How many towns do you know that have carousels, and if you did know of any with a carousel, a carousel that would be more than 100 years old.

 

 

Stuff is he easy to find in Story City because the town has only about 3,400 residents. Soon we found the carousel. In almost no time Carol was on one of the horses bobbing up-and-down to the music. She told me it went around faster than any carousel she had ever ridden. The price to ride the carousel? Just one dollar.

 

 

Next up we had to stop at the Story City library. Why? Our friend had done an oil painting of Judge Story of whom the town is named after. We walked into the library and told the assistant what we were looking for this painting. She immediately took us to a wing of the library where the painting of Judge Story was proudly hanging.

 

 

Before we could leave this little Iowa town we had to walk across the street to see the Story Theater/Grand Opera House. It’s the longest continuously operating theater in the Midwest. It also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This place comes with a lot of history. We were allowed to take a quick peek inside…because this is Iowa.

 

 

I’m going to try to convince you in the following paragraphs that the people who live in Iowa are essentially the nicest people in the United States. This is not to say that people who live outside of Iowa are not nice. What I’m trying to say is that the people from the Hawkeye state are literally the nicest people in the country. You’ll have to be the judge and decide for yourself.

 

 

Yesterday I had phoned the contact on the Wall Lake figure 8 Facebook page. I left a message saying I was just trying to confirm the starting time and other details of tonight’s racing.

 

 

I hadn’t heard back for a couple of hours. As we were driving along I got a phone call from Nashville, Tennessee. It is my practice to ignore such calls when they come in from numbers that I don’t recognize. That was the case with this call.

 

 

Most of the times these “foreign” callers do not leave a message. However the caller from Nashville did leave a voicemail message. I listened to it.

 

 

The call from the Nashville phone number ended up being the promoter of the Wall Lake figure 8 races. He gave me all of the details that I needed to know about tonight’s racing. I could have just left it at that. I figured I would call back to thank him for the information and possibly glean some additional data about tonight’s event. I’m a big one for saying that more information is better than less.

 

 

When I called back Craig Brotherton answered. He and I talked on the phone for a few minutes as I drove through the Iowa countryside. He told me that he knew about my trackchasing. That’s not all that unusual but it did surprise me just a bit.

 

 

He asked me if I had been down to the enduro at the Battleground Speedway last October in Texas. That seemed like an unusual question. Yes, I had. On that night Carol and I took our grandbabies, Astrid and Mitch, to the races. We all had a good time, except it was a dustbowl.

 

 

It just turned out that Craig who lives in Iowa is also a racer. He and his buddies had towed their stock cars all the way down to Texas to race in the special 300-lap, $10,000 to win in enduro race. That’s impressive. Later I would learn that Craig and his crew had put three Iowa stockers in a trailer and hauled all the way out to SoCal to race at the Perris Auto Speedway. That was doubly impressive!

 

 

Craig was happy that Carol and I were coming to Wall Lake, Iowa to see the races he was promoting. They’ve been having figure 8 races now in Wall Lake for about five years. This year they’re running three different events spread all over the summer months.

 

 

We closed our phone call with Craig asking me to look him up when I arrived at the track. I told him I would and that was pretty much the end of our conversation.

 

 

In the midst of our touring today I got another call from Craig. This time I knew to answer a call from a Nashville, Tennessee number! He was calling to tell me that the famous singer Andy Williams was born in his town of Wall Lake, Iowa.

 

 

Craig was calling to ask if we were interested in getting a tour of Andy Williams’ boyhood home. Mr. Williams was born in Wall Lake. If we were interested in a tour Craig could make it happen on a special basis. Were we interested? Of course we were. Craig would set it up and get back to us.

 

 

If you are a trackchaser I’ll have to ask you this question. Has a promoter ever called you in your entire life and offered a benefit like this? I had never met Craig. Nevertheless, it sounded as if he knew something about my trackchasing. I had only talked to him on the phone. Now he was going out of his way to offer an invitation that would involve other people helping us out, where we would benefit. Are you starting to believe that maybe Iowa what does really have the nicest people in the United States?

 

 

Wall Lake isn’t that big. We easily found the Andy Williams birthplace. There’s a big sign in front of an old white farmhouse type looking homestead.

 

 

In no time we were meeting Marge and Esther. They were a Wall Lake tag team who were responsible for creating this historical landmark. Their non-profit purchased the home several years ago and upgraded it to its current historically correct motif.

 

 

Marge started our tour at about 5:30 p.m. Our race location, the Wall Lake International Speedway, was located just to the three blocks away. Tonight’s figure 8 racing what is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

 

 

Marge was the perfect host. She didn’t pressure us to move along too quickly. In each room of the two-story house we chatted for a while and asked as many questions as we wanted to.

 

 

When we got out of the house we took a 5-10 minute drive through the small town of Wall Lake. Almost every time I visit a place like this I take that extra time to drive through town. I’ll go down some of the residential streets and the like just to get a feel for what local life might be like here.

 

 

By the time we had finished up our Andy Williams birthplace tour and took the short drive through Wall Lake it was 6:30 p.m. I could hear the engines roaring at the track. The races had already begun. We easily found a parking space and paid our five-dollar general admission price. The spectator grandstands were nearly full. Five dollars is one of the lowest admission prices that I’ve seen anywhere nowadays. They do this as a fundraiser for some of the local activities that benefit Wall Lake.

 

 

 

THE RACING

 

 

Wall Lake International Speedway – Wall Lake, Iowa

 

 

Tonight we would see racing on a dirt surface. All five of the tracks we are visiting during this trip were racing on dirt. However, Iowa dirt is different! I call it Iowa “black dirt”. Their dirt is as black as the coat of a raven.

 

 

I don’t know what else they use the Wall Lake International Speedway for during the year. This is a permanent figure 8 racing facility. It features steel armco crash wall barriers.

 

 

They had a robust PA system and an excellent announcer named Tom. He did a very good job of identifying the drivers and their hometowns as well as doing some play-by-play action during the races themselves.

 

 

Tonight the weather was great. At race time the temperature was about 77°. It was windy but luckily the wind and the setting sun were at our backs.

 

 

Some local service groups offered up concessions for the fans tonight. I picked up a bag of popcorn and a bottle of water for Carol for just a dollar each. The highest price on the entire menu was a three-dollar pork burger. You would expect a pork burger to be served in Iowa.

 

 

We didn’t show up until 30 minutes after the official starting time of tonight’s program. However, I’m pretty sure they started on time. There were four classes of figure 8 cars racing tonight.

 

 

The first three classes of stock car figure 8s featured 8-10 cars in each class. The open class had four competitors.

 

 

This was a figure 8 racing and not figure 8 demolition derby. There’s a difference you know. The drivers did a great job of racing close together without much contact. At some points they raced three abreast. During the entire evening’s action I only saw one point of contact at the figure 8 “X”. Yes this was racing and not a demolition derby.

 

 

Promoter Craig Brotherton and I had been texting this during tonight’s program. He wanted me to come over during intermission and speak with his track announcer. I was more than happy to do that. I am always more than happy to promote my hobby of trackchasing.

 

 

The announcer had never really heard about trackchasing. Frankly, that’s not unusual. He pretty much let me take the lead during our interview. I am very comfortable taking a question and expanding upon my answer to cover virtually anything that I want to discuss or that I think the fans might be interested in hearing with regards to my hobby.

 

 

If you watch and listen to my interview from Wall Lake you’ll be able to hear excerpts of my six-minute interview. I tried to point out to the crowd how lucky they were to have a well-run figure 8 racing program in their community.

 

 

When everything was finished up at intermission Craig came over and presented me with two very valuable and heartfelt gifts. One was a complete gift pack of Cookies barbecue sauce. This is a barbecue sauce manufactured right here in Wall Lake. The gift packed included for full-sized bottles of different flavors. When I get out of food rehab those sauces are going to taste great.

 

 

He also gave me a couple of hats, one for Carol, with his Wall Lake trucking company logo on the front. His car number, 45B, was emblazoned on the side of the hats as well. We will wear those probably.

 

 

I toured the pits quickly. This allowed me to take several photographs of the racing competitors. Then I returned to the spectator side to watch the feature events with Carol.

 

 

She was quick to remind me that my interview could be heard very well over the strong PA system. She told me that the crowd listened intently and applauded strongly when I finished making my comments. Yep. That’s what you need is a supportive wife!

 

 

You won’t want to miss my racing video from tonight’s track. You’ll see photographs of virtually every car that showed up tonight in my SmugMug photo album. You’ll also see some extended video clips of the racing action from different perspectives all over the track.

 

 

Last night the first heat race of the night didn’t get onto the track until 10 p.m. Tonight’s show started at 6 p.m. with four figure 8 classes. The entire racing program took the final checkered flag, still in the daylight, at 8 p.m. It’s been along time since I’ve been at an evening event where the entire racing was wrapped up by 8 p.m.

 

 

 

AFTER THE RACES

 

 

At that point Carol and I hopped in the National Car Rental Racing Infiniti JX70 and headed back toward Des Moines. We would arrive into our hotel at 10:30 p.m. We’ve got one more track on this trip’s agenda. It’ll be an afternoon show in Illinois tomorrow. I’ll tell you more about that in my next Trackchaser Report.

 

 

Before I close I’ll ask you this question. Do you believe that the nicest people in America live in Iowa? You need to know that I have never lived in Iowa myself nor am I paid by Iowa to make these comments. I have visited every state in the country many many times. I am an observer of people. I believe that Iowa has the nicest people in the country along with the folks who live in Nebraska, South Dakota in Minnesota.

 

 

If you just review all of the support I got from tonight’s promoter Craig I think you could easily support the conclusion that I am promoting. If you are a racer or race fan who lives anywhere close to Wall Lake, Iowa you might just want to go over and support one of their figure 8 shows. If you get treated half as well as I have you’ll have been treated very well.

 

 

Good night from Wall Lake, Iowa birthplace of Andy Williams.

 

 

 

 

Iowa

 

 

The Hawkeye state

This evening I saw my 107th lifetime track in the Hawkeye state, yes the Hawkeye state. I hold the #1 trackchasing spot in Iowa. I’ve seen 107 or more tracks in 4 separate states. I think the best local dirt track oval racing happens in Iowa.

 

 

 

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

Iowa happenings: Iowa is truly presidential

 

 

Every four years, all eyes are on Iowa for the first presidential caucus, long known as the starting point to choose the two candidates running for president. So basically, all of the most important people in politics are all in Iowa at once.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 2,340

 

 

 

Total Trackchasing Countries

There are no trackchasers currently within 20 countries of my lifetime total.

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 74

 

 

 

Current lifetime National Geographic Diversity results

 

1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 4.37

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

A fantastic day of Iowa touring followed by an excellent night of Iowa figure 8 racing