Greetings from Greensboro, Pennsylvania
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Warrior Trail
Dirt road course
Lifetime Track #2,379
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 75 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. This was an unusual trip. I don’t normally trackchase on either of the two weekends when we’re going to Maui and returning. However, it’s getting late in the year. I’ve got a goal I would like to meet. I’ll tell you more about that as we go along. 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: If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. Or you can visit me on Facebook. Thanks! FOREWORD My Trackchaser Reports cover everything from the time I leave our driveway in San Clemente until I pull back in to our modest seaside cottage at the end of a trip. It’s always been that way. A lot can happen from the beginning to the end of one of these trips. The racing portion of this trip would take me to Greensboro, Pennsylvania. However I needed to take a slight detour to get from California to the Keystone State. How slight? On day one of the trip Carol and I left home at 4 a.m. bound for the San Diego, California airport. We were planning to catch an early flight from the San Diego International Airport (formerly Lindberg Field) to the Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaii. I frequently tell you that I trackchase just a little bit differently than my fellow competitors. I think any reasonable person, after reading my reviews, would heartily agree with that statement. Carol and I own a couple of vacation timeshare units in Maui, Hawaii. I’m going to estimate that we’ve been to Hawaii well over 50 times. We used to own three timeshare units. Now we’re down to just two and normally visit Hawaii twice a year. It is our practice to simply kickback on one of these vacations and veg out. We will eat at several good restaurants including our favorite, the Kula Bistro in upcountry Maui. Every morning at 6 a.m. at sunrise I’ll be found out on the power walking exercise trail. The island of Maui offers various types of “adventure“ activities. I think we’ve done them all. This includes things like parasailing, zip lining, watching the sunrise at Haleakala, trips to Hana, taking the boat to Lanai, Warren and Annabel‘s (our favorite) and many many more. There’s a lot to do in Maui! The highlight of this particular trip, and also a first, was meeting up with son J.J. during one of his commercial airline trips to the island. We ended up going out with J.J. and his flight crew for food and drink. It was fun meeting everyone. We had a lot of laughs as we commiserated over our common experiences. On day number eight of the trip it was time to begin heading back toward the mainland. I very rarely attempt to trackchase at the end of one of these Maui trips. There just isn’t enough time. However, the stars aligned for an opportunity on this vacation that I didn’t want to miss. Even though I woke up on Saturday morning on the tropical island of Maui, Hawaii I saw an opportunity to trackchase the very next afternoon in rural Pennsylvania. No, not very many people look at the world the way I do. That’s OK. If they did the airways would be much more crowded. Carol and I would first try to catch a nonstop flight from Maui back to San Diego. Recall our trip began from the San Diego airport. Our car was parked there as you might expect. However that return flight was overbooked. It didn’t like look like we would get on and we didn’t. Luckily we had a Plan B. Plan B would have us flying from Maui to Sacramento, California. Then with only about an hour layover we could catch a flight from Sacramento down to San Diego, California. Those flights looked much more friendly toward the standby flyer. We would end up making both of those flights. We landed in SD at about 9:15 p.m. This would give us just enough time to retrieve our bags that had been placed on the nonstop flight to San Diego earlier in the day. This also allowed me to get Carol situated so that she could pick up our personal car at the remote parking lot. Here’s the way we normally do our trips when Carol and I are checking bags. I’ll drop Carol at the airline terminal with whatever bags need to be checked in the cargo area of the airplane. While she’s doing that I’ll drive to our offsite parking lot to get the car parked. By the time I return to the terminal the bags are checked and we’re all set to clear security. We’ve been doing it this way for years. We don’t fly out of San Diego very often. Nevertheless, we have found the nonstop flights from San Diego to Maui to be relatively wide open. That’s why we chose San Diego for this particular trip. Given our way of doing business Carol had never ever visited San Diego Parking Company. They do a pretty good job and offer very competitive rates for long-term parking. I was able to get Carol on a shuttle bus tonight to the parking lot with our checked bags. She would head up on the one-hour drive back to our home in San Clemente. At that point her part of the trip would be finished. I, on the other hand, was only about halfway finished with my one-way trip today. I had already flown 2,404 miles from Maui to Sacramento and another 480 miles down to San Diego. Now I would be catching and all night “redeye“ flight from San Diego to Baltimore. That flight covered another 2,295 miles. In total, I would end up flying 5,179 miles in about 14 hours. The flight duration from San Diego to Baltimore was about 4 1/2 hours. I was most fortunate to get a first class seat on the trip to the East Coast. I watched some movies and did my computer work. I didn’t sleep much. I figured that once I landed I could catch a rest area and get a couple of hours sleep. That would get me through the rest of the day. SUNDAY It was still dark in Baltimore when I landed. I was just ending a very long day that began in Maui. As I looked at others in the airport this morning I noted they were just starting their Sunday in Baltimore, Maryland. With no checked luggage I jumped on the rental car shuttle bus. It was nearly a 10-minute trip to the offsite remote rental car building. There I picked up a National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry. I figured I would need about a tank of fuel to complete today’s trip. Did you know that I stop for a tank of fuel about 90 times during the trackchasing season? Most of my rental cars get about 30 miles per gallon. I do drive a lot of miles with rental cars. On this trip I will go over 30,000 miles for the season. This still falls far short of my one-year record of driving 49,000 miles with various rental cars. It’s going to be a beautiful fall day in Pennsylvania today. To get to Pennsy from BWI I had to go through West Virginia. No, I can’t explain it. I just follow my GPS. Temperatures will top out at about 70° on a cloudless blue-sky day. The leaves have not quite turned yet. Some have but I think full fall foliage is another 2-3 weeks away. I would be driving about 225 miles one way from Baltimore over to Greensboro, Pennsylvania. I was planning to see SXS aka UTV racing promoted by Ronnie Wilson of the New East Coast XC group. I saw Ronnie’s racers compete at the Patsy Hillman off-road track in Brownsville, Pennsylvania last year. I had called Ronnie (above) from Maui to confirm the details of his racing today. He told me they didn’t expect to start the SXS race until about 4:45 p.m. That’s late for a Sunday day race. The UTVs would be the last race class of the day. Even though they were expected to race late in the day I couldn’t afford to be late….if they started earlier! After talking to Ronnie I got the impression that the UTV car count would be small. The promoter is between a rock and a hard place when I guy like me calls and wants to know how many cars will be racing. Rarely is there an advance entry requirement. The race promoter just has to open the gates and see who and how many come to the track. Some racers might have broken their machines at last week’s races. Some might be saving them for next week’s racing. Others might have decided to go fishing! I did my best to get a confirmation from Ronnie that there would be at least two UTV racers showing up today. He told me he expected about five or so but he didn’t sound that confidant. This concerned me somewhat. However, this was my best trackchasing opportunity for the day anywhere in the country. It was also a location I could get to from Maui without too much of a problem. I have very rarely ever attempted to trackchase on the Sunday following the completion of one of our Maui weeks. The logistics are just too daunting. It was true. I was going out of my way to see this UTV race. There is a slight chance that I could end up seeing 100 or more new racetracks in 2017. Going into today I’ve seen 86 in 2017. However it’s going to be tight on the way to 100 tracks this year. I could have potential weather problems to deal with. Additionally, several of the tracks that I might try to see don’t exactly have “firm“ race dates like you might find at the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500. Yep. It’s going to be touch and go on whether or not I make it to the century market for this year. THE RACING Warrior Trail – Greensboro, Pennsylvania I pulled into the Warrior Trail race facility at about 1:30 p.m. I did take a couple of naps on the drive over. Given the fact that I had flown from Hawaii to California and then overnight to Baltimore naps were needed. Just about the first person I ran into this afternoon was Ronnie Wilson the race promoter himself. He recognized me and I recognized him. Then we had a short conversation. The results of that conversation worried me just a bit. I wanted to confirm that the SXS race class would be competing today. They don’t run at each of Ronnie’s events. Ronnie told me that “about five“ were in the paddock. He said one driver had to cancel at the last minute because his father was a prison guard. The prison was on lock down all weekend so no ride to the races! I hate it when that happens! Yes, if you do this long enough you’ll hear every story in the book. Then Ronnie threw out a warning that I wasn’t expecting. He told me that poison ivy was thick all over the course. He said, “If you have long pants and long socks you’ll be OK.” Heck, I had just come from Hawaii. I had neither long pants nor long socks with me. That would be true for me coming from just about any location. Up until about a year ago I had never had poison ivy in my life. Then I went out walking on a UTV course in Indiana. About two days later I had a severe reaction to poison ivy. That was most uncomfortable. I was going to try to mind my manners as regards the poison ivy today. There would be no walking in the woods for me. Ronnie told me that the parking and paddock areas had been “cut down pretty good” and poison ivy shouldn’t be a big problem there. That was somewhat reassuring but I was still worried. I paid the $10 admission fee. That would allow me to roam all over the course even in the poison ivy laden areas if I wanted. In point of fact I would simply hang around the paddock area. I would be able to get some up close video when the competitors and cars were in view of the paddock itself. There were three general classifications of machines be racing today. First, was the quads or what are commonly called four-wheelers. Secondly there was a large contingent of motorcycles on hand. Finally, the class I had come to see and the only class that would count toward my trackchasing hobby, were the side-by-side‘s also known as UTVs. I’m going to be honest with you. I truly don’t know what trackchasing’s founding fathers were thinking when they came up with the rules package. In general the rules for the go-kart racing genre pretty much only allow senior champ karts. If you were to go to just about any go-kart track in America and there were 100 racing competitors, it’s likely that maybe only five of them would be senior champ karts. At a large number of go-kart tracks there would be none! A similar situation exists with off-road racing. Again if there were 100 racers on hand at an off-road race most of them would be quads and motorcycles. If 5% of all the racers were racing UTVs you would be lucky. This makes going to a go-kart race or an off-road race a dicey affair for the trackchaser. Most trackchasers, except the ones who have received large inheritances or live off their spouse’s income have worked hard for their money. Should they have to waste both their time and their money trying to see racing at a track that ultimately doesn’t have any senior champs or SXSs? I don’t think so. It should be noted that very few trackchasers actually even attempt to see any form of go-kart racing or off-road racing. Remember, people vote with their feet. Only the most diehard chasers try this. For them it is definitely touch and go as to whether or not the right kinds of competitors will show up and race. When I arrived the quads were competing on the 6.8-mile dirt road course. Most of the road course went through the woods. That’s got to be fun for the competitors but it’s not all that great for spectators. About sixty or maybe more motorcycles followed the quads. Someone told me that a couple of weeks ago they had twice that number show up. I’m going to guess there were a good 10 or more classes of motorcycles. All the racers in each particular class started their race at the same time. All during this time I was roaming the paddock area. I spent a good deal of time talking to the people that would be racing SXSs. I came to find out there were only four of them in the paddock. I talked to one father/daughter combination racing out of West Virginia. It looked to me like side-by-side racing was a great bonding adventure for them. The daughter Brianna was the race navigator. She sat in the first officer’s seat. Her dad Bryan Thompson was the driver. Brianna and Bryan were nice folks, the kind of Americans anyone would be proud of. Every time I go to one of these off-road races people tell me there were so many more competitors at the last event but not at this one. Why is that? I knew that each individual class would start on its own row. I just wasn’t sure after looking at the four side-by-side racers if two or more of them were in a single class or not. Track concessions were reasonable. They offered freshly fried chicken strips and priced them on individual basis. I can’t recall ever seeing that. I had mine smothered in mustard for a cost of $2.50 and a can of Diet Coke for a buck. That was all more than reasonable. The people were friendly too. I was wearing my bright blue and gold UCLA T-shirt. Yesterday while traveling out of Hawaii and spending some time in California I had more than five people come up and make a comment about the shirt either in support of the Bruins or against them. I guess the Bruins don’t carry as large of a footprint in southern Pennsylvania and West Virginia. No one said a word about the UCLA Bruins even though my T-shirt screamed their name. Today the side-by-side race would be the very last event of the day. That racing didn’t start until about 5:30 p.m. This truly was a nail biter all way down until when the green flag was raised as to whether not this track was going to count or not. Ronnie Wilson, the track promoter, was also the flagger. With this type of racing they point the green flag at the ground and then raise it to start the race. In other forms of auto racing they “drop the green flag“ to start the race. I didn’t get a chance to see the start of the quad race. However, for all of the motorcycles as well as the side-by-side‘s it was a dead engine start. That meant that as soon as Ronnie raised the flag the racers started their engines. Then they took off on a race that would last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. The start of a side-by-side race is critical (see the video!). For a track to count at least one class has to have all of their competitors start the race at the same time so they’re not really racing against the clock. If you have followed trackchasing for very long you know that is one of the famous “Randy Rules “. I wish it wasn’t like that but then when I entered trackchasing no one had ever seen it done like I do it. The Randy Rules are meant to restrict my creativity against the rules, as they existed before each Randy Rule was introduced. Here’s the funny thing about some of the “Randy Rules”. I have the resources and creativity and passion to get around even the Randy Rules. Who does a Randy Rule really hurt? It makes it much more difficult for the financially strapped or time restricted trackchaser to enjoy a day of trackchasing. Go figure! When Ronnie raised the green flag to start the first class of side-by-side racers he lost control of the flag itself. It went flying up into the air and landed softly on the ground. Nevertheless the racers got the idea. The two racers who were racing in one class took off from a dead engine start. One of them beat the other by starting his engine several seconds before the other could get going. However, only one green flag was raised for these two competitors so they were definitely starting the race at the same time. Back in the paddock area I confirmed with Ronnie that despite the competitor having trouble starting his engine they both were officially starting the race at the same time. The other two side-by-side racers were in their own individual class. They went off one at a time when the green flag started the race for their class. Effectively they were racing only against themselves and no other competitors. This meant there was only countable race and class for the day for the SXSs. It was the pro class that started two racers at the same time. Even in that race one of those two competitors started several seconds after the first one did because of an engine starting problem. The Warrior Trail track was countable but only by the skin of its teeth. If it had not been so “easy“ to pick up this track coming from Hawaii I never would’ve attempted to do it. What does “easy” mean? It did take me me three airplane rides and a lot of air miles to get from Maui to this world part of Pennsylvania. I would have to rent a car and drive six hours round-trip to get from the Baltimore airport to the racetrack. Last night I slept on the airplane. Tonight, my original plan was to sleep in my car and then fly 2,295 miles back to San Diego. At the airport I would grab a bus and then a train that would get me somewhat near San Clemente. Carol would pick me up from there. Remember this was an “easy“ track to get! There were four side-by-side machines racing today. As luck would have it two of the competitors broke in the first three or four minutes of the 45-minute race. It wasn’t going to be a dramatic race in the first place. With only two competitors left after less than five minutes the drama had evaporated. What was the real highlight of the day? I met some nice people. They were interested in my hobby of trackchasing. I was interested in their unique local lifestyles. The racing, from a spectator view, wasn’t all that great. When you have a woods course it’s really for the competitors and not for the fans. I was thinking it might be a good idea to take a good shower and wash off any potential poison ivy residue as soon as possible. If I slept overnight in my car I couldn’t do that. It was at this point that I changed my mind and went to Priceline.com. That’s right. I ordered up my hotel right in the doggone paddock. I quickly got a Residence Inn by Marriott property at 62% off their best published rate. The hotel was located near the Baltimore airport. I was tired by now. That’s what taking a redeye flight will do for you. I wasn’t much looking forward to a 6:25 a.m. flight departure tomorrow morning. I would have to be at the airport by about 5 a.m. Eastern time at the latest. That means I will be starting my California day at 2 a.m. No one likes to do that. Nevertheless, it always takes some sacrifice to get the things that you want in life. I wanted to get one more track this weekend. It worked out really well. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes with weather and race promotions. AFTER THE RACES MONDAY I’ll be the first to admit I lead a most unusual lifestyle. Why? Mainly because I can and because I enjoy it. Those are good enough reasons for me. Last night I stayed in a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in a suburb of Baltimore near the airport. It was a fantastic room. My room had lots of space, a full kitchen and living room. I could live there full-time if I had too. Priceline.com got my room at 62% off the best online price being offered on the Marriott website. Most of the time the best night to get really deep discounts in Sunday night. Business travelers haven’t started their week yet. Leisure travelers have already headed home from their vacation weekend. There was a significant drawback to tonight’s hotel room though. I didn’t get checked in until past 10 p.m. after a 225-mile drive back from the track. My alarm came at 4:20 a.m. Eastern time. Today I’ll be finishing up my day in California. That meant that my “California day” was beginning at 1:20 a.m. So you want to be a trackchaser huh? In order to get home I would need six different modes of transportation. First, I would drive my rental car from the hotel to the airport. Secondly, I hopped on a rental car shuttle bus to get over to the airport terminal. Next up was a five-hour flight from Baltimore to San Diego. Recall Carol had taken our car from the San Diego airport to home following our return from Maui on Saturday night. That meant I would catch a bus from the airport to the train station. At the Amtrak train station I would grab a train from San Diego to San Juan Capistrano. Carol would be there to pick me up at the SJC train station. Yep. Six different transportation methods. I would pull into our modest seaside cottage at about 5 p.m. Eastern time on Monday afternoon. The racing had finished up in rural Pennsylvania about 24 hours earlier. Yep. It takes some effort to see what I do while living in Southern California. One last thing. I would be home in time to sign our refinancing papers on Wednesday. I continue to be amazed at how much people will loan a fellow who hasn’t earned a time in more than 15 years of retirement. By the way, the very LAST thing I would ever want to do is pay off my mortgage. No one should have a major part of their net worth tied up in their home. Spend that home equity!! You can’t take it with you. Good day from Greensboro, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania The Keystone state This afternoon I saw my 104th lifetime track in the Keystone state, yes the Keystone state. I hold the #1 trackchasing ranking in 24 states but not Pennsylvania. 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 Pennsylvania sayings: Buggy In some places it’s a shopping cart, but often in PA we put our groceries in a buggy. 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. Total Trackchasing Countries There are no trackchasers currently within 20 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 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 long walk for a short slide….but it was still a slide 
