Greetings from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
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Western Speedway
Asphalt figure 8
Lifetime Track #962
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Western Speedway
Asphalt outer oval
Lifetime Track #963
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Western Speedway
Asphalt inner oval
Lifetime Track #2,153
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: . . . . This was actually my second trip to the Western Speedway. Carol and I first came here in 2005. The year 2005 was my record-breaking trackchasing season. I ended up seeing racing at 182 different tracks for the very first time. That record stands to this day! . . If you’ve got a question, comment or whatever please leave it at the bottom of this report. It’s very easy to do. I’ll try my best to respond. Thanks! . . Reprinted with consent from my September 24, 2005 Trackchaser Report Greeting from Kent, Washington and then Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, . . . SPECIAL NOTICE . . Does anyone ever enjoy the unexpected? The unexpected always seems to happen when it is unexpected. I guess that why they say “it’s unexpected!” Check out the RENTAL CAR UPDATE below to find out more and give me your opinion on next steps. . . . PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS . . We can’t stop spending. Even though we are now at 130% of our Vacation & Entertainment budget through August of this year, we cannot stop trackchasing. I, and when Carol comes along we, simply have too much fun seeing the sights and experiencing the adventures that are out here “on the road”. . . Today’s trackchasing plan will involve some unusual transportation methods. It all came about by my desire to get “just one more track”. The original plan called for an afternoon race in Kent, Washington (still on the schedule) and an evening race in Port Angeles, Washington. Both of these locations could loosely be called Seattle suburbs. . . Somewhere along the line, I stumbled across the fact that the Western Speedway in nearby Victoria, British Columbia, Canada raced on both a figure 8 and an oval track. As long-time Trackchaser Report readers know, this situation counts as two tracks in the official worldwide trackchaser standings . . Change of plans. That was good enough for me! We would be going to Victoria, B.C. rather than Port Angeles on Saturday night. Of course, not every good idea is easy or inexpensive to implement. You cannot drive to the Western Speedway directly from the state of Washington because the Western Speedway sits on an island, Victoria Island. . . I love riding ferryboats. We would need to ride a ferryboat over to Victoria Island. This sent me scurrying to www.google.com to get information about ferries to the island. I found three different boats that connect the U.S. and Canada in the area. The frequency of crossings decreases after Labor Day and the summer demand subsides. Nevertheless, I found a ferry, the M.V. Coho, which would fit our plans. . . The crossing is only 23.59 miles but it takes 90 minutes to make the trip. We could park the car on the Washington side, ride the boat as “foot passengers” only and then take a cab to the speedway. Alternatively, we could put the National Rental Car Racing Chevy Impala on the boat and drive it to the track. We chose to take our car with us. The one-way fee for both Carol and me and the car was only $50.50. I thought that was reasonable. Little did I know we might come to regret this decision. . . The boat would get us to Victoria Island at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday night. The racing at Western Speedway starts at 7 p.m. The track is only about 10 miles from the ferryboat landing area. If things were on time, we would be in good shape. . . I found an online travel agent to book us at the Embassy Inn in Victoria for the night. Our hotel was less than a half-mile from the ferryboat docking area. This was a very nice hotel. If you visit downtown Victoria, I would recommend it. . . Don’t miss tomorrow’s report. If you think, riding a ferryboat is an unusual method to use when trackchasing, just check tomorrow’s report to see an even more non-traditional method of transport to get to the tracks. By the way, in case you are wondering, I had ridden a car ferry two other times in pursuit of trackchasing immortality. The first trip ended up taking me to the Eagle Track Raceway in Republic, Washington back in 2000. In 2003, Carol and I rode a ferryboat from Connecticut to Long Island, New York to see both the figure 8 and the oval of the Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York. RACE TRACK STATS: . . . PACIFIC RACEWAYS (ROAD COURSE), KENT, WASHINGTON – TRACK #961. . . My afternoon event. This Washington track is my 14th countable track to see in the state. It is my first new track to see in the Space Needle state this year. I am ranked at #3 in Washington. Allan Brown leads the state totals with 17 tracks. . . This afternoon was Carol’s 218th lifetime track. The Pacific Raceways is her second track to see in the state of Washington. . . . WESTERN SPEEDWAY (OVAL) AND WESTERN SPEEDWAY (FIGURE 8), VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – TRACKS #962 & #963 . . #1 in British Columbia. These two British Columbia tracks increase my total in the province to three tracks. That ranks me #1 for trackchasing in the province. I guess trackchasers don’t go to British Columbia very often! It’s my first visit to this western Canadian province since 2001. . . Tonight’s action at the Western Speedway increases Carol’s lifetime trackchasing total to 220 tracks. The two British Columbia racetracks give her a second place world ranking in B.C. She is tied with Gary Jacob of Turlock, California. . . . . RACE TRACK NEWS: . . . PACIFIC RACEWAYS (ROAD COURSE), KENT, WASHINGTON . . Microsoft Streets and Trips. This road course is the former Seattle International Raceway. The track has been here for more than 30 years. The facility is home to a drag strip and is located is a heavily wooded area of Evergreen trees. . . I recently discovered that my Microsoft Streets and Trips mapping software has local landmarks and attractions available. Many of the more significant or well-known racetracks are part of the program. I was able to input “Pacific Raceways” and get directions right to the track. I normally use the National Speedway Directory or the track’s website for directions. The advantage of the Microsoft program is that is gives me systematic directions from exactly where I am coming from rather than from a direction preordained by the direction givers noted above. The program even has four or five Hungry Hobo locations listed! . . Normally road courses have good track food, especially when compared to the oval track edibles they call food. I would not say the Pacific Raceways excelled in this area. I ordered a cheeseburger that came with fries ($7) and a Diet Coke ($3). That seemed expensive for the quality I received. . . Cutting back on Carol’s food budget. Since we’re at 130% of our Vacation and Entertainment budget, I had to limit Carol on her food intake. Her budget was just $4 and allowed her to purchase a bran muffin and coffee. Everyone has to cut back somewhere! . . The paddock area…one of the best things about road racing. We arrived at the track at 9:30 a.m. This gave us an hour and a half to check out the paddock area and more than 100 sports cars in attendance. The SOVREN Vintage Racing Club sanctioned today’s event. Like all sports car clubs a minute-by-minute schedule is posted for the entire weekend. They were right on schedule and the first race began at 11 a.m. . . Prior to the first race, we scoped out the “Lazy Boy Recliner” special event “vehicles” that raced during the luncheon break. These contraptions were electric powered. Lazy Boy recliners had been added to a go-kart chassis. This is the way to race! . . The main spectator grandstands, which are substantial, line the drag strip portion of the road course. The paddock area is behind those grandstands. The novice spectator might see this part of the course and think, like we did, there’s really not much to see. If one stays on this side of the track, you will see the cars for less than half a full lap around the road course. . . Listen and learn. At the point I was thinking this was a pretty boring road course layout, I struck up a conversation with one of the course workers. He informed me “you need to see the back part of the track”. He explained there was only one way to cross the track and that was near the start/finish line. We waited until the first race was finished and crossed over. We discovered less than 10 spectators back in this rural and wooded section of the road course. . . Wow! What a change. We found “S” turns that changed elevations by at least 100 feet. It was like playing a golf course where the front nine runs through a suburban neighborhood with houses in full view and where the back nine runs through the woods with nary a house in sight. If you go to the Pacific Raceways make certain you take a walk along the ENTIRE track. You won’t regret it. . . Great scenery. One of Seattle’s most famous landmarks is Mt. Rainier. Mt. Rainier can be seen from most locations in and around Seattle including the Pacific Raceways. Even during the summer it is snow-capped. . . The weather was perfect and we enjoyed our day at the Pacific Raceways. Road racing like this is similar having a picnic in the park. You get lots of fresh air, exercise and today we saw some very beautiful racing cars. That’s makes for a nice afternoon of racing. . . . CAROL’S COMMENTS . . The Pinewood Derby. Carol was impressed with the backside of the Pacific Raceways course. It was cooler back there because of the shade provided by the large Evergreen trees. She was impressed with the cars racing the “S” curves up and down the backside hills. The recliner racing reminded her of the Cub Scouts’ Pinewood Derby with so many homemade creations. We met the driver’s school instructor of the Pacific Raceways. He took some time explaining the various children’s charities the raceway helped support. Carol liked what they were doing. . . . . WESTERN SPEEDWAY (OVAL) AND WESTERN SPEEDWAY (FIGURE 8), VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA – TRACKS . . Two is better than one. Tonight’s race location was preferred for one simple reason. They race on two different tracks, an oval and a figure 8 track. Inconveniently, the Western Speedway is located on an island, Victoria Island to be specific. It is also in a foreign country, Canada to be specific. . . Our ferryboat arrived in Victoria exactly on time at 6:45 p.m. We were the fifth car off the ferry out of nearly 100. Our first stop just a few yards from the ferryboat was to clear Canadian customs. I was very much surprised that customs passage was so easy after my terrible experience earlier this summer at the North Dakota border. We simply showed our IDs, only a driver’s license for me, and we were off. . . The Western Speedway is only about nine miles from where our boat landed. We arrived into the track parking lot at 7:09 p.m. This part of the plan could not have gone better. We paid our $13 Canadian admission price and grabbed a seat in the grandstands. . . First the figure 8 track. The track was just beginning a mini-car figure 8 heat race, so the figure 8 track was in the books before the Western Speedway oval. Tonight was a “crash and bang” program. There were four classes racing including the figure 8 cars, a division of claimer stock cars and two “hit to pass” divisions, one cars and one trucks. . . The track did a great job of keeping the program moving along. Each race was lined up in the pits ready to go when the race on the track finished. The intermission was brief while they conducted a four child tricycle race. . . The figure 8 track was run on the oval’s front stretch. They simply moved two huge tractor tires onto the oval track and the cars raced around those tires. There were 14 figure 8 cars racing, they were fast, and they had major crashes. This type of contact reminded me of U.K. figure 8 and banger type racing. . . Ever seen a “hit to pass” race? On the oval track, the “hit to pass” classes were entertaining. The rule is that you cannot pass the car ahead of you unless you hit them, and in most cases, knock them out of the way. Again, these cars were extremely fast and they did some great damage when they overtook the car ahead. This class reminded me of the saloon stock car class of the U.K. . . The Western Speedway is a well-established facility. The grandstands are some 25 rows high and line the entire front stretch. The track’s concessions and souvenir’s are located underneath the grandstand area. . . The lights could have been better. The P.A. system was good and the two announcers were clear, entertaining and professional. Seeing the backstretch wall was difficult due to the cars parked in the infield area. . . Poutine almost. We ordered a hot dog, fries with brown gravy (something I always have at Canadian tracks) as well as popcorn and drinks. I started a conversation with the program seller and it turns out she was the person I corresponded with via email in advance of this trip. . . I received a very nice trackchaser mention from the on track announcer. He was really fired up about my trackchasing and whipped the crowd into a frenzy. They ended up giving us a nice hand for traveling so far to visit their track. . . We were out of the track as the last race of the night started at 9:20 p.m. It was getting chilly. The car’s thermometer registered the same as last night’s temp at 51 degrees. . . CAROL’S COMMENTS . . A real debris field. Carol found the “hit to pass” cars very exciting. I did too. She liked the efficiency of the track as they ran their races, but felt the track could use much better lighting. She was surprised the figure 8 cars were allowed “to mess up” the front straight with all kinds of debris before the oval cars raced. . . . RENTAL CAR UPDATE: . . We were just minding our own business. Carol and I were quietly sitting on the top deck of the M.V. Coho ferryboat doing some reading. I was mildly perturbed because the two sets of backup rechargeable AA batteries for my digital camera had failed. They were supposed to be charged but for some reason they were not working. This was especially disappointing since I wanted to take several pictures of our ferryboat experience. . . Will the owner of…. Our thoughts were interrupted when this announcement came over the ship’s public address system, “Would the owner of the National Rental Car Racing Chevy Impala please report to the purser’s office.” O.K., actually the announcement went like this, “Would the owner of a white Chevy Impala with Oregon license plates please report to the purser’s office.” Either way, neither Carol nor I had any idea what this could be about. . . We had parked our rental car “below” as directed by the ship’s personnel. After all the cars were parked, everyone was directed upstairs to the passenger levels of the ship. We were told not to return to our car unless accompanied by one of the ship’s personnel. . . Why didn’t you use your parking brake? Nevertheless, I headed for the purser’s office while Carol continued to read on the top deck. I arrived at the purser’s desk and identified myself. The purser informed me that because the ship was rocking a bit more than usual, my car was rocking too much because I had not activated the parking brake. I never put the parking brake on when I park, especially when I am parking in a level space. . . You car has hit another car! I simply told the purser, “No problem, I’ll go down and put the parking brake on”. That should solve the problem. However, the purser had more to say. “Your car has hit another car in the parking area,” he told me. “What!” was all I could say. Then I noticed another man, “Mr. U.” standing next to the purser. It turns out my car had “hit” his car. . . The three of us walked down two flights of stairs to inspect the vehicles. Mr. U was driving a 2004 Z4 BMW convertible. For some reason, certainly unknown to me, Mr. U had decided to go down into the parking area during the voyage (which was apparently against the ship’s rules) because he was concerned about the movement of the ship. There was some rocking of the ship, but I have ridden boats like this many times and I didn’t give the sea’s conditions a second thought. . . My Chevy Impala was parked directly behind his BMW. Although I was directed by the ship’s personnel to pull behind the BMW when we boarded the ship, my car could not have been that close to his when we departed. Carol had crossed between the two cars after we parked to get something from the driver’s side of the car. . . Tampering with a crime scene? Even though my car was in “Park”, it did rock back and forth a bit. This stopped when I applied the parking brake. Mr. U told the purser and me that when he came down into the parking area to check on his car, my car was just “an inch or two” from his and he noticed some damage to his rear bumper. He then drove his BMW forward a couple of feet, which is where it was when I first saw it. Is anyone else thinking “tampering with a crime scene?” . . He pointed out the “damage” to me. You should be aware that I am not exaggerating any aspect of this explanation. I am being as truthful and objective as I possibly can. The “damage” was not visible to the naked eye. It simply was not. When directed to the point of “impact”, I could feel what I would call a slight blemish. I could feel it, but I couldn’t see it. . . Imagine something that is about half the size of a #2 pencil eraser. This small area was raised in the most minor way. Remember, it was not visible and could barely be felt with my hand as I brushed across it. . . Essentially Mr. U was an A$$H*$e. I told Mr. U that this didn’t seem like much damage since I could not see it and could barely feel it. His retort was, “This is a new car and it’s my wife’s car. We want it perfect and it’s no longer perfect”. Trust me, it’s a hassle to deal with rich people, no matter which side of the equation you are on. . . In retrospect, I should have been more forceful in this situation. I told Mr. U that he should get an estimate of the amount of damage. I really have no idea what or how much it would take to repair this blemish. The damage is almost imperceptible. Nevertheless, with the way they repair cars these days, it could run from nearly nothing to an entirely new bumper. I am estimating the damage repair might cost from $100-$1,000. Later I would come to find out Mr. U received an estimate for $543 Canadian to repair his bumper. . . The purser seemed to want to play the referee’s role. He said this was between Mr. U and me, because, “if two people have a problem in a parking lot, it’s between them and not the parking lot operator”. That might be true, but I wasn’t driving my car when the “incident” happened. . . Was I really at fault? I would contend that the ferryboat people did or did not do three things they should have done. First, they told me where to park and how close to get to the car ahead of me. Secondly, they did not tell me to put on my parking brake when I was parking on a flat area (the purser said, the parking lot attendants “normally” tell everyone to apply their parking brake). Finally, the purser told us “we normally block the wheels of the cars when the seas get rough like they did today”. The ship did not attempt to block anyone’s wheels. . . So here we are. Mr. U said I should simply “let my insurance company handle it.” I told him my auto insurance deductible is $1,000 per accident. With this amount of damage, I would not be involving my insurance company. I would later find out my deductible does not apply to the other driver’s car. The ship’s purser gave me a headquarters’ contact to call. “We sometimes settle things like this”, he told us. Mr. U seemed to think the ship was responsible in this matter as well. . . We parted company after exchanging addresses and phone numbers. Mr. U lives in Victoria. He will send me an estimate for the repairs to his automobile. I will call the ship’s headquarter contact to see where they stand. . . So what would YOU do? Given the above facts, what do you as loyal Trackchaser Report readers advise? Who do you think is liable and what next steps should be taken? . . When we prepared to disembark the ship, Carol was first exposed to the “damage”. She could not believe anyone in his or her right mind would pursue this amount of contact to this degree. Her comment was, “If we had placed a tissue between the two bumpers it would have prevented this problem”. She was very upset with Mr. and Mrs. U. . . . LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE: . . These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current trackchaser total. Other notables 2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS * Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record Thanks for reading about my trackchasing, Randy Lewis Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21st century Randy Lewis is a freelance writer, who winters in San Clemente, California and frequently flies in economy class. . . . . . CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES: Portland Oregon Airport – trip begins Banks, Oregon – 37 miles Kent, Washington – 222 miles Victoria, British Columbia, Canada – 381 miles Ferryboat travel Port Angeles, WA – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada – 23.59 miles Air travel Orange County, CA – San Jose, CA – 322 miles San Jose, CA – Portland, OR – 563 miles . . . TRACK ADMSSION PRICES: Sunset Speedway Park – $12 Pacific Raceways – $8 Western Speedway – $13 (Canadian) . . . . September 25 – Evergreen Speedway (road course), Monroe, Washington October 2 – Otay Ranch, San Diego, California “TRACKCHASER CHEESE CHALLENGE 2005 PACE OF THE RACE REPORT BROUGHT TO YOU BY FRONTIER AIRLINES” This is a comparison of how many new tracks Ed Esser has seen in 2005 and how many tracks I saw through the same date in 2004 on my way to seeing, at then a record, 127 tracks. In order for Ed to win the “Cheese Challenge”, he must see 128 new tracks. Through September 21 – Ed – 104 tracks Randy – 88 tracks* Ed’s recent activity: September 18 – Clinton Mtrsprts Park, Clinton, OK September 17 – May Valley Speedway, Lamar, CO September 16 – Thayer County Speedway, Deshler, NE Prize: If Ed sees more than 128 new tracks in 2005, he wins a round-trip domestic airline ticket to anywhere Frontier Airlines flies. If he cannot see at least 128 new tracks then I win 10 pounds of the Wisconsin cheese of my choice. ** Great Yarmouth Stadium (oval), Yarmouth, England, March 27 ** Tucson Raceway Park (outer oval), Tucson, Arizona, April 30 ** U.S. 30 Speedway (outer oval), Columbus, Nebraska, May 26 ** Rocky Mountain National Speedway (oval), Commerce City, Colorado, May 28 ** Hawkeye Downs (outer oval), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June 3 ** 81 Speedway, Wichita, Kansas – July 21 ** Spartan Speedway, Mason (oval), Michigan – August 7 ** Galesburg Speedway (oval), Galesburg, Michigan – August 14 . . . . You might have remembrances of the Western Speedway. 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 permission from my August 19, 2015 Trackchaser Report. . . . ON THE WAY TO THE RACES . . . MONDAY . . A rare off day on the road. Last night I wrapped up seeing the figure 8 racing program at the Carlton County Fairgrounds in Barnum, Minnesota. Today, Monday, I didn’t have any racetracks to see. . . The majority of tracks race on Saturdays. The fewest number of racing dates would likely be on Mondays. The county fair season has ended for the most part at this stage. There are still a few county fairs to go but not many. It didn’t surprise me too much that I would have an open day or two on this 66-day trip. . . When I come on these trackchasing adventures and have that rare open day from racing I want to do something new and productive. That might involve seeing family and friends. It might also include adding a new Trackchasing Tourist Attraction to my lifetime TTA resume. . . Something fun to do in Minneapolis. I was staying in Minneapolis for two nights. This would put me in a good position for tomorrow night’s racing activity in South Dakota. I needed to find something fun to do in and around Minneapolis. . . I toyed with a few entertainment choices before coming up with a real gem. It just so happened on this Monday night that the World Wrestling Entertainment group, originators of WrestleMania, was coming to the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. . . Wow! Wow, it has been more than 50 years ago since I had seen “pro” wrestling. Back in my hometown of East Peoria, Illinois we had a TV station, channel 43 WEEK. On Tuesday nights during the summer they would hold outdoor wrestling matches with some of the biggest names in the sport from the 1950s and early 60s. . . Dick the Bruiser and more. I’m talking about Dick the Bruiser, Gorgeous George, and Vern Gagne. We really had a good time watching all of these stars come to our little town. . . After doing research for this story I was surprised to learn that Vern Gagne died just a few months ago at the age of 89. Dick the Bruiser died at age 62 while weightlifting! And then there was George Raymond Wagner a.k.a. Gorgeous George. He was one of the biggest stars of the era but died at an early age of just 48. . . The names have changed; the game is the same. The names in the wrestling game have changed now. I didn’t know who anybody was on the card tonight. However, in three and a half hours I would know a lot more! But first I needed a ticket. . . World Wrestling Federation. No ticket. I checked all of my online ticketing sources. The best price I could find was about $60 for a seat high in the upper deck. A wrestling ring isn’t that large. I didn’t want to be so far away that I couldn’t enjoy the action. I want to buy good things (the upper deck wasn’t a good thing) cheap ($60 didn’t seem cheap). I would try to get a better ticket on the street at the venue. . . Stereotypical. Most nurses are women. Most Horseracing jockeys are smaller in stature. Most ticket scalpers are black. These are all facts. . . This made tonight’s ticket scalpers somewhat easier to identify. Of course my scalper friends also walked around with several handfuls of tickets. I don’t like to buy from these guys. Why? Because they are professionals. They’re in it to make a profit. I consider myself a professional buyer. There is no room for both of us to make a good deal. . . The first guy I ran into only had upper-level tickets. That would be my fallback position. However soon another fellow came up with a lower level ticket. . . How much? What! “How much?” I asked. “$300 dollars,” he replied as if he was wearing a robber’s mask. I immediately gave him the “explosive no” response. Of course, this came from my formal negotiating training. It designed to say, “Are you friggin crazy? I wouldn’t pay $300 in my wildest dreams. I wouldn’t pay anything close to that”. The “explosive no” works. The scalper immediately lowered his price $150. . . Again I came back with a strong “No”. The scalper asked me how much I was willing to spend. If I have sat in on DAYS of corporate negotiating classes (which I have) the typical scalper has been a part of YEARS of street level negotiating. Yes, I was coming to a gunfight with a knife. In answer to his question on how much I was willing to spend I told him, “50 bucks”. By now our conversation was attracting both the local police and additional scalpers. . . The local police wanted us to move across the street where it was legal to do what we are attempting to do. The other scalpers wanted to “horn in” on the negotiating process in hopes of selling me one of their tickets. . . Could I trust a scalper? Fifty dollars sounded like a good deal for a lower-level ticket to me. However the ticket that was being offered was a “printed” ticket and not a “hard” ticket. A printed ticket can be printed 100 times. However after that “ticket” is scanned just once at the ticket entrance the other 99 printed copies of the ticket would be worthless. . . Are you friggin’ crazy? I discussed this problem with the scalper. I told him I would take his picture so I could find him if the ticket failed to scan. That’s when HE hit ME with the “explosive no” as if to say, “Are you friggin crazy? You’re not taking my picture over a scalped ticket to WrestleMania”. . . After a couple of minutes he convinced me that everything would be OK. Sometimes you just have to trust people even though your instincts might tell you not to. . . I paid my $50 and took the printed ticket over to the entrance to the Target Center. I’ve been to this arena one other time to see a Minnesota Timberwolves NBA basketball game. Carol and I have also been across the street to see a Minnesota Twins baseball game at Target Field, which is not the same as Target Center. You might have guessed by now that the Target STORES corporation is located in downtown Minneapolis. . . I was in but not many ladies were. It was with some apprehension that I waited for my ticket to scam. It passed muster perfectly and I was soon inside the stadium. I noticed a huge gender inequality. Some 90% of the fans were men and young boys. This would not be a place to meet the ladies. . . Listen to people who know more than you do about a subject. Tonight’s event was sold out. I was a rookie in this environment. However I was seated amongst a large group of “experts” in the sport. . . If you are a sprint car fan you probably know what shoe size Steve Kinser wears. If you were a baseball fan you might know Mike Trout’s hometown. If opera is your sport then you know the ins and outs of Luciana Pavarotti’s entire life. . . The Undertaker? Who? If you’re into the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) then you know who the Undertaker is, John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar. I didn’t know ANY of these people. . . However there were two young 12-year-old boys in the row behind me. They knew everything about everybody. I just listened to them all night as if they were TV color analysts. I hope they know as much about their school studies as they do the WWE. . . The 3 ½-hour show was a bit on the long side but very entertaining. There were about eight matches including tag teams, women and the featured stars such as the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. . . Of course these matches were “rigged”. However, I think many of the fans tonight might dispute that assertion. Normally the good guy won but not always. In between matches, the program being telecast live on the WWE TV network, ran promotions for the upcoming “Summer Slam”. . . This was just what a TTA is all about. Overall it was a fun evening of unusual entertainment. I probably won’t be back anytime soon unless I was trying to showcase the event to Carol or the grandkids. However like most of my Trackchasing Tourist Attractions, probably all, I had a wonderful time during my one time visit. TUESDAY . . This isn’t normal. I saw my last new track two days ago on Sunday. I was hoping to see a race today in South Dakota. Then I will go “dark” until Friday. . . I wouldn’t normally stay over from Sunday through Friday to see just one track. That would be just too much downtime for me. However South Dakota was an important geographical location for me to add another track. . . The rain forecast for Monday night and Tuesday was terrible in South Dakota. They were expecting 1-2 inches of rain. They ended up getting 4 inches of rain. . . Really? My track contact had told me on Sunday that the event would go rain or shine. I questioned that thought. If they got 2 inches of rain would they REALLY still race? . . I got an answer that question with a phone call from my contact on Monday afternoon. He told me that now they “might not” race given the rain. They were going to check on Tuesday morning. He would let me know what the outcome was. . . Rained out. I could see the weather radar. I could see how much rain the area had already received. I knew when he called me at 9 a.m. this morning what the message would be. Yes, they were rained out. . . I’ve seen nearly 300 figure 8 racing programs. Most of them have been at county fairs. Additionally I have seen another hundred or so stock car enduros at county fairs. I estimate I have been to 300-500 county fairs in my life. . . As God is my witness. That’s right. As God is my witness I can tell you that I do not recall ever being rained out from a county fair racing program. I might have had one program rained out but been able to substitute it with another. . . The track in South Dakota was my first ever county fair rain out where I was totally skunked. I didn’t like that one bit. . . Why am I out on the road? You’ve all heard me extol the virtues of the travel I do. I truly do love it. However I do not travel for travel’s sake. . . When I leave our humble seaside cottage I always have a purpose. I’m going to see a racetrack or I’m going to meet family and friends or I’m going to see some travel adventure that will be loads of fun. . . Just before I learned of the South Dakota rain out I got some bad news on the family front. One of our in-laws had passed away. This meant my trip to Austin, Texas to see the grandbabies as well as Kristy and James would have to be canceled. . . Stuck in Minneapolis. What all of the above initially meant was that I would go from Sunday all the way through Friday with nothing happening in trackchasing and no family and friends to meet up with. I was stuck in Minneapolis! . . Most county fairs are finished for the year. There are virtually no tracks, that I have not seen, that are racing midweek in the last half of August. Kids are starting to go back to school and no racetrack is going to run a midweek show with the kids in school. . . Work harder. Be smarter. I employed the researchers at Randy Lewis Racing to work harder, be smarter and come up with something. They were doing their darndest but producing little results. . . I was just about ready to give up when I got the notification from the RLR research group. They had found something! I was elated. . . Where? When? Could I make it? I was in Minneapolis now on Tuesday morning. I needed to be in Illinois Friday night. Where and when would the race be that was now newly discovered? Could I drive there from Minneapolis? . . No, I couldn’t drive there in the time I had. These folks had discovered a race in a foreign country. I would have to fly. I looked at my trackchasing budget. Were there funds available for such a trip? I looked at my sponsors. Could they help? This race would be on a Wednesday night in late August at a track that I didn’t even know existed until today! . . What were we talking about? The Western Speedway in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada was having their Wednesday night hornet race on their inner oval asphalt track. . . 2005 the really big year. All the way back in 2005 I established a record of seeing 182 new tracks in a single year. People have challenged that record but without success. To this day that record still holds. . . In September 2005 Carol and I went up to British Columbia to seeing racing on Western Speedway’s larger oval and figure 8 track. Those were my 962nd 963rd lifetime tracks. . . Now, with more than one thousand tracks in the rearview mirror since I last darkened the doors of the Western Speedway I might be returning. The track I needed had been found. Now could I come up with a logistical plan that made sense? . . Managing incremental expenses. I have various programs with different airlines that support my trackchasing habit. My cost with each of these programs ranges from not very much to a lot. . . In order for this to make sense/cents I needed to control my incremental expense. I’m pretty good with numbers. I also understand the concept of sunk costs. Sunk costs truly are expenses in the rearview mirror. Incremental costs are costs that would be incurred with a new plan that would not have been incurred with the old plan of going to South Dakota. . . So this is what I was thinking. Let me share with you how I thought about this. I was going to be able to use one of my airline sponsors that wouldn’t add incremental expense to my program. That was a good thing. . . There would be no additional airport parking expense. Regardless of where I was I would need a rental car and hotel so nothing extra there. I would actually save on gasoline. It was going to be a long drive out to South Dakota and back from Minneapolis. That major gasoline expense was being replaced with a total round-trip drive from the Victoria airport to the Western Speedway of about 40 miles. . . Just one minor problem. There was just one minor problem. I had planned to fly from Minneapolis to Seattle. When I checked Google maps I learned it would take 5 ½-hours of travel time from the Seattle airport to the track in British Columbia. . . That trip would involve putting my car on a ferryboat for a one and a half hour ferryboat ride. I absolutely love the adventure of being on ferryboats. However they are time-consuming and sometimes expensive. . . It was going to cost me about $125 U.S. round-trip to handle the ferry. Being on the ferryboat also created some time problems with my airplane schedule. . . Brilliant. Then one of those young upstart MBAs from the Randy Lewis Racing research department came up with the idea of flying not into Seattle but into Victoria, British Columbia, Canada itself. Brilliant! I’ll bet this person’s parents are glad they helped pay $75,000 a year for that MBA degree. . . If I flew directly into Victoria I would eliminate several variable expenses and logistical issues entirely. It will probably cost me $30 worth of additional Canadian airline taxes but that was a good trade-off compared to the overall ferry expense. . . Now I had an NEW plan. I will be going to Canada to visit a location that wasn’t even on my radar screen a couple hours ago. I would be seeing a track that had not ever been on my radar screen. That’s how I do it in my hobby of trackchasing. . . WEDNESDAY . . Last minute international trackchasing. Yesterday I was sitting in a dark hotel room at about 10 a.m. in Minneapolis listening to the rain pour down outside. With Tuesday night’s rain out in South Dakota and a last-minute family emergency that canceled my plans to go to Austin I now had Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off this week with not much to do. . . However I can always count on the Randy Lewis Racing Research department to come up with SOMETHING to keep me busy. Little did I know that SOMETHING would be a last-minute international trackchasing trip. . . My alarm sounded at 4:20 a.m. central time in Minneapolis. I drove in the dark to the Minneapolis airport to return my rental car. I would soon be going through airport security on my way first to Seattle, Washington and then onto Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. . . Before I left the Minneapolis airport I stopped at the Delta SkyMiles club at MSP. It was my first visit to this club. My Alaska Board Room club membership gives me access to several Delta clubs across the country. . . This was a day of hustling. Once I landed in Seattle I needed to hustle over to my flight that would be leaving for Victoria, British Columbia. The Seattle airport was busy. It’s a little rundown for my tastes. I had to connect on their underground train to get from one terminal to the next. . . Soon I was taking the short 35-minute flight from Seattle to Victoria. This certainly beat driving to Victoria Island. The drive, which includes a one and a half hour ferryboat ride, takes about five and half hours. . . While it was raining cats and dogs in the U.S. Midwest it was going to be a beautiful 70° sunny blue-sky day in Victoria. The scenery from the air was stunning. I was lucky with the weather and the transportation. . . No, I don’t have the big budgets of my fellow competitors…but I’m smarter. It might seem a long “trip” from Minneapolis out to Western Canada and then back after only a one-night stay. In the past you have all heard me explain the details of my seven trackchasing expense categories. . . The good thing about this trip was there was virtually no INCREMENTAL expense associated with it. No, I don’t have the big expense budgets of the Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers. However I have something they don’t have. Sponsorships! . . I arrived into Victoria’s nice and new but small airport at about 10 a.m. Pacific time. I quickly picked up my nearly brand-new Toyota SUV. The vehicle had just 300 kilometers on its odometer. . . Victoria Island. Victoria Island measures about 300 miles in length and 80 miles at its widest point. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. The city of Victoria has about 80,000 residents. It’s located just 69 miles from BC’s largest city Vancouver. I wouldn’t be driving very far during the 24 hours I expected to be on the island. As a matter of fact my mileage might not top 50 miles in total. That’s a good thing because gas is expensive in Canada. . . The Cherry Tree Inn fit the bill perfectly. Last night I had used Kayak.com to reserve a room at the Cherry Tree Inn. Kayak had directed me to Travelocity.com where I was able to secure my room for just $50 plus tax for the night. Considering that a Comfort Inn was going for $138 U.S. a night and the Victoria Travel Lodge was at $126 my rate was excellent. . . Tonight’s racing was not scheduled to begin until 7 p.m. This gave me plenty of time for a local Trackchasing Tourist Attraction. . . Hop on; Hop off. When I visit a major city I enjoy taking the popular double-decker buses, which advertise “hop on hop off” privileges at several stops. That’s what I would do today in Victoria. . . These city tours give me a nice overview of the entire city when I don’t have a lot of time. Victoria is not a large. Today’s tour had 14 stops. I could have gotten off at any of the stops and then caught the next bus going around the touring loop. I paid $38 Canadian for the tour. One complete loop took an hour and a half and showed me with audio commentary what the city was all about. Please don’t miss the pictures. It was such a beautiful day. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. . . I would end my British Columbia day in the Pacific Time zone. I had actually started my day at 2:20 a.m. Pacific time. That was a pretty early start! . . Everything was so close. When I finished my downtown/inner Harbor tour of Victoria I spent some more time exploring the beautiful old Empress Hotel. It’s a famous place and worth the visit. I then strolled along the harbor. My hotel was less than 10 miles from the airport. The Cherry Tree Inn was also less than 10 miles from downtown. . . The hotel’s proximity gave me some time to go back to my room for an hours nap. That kept me fresh for tonight’s racing. The logistics of this plan were working out very well. The Western Speedway was also about 10 miles from my hotel. . . . . THE RACING . . Western Speedway – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada . . The Western Speedway ‘gets it’. Tonight I would be seeing the season championship racing for the hornet division on the 1/5-mile or so inner oval at the Western Speedway. As mentioned I was here in 2005 with Trackchasers First Mother to see racing on their larger 1/3-mile oval as well as their figure 8 course. . . I would estimate there are about 50 short tracks in North America that “get it”. The Western Speedway is one of those tracks. I’ve been to enough racetracks to know when I walk in the front door if I’m going to see professional organization or a fly-by-night outfit. . . Just six Wednesdays but THIS Wednesday. The hornets race on about six Wednesday nights during the summer at the Western Speedway. They used to race more often during mid-week. However, the promoters found it was just too much work for the racers to prepare cars for Wednesdays and often times Saturdays as well. . . A great value. I paid just five dollars Canadian to get in tonight. With the current exchange rate Americans get a 20% discount because of the difference in the value of our dollars. That meant I was paying only four dollars U.S. approximately for tonight’s entertainment. . . The crowd was actually bigger than I was expecting. I would estimate there were 200- 300 people in the stands. That’s pretty good for a lower level racing class like the hornets on a Wednesday night. . . What a wash room. The concession stand and restrooms were located underneath the large grandstand seating area. I was impressed with the large men’s restroom. O.K., in Canada it’s called a “wash room”. It looked well managed and clean. You wouldn’t believe some of the restrooms at short tracks across the country. No. You really WOLDN’T believe some of the restrooms at our nation’s short tracks. . . The only drawback of the night. I was a little concerned about the line for concessions. It had to be 30 people long and didn’t appear to be moving very quickly. I didn’t think much of that situation since I was planning on having some poutine at the track tonight. . . A few items including the poutine were not being offered tonight. That was disappointing. I wasn’t doing very well with the track’s concession program. However, the mid-week lower level racing program often doesn’t get the support of the larger more well attending weekend race activity. . . Nice folks run the Western Speedway. I spent some time talking to one of the track managers, Darrell, before the racing began. He told me he had been to about 50 racetracks including some in Florida during Speedweeks. We talked about the track’s operational management. I told him I was most impressed with the Western Speedway. . . The people who run this place have obviously been going to the promoter’s meetings. In point of fact they probably are the “poster children” for the seminars at these meetings. What made them so good? . . Why can’t everybody do the right thing? Other than the concession line they seemed to be doing just about everything right. First, they started on time! They had a REAL person sing the Canadian national anthem. . . They had two beautiful trophy girls dressed in tight pink dresses handing out trophies to the winners. I’m not judging just describing. The PA system was stout. The young announcer looked like he was about 15 years old. He was one of the best I have heard in all of 2015. . . The racing. Tonight they ran three trophy dashes, eight heat races and a big feature event. All of this was done from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. Contrast that to an Illinois county fair stock car race last week where they managed to complete just four heat races in nearly three hours. . . If there was any rough driving the flagman immediately used the black flag. The offending driver pulled off the track quickly. They also had a rule that if any of their hornet drivers turned a lap faster than 15.5 seconds they were penalized. This rule was in place to keep the cars from becoming “too fast” for the class and driving up expenses. None of the races up until feature time had a single yellow flag. The 20+ car feature had three. . . A long wait for concessions but fantastic concessions. Toward the end of the racing I decided to see if the concession line had shortened any. It was still 10 people deep! . . I wanted to confirm they were not serving poutine tonight. That confirmation came quickly. I went with a double cheeseburger and a bottle of Coke Zero instead. The charge was about eight dollars U.S. . . There is always something unique, never seen before, that I remember about any track I visit. Tonight that “something” would be the size of my double cheeseburger. I had ordered a double cheeseburger because often times racetracks regular burger isn’t very big. . . That was not the case tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever been served a larger double cheeseburger in my life. I’m sure I have not. . . Each patty had to weigh a minimum of 8 ounces. That put the entire sandwich at well over a pound. It came fully dressed with pickles and thousand Island dressing. It was a mouthful and then some. It was delicious and huge! . . Happy trails to you. After the last checkered flag flew and the trophies were being handed out I left the track. The Western Speedway track management had two people stationed at the exit. They were handing out coupons for the next event and wishing everyone a good evening. I told you these guys had it figured out at every turn. Good job Western Speedway! . . Can we recap? Let’s think about this situation for a moment. Only about 24 hours ago I had no plans whatsoever to come to British Columbia, Canada. I didn’t even KNOW the Western Speedway had an inner oval for me to see. I certainly didn’t know they raced hornets on the inner oval on Wednesday nights. . . I’m lucky. I’m lucky in many ways. I’m lucky to have the trackchasing sponsorships that I do. I’m lucky that I have a mindset that allows me to turn on the dime without giving it a second thought. I was rewarded with a beautiful day in Victoria and some well organized racing as well. . . Tomorrow I plan to catch a flight from Victoria back to Seattle and then hopefully to St. Louis. I need to be in St. Louis on Thursday so I can see a track in Illinois on Friday. If all of that comes to pass I will finally tie Ed Esser’s lifetime total of 99 tracks in my boyhood state of Illinois. . . Change is constant. My plan for tomorrow is to take an 8 a.m. flight from Victoria to Seattle. However the available number of seats on that plane had tightened up considerably. I would need to change my plan. . . In order to make sure that I could make a flight out of Canada I would have to change my flight departure time to 6 a.m. That meant two hours less sleep. However, if I didn’t do that I might not get out of Canada. If I didn’t get out of Canada today I would never make it to Illinois for Friday night’s racing. . . Foreign track totals. Tonight I had seen my 15th lifetime track in British Columbia. It was my 130th lifetime Canadian track. I’ve seen racing at 311 “foreign” tracks. My trackchasing is taking me to racing in 70 different countries. That’s good enough for now. Good night. . . . AFTER THE RACES . . THURSDAY . . Get me back to my homeland. My main objective today was simply to get back into the United States, preferably St. Louis, Missouri. My wake up call came in at 4 a.m. Pacific time. I was out the door at 4:13 a.m. . . The Cherry Tree Inn was a small rustic hotel. My room was small but it was appointed in a modern manner. At $50 U.S. it was a great value for money in Victoria. . . I didn’t expect this. My car was parked right outside the front door of my room. It was that kind of place. I was a little taken aback to see a deer grazing in the dark just 10-12 feet from where I was parked. I was quickly off to the airport for my 6 a.m. flight. . . He who travels fastest travels alone. The airport was less than 10 miles from my hotel. From the point I left my hotel at 4:13 a.m. I was completely through international airport security in 46 minutes. . . That included driving to the airport, returning my rental car, retrieving my bags that had not been delivered to me when I landed in Victoria yesterday and clearing international security. That’s a lot accomplished in a small amount of time. . . Victoria…has a new and very nice airport. The Victoria airport terminal looks to be brand-new. Please don’t miss the photos of this airport. They have huge timber beams and lots of glass and steel. It’s a small airport but as pretty as any I’ve seen and I’ve seen just about every one of them. . . One nice feature about the Victoria airport was they offered free fast Wi-Fi. Probably fewer than half of the airports in the U.S. do that. Normally it’s the smaller airports that provide free Wi-Fi while the bigger ones are still charging up to $10 a day or more. . . I always know what my objective is. With today being Thursday my overall objective is to simply be in my seat in Springfield, Illinois for a race tomorrow night, Friday. My super early morning flight from Victoria to Seattle was wide open so there was no problem getting a seat. . . Under the best-case scenario I would have a five-hour layover in Seattle. I would spend that time in the Alaska Airlines Board Room airport lounge. I was trying to get on the flight from Seattle to St. Louis but it was “tight”. If there was no seat for me on that flight there was one more choice. That “choice” would have me landing in St. Louis at about midnight. I hoped that didn’t happen. . . Troubling news. I made it to St. Louis, Missouri, albeit two hours late arriving at 7 p.m. As soon as I turned on my phone I got some troubling news. . . I had checked two bags in Victoria, British Columbia to St. Louis Missouri. However the phone message told me that one of my bags had gone to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. . . One of the bags I had checked was my golf bag. If that went to Florida right now it wouldn’t be a big deal. The other bag contained most of my remaining clean clothes. If THAT bag went to Florida that would be a problem. . . You guessed it! Which of my two bags do you think went to the Sunshine State? You guessed it. The bag full of clean clothes was resting in Florida! However I am trained to accept and then work on solutions to problems like this. . . I would simply stop at the American Airlines Admirals Club airport lounge, use their free Wi-Fi, and get things straightened out. However when I walked over to their club I noticed they close at 6:45 p.m. every day. It was now 7:15 p.m. . . If you see something say something. O.K., I wasn’t giving up. I chose a somewhat secluded area of airport chairs right in front of one of the TSA observation posts. I noticed a jacket sitting all by itself on this row of chairs. I told the TSA agent what I had found. . . His response was a gruff quote, “That jacket’s been there all day. We’re just waiting for someone to come back and get it.” Let’s think about this for a minute. If a passenger had left his jacket on the seat and then departed on his flight it wasn’t likely he would be coming back to get it anytime soon was it? . . I’ve heard the saying many times in and around airports “If you see something say something”. I pursued this line of thinking a little stronger with the TSA agent. I told him that I just wanted to make sure that the jacket being there was a “safe” situation. . . He looked down over his reading glasses with a very stern look and asked, “Are you at the airlines? “No”, I told him I wasn’t. Then with an equally snarly voice he said “Thanks for your concern”. This was not a friendly encounter with a TSA agent. By the way I always stand up for TSA agents when criticized by my friends and relatives. . . Trackchasing fosters problem solving aka opportunity identification. Opportunity #1 I had to resolve three things quickly. First I called the Fort Lauderdale airport and talked to the baggage department there. They had my bag. The best they could do was put it on a flight tomorrow back to St. Louis. However if they did that I might not be in St. Louis to pick it up. More on that later. . . Opportunity #2 I would need a hotel in St. Louis. I popped open my laptop and attached my iPhone so that I could “tether” to create an internet connection. I’ve had this feature for years. It’s very valuable and has saved me tons of time and money. . . Soon I had reserved the Sheraton Chalet Westport St. Louis, Missouri hotel. I paid just $50 for my room. The lowest rate they were offering on their website was $185 a night. I love Priceline. . . Opportunity #3 Then I got to thinking. I had reserved a 10-day car rental with National Car Rental out of St. Louis for the first part of my trackchasing trip and then a week’s worth of vacation travel with Carol in Branson, Missouri. . . I had reserved a full-sized car for those 10 days at $383 U.S. What if I could use Priceline now that I was already in St. Louis to beat that price? Why not give it a try? . . Not all bright ideas are worth a damn. Soon I had booked a midsize car with Avis for just $280. I had “saved” $103. However all things are not as good as they may seem on the surface. In hindsight this was really a bad decision. It was the decision of a person trying to buy “a cheap thing cheap”. I hate that. . . I hopped on the Avis Rental Car bus with my golf bag but not my clean clothes bag. I was soon deposited at the rental car office. There I encountered a line of nearly 10 people waiting to get their car on a Thursday night. . . Sorry. I don’t do stuff like normal people. Here’s the thing. I really don’t stand in lines with “normal people” very often. I don’t want to stand in lines with “normal people” very often. When I rent from National Car Rental I stand in no lines. . . Nevertheless I endured this inconvenience for about 10 minutes. When I got to the head of the line a cooperative Avis agent offered me an upgrade for two dollars a day to a GMC Terrain SUV vehicle. When I questioned the gas mileage of this vehicle he told me it was “rated at 31 miles per gallon”. I’m gullible. I like to believe people. That’s the mistake I made with Guy Smith. I accepted the Avis agent’s offer. We would have to see about his claim on gas mileage. . . The upgrade cost me an additional $24. I would also be bypassing the $15 (sometimes more) credit per rental that National gives me as a trackchasing sponsorship. This reduced my savings down to about 64 bucks. . . Nevertheless, $64 would buy Carol and I a nice dinner for two in Branson, Missouri. However I would also be driving for 10 days without satellite radio. If I had to do all over again I would’ve stuck with National. Sometimes buying cheap things cheap isn’t a good deal and that’s most of the time. I like to buy good stuff cheap. . . Bonding gets the job done. When I got to the Sheridan hotel I told the hotel clerk that I was a “gold member” of the SPG frequent stay program. I asked if she might be able to give me a better room even though I had booked the hotel on Priceline. . . Initially she told me they were sold out of suites. The best she could do was give me a two-bed room. However I soon bonded with her and things started to miraculously “open up”. . . When everything was said and done I had been upgraded to a suite. I had been given a free certificate for the $16 breakfast buffet as well as admission to the “Sheridan Club” where I could eat and drink during off hours at my leisure. I got all of these upgrades and I only paid $50 for what was a $185 room. One just has to love the ability to use ingenuity in America. . . That’s it from my British Colombia trackchasing adventure. I hope you enjoyed the narrative and picked up a travel tip or two. Good night. British Columbia The ‘Beautiful British Columbia’ province This evening I saw my 15th lifetime track in the ‘Beautiful British Columbia’ province, yes the ‘Beautiful British Columbia’ province. I hold a number 1 trackchasing ranking in BC. 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 British Columbia sayings: It’s a cabin not a cottage. QUICK FACTS . . AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Chicago, IL (ORD) – 1,745 miles RENTAL CAR #1 O’Hare International Airport – trip begins London, KY Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 766 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Indianapolis International Airport – trip begins Bedford, KY Indianapolis International Airport – trip ends – 603 miles RENTAL CAR #3 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – trip begins Aitken, MN Morten, Manitoba, Canada LaGrange, IN Manchester, IA Oskaloosa, IA Bowling Green, IN Buncombe, IL Ionia, MI Osgood, IN Hemlock, NY Taylorville, IL Cambridge, MN Mora, MN Urbana, IL Bedford, KY Owenton, KY LeMars, IA Belleville, KS Grayslake, IL Brazil, IN La Grange, KY Grayslake, IL Sturgis, SD Martinsburg, WV Tazewell, VA Henry, VA Belmar, NJ Berryville, VA Croton, OH Stockton, KS Bates City, MO Farmington, MO Barnum, MN Victoria, British Columbia TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Laurel County Fairgrounds – $10 (not a trackchasing expense) Trimble County Recreational Facility – $10 Aitken County Fairgrounds (oval) – complimentary admission Aitken County Fairgrounds (RC) – $8 ALH Motor Speedway – complimentary admission LaGrange County Fairgrounds – $10 Delaware County Fairgrounds – $10 Mahaska County Fairgrounds – $5 Sandstone – $15 (include pits) HBR Raceway – $10 (included pits) Ionia Free Fair – $13 Ripley County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Hemlock County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Christian County Fairgrounds – $8 Isanti County Fairgrounds – $12 Kanabec County Fairgrounds – $10 Champaign County Fairgrounds – $6 Dirty Turtle Off-Road Park – complimentary admission Owenton County Fairgrounds – $10 Plymouth County Fairgrounds – complimentary admission Belleville High Banks – $20 Lake County Fairgrounds – $8 Staunton MX – $15 Oldham County Fairgrounds – $10 Lake County Fairgrounds – $10 Buffalo Chip – $20 Berkeley County Youth Fairgrounds – $10 Tazewell County Fair Speedway – $10 Providence Raceway – $10 Wall Stadium Speedway – no charge Clarke County Fairgrounds – $7 Hartford County Fairgrounds – $7 Rooks County Speedway – $10 JSI Off-Road Park – No charge St. Francois County Raceway – $5 Carlton County Fairgrounds – $15 Western Speedway – $5 Canadian (about four bucks U.S.) LIFETIME TRACKCHASER COMPARISONS The three most important trackchasing comparisons to me are: Total lifetime tracks seen Total “trackchasing countries” seen Lifetime National Geographic Diversity results Total Lifetime Tracks There are no trackchasers currently within 500 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 . You might have remembrances of the Western Speedway. 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. Hornet racing from the Western Speedway in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Important. Click on the link below for a photo album from today’s trackchasing day. Double click on a photo to begin the slide show or watch the photos at your own pace. Hover over a photo to read the caption. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and hornet racing from British Columbia, Canada 
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
Racetracks visited in 2005 (** not the first time to visit this track)
