Greetings from Whittemore, Michigan
.
.
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Whittemore Speedway Asphalt oval Lifetime Track #2,620 THE EVENT I AM A TRACKCHASER. Are you new to the hobby of trackchasing? If so, let me give you just a little bit of background. Before I go any further I will tell you that a lot of people get pretty enthused about what I’ve been doing with trackchasing. I will offer this warning. If you try it yourself it could become addictive. My name is Randy Lewis (above with my good buddy Carla Havenga in Namibia, Africa). I hail from the sleepy little village by the sea, San Clemente, California. I am a “trackchaser”. I trackchase. Have you ever in your life heard of “trackchasing”? I didn’t think so. Trackchasing is a “collecting” hobby. Trackchasing is also a “counting” hobby. It’s really not all that much different than when you were a kid and you collected stamps or beer cans or bottle caps. Trackchasing is all about visiting new auto racing tracks for the very first time. Believe it or not, trackchasing has “rules“ as to what kind of racetrack and race car and race driver count toward your lifetime totals and which ones would not. I’ll try to oversimplify the rules situation for you. Trackchasers are allowed to count racing cars and trucks that compete on oval, road course and Figure 8 configurations. Any class of drivers that is racing, in order to count, must be open to racers 18 years of age or older. This means that trackchasers cannot count racing down exclusively by kids. There are also various motorsports events and classes of cars that do not count. Trackchasers do not count drag racing, demolition derbies, motorcycle racing, lawnmower racing (yes, people race lawnmowers) or boat racing. Just cars and trucks on ovals, road course and figure 8 tracks. Trackchasing does not allow the counting of flat go-kart racing either. Before the hair on the back of your neck starts to stand straight up as you think that one or more of these rules are just preposterous let me explain. First, I didn’t set up these rules. I only count by them. The rules were set up in the 1990s by a group of white men who primarily hung out in Pennsylvania. I don’t know that any of them had ever seen any racing on a road course or figure 8 track or maybe even a drag race, with a few exceptions, when the rules were established. There is one good thing about having a common set of rules. It allows each trackchaser to compare his or her list to the next trackchaser on a level playing field. Trackchasers like to do that. For me, I need three things in order to make my hobby hunt. First, I need a race date. Then I need good weather because folks in the U.S. often cancel racing events when it rains. Finally, I need a way to get to the track. I live in Southern California. The lion’s share of racing events in the United States are located in the Midwest and east. In 2020 a fourth “obstacle” came into play when it comes to successful trackchasing. COVID-19! What? Yep. Tracks and governments have been canceling race events right and left. Sometimes a government decree allows a track to race but with only a limited number of fans or sometimes no fans at all! Some states, Alaska comes to mind, require that a traveler enter their state with proof of a recent negative COVID test. Others have rules (Illinois and New Mexico among others) that limit visitors from other higher-risk COVID states from coming into their state without self-quarantining for 14 days. The COVID-19 situation really increases the uncertainty of pulling off one of my trips. Additionally, I trackchase just a little bit differently than my fellow competitors. For me, there are three essential elements to the enjoyment of trackchasing. First, I like to see auto racing. I prefer to see racing on what we call “short tracks” more so than a visit to Daytona, Indianapolis or Monaco. By the way, I’ve seen racing in each of those three iconic locations. In addition to the racing part of trackchasing, I really enjoy seeing the local sights and sounds of whatever area I am visiting. I call these “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. If you go to my website at www.randylewis.org and click on the Trackchasing Tourist Attractions tab you’ll see where I’ve toured all over the world. Here’s a link to that tab. Trackchasing Tourist Attractions The third and final reason that trackchasing is a lot of fun for me is simply the logistical part of the hobby. I have been retired for nearly 20 years. During that time I have not earned a single dime of work income. That means I have to manage my money pretty closely enable in order to be able to do what I do. Logistically I have to handle seven different categories of trackchasing expenses. Those expenses include airplanes, rental cars, hotels, airport parking, gasoline, food and race tickets. You can just imagine what a simple trip from Southern California out to the Midwest for four days of racing would cost. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles. I’ll stay in hotels 150-200 nights a year, rent 50-75 rental cars every year and buy a full tank of fuel about 100 days a year just for trackchasing. After each and every event that I attend I post a YouTube video, a SmugMug photo album and a very detailed Trackchaser Report about the experience. My stories are not just about what happened at the track but about my visit to the area and what exactly it took to make the trip happen. That’s where the racing, the touring and the logistical challenges come from. I told you that trackchasing is a “counting” hobby. Trackchasing is ultra-competitive as well. Lots of people don’t recognize that when they are initially exposed to this hobby. Trackchasing has had all of the political drama, cheating, accusing people of cheating and other aspects of poor personal behavior that any other competitive activity might have. This is why I am NOT a member of any organized trackchasing group. The management of these groups has been so poor over the years these groups are not something I want to be associated with whatsoever. As this is written I have seen racing in 85 different countries at more than 2,630 racetracks. During all this time I have never tried to benefit financially from my hobby. This is despite being interviewed by hundreds of track announcers, newspaper reporters and radio and TV outlets as well as doing a TV pilot. I’m a volunteer. I do this 100% for the fun of it. Because I have seen racing in 85 countries at this point I am considered the World’s #1 Trackchaser. That’s good enough for me. Now I encourage you to drop down a few spaces and read about trackchasing adventure. As you discover what went on today just think about the idea that I’ve done this more than 2,600 times. I don’t mind admitting I am addicted to that hobby of trackchasing. Yes, today’s adventure was one more of the 2,000 trips that have taken me up, down and around the proverbial 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 Saturday, July 4, 2020. Today was a big day! It was the Fourth of July! As I look back on my records I am almost never traveling on the Fourth of July. Why is that the case? It’s because our hometown of San Clemente, California offers a fantastic fireworks display shot off of the iconic San Clemente pier in the Pacific Ocean. Since we live at the beach and have a perfect view of the pier our house is a prime location for viewing the fireworks. This year because of the coronavirus the city canceled the fireworks. They didn’t want to have all of the crowds congregating at the beach during these contagious times. When I heard of that decision that was my signal I could hit the road over the Fourth of July for the first time in a long time. We were in Michigan today. We were going to be visiting one of my top 10 Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I’m talking about Bronner‘s CHRISTmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan. It took me the longest time to make my first stop at Bronner‘s. Once I broke the ice I’ve been back there six or seven times at this point. Today Carol and I would be joined by Becky and Bob, my sister and brother-in-law. Kristy, our daughter and her traveling troop were also in town from Texas. Kristy and her kids (our grandkids) Mitch and Astrid were traveling in a standardized Toyota SUV with their friend Laura and her two children Aurora and Eleanor. Yep. That six good-sized people in one now so big SUV. They were in the midst of their 61-day, 48-state driving tour of the United States. When we met up with them they were on about day #20. Every one of these adventuresome folks was having the time of their life. I imagine they would remember these experiences forever. This was going to be very special for my sister Becky. She is a Christmas decoration fanatic. Really? A Christmas decoration fanatic? Yes! She puts up SEVEN Christmas trees in our house during each holiday season. I guess she didn’t think seven trees was enough because she bought another one today! My sister enjoys shopping. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you enjoy shopping and you enjoy Christmas you are going to be in seventh heaven at Bronner’s. Bronner‘s is the largest Christmas decorations store in the world. They have 7 acres of retail space under roof. We all ended up meeting at Bronner’s but Kristy and her crew were just a little bit late. It seems there was some confusion this morning when leaving their hotel. They forgot to affix their roof carrier properly to the car. Then they drove down the road and it flew off. By the time they could circle back to get it someone had picked up their stuff and absconded. Nevertheless, we all had a really good time eventually. You won’t want to miss the pictures. If you’re ever driving along interstate 75 going north or south in Michigan I highly recommend you take a few minutes to stop over to the Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland store in Frankenmuth. If you like that kind of stuff you will love it. Maybe you’ll see the kid’s roof cover too! Tonight’s trackchasing stop was going to be at the Whittemore speedway in Whittemore, Michigan. Whittemore is a small town. How small you ask? The last census counts just 384 Whittemore residents! Despite the small population, the Whittemore Speedway is the longest continuously running track in Michigan. The general admission price to spectate was $118. $118? That’s right I sprung for the tickets for all six of the adults and four kids tonight. I thought maybe the lady at the ticket window would give me a break but she didn’t blink an eye when she told me the bill was $118. No problem there. Whittemore Speedway operates to entertain people AND make a profit. We found a good spot high up into the grandstands. There were a lot of special things that were going to make a visit to the Whittemore speedway a fun experience for everyone tonight. I must tell you this. I commonly come to the races with friends who don’t have any background in racing. Maybe they’ve never been to a race in their life like three of the people in our group tonight. I must also tell you that more often than not I end up a little embarrassed that the program I’m showing off was not more entertaining. I was not embarrassed by the Whittemore Speedway. They entertained us. Whittemore had four classes of stock cars racing on a little country quarter-mile asphalt oval track. The announcer was entertaining over a solid PA system. I appreciated his trackchaser mention. When that came over the PA system grandson Mitch screamed to everyone near us that the World’s #1 Trackchaser truly was his grandfather. I appreciated that too. The flagman was very animated and entertaining as well. Tonight the Whittemore Speedway had three of their classes racing in separate Australian pursuit races. If you don’t know what that is I’ll tell you. All of the cars start the race single file. Tonight’s racing distance covered 10 laps. In an Australian pursuit race whenever a car is passed they are out of the race and must leave the track. Whoever is leading at the checkered flag is the winner. This is a unique format and actually one that I used to see back at my boyhood track the Peoria Speedway in the late 50s and early 60s. Whittemore Speedway also had a very unique promotion that I’ve only seen a couple of times. At intermission, they brought out a school bus so the kids could hop on and take a ride around the track. Not only did the bus take them on a lap around the track the bus driver also took a lap through the pit area. After seeing racing at more than 2,600 tracks I can only recall this unique “lap” being done at one other location. That was up in Canada. Well done for the creative staff of Whittemore on this event. Most of our group hopped on the bus! By the way race promoters. What would it cost you to find and/or buy a bus and do what Whittemore did tonight? Remember the reason McDonald’s advertises to kids is because kids bring their parents to McDonald’s. Get it? Because this was the Fourth of July the Whittemore Speedway also had a very solid fireworks show. Everyone in our group enjoyed that. You won’t see much fireworks at local tracks anymore. The first feature event of the night was for nine limited late model stock cars. This was the most advanced class competing tonight. I thought it was a good idea that the promoters ran their best class first. Most promoters run their best class last. Then the fans have to sit through secondary type feature racing in order to wait for the best class. I’ve only been to one race promoter’s meeting but I guess as a fan I can recognize the stuff I find most entertaining. Six of our ten-member group headed back to the hotel after the limited late model feature. We all had a one-hour drive back to our hotel. Becky, Bob, Carol and I stayed for the mini stock feature which was a very entertaining event. This race was one of the best I’ve seen this year. They started about 20 cars on the small track. A 17-year-old young woman driver raced cleanly and ended up winning the feature event. The battle for the lead was nip and tuck. She was impressive. Despite the weather being in the 90s during the day by late in the evening at Whittemore the temperature was actually cool. That made the enjoyment of the racing program even better. With our hotel being one hour from the track much of the drive back would be on two-land highways on a Saturday night. That’s not my favorite experience. We left after the second feature and ended up getting home at a little past midnight. Everyone really had a good time. Each of us appreciated the unique parts of the racing program that made tonight special at the Whittemore Speedway on the Fourth of July. Good evening from Whittemore, Michigan. Randy Lewis – 85 countries – 2,620 tracks. Michigan The Wolverine State This evening I saw racing at my 134th lifetime track in the Wolverine State, yes, the Wolverine State. Despite seeing that many track here I only hold a #4 trackchasing ranking in Michigan. Michigan ranks #2, amongst all the states, in tracks seen for me in the U.S. Of course, California is #1. 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 Michigan sayings: “I’m going to Meijers.” We Michiganders tend to add the letter “s” to the end of many words, whether they need it or not! Many speculate that this habit came about during the early days of the Ford Motor Company, when employees would say that they worked at “Ford’s,” as in “Ford’s Motor Company.” Either way, it’s classic Michigan! JUST THE 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 740 tracks of my lifetime total. Don’t blame me. Total Trackchasing Countries My nearest trackchasing competitor, a native of Belgium, has seen racing in more than 30 fewer countries compared to 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 day in the life of a traveling trackchaser with family, fireworks, Christmas and racing 
