Greetings from Kaukauna, Wisconsin
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From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Wisconsin International Raceway Asphalt outer oval Lifetime Track #113 . Wisconsin International Raceway Asphalt inner oval Lifetime Track #591 . Wisconsin International Raceway Asphalt figure 8 Lifetime Track #592 . Wisconsin International Raceway Asphalt roval Lifetime Track #2,613 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: 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! My visit to the Wisconsin International Raceway came all the way back on Sunday, June 27, 1982. We were living in the Chicagoland area at the time. Having been to Rockford Speedway more than 50 times I was very familiar with Wisconsin asphalt auto racers. Dick Trickle (above) was my favorite. On this evening one of his staunch competitors, Jim Sauter, won the feature event. I returned a year later for an ARTGO show on a Tuesday night. Dick Trickle won the feature event. We used to see Trickle race a lot in the 70s. It seemed as if he was always leading the feature when the car would break. That was most odd when the quote, “In order to finish first you must first finish” was attributed to Dick Trickle. Not to worry. Mr. Trickle won more than his share…by a lot! I didn’t return to the Wisconsin International Raceway for nearly twenty years. However, in July 2002 Carol and I showed up in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. We weren’t the only trackchasers in attendance. Wisconsin’s Ed Esser and Pennsylvania’s Will White (center above) joined us in the grandstands. I would add WIR’s inner oval and figure 8 track to my lifetime resume. Below you will find my Trackchaser Report from 2002. I didn’t begin writing these reviews until I had seen about 430 tracks. Therefore there is no Trackchaser Report from my 1982 visit, which was lifetime track #113 at the time. Greetings from Kaukauna, Wisconsin, We woke up in the Lighthouse Inn in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Tonight’s track is less than one hour away so there was no rush to get out of the hotel. That being the case we slept in. When we did get up we took a leisurely walk down the beach alongside Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful sunny 75-degree day with a slight breeze. This is what retirement should be like. On the drive over to Kaukauna, we stopped at an antique shop. In our “other lives” we never do this but all of a sudden it seems like there is time to really stop and smell the roses. For those trackchasers that plan on catching Manitowoc on a Wednesday and Kaukauna on a Thursday, I have a great restaurant reco for lunch. Undoubtedly you will take state route 10 west and about midway you’ll go through the small town of Brillion. I highly recommend Rudy’s Diner. It’s been there since 1939 and the food tastes homemade and is delicious. You can’t miss it when driving through Brillion and you’ll be glad you stopped. Carol and I are staying in our first ever Extended Stay of America Hotel. This is a hotel for people who will stay in the same place for a few weeks or months. You’ve probably seen this brand during your travels. I know they are expanding rapidly. Our one night rate for two people is $50. If we were staying for seven nights or more the rate is reduced to $36. The Appleton location is brand new. Our studio unit has a full kitchen including a full-size refrigerator, a stove with burners, microwave and has a complete set of dishes/eating utensils. Carol and I will be looking for a place to live for just 3-4 months starting August 1 and until our house is ready during November/December. Too bad there are not any Extended Stay America locations near us. With our travel schedule, we’ll probably be gone 30-40% of the 3-4 month temporary living period anyway. The Wisconsin International Raceway small oval is my 591st track and the figure 8 layout is my 592nd track. I visited W.I.R. in 1982 and 1983 to see races on the large oval. W.I.R. is one of the very few facilities that have three countable tracks on the property. Since Carol had never been to W.I.R. she got credit for seeing three tracks bringing her lifetime total to 115. Will White sat with us. He’s seen 19 tracks in 14 days during his special 17-day vacation. He’s had zero cancellations during this period. Ed, more of a racechaser than a trackchaser, saw his 94th event of the season. You might think this is a lot and it is. Ed admitted he’s about 10 races behind his 2001 pace. Ed, a University of Wisconsin graduate and Delta Sigma Pi alumni was able to give me the secret fraternal handshake. Of course, we had to hide the handshake details from Will. General admission was $9 and a huge crowd was on hand. One of the handouts given to each spectator was a 2002 Green Bay Packers schedule. I sent my press release to the announcer early in the program. I mentioned that two top 20 trackchasers, Will and Ed were in attendance. Here’s pretty much what the announcer took from my note, “Randy Lewis from San Clemente is seeing his 591st track and other trackchasers are here including Ed Esser from Madison, Wisconsin and a guy from Quakertown, Pennsylvania.” Will took offense to this lack of respect for the webmaster of www.trackchaser.com. Editor’s note: www.trackchaser.com is no longer active. There were a couple of notable events. First, the sun was directly in our faces from the 7 p.m. start time until it sat at about 8:45 p.m. Secondly, a guy driving a 1956 Chevy won the street stock feature. He was the only pre 70s car in the race with the possible exception of a driver with a Chevy Corvair. The ’56 Chevy driver was the point leader and won the race from 15th position rather easily. TRIVIA: I’m happy to report that Mike Herrin of Tremont, IL, and Gordy Killian from the great state of Pennsylvania both correctly identified the four cities that make up the Quad Cities. They are Davenport, Rock Island, Moline and Bettendorf. If Mike and Gordy will go outside and wait at their mailboxes someday a prize will be delivered to them. Thanks for your quick responses. TRACK FOOD: The four of us went to dinner at Culver’s before the races. This gave us a chance to spend some social time together and we all enjoyed that including Carol. I did notice the track featured watermelon flavored lemonade! RENTAL CAR UPDATE: The National Rental Car racing Pontiac Grand Prix will rest in Appleton, Wisconsin tonight with 2,089 miles on it. TRACK RADIO FREQUENCY: Since I was with friends, I didn’t use the radio. Editor’s note: These URLs were active in 2002. Are they active today? I doubt it but you can give them a try. Planned upcoming races Greetings from Kaukauna, Wisconsin . . From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” Wisconsin International Raceway Paved road course Lifetime Track #2,613 THE EVENT I AM A TRACKCHASER. My name is Randy Lewis (above with some of my Michigan lady fans!). 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. Well, you made it this far. You might as well pour yourself a cold one and take your Trackchasing 101 class. When you finish you’ll have your trackchasing diploma and can then teach your friends about the hobby. Let’s get started. Trackchasing is a three-pronged hobby. I’m a racing fan. I love to travel. I love to analyze opportunities to get the most out of everything while saving time and money. Let’s do this by the numbers. The racing part of my trackchasing has me trying to see wheel to wheel auto racing at as many different racetracks as I can all over the world. Yes, all over the world. Do I mean that? Yes, I do! I’ve seen racing in 85 countries at more than 2,600 tracks. I’m known as the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”. Why? Because I’ve seen racing in more countries in the world than anyone else by a wide margin. However, my hobby of trackchasing involves much more than simply visiting racetracks. Much more. My hobby includes and requires lots of traveling. I get to see and experience, over the “long and dusty trackchasing trail,” all kinds of interesting places, restaurants, sporting events and the like. I call these adventures “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions”. You won’t want to miss my “Trackchasing Tourist Attractions” page. Here’s the link: Trackchasing Tourist Attractions or my “Sports Spectating Resume” page, Sports Spectating Resume on my website at www.randylewis.org. I live in southern California. That’s probably the most inconvenient location in the country for seeing tracks in the U.S. Most of the racetracks in the U.S. are located well over 1,000 miles from where I live. My average trip covers 5,000 miles and more. I take 35-40 of those trips each season. In any given year I will travel well over 200,000 miles, rent more than 50 cars, and stay in more than 150 hotel rooms. I get the chance to meet people from all over the world. With trackchasing trips to 85 countries and counting just getting the chance to experience so many unique cultures, spend time in the homes of my friends and meet so many people is a huge reward for being in this hobby. I am indebted to several of these folks for their help and friendship. It takes a good deal of planning to do the above and not spend my entire retirement portfolio. I enjoy the challenge, the travel and every other aspect of “trackchasing”. In reality, my trackchasing hobby is a lot like being with the carnival. I breeze into town, stay a little while and then head on down the road. Once you begin researching my trip itineraries from my website, yes you will want to do that, you will be surprised. One day I’ll be in Tucson, the next in maybe Tuscaloosa and the following day in Syracuse. I do that kind of thing all the time. Figuring out the logistics of a trip like that is as much fun for me as watching a figure 8 race. Now you know a little bit about my trackchasing addiction. When you receive one of my Trackchaser Reports or find one on my website at www.randylewis.org you’ll get three pieces of entertainment. First, my Trackchaser Report will be an in-depth essay on how the trip went from A-Z. Yes, I’ll cover the racing aspect of things. But you will also hear about what it took to pull off the trip, the special stops that made the trip fun and the obstacles that needed to be overcome. Secondly, you’ll get a YouTube video of the racing action I saw. These are normally short 3-6 minute highlights of the racing. My YouTube channel is named, “RANLAY”. I have nearly 2,000 subscribers to my channel. Currently, I have posted more than 1,300 videos and my channel has more than 1.2 million views! Finally, I’ll share a captioned photo album using a photo-sharing program called SmugMug. Normally, there will be anywhere from 50-200 photos from each trip I take. Sometimes more! My website is linked to hundreds of thousands of photos from all of the trips I have taken. There you have it. That’s trackchasing…the way I do it. Do others trackchase? Absolutely. Do they share their experiences? Sorry. They don’t. If you want to see the true “essence” of trackchasing you’ve come to the right place. A common question I get about my hobby is, “Why?”. I’m a curious fellow. I’m an adventuresome fellow. My hobby is about seeing and experiencing the things that most folks walk right past. Below is a link to a special video. It shows a small town in Missouri that I visited on one of my trips. In this video, I’ll share with you exactly what I mean. This video might just make your day. Trackchasing….this is exactly why I do it 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 Thursday, June 11, 2020. For the second week in a row, I will be trackchasing in Wisconsin. As I travel through our nation’s airports I still notice a dramatic lack of public traffic. I’ve read that airline passenger traffic is about 10% of what it was a year ago. From what I can see that sounds about right. In order for a track to count by trackchasing rule, the racing must be done on an oval, road course or figure 8 track. Most race facilities have only one track configuration. Usually, it’s an oval but sometimes it can be a road course. There are very few permanent figure 8 tracks. Sometimes I will see racing on one particular configuration and then get the opportunity to go back a second time, sometimes years or decades later, to see racing on a second or even third configuration. That was the case with the Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. I first went to WIR all the way back in 1982. On that Saturday evening, I saw the famous Jim Sauter, father of NASCAR’s Johnny Sauter, win the main event. Then the next year, on a Tuesday night, I came back to see the most famous short track driver of all, Dick Trickle win the feature. Those visits in ’82 and ’83 weren’t all that far to make. From 1980-1983 we lived in the Chicago suburbs. I’m joined by Will White (center) and Ed Esser on “trackchasing double” night. Next, back in 2002, I’ve ventured up with Carol to see racing on WIR’s quarter-mile oval and their figure 8 track. At the time that gave me three countable track configurations at the single location of the Wisconsin International Raceway. On that evening 18 years ago fellow trackchasing competitors Ed Esser and Will White joined us. Now in 2020, I was returning to see racing on what they called a “roval”. I didn’t suspect any great racing action on the roval. My prediction was pretty well accurate. As a racing fan back in the day (before I was a trackchaser) if I went to a racing facility and they had a competition on more than one configuration I just counted the entire thing as one track. It never crossed my mind, probably because I wasn’t seeing very many multi-configuration facilities, that I should be trying to count more than one track in a single location. If I were the king of trackchasing rule-making I would have a rule that says one facility equals one track. No multiple track configuration counting. I would also establish a rule that there would be no trackchasing allowed from November 1 through April 1. I would give trackchasers a five-month break to recharge their batteries. There is one minor benefit to coming back to a location to see what I would describe as a “minor” configuration like the roval at the Wisconsin International Raceway. What would that benefit be? This kind of trip often brings me back to a quality racetrack where I can see what attracted me on my very first visit to the facility. That is a nice outcome of “chasing configurations”. If WIR didn’t have a roval then I wouldn’t be coming back from California to see any of their racing whatsoever. I will tell you the logistics of getting from San Clemente, California to Kaukauna, Wisconsin in time for a 7 p.m. start are challenging. This morning my alarm came at 3 a.m. I was on the road by 3:30 a.m. I arrived at LAX about an hour later. Then in another 30 minutes, I had walked from my parking garage to the terminal at LAX. Flying standby during the pandemic is definitely challenging. Each airline withholds a large number of seats, maybe 30 to 40% of the entire plane’s capacity, to help facilitate “social distancing”. It’s difficult to factor in those open seats with the open seats that might naturally come if we were traveling under normal conditions. Nevertheless, I made a 7 a.m. departure from Los Angeles to Minneapolis. By the time I boarded the plane I had already walked 2.7 miles. That put me well on my way to making my daily goal of walking four miles. When I landed in the Minneapolis airport it was as deserted as it was last week. There was just nobody at MSP which is typically a very busy airport. I selected a National Car Rental Toyota Camry to help me cover the 500-mile drive that will finish up tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. The Toyota Camry has been one of my favorite road cars for trackchasing. However, it is dramatically different from the car that I drive at home which is a 2020 Tesla Model X. My Tesla has something that is probably unique to that brand only. It’s called “regenerative-braking”. Because the Tesla Model X features regenerative braking as I slow down the car’s braking system begins to stop the car gradually on its own. This is called “one-pedal driving”. Almost all the time when I roll up to a stop sign I never have to press the brake. Now when I come tooling up in a Toyota Camry rental car and I see the need to slow down I am to intuitively thinking the car is going to slow itself. That’s not happening with the Camry! By the time I realize the car is not going to stop on its own I find myself going pretty fast and have to be much more aggressive with the brake. There’s definitely a huge difference between a Toyota Camry and a Tesla Model X. The drive from Minneapolis over to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, which is pretty near Green Bay, took me nearly 5 hours. I had seven hours to make the drive so there was no huge rush. There was rain in the area but it looked like it would be past Kaukauna by race time. I also had some time to stop at a Farm and Fleet store. I don’t do that often but enjoy it when I do. I was burning the candle a little bit at both ends at the beginning of this trip. Last night I got four hours of sleep before I had to get up at 3 a.m. I flew for three hours and drove for five hours to get to the racetrack. After the race, I drove for another three hours down to Chicago. The plan was to sleep for four hours in the car before taking an early morning flight to Dallas. The last part of this plan would end up changing. I had been to the Wisconsin International Raceway on three different occasions previously. Those visits netted lifetime tracks #113, #591 and #592. Now I was coming back, after seeing nearly 2,000 new tracks since my last visit, to Kaukauna. Yes, a lot of corn dogs had passed under the bridge. My Wisconsin racing buddy Matt Record (above) told me earlier in the year that WIR was going to be having racing on a roval configuration. Then last week Brian Dolphy reminded me of this. With that information I scheduled the trip for tonight. There can’t be more than a handful of racetracks that race weekly on Thursday nights. Wisconsin International Raceway is one of those tracks. Surprisingly, the track in Wausau, Wisconsin, called State Park Speedway, also races on Thursday nights. These two tracks are only 107 miles apart. Both of these track are asphalt ovals and race late models. Weird. When I pulled into the track tonight at 6 p.m., an hour ahead of the 7 p.m. official starting time, the parking lot was already jammed. WIR seats a lot of people. I was a little surprised there weren’t more people in the grandstands after seeing how many cars were in the parking lot. Did every individual who came tonight drive their own car with no passengers? We are supposed to be in the midst of a global pandemic. However, from the looks of things tonight I wouldn’t have thought the spectator/seating situation was any different than a normal summer evening of asphalt racing in Wisconsin. I did see a couple of people wearing masks but that was it. There didn’t really seem to be any social distancing going on whatsoever. I think people have just gotten tired of the stay at home directions and are ignoring the virus. I hope that’s not a mistake by everyone. I paid my $12 general admission price and walked on into the arena. There was no discount for senior citizens. No harm no foul there. Just about the first person I met was the track announcer. He had been down on the track conducting some Hall of Fame ceremonies. One of the drivers inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight with Scott Hanson who I saw a race many times over the years. I handed my trackchasing business card to the announcer as I do quite often. He was busy with some other announcing chores but looked at my card briefly and said, “I saw your video from Tomah last week. It was pretty cool”. Later on in the program, he gave me a nice trackchaser mention which I appreciated very much. The stock car racing action is organized by the Fox River Racing Club. They do a nice job of recapping the race results. Below is their summary of what I saw tonight. ATTENTION SPORTS/MOTORSPORTS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STRELKA SHADES EFFERTZ – COPS WIR “RED RACE” (KAUKAUNA, WI) June 11 – Freedom’s Brent Strelka snuck past Darboy’s Sawyer Effertz with ten laps remaining and cruised to victory in the “Red Race” at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna Thursday night. With one circuit in the books a caution flew when opening night winner and defending track champion Casey Johnson checked up to avoid Chat Butz who checked up. Butz was charged with the yellow and when racing resumed polesitter Effertz regained his lead. With five laps in Andy Monday and Alex Stumpf broke through traffic and stuck to Effertz like glue. A few laps later Jesse Oudenhoven and fast qualifier Bobby Kendall joined the fray and a five car scrum ensured for the top spot. Oudenhoven struck first, motoring around Stumpf for third on lap 10 and began pressuring Monday for second. The trio ran nose-to-tail for the next several laps, with Effertz thwarting off their challenges. At the event’s halfway point Kendall slipped underneath Oudenhoven to snatch third. One circuit later an amber flew when Randy Schuler looped his mount in turn four. On the restart Monday wrestled the lead away from Effertz and Oudenhoven. Monday’s lead was short lived as a multi-car melee took place in turn three. The cars involved included Trevor Vandermolen, Corey Manders, Chad Butz, Jeff Van Oudenhoven, Curt Tillman and Mickey Schallie. After the debris was cleaned up racing resumed and Strelka muscled his way past Effertz for the lead on the restart. The Freedom racer kept Effertz and all other challengers at bay to capture the win. Effertz took second at the line, followed by Kendall, Johnson and Butz. For the second straight week the amount of carnage in the super late models was evident as just 10 of the 21 cars that started the 36 lap feature were running at the finish. Appleton’s Bryan Monday grabbed the lead with five circuits remaining and went on to claim the late model feature. Trailing Monday at the checkers were Brian Henry, Eddie Muenster, last week’s winner Braison Bennett and polesitter Matthew Wittman, who led much of the early going. Two Rivers’ Andy Casavante checked out around mid-race and cruised to victory in the super stock feature. Shane Krueger took second place money, followed by Jeff Treml, opening night winners Trevor Howard and Larry Raygo. Former track champion Jason Plutz of Menasha made a triumphant return to WIR in the sport truck class. After setting fast timer earlier in the evening Plutz scored the division’s feature win on the quarter-mile. Trailing at the checkers were Bobby Wautier, Kylee Vandermoss, Jason Van Handel and Kasey Vanderloop. In Sizzlin’ 4 action it was some true “sibling rivalry” as Ethan Beattie fended off his brother Emery Beattie at the checkers. Arianna Beattie placed third, followed by Faithorn, Michigan’s Elliot Reid and Scott Wolf. In the season debut of the new “Rockin’ Roval” division Greenleaf’s Henry Neerdaels went down in the history books as winning the first ever feature race for the division, beating Drew Diedrick at the checkers. Veteran Terry Van Roy from Darboy emerged triumphant in the Figure 8 feature. Earlier in the evening the FRRC honored a pair of former late model track champions into their Ring of Honor – Appleton’s J.J. Smith and Green Bay native Scott Hansen. Next Thursday night June 18 the 1⁄4 mile late models will be back in action in Al Huss Auto night. Racing gets underway at 6:45 p.m. You can check frrc.us for more information or follow the club’s Facebook page. SUPER LATE MODEL FEATURE – Brent Strelka, Freedom; Sawyer Effertz, Darboy; Bobby Kendall, Montello; Casey Johnson, Edgerton; Chad Butz, Green Bay; Alex Stumpf, Woodville; Andy Monday, Appleton; Jesse Oudenhoven, Kaukauna; Grant Griesbach, Pewaukee; Pete Vandermolen Jr., Oshkosh; Mickey Schallie, Darboy; Jeff Van Oudenhoven, Appleton; Lowell Bennett; Neenah; Cory Manders, Hilbert; Curt Tillman, Rockton, Il; Trevor Vandermolen, Oshkosh; Randy Schuler, Mequon; Mike Meyerhofer, Hilbert; Brady Baldry, Oshkosh; Andrew Morrisey, DeForest; Michael Anthony, Appleton; Eugene Gregorich Jr., Amherst (DNS); Tom Gee, Sobieski (DNS); Tim Springstroh, Freedom (DNS) HEATS 1) Anthony; Meyerhofer 2) Bennett; Effertz DASH – Monday LATE MODEL FEATURE- Bryan Monday, Appleton; Brian Henry, Omro; Eddie Muenster, Green Bay; Braison Bennett, Neenah; Matthew Wittman, Appleton; Mike King, Appleton; Chase Randerson, Oshkosh; Brandon Reichenberger, Appleton; Todd Verhagen, Freedom; Rachel Meyerhofer, Brillion; Joey Pontbriand, Norway, MI HEAT – Muenster; Rachel Meyerhofer DASH- King SUPER STOCK FEATURE – Andy Casavante, Two Rivers; Shane Krueger, Kaukauna; Jeff Treml, Greenleaf; Trevor Howard, Kaukauna; Larry Raygo, Omro HEATS 1st) Greg Hauser, Wrightstown; Tony Wilz, Menasha 2nd) Krueger, Kaukauna; Josh Mueller, Kaukauna FAST TIME – Casavante, 15.607 SIZZLIN’ 4 FEATURE – Ethan Beattie, Little Chute; Emery Beattie, Little Chute; Arianna Beattie, Little Chute; Elliot Reid, Faithorn, MI; Scott Wolf, Appleton HEATS 1) Emery Beattie; Mitchell Opsahl, Freedom 2) Larry Belonger, Appleton; Jerry Konrad, Appleton SPORT TRUCKS FEATURE – Jason Plutz, Menasha; Bobby Wautier, Denmark; Kylee Vandermoss, Appleton; Jason Van Handel, Freedom; Kasey Vanderloop, Freedom HEATS 1) Taylor Rahn, De Pere; Mark Sokolik, Fond Du Lac 2) Vandermoss; Jason Van Handel FAST TIME – Plutz, 16.948 ROCKIN’ ROVAL FEATURE – Henry Neerdaels, Greenleaf; Drew Diedrick, Bucktown; John Kuh, Parts Unknown FIGURE 8 – Terry Van Roy, Darboy There was a lot of action on both the smaller quarter-mile oval and the larger half-mile oval, which is somewhat of a D-shaped track. They kept the action moving with heat races and feature events. The super late model class brought 21 cars to race on the big track. The other classes ran on the smaller track. This racing consisted of some low dollar stock cars, a pick-up truck class that was based on the Bandolero concept. My main mission tonight was to see racing on the WIR “roval” configuration. Short tracks often follow what NASCAR does. NASCAR started racing on a roval a couple of years ago in Charlotte. Now other tracks are following suit. When NASCAR went to double-file restarts a lot of short tracks followed. That was a great idea. Tonight’s roval race had six competitors racing. This was definitely a junk car competition with one minivan in the race. They started six cars for 10 laps. Just three cars finished the relatively short race. The roval configuration was unique. I will try to describe it to you. If that doesn’t work just check out my YouTube video of the roval racing. The cars drove down the front straight of the quarter-mile oval. Just past the starting line they made a 90° left-hand turn and drove around sort of a triangle which brought them back, crossing over the track, onto the main straightaway. They continued down the straights of turns one and two of the quarter-mile. Then they ducked in after exiting turn number two of the small onto what would’ve been an entry point to a traditional figure 8 track. They drove down to the “X” and made a right and took that straightaway out onto the oval’s turn number three. They continued on through turn four and down the front straightaway before they again made the immediate left-hand turn just beyond the start finish line for another “roval” lap. Confused? Watch the video! I have never really seen a racecourse like this. It had a little bit of three different elements. In a way, it was like a barber pole race but a barber pole race simply makes a smaller oval inner loop and continues on to a larger oval. It wasn’t that. It had an element of a figure 8 course in the fact that the course “crossed over” itself. However, the cars didn’t continue in a figure 8 direction. It wasn’t a figure 8 track. Effectively this was a road course. The drivers definitely had to turn both left and right. I have seen road courses cross over themselves albeit at an elevation. This was definitely a unique hybrid course. As I mentioned it might have fallen into three different groupings. However, it had more to do with a road course configuration than anything else. That’s why I’m calling it a road course. The track was calling it a roval. Everything in the world has to be called something right. There is one element of the Wisconsin International Raceway that I don’t care for very much. They have a ton of seating but that seating faces into a setting sun. I remember that from my 2002 visit. I have a photo of myself, Will White and Ed Esser taken by Carol. We are all squinting into the sun. I think they did it that way because the grandstands were on the side of a natural hillside. Nevertheless, it’s a hassle for the fans to have to look into the setting sun for a couple of hours at the beginning of the program. I walked all over the property getting photos from every different angle. At the concession stand they were selling cheese curds. They had a separate stand for mini donuts. I settled on a can of Coors Light for three bucks and a Dixie cup full of salted peanuts in the shell for just a buck. That might’ve been the concession price of the season. The Wisconsin International Raceway has been running a special event called the Red, White and Blue Championship for nearly 50 years. This is a series of three days of racing that begins in June, then July and finishes in August. Some pretty big names have won the Red, White and Blue Championship over the years. The famous Dick Trickle won it seven times. Joe Shear has won it. Even NASCAR stars Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin have their names on the Red, White and Blue Championship trophy. That’s impressive! Surprising to me was that Wisconsin’s Robbie Reiser won this race two years in a row. You may remember Robbie Reiser as being Matt Kenseth’s crew chief when he won the NASCAR Cup championship for Roush racing. It was an interesting and fun night at the races. I’m pretty sure I was the only person in the stands who got up in California this morning at 3 a.m. and made their way to Kaukauna, Wisconsin. I don’t have to worry too much about my fellow competitors surpassing my totals. Even though they live much closer to all of the tracks in general gaining the #1 is a pretty big commitment. It takes years and years of attention. I was most impressed that the Wisconsin International Raceway had a “Dick Trickle Pavilion”. That was beyond cool. A separate admission price was required for admission here. It was nice to see the “White Knight” recognized for his racing prowess AND winning seven Red, White and Blue Championships! Following the twenty-one car, 36-lap super late model feature I hopped in the National Car Rental Racing Toyota Camry with Texas license plates and headed down toward Chicago. I would need to find a highway rest area that was first safe and secondly close enough to the O’Hare International Airport so that when I woke up I didn’t have to drive very far. I hope I make my standby flight tomorrow morning to Dallas. If I do I’m going to grab a hotel early and sleep all afternoon, go to the races in Texas and then sleep all night! Alas, I did not find a highway rest area inside an hour’s drive to the Chicago airport. When I didn’t find a rest area I began looking for a Walmart parking lot or any safe place to stop for three hours or so. I didn’t find anything! I just kept driving….all the way to the rental car return location. It was now nearly 2 a.m. None of the security entrances to the airport terminals was open at that hour. I would have to sleep “landside”, which means outside of airport security. I didn’t want to do that. I had no choice. I will tell you I was happy to report that I had gotten in 4.9 miles walking today. Luckily for me (you might not consider this lucky), O’Hare’s airport security opened at 3 a.m. I was one of about 25 people who thought this was a great idea. I might add I was probably the only person in this group over the age of thirty. Don’t worry. This is the crowd I roll with. I scurried inside and went directly to an area in the airport (between terminals H and K) which offered flat Naugahyde covered couches. Each was only about five feet long but good enough for my purpose. With three hours of sleep, I was raring to go for my 7 a.m. flight to Dallas. Good evening from Kaukauna, Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin sayings: How about using your blinker next time, ya FIB? For most people, it’s a turn signal, but for us, that directional notification on your car is a “blinker.” Using words that describe something’s function is a common theme for us, and might trace back to German roots. In German, they don’t really create new words, but instead combine words that describe what’s happening. There’s not a word for driveway – it’s just a combined word for “place where I park my car.” FIB is a not so pleasant way to refer to those folks from the state below ours, especially on the highway on a Friday afternoon as they drive to their “up north” in Lake Geneva. 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 735 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. My fourth “track” at the Wisconsin International Raceway in my fourth trip! 
PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS
RACING NEWS
New racetracks visited in 2002
593
FRI
12-Jul
Regular program
Sycamore Speedway
Sycamore, IL
Stan Logan
594
FRI
12-Jul
Figure 8s
Sycamore Speedway
Sycamore, IL
Stan Logan
595
SUN
14-Jul
Winston Cup
Chicagoland Speedway
Joliet, IL
Carol
596
FRI
19-Jul
Featherlite Modifieds
New Hampshire Intl Raceway
Loudon, NH
—
597
FRI
19-Jul
Regular program
Lee USA Speedway
Lee, NH
—
598
SAT
20-Jul
American LeMans Series
RFK Stadium Circuit
Washington,D.C
—
599
SAT
20-Jul
Figure 8s
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
—
600
SAT
20-Jul
Oval
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
—
601
SAT
20-Jul
Road Course
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA
—
602
SUN
21-Jul
Regular program 3 p.m.
Stonybrook Raceway
Stoystown, PA
Guy Smith
603
SUN
21-Jul
Regular Program
Latrobe Speedway
Latrobe, PA
—
FAST TIME: Kendall, 19.099
FAST TIME- Reichenberger, 20.240
FAST TIME – Reid, 17.898
