Greetings from Yakima, Washington
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Yakima Speedway – asphalt inner oval
Lifetime Track #1,971
Yakima Speedway – asphalt outer oval
Lifetime Track #433
The Hyundai Hotel. You don’t always want to know the “Why’s”. Who sleeps in a shopping center parking lot? It’s just for ten days (nights) each year. Sometimes ‘staying out on the road’ is the answer. Is this becoming clear? I have a lot of early morning wake-up calls. This was my last shot to see the Mariners play today. Sometimes you eat the bear; sometimes he eats you. No I was not offended….or pandering to the elderly. Whoever thought this up needs to be #$%^#. Breaking the limits of credibility. Twenty bucks! Are you kidding me? Does “Price elasticity of demand” ring a bell? OMG. Catering to basic human needs. The Hyundai Hotel. I’ve been on the road for a few days. Today I woke up in Everett, Washington and went to bed in the front seat of my Hyundai Sonata rental car near the SeaTac International Airport. This is how the day turned out. Yes, you read that right….the front seat of my Hyundai Sonata rental car. My day began with a 45-minute power walk. I love walking like this. I just need to do it more often. My travel schedule sometimes makes taking the time for exercise most inconvenient. Who wants to wake up in their car and then go for a powerwalk? You don’t always want to know the “whys”. I would need to return my rental car, close out the contract and open up a new contract with the same car. It’s all part of my overall “effectiveness and efficiency” strategy. If I told you why this was important….I’d have to kill you. No one wants that. Then it was off to a most delightful and delicious Mexican lunch. Unless I went to Mexico itself I couldn’t have done better. Check out the details in the “Attractions” section. From rain forest to the desert. Next up was a drive over the mountains from Seattle to Yakima, Washington. It rained most of the way along I-90 toward Spokane. It rains a lot on the west side of the mountain but on the eastern side it’s nearly a desert. Carol and I have made this drive before during our forays to the Northwest to see the UCLA Bruins play both Washington and Washington State. Would the rain case me to be ‘trafficked’ out? I was very much worried about the rain. I was not worried so much about the rain as the traffic the rain created. The forecast for Yakima via my Weather Channel app was good. However, the traffic was slowed by this bad weather. Fantastic scenery. The scenery of central and eastern Washington is most unique. There’s a good deal of lava and vegetation growing up through the lava. Seattle can be very rainy. However when you get east of there the climate becomes quite arid. After the races….. Who sleeps in a shopping center parking lot? O.K. Do not try this at home. When the final checkered flag flew on the feature event it was time to drive nearly three hours back to Seattle. It rained, lightly, most of the way back to Seattle just as it had on the drive out here. I arrived back into Seattle at about 1 a.m. I quickly fueled my car at a Chevron station where the convenience store was already closed for the evening. Then I found a quiet shopping center parking lot to “bed down” for the night. I had a 5:20 a.m. flight to Houston that I was standing by for. I set my alarm for 3:45 a.m., leaned back the front seat and covered myself with my Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim giveaway blanket. It’s just for ten days (nights) each year. I will likely sleep in my car or in an airport about ten days each year. I’ll do that on evenings just like this. When I arrived into the area it was 1 a.m. I needed to get up to make an early morning flight at 3:45 a.m. There was no time for a hotel. Sometimes it’s like that. The one positive is that adding a ZERO to my hotel expense column decreases my average nightly hotel expense! Why? Why 5:20 a.m.? I’m not sure why they have a 5:20 a.m. flight from Seattle to Houston on a Saturday morning. Maybe it’s for the cruise folks. Nevertheless, that schedule worked very well for me. I would lose two hours getting to the Central time zone. The flight itself would be three hours and twenty minutes. That would get me into George Bush Intercontinental just in time. After I picked up my rental car I needed to hustle downtown for the afternoon IndyCar race. See you in Houston! TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home. I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are usually unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day. Safeco Field – Seattle, Washington I’m knocking down one major league ballpark after another. Last week my trip that had me trackchasing in Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Then I followed that up with major league baseball games in Philadelphia and Baltimore. I was expecting to go home for a day or two. However, I noticed that I could catch another baseball game in Seattle the day after I was at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Sometimes ‘staying out on the road’ is the answer. At that point it made the most sense to just stay out on the road. I made it to Safeco Field in Seattle to see the Mariners lose to the Boston Red Sox 5-4. I followed that up the next night with a visit to the famous Skagit Speedway for the 43rd Annual Dirt Cup racing. I’ll tell you how all that went right here! Is this becoming clear? I have a lot of early morning wake-up calls. On Wednesday my wake up call came at 5:25 a.m. Eastern time (that’s 2:25 a.m. San Clemente time!). I was hoping to fly from Washington, D.C. to Seattle but missed getting on that flight by two seats. My back up was to fly from D.C. to Los Angeles. I made that long flight. However, when all of the LAX-SEA flights were to full I came up with another NEW plan. This was my last shot to see the Mariners play today. If you can’t be creative then you will lose some battles your could win. My car had been parked at LAX. I walked 25 minutes to the lot, got my car and drove 35 miles south to the Orange County John Wayne Airport. It was my last shot to get to Seattle in time for the game. There were 17 seats open and I was #1 on the standby list. I made that flight and landed at SeaTac International Airport at 6 p.m. Game time in downtown Seattle was at 7:10 p.m. Perfect. Parking ranged from $5-30 depending upon how far you wanted to walk. I like walking. I paid five dollars to park. Sometimes you eat the bear; sometimes he eats you. I needed a ticket. I’m used to paying $5-10 for a ticket to a major league baseball game. However, things would be different in Seattle. The cheapest ticket on Stubhub was $25 U.S. There were very few scalpers selling tickets when I walked up to the stadium just five minutes before the first pitch. What would I do? What could I do? I actually went up to the ticket window and BOUGHT a ticket. I don’t like to do that but it seemed like the best option. I asked for the cheapest ticket. The price was $30 U.S. Last night in Baltimore the cheapest ticket was nine dollars!! I would soon learn that stuff in Seattle is very expensive. That surprised me. No I was not offended….or pandering to the elderly. The ticket seller had an idea. “May I offer you a senior discount?” he asked. That was code for “I don’t want to offend you but you look pretty old. Our country wants to treat our old folks well so we will pander to you with a 10% discount”. I gladly accepted his offer and paid $27 for a seat in the upper deck behind home plate. That’s my favorite place to watch a game. However, tonight I would never make it to the upper deck. Tired, hungry and ready for more. I was hungry. I had flown five hours from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. Then I had driven from LAX to John Wayne Airport. Then I had flown another 2+ hours up to Seattle. That’s seven plus hours of flying with a 2:25 a.m. West Coast wakeup call. Life ain’t cheap in the big leagues. I ordered a 1/3-pound cheeseburger, garlic fries and a “bottomless” Diet Pepsi. Cost: $24. No life isn’t cheap in the big leagues although I commonly pay less for a big league baseball ticket than a minor league ticket. At least I had a view of CenturyLink Field where the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks play. Last night a large soft drink in a souvenir cup with ONE refill was six dollars. Tonight the same large soft drink in a souvenir cup with UNLIMITED refills was $9.95. Realistically who wants to drink more than two full servings from a 32 oz. cup? Garlic! No garlic. Lots of garlic! The garlic fries were something else. I love garlic. I asked for extra garlic on my order tonight. The serving was delivered to me and there was so much garlic I couldn’t see the fries. Be careful what you wish for! As I sat munching on my cheeseburger and garlic during the first inning three home runs were hit. That got the crowd jacked up. ONE CANNOT LIVE WELL OR SLEEP WELL IF ONE HAS NOT DINED WELL Yelp! rocks. One of the greatest pleasures I get from the trackchasing hobby is being able to eat at so many unique gourmet restaurants along the way. Most of the time I don’t know where the best places to dine are located. However, with Yelp! I can quickly find places that are highly rated by the customers that used these eateries. I have not found a better way to search out these most delicious opportunities that lie just out of reach of most folks. Green Valley Chinese Cuisine – Seattle, Washington Today I had a hankering for Chinese food. I had just returned my rental car and wanted to find something near the airport. Yelp! did not disappoint (it rarely does). This was a strip mall informal restaurant that came with a healthy four-star Yelp! rating. I found it without too much trouble. Soon I was dining on spicy fried rice and fried pot stickers. The service was outstanding. The fried rice was delicious and spicy just as I had ordered. There was even some left over for a late afternoon snack. My rating? 4+ Taqueria La Estacion – Seattle, Washington Today I craved Mexican food for lunch. I love hole in the wall places the best. If you see a Mexican restaurant with the word “Taqueria” in it you can just about guarantee the restaurant’s authenticity. The Taqueria La Estacion restaurant fit the bill here. It came with a robust 4.5-star Yelp! rating. You won’t find much better than that for a place with more than 10 reviews. The ambience looked as if the building had been picked up from somewhere in Mexico and dropped into Seattle. Ordering is done at the counter. The elderly male order taker didn’t speak much English or hear very well until it came time to sign my credit card slip. Then he piped up with “Do you want to leave a tip?”. I found that rather amazing. I also found the tab somewhat amazing at $20.34 BEFORE tip. Nevertheless, the chicken fajitas were the best. Whole onions and lots of other items were part of the chicken, rice and beans. To justify the expense I had three refills on my drink! My lunch also included an order of flan for dessert. I was too stuffed to eat it in the restaurant and took it to go. Despite this place being a little pricy (fajitas are always one of the more expensive items on the menu) it was well worth it. I’ll be back!! THE RACING. Skagit Speedway – Alger, Washington Not my first visit to Skagit. My visit to the Skagit Speedway was the SECOND time I have been to the track. That being the case this review will be just a quick snapshot with the highlights and lowlights. My first visit to Skagit was on a Thursday night June 14, 1984. This would have been part of their famous “Dirt Cup” race weekend. Jimmy Sills was the feature winner. My one-line comment about my visit was “Must see all of Dirt Cup someday”. In just 30 years I was back again! It took me 30 years to make my second trip to Skagit. I was again seeing a Thursday night race at the beginning of the Dirt Cup weekend. Back in 1984 Skagit was the 140th different track I had seen. As this is written I have seen 1,970 tracks. Thirty years and more than 1,800 tracks in between makes my memory of the original visit nearly non-existent. Nevertheless, much of what I saw tonight would put the Skagit Speedway into my mythical “Top 40” group. That conglomeration of facilities is reserved for the select few tracks that “have their #$%^# together. Don’t get me wrong. Skagit was NOT perfect as I will soon explain. However, they had enough things going right for me to be impressed. The facility. There is tons of seating all the way from the middle of turns three and four around and down into turn one. Their grandstands reminded me of the Chili Bowl setup in Tulsa. The best seats, especially with tonight’s constant wind blowing into the main grandstands, appeared to be in turns three and four. The track sightlines are wonderful. There’s not a bad view in the house. The sound system is A-1 and the announcers did a nice job even if they did come off as “radio disk jockeys” at times. They were informative, funny and for the most part entertaining. The track is well-organized. They started on time and removed the wrecks quickly. They didn’t waste a lot of time on re-starts. Refreshments were varied if not a bit high-priced. A track hot dog was $4.75. That’s getting in the range of Major League Baseball. However, a nice serving of strawberry shortcake offered by a volunteer group was just three dollars. Not everything was perfect. In my opinion there were two major negatives associated with tonight’s show. One was the track’s responsibility and the other was “just part of racing”. Tonight’s program featured 410 sprint cars at the main attraction. The track was dry from the start. The sprinters kicked up the dust that coated everything in its path while blowing directly into the main grandstand. There was virtually no passing in the sprint car heats and not much in the feature event. I can’t blame the track for much of this. Winged sprint cars offer very little passing and their powerful engines chew up dirt track and spew out lots of dirt and dust. Pretty much a waste of time. To the track’s credit they tried to re-work the track, ala Boone, at intermission. This took a long time, well over an hour. Then they decided to have the sprint cars take hot laps and go back into the pit area for adjustments before the main event began. Within a lap or two of hot laps beginning the dampness of the track was gone from the “re-work”. The feature was a dry dusty affair with primarily one-lane racing. The cars in the back only moved up with competitors ahead wrecked. The legend cars put on much better racing than the sprint cars. Whoever thought this up needs to be #$%^#. At virtually every track I visit I see something that I have never seen before. I don’t know how that can be true but it is. When I pulled onto the track property parking attendants were directing patrons on where to park. It was at this point that I could not believe what I was seeing. They were parking the cars “tandem” style. What does that mean? Cars were being parked nose to tail with 10-12 cars in one “string”. Then the next string was parked within three-four feet of the first string. When I arrived they were on about their fifth line of cars. Later I looked out to find about a dozen or more strings of 10-12 cars all parked within a few feet of each other. Any driver with a car in front and in back and with cars on either side would not be getting out of there for a very long time. What if someone had an emergency and had to leave? What if quite a few fans decided to go into the pits after the races. Anyone blocked in by those cars would have to wait another 30-60 AFTER the last race to wait for people to come back from touring the pit area. Not the friendliest of parking attendants. I expressed my concerns to the parking attendant. He was a much less than friendly fellow. He told me, “We don’t have much room to park car and we have to park them this way”. I told him that in all of the racetracks I had attended prior to tonight (that would be 1,970) I had NEVER EVER seen a parking arrangement like this. With that comment from me he seemed even less interested in discussing it. I asked where else I could park. He motioned to what looked like some off track property. “You can park on the other side of the road” he said. I looked around. There was a HUGE parking area at the Skagit Speedway. I drove a little further down and found a place where I would not be “hemmed” in. Pictures don’t lie. Folks, take a look at the pictures. You can see well over 100 cars all parked nose to tail and side to side. You can also see a VERY LARGE parking area that remained vacant all night. Tonight there was absolutely no need to park cars “tandem style”. Maybe on Saturday night for the finales such an arrangement might be necessary. It would take A LOT of cars for this style of parking to make sense. Since I’ve been to Eldora and Knoxville and just about every place else that holds big short track events, and NOBODY parks cars tandem style I doubt this is the brightest tool in the toolbox. Skagit…generally an excellent place for racing. So….except for no passing, the track being a dust bowl and the totally screwed up parking arrangement I really did like what was going on at the Skagit Speedway. They can’t be held responsible for the lack of passing with winged sprint cars. Very few tracks see much passing with this class. The dirt looked a little “tired” to me. However the track management did all they could with the intermission re-work to get a raceable surface. I give them an A+ for trying although it took a long time with very little positive outcome. Breaking the limits of credibility. The parking arrangement stretched the limits, O.K. broke the limits of credibility especially with the size of tonight’s crowd. I would love to hear the feedback they got from people who had to wait a long time to leave the track because they were boxed in. Yakima Speedway – Yakima, Washington My history with the Yakima Speedway. My first visit to the Yakima Speedway came back in 1998. The outer asphalt oval was lifetime track #431 for me. My one-line comment from that visit was “Won a Brian Harris Used Cars t-shirt”. I have no idea where that shirt is today. No kids allowed…don’t even think about it. Tonight I was returning to see racing on their “inner” oval. There would be three classes racing on this smaller track tonight. Those were the Junior Hornets, Hornets and Bump to Pass cars. The Junior Hornets were not a countable class as drivers were limited to those aged 14-17. According to current trackchaser rules a class must allow drivers aged 18 and over to compete. No kids allowed! Do not blame me for the trackchasing rules. I didn’t write ‘em. However the “regular” hornets and BtP cars were countable so that made the world a fine place. However, there were just not cars on the agenda tonight. A Monster drink motorcycle stunt show was being presented as well. There would be no racing on the larger oval. Saturday on Friday…I can do that. The Yakima Speedway normally races on Saturday nights. Tonight was Friday. It’s always a good strategic move to see a “Saturday” track on a Friday. I want to delay seeing my “Friday” night tracks for as long as I can. I arrived early for the 7 p.m. start. I took a short nap in preparation for sleeping overnight in my car after the races. On some of these trips (like this one!) getting good quality sleep or any sleep for that matter is tough. Twenty bucks! Are you kidding me? When it was time to enter the arena I was taken aback by the admission price. Twenty bucks! Folks, that was outrageous. You all know I don’t have the financial resources of the “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers”. Nevertheless, considering the expense of getting me all the way to Yakima, Washington what was another 20 bucks? The Yakima Speedway’s main track is a nearly half-mile asphalt oval. From the top row of the grandstand (they have a lot of seating at this track) I could see the “Yakima dirt track”. It’s only a long par 5 away. Tonight there was at least one car taking a few practice laps on the dirt. Back in ’98 I had seen racing on both the dirt track and the larger asphalt track in Yakima. Does “Price elasticity of demand” ring a bell? There was a small crowd of a bit more than 100 in the grandstands. Does the promoter understand price elasticity of demand? I’ve found things to be very expensive in Washington. Today I paid $20 U.S. plus tip for an outstanding Mexican lunch in a down home hole in the wall place. At the track I bought a 20 oz. bottled water for $2.50. At some tracks that would be a buck. I can’t imagine any other track selling it for more than $1.50-2.00 and that would be high. The action started off with the Monster drink motorcycle jumping boys. There were three riders. They DID do some pretty spectacular jumps. It was windy and that made what they were doing even more difficult. They would perform two shows tonight. The first was before the auto racing. The second show would begin after all of the auto racing was finished. With a nearly three-hour drive back to Seattle and a 5:20 a.m. flight departure tomorrow morning I would not be around for the second show. Please don’t miss the video from the Yakima Speedway. You’ll enjoy seeing the motorcycle jumpers. Let’s go racing inner oval style. The first race was the “B trophy dash” for the Youth hornets. They would be racing on a permanent inner oval track. The front stretch and backstretch of this track were separated by about six inches. That right! A series of permanently placed “Jersey” barriers was all that separated the front and back stretches. Two drivers racing down each of these straights could shake hands….but why would they want too? The front stretch of the smaller oval used the front stretch of the larger oval. The “back” stretch of the little oval used what would be the apron or pit lane of the large oval. The cars raced counter-clockwise. OMG. I might remind my readers that I paid twenty dollars for this show. Although the motorcycle jumpers were entertaining I did not come to see them. I came for the auto racing. There were seven junior hornets. There were about the same number of adult hornets. The announcer told us the field of Bump to Pass racers was the largest of the year with ten. Folks, that’s not a lot of “iron” on the track for a twenty dollar bill. Catering to basic human needs. However it was what it was and I wasn’t going to change it. Each class ran three races. There was a “B” trophy dash and then an “A” trophy dash for each class. After each of these races they stopped to award trophies to the “podium” (top three) finishers. This did two things. First, it stretched out the racing program on a night when car counts were skinny. Secondly, it catered to the human need for recognition. For me it put a cramp in my butt on this windy and somewhat cool evening. The track was completely flat and maybe 1/6-mile in length. The races were fairly short. This wasn’t the World 100 but it was track #1,971. That was good enough for me. Don’t miss the video of tonight’s racing. If you’ve never seen hornet racing on a small flat asphalt oval you will have after you’ve viewed this video! Washington The Evergreen state This evening I saw my 27th lifetime track in the Evergreen state, yes the Evergreen state. Nobody is close to that total. 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 Washington sayings: Keep calm and cougar on AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Cleveland, OH (LCE) – 2,050 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Hopkins (Cleveland) International Airport – trip begins Croswell, MI Detroit Metropolitan Airport – trip ends – 151 miles RENTAL CAR #2 Detroit Metropolitan International Airport – trip begins Hoagland, IN Detroit Metropolitan International Airport – trip ends – 571 miles AIRPLANE Detroit, MI (DTW) – Washington, D.C. (DCA) – 409 miles RENTAL CAR #3 Ronald Reagan National Airport – trip begins Summit Point, WV Middleburg, PA Washington, D.C. Ronald Reagan National Airport – trip ends – 770 miles AIRPLANE Washington, D.C. (DCA) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 2,294 miles PERONAL CAR Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) – trip begins John Wayne Airport (SNA) – trip ends – 41 miles AIRPLANE John Wayne Airport (SNA) – Seattle, WA (SEA) – 980 miles RENTAL CAR #4 SeaTac International Airport – trip begins Seattle, WA SeaTac International Airport – trip ends – 57 miles RENTAL CAR #5 SeaTac International Airport – trip begins Alger, WA SeaTac International Airport – trip ends – 189 miles RENTAL CAR #6 SeaTac International Airport – trip begins Yakima, WA TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Croswell County Fairgrounds – $8 ($2 fair admission) Hoagland Figure 8 Track – $8 Summit Point Raceway – $15 Penns Creek Raceway – $3 RFK Stadium – $25 Yakima Speedway – $20 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 400 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 Greetings from Yakima, Washington From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” Yakima Speedway – asphalt outer oval Lifetime Track #433 Reprinted with permission from my June 23, 2000 Trackchaser Report I am frequently a lucky duck. My lucky day continued as I made the 26 second commute back to Yakima Speedway. Upon entering they were selling lucky number souvenir programs for $2.00. I always buy a program under the premise that later on in life when I’m in the retirement home I’ll have something to read. Lots of programs were laid out on a table so you could pick the one of your choice. I chose program # 1188 in honor of my all time favorite driver, Darrell Dake whose car number was 8. Now like most avid trackchasers I’ve won a few prizes in my viewing career such as 1) a Ronnie Milsap tape at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernadino, CA, 2) two free passes to Oregon Speedway in Madison, WI while attending a race at Freeport, IL, 3) a pizza at Kankakee Speedway in Kankakee, IL 4) $10 worth of food at Attala Speedway in Kosciusko, MS and finally #5, the big one, airfare for two and a week’s hotel to Zurich, Switzerland at the Long Beach Gran Prix in Long Beach, CA. It’s always a good idea to say hello. As I’ve mentioned in previous race reports I am in the habit of sending a note up to the announcer with my track lists and current race schedule. When I did this at Yakima the announcer invited me to come up and meet him. So, after the heats were run and intermission began I gathered up my camera bag and lucky number program and made my way to the press box. As I entered the announce booth the lady asked me to wait for a moment as the announcer was getting ready to announce the five lucky number program winners. You guessed it, the first number to come over the loud speaker system was in fact program # 1188! You can guess my surprise and amazement to win a brand new 2000 Chevrolet Corvette!! Then I woke up from that particular dream to realize that Brian Harris Used Cars was sponsoring the event. In point of fact I had won a long sleeve olive green Brian Harris Used Car t-shirt that I will wear with pride. The announcer, like most are, was amazed and somewhat envious about the ability to see races all over the country and the world. In deed it was my lucky day. Now some info about Yakima Speedway. Highlights This was a special Friday Family show and general admission was only $5. They ran just two classes, Bombers (19) and Hobby (12) stocks. The cars like most at asphalt tracks looked very good with few dents and great looking paint jobs. They had a super public address system and the announcer was very animated. The track had a rule for their entry class, the bombers, which limited a driver to just 3 laps of 25 seconds or less in time trials or racing. When a driver had a lap of less than 25 seconds it was called a “breakout”. Three “breakouts” during the entire year and you were bumped up to the next class, the Hobbies. During times trials one driver had his third “breakout” which put him to the back of the pack for the night and up to the next class for the next race. Refreshments were offered with a “Fan Night Special” of a hot dog, chips and a 16 oz. Soda for #2. This track was the first ever to receive a NASCAR short track sanction in the Northwest. It’s also the home of the “Apple Cup” which has been won over the years by Herschel McGiff and Derrick Cope. There was plenty of seating and they had a big scoreboard. Overall, a quality program and a nice track. Lowlights: The only two negatives were 1) the turns were very narrow and would allow a maximum of two cars wide and 2) the seats were on rough concrete which were pretty uncomfortable. Overall rating: I give the racing an 8. Virtually every race had a side by side battle and two of them had photo finishes. The facility gets an 8.2 (an extra point because I won a prize!). Plenty of seating, great sight lines, good announcing and nice looking cars with a finish at about 10:15 p. m. made it a good program. Click on this link to view photos from the Yakima Speedway and more: Yakima Speedway and some mighty fine Mexican eating 
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