Looks like Waterford Speedbowl in CT is going to run
A fig-8 race on Sun Sep.2 nd hope this helps someone get
This new track

Brian

On Aug 30, 2012, at 3:03 PM, RTRYFBAR@... wrote:

>
>
>
> TrackChasers:
>
> (Weekly Listserve Update #87). An impressive 28 new track visits were added
during the past week for 14 different TrackChasers in ten states, six countries,
and two provinces. Included in that group are 13 active group members and one of
our project drivers. In addition, more complete or earlier dates were added for
three project drivers. Of the 28 tracks added, 18 were from last weekend. For
the first time in awhile, there were no midweek track visits with all 18 coming
on the weekend.
>
> Once again Mike Knappenberger led the way with five new tracks (plus two
previously visited tracks as well) as he and his brother started the weekend at
the USAC Sprint race at Kokomo, (future home track of Patsy Eckel), and then
spent the rest of the weekend in Michigan.
>
> We added four new tracks for Roland Vanden Eynde. The final two tracks from
his trip to the UK added two to his Scotland total, while the past weekend found
Roland at new tracks in both the Netherlands and his native Belgium. It was his
197th track in Belgium, as he edges closer to his personal goal of 200 tracks in
his native country. The three new tracks added to the Database this week all
were tracks visited by Roland.
>
> Brian Hickey added three new tracks during the past two weekends, one each in
Iowa, New Mexico, and South Dakota. The latter two were first time visits by any
group member in 2012, bringing out total of states visited to 40 this year (Only
10 to go, or 17 according to our President).
>
> Vince Sadowski's time in the northeast may be getting short for this summer,
but Vince did manage to see racing at two new tracks this past weekend, one in
New York and the other in Vermont.
>
> Rick Young added to his impressive Quebec total with same day visits to both a
dirt and a paved track in the region.
>
> 1000 Track Club member Andy Sivi added new tracks in Illinois and Missouri for
his first two new tracks of 2012. Andy became the 39th person to have added new
tracks this year.
>
> Pam Smith, despite being back at school for the new year, added two new
tracks, one in the US and one in Canada, one paved and one dirt, and one an oval
and one a Figure-8.
>
> Paul Weisel, in the midst of a busy month between his KLASCAR, EARHS, and
ATQMRA Vintage Division duties, found time to play TrackChaser at tracks in both
Tennessee and Pennsylvania earlier in the month.
>
> Single tracks were added by Guy Smith in Ontario, Bruce and Pat Eckel in
Pennsylvania, Roger Ferrell in Michigan, and Bing Metz earlier in the month in
Pennsylvania.
>
> The new Project Driver track was added for Sir Jack Brabham, with date changes
for Brabham, Frank Gardner, and Denny Hulme. Brabham's track was the only one
added this week that was not from 2012.
>
> Anyone who wants to * add dates to their listed tracks, * change orcomplete
track namesthat appear on their track list, * add information to their
personal"Notes" column for each track, * add tracks in any of the"Non
Classified" group categories outside of TrackChasers, * orrequest any other
changes to their track lists are encouraged to do soat any time and if possible,
the changes will be made in the order theyaresubmitted.
>
> The 27 new tracks from 2012 have put us over the 450 mark for the year. There
have been 451 new tracks reported so far for 2012. That's notenough, we want
more! Mike Knappenberger has contributed the most tothe group total with 77 new
tracks to date.
>
> 2012 WEEK 1-33 ADDITIONS (JANUARY 1 - AUGUST 19)
>
> 08/04 Paul Weisel--Winchester Speedway, TN
> 08/12 Bing Metz--Oreville Kart Club, PA
> 08/12 Paul Weisel--Oreville Kart Club, PA
> 08/17 Andy Sivi--Lincoln Speedway, IL
> 08/18 Brian Hickey--Independence Speedway, IA
> 08/18 Andy Sivi--Thunder Cty Speedway, MO
> 08/18 Roland Vanden Eynde--Avonbridge, Scotland, UK
> 08/19 Brian Hickey--Sun Casino Speedway, SD
> 08/19 Roland Vanden Eynde--Crimond Raceway, Scotland, UK
>
> 2012 WEEK 34 ADDITIONS (AUGUST 20 - AUGUST 26)
>
> Friday, August 24
>
> Vince Sadowski--Devil's Bowl Speedway, VT
> Pam Smith--Wyoming County International Speedway, NY
>
> Saturday, August 25
>
> Bruce Eckel--Kingsdale VFW Motorsports Arena, PA
> Pat Eckel--Kingsdale VFW Motorsports Arena, PA
> Brian Hickey--Uranium Capitol Speedway, NM
> Mike Knappenberger--Michigan International Speedway (Road Circuit), MI
> Mike Knappenberger--Manistee County Fairgrounds (Off Road Oval), MI
> Mike Knappenberger--Manistee County Fairgrounds (Figure-8), MI
> Mike Knappenberger--Ocena County Fairgrounds (Figure-8), MI
> Vince Sadowski--Caroga Creek, NY
> Guy Smith--Woodstock Raceway, ON, Canada
> Pam Smith--Woodstock Raceway, ON, Canada
> Roland Vanden Eynde--Lellens, Netherlands
> Rick Young--Autodrome East Broughton, PQ, Canada
> Rick Young--Circuit Riverside Speedway, PQ, Canada
>
> Sunday, August 26
>
> Roger Ferrell--Michigan International Speedway (Road Circuit), MI
> Mike Knappenberger--Mid Michigan Raceway Park, MI
> Roland Vanden Eynde--Ieper, VLG, Belgium
>
> **********
>
> 2012 SUMMARY
>
> Total New Track Visits Reported--451
>
> Number of TrackChasers Reporting New Tracks This Year--39
>
> US States Visited for New Tracks--40 (AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL,
IN, KS, KY,ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA,
SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV)
>
> Canadian Provinces Visited for New Tracks--2 (ON, QC)
>
> Countries Visited for New Tracks--15 (AUS, BEL, BHR, CAN, CHE, DEU, ESP, FRA,
GBR, IRL, ITA, NLD, RUS, SWE, USA)
>
> Lifetime Group Total of Reported TrackChaser New Track Visits--34,876 (+28)
>
> Lifetime Group Reported Total in the new "Non Classified Tracks"
Categories--35.
>
> **********
>
> The 2012 TrackChasing season is dedicated with love and respect to the memory
of Edward Jonathan Esser.
>
> All TrackChaser statistics are available at any time on
www.roamingtheraceways.com;Please report your new tracks in as timely a manner
as possible so thatall can enjoy and celebrate the travels of others.  Thanks
for thegreat participation, support, and ideas. Continue to submit your ideas
for changes or improvements to my site.
>
> Guy Smith
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello colleagues,

Last year, I added a 200th Dutch track to my list and for this year, my target
was to do likewise in my home country. For a long time, it looked as though I
would not be able to reach this goal, but recently, a few new events were added
to the autocross calendar, to compensate for events earlier in the year that had
to be cancelled because the local authorities failed to deliver the necessary
permits.

As Sunday was also the date of the Belgian Grand Prix and this creates a huge
traffic jam on the motorway from Francorchamps all the way down to Brussels, I
first went to the track of Odeur, WAL, which was only two miles off that
motorway. Luckily, the organisers had adapted the hours of the meeting and would
start early at 10.00 a.m. Traffic was dense, but still fluid and I arrived at
the track largely on time for the first one hour enduro race. I had already been
to an autocross track at Crisnée that was in a field only yards off the
motorway. This time, they had transferred the meeting to the oddly named hamlet
of Odeur (smell), which is also a part of Crisnée. The organisers are a Dutch
speaking group which has all its meetings, bar this one, in my home province of
Vlaams-Brabant. As a fair number of participants come from the French speaking
province of Liège, they started having a yearly foray into that province five
years ago. The track was a very nice and large clay course, with a lot of fast
flowing bends on undulating land. The 10.00 a.m. race was a one hour enduro for
the standard class (unmodified saloon cars) and it had no less than 63 entries.
The race was very entertaining, but, as always, the paddock, where they had
their driver changes, was a hive of activity. It's not a spot for faint hearted
or absent-minded people with cars coming from every direction at a rate of
knots. I stayed for the first few laps of the modified class, before hitting the
road for my afternoon target.

It was about an hour's drive to the twin tracks at Zottegem, VLG. This was a
VRCB organised meeting. They always have their non contact classes on a dirt
course and their contact class on a tiny dirt oval. Pam, Guy and Gordy have seen
such races and just like when they came over the dirt course was rutted and
rough running. It was also a bit dusty. Most non contact classes had acceptable
fields, but the lowered Beetle plateaus and the buggies (the two fastest
classes) had less than 5 cars running. However, the most spectacular part of a
VRCB meeting is the huge field of bangers (31 this time) that drives on a very
small and tight oval, smaller than most American bullring tracks. And they don't
stop the race when cars overturn, except when the driver is hurt. Luckily, this
wasn't the case at this meeting, but at a VACB meeting in Bellegem, a buggy lost
a rear wheel, which injured three spectators.

After having been to 197 previous Belgian tracks, I was surprised how easy it
was to jump from 197 to 200. No track was further than a 45 minute drive from
home, although in different directions. Moreover, it was fitting to get a track
in Wallonia and two in Flanders and having to drive through the Brussels region
to get from one to the others.

I have no plans for next week, maybe I'll rest on my laurels a bit.

Roland

-----------------------------------------
Visit our website! http://www.nbb.be

"DISCLAIMER: The content of this e-mail message should not be
construed as binding on the part of the National Bank of Belgium
(NBB) unless otherwise and previously stated. The opinions
expressed in this message are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect NBB viewpoints, particularly when the content
of this message, or part thereof, is private by nature or does not
fall within the professional scope of its author."

TrackChasers:

My first race ever was  a USAC Sprint Car race at the Allentown Fairgrounds on a
half mile dirt track in the 1960's.  I was at the last race on the  half mile as
well, an SMRC Midget win for Ronnie Dunstan in the 1970's.  There were two
otherTC tracks at the facility.  There was a small inner oval used one time in
1989 for Mini Sprints, and also indoor racing during the winter at Agricultural
Hall.  There was also Quarter Midget racing on a small oval on the front
stretch, and I believe at one time there was even dirt drag racing there as
well?

Last week was fair week at Allentown, and although racing is long gone (the Mini
Sprint race was the last one to date), it is still an annual tradition for me to
attend the fair in the town where I grew up.  This was my 53rd straight year at
the fair (every year I've been alive).  I took my mom after school last
Thursday, and she thinks this is her 80th straight year there.

On Monday night while at the West End Fair figure-8 race, Paul Weisel told me
that the Eastern Auto Racing Historical Society was going to have a display at
the fair in the Agri-Plex, which I think is the current name of the old Ag. Hall
building where the indoor races took place.  I assumed it was going to be a
display about the Sprint Car and Midget racing on the half mile track.

To my surprise, the display featured the indoor racing, which was held from
1962-1966 and was for Micro Midgets (two classes I believe) and TQ Midgets.  Not
only did they have some great pictures of the racing there, but they had two
cars  on display that were co-champions on the series one winter, as well as
some interesting race results.  It was nice to see the focus shift from the much
more famous big track to the far less well known indoor racing held there. 
Although I am already a dues paying member of the EARHS, I supported the group
by buying a few old photos, two for Ginny Schule of her first favorite driver,
George Fonder; and one for myself of Paul racing a Midget at the National
Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica back in 1983.

Although Paul is an active member of our TrackChaser group, he continues to wear
many interesting hats in the sport, including running the contemporary Keystone
Legends Series that races at Linda's and Big Diamond, the EARHS, Weisel Racing
Equipment, and he is very active in both restoring race cars and running them at
various tracks throughout the northeast and midwest.

I wish I would have been able to see racing indoors in Allentown.  A check of
the TrackChaser group database shows that four group members did see racing
there: Dwight Bucks, Mike Knappenberger, Gordy Killian, and Paul Weisel.  Only
Paul has the date of his visit, November 11, 1962.

Well done on the display, Paul (and thanks for being nice to mom).

Guy Smith


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Saturday night we made a trip from near the Stormville Flea Market to the
Bethel Motor Speedway in southern NY.
We were pleasantly surprised as it is a very nice facility. The grounds
were well kept, the racing very good even though it is a very short track
which  makes passing difficult. Admission is $6. The intermission was 30
minutes. The food was good.
The car count was as follows:

12 Bandoleros
13 semi pro Legends
8 pro stock
9 358 northern modified sportsman
13 4 cyl novice
12 4 cyl advanced
6 street stocks
10 pro and master Legends

The show was over in about 3 hours. If in the area I would go back  again.

Monday we were at the Woodstock Fair in South Woodstock Ct where the
Tri-State Kart Club put on races for 4 days. We saw go karts as well as champ
karts.

Heading south in a week and a half. I have some new tracks picked out to
stop at if the weather cooperates. Vince

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Roland,

Congratulations on reaching 200 tracks in your homeland.

Bruce

----- Original Message -----
   From: Vanden Eynde Roland
   To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Monday, September 03, 2012 5:34 AM
   Subject: [TrackChasers] TrackChaser update



   Hello colleagues,

   Last year, I added a 200th Dutch track to my list and for this year, my target
was to do likewise in my home country. For a long time, it looked as though I
would not be able to reach this goal, but recently, a few new events were added
to the autocross calendar, to compensate for events earlier in the year that had
to be cancelled because the local authorities failed to deliver the necessary
permits.

   As Sunday was also the date of the Belgian Grand Prix and this creates a huge
traffic jam on the motorway from Francorchamps all the way down to Brussels, I
first went to the track of Odeur, WAL, which was only two miles off that
motorway. Luckily, the organisers had adapted the hours of the meeting and would
start early at 10.00 a.m. Traffic was dense, but still fluid and I arrived at
the track largely on time for the first one hour enduro race. I had already been
to an autocross track at Crisnée that was in a field only yards off the
motorway. This time, they had transferred the meeting to the oddly named hamlet
of Odeur (smell), which is also a part of Crisnée. The organisers are a Dutch
speaking group which has all its meetings, bar this one, in my home province of
Vlaams-Brabant. As a fair number of participants come from the French speaking
province of Liège, they started having a yearly foray into that province five
years ago. The track was a very nice and large clay course, with a lot of fast
flowing bends on undulating land. The 10.00 a.m. race was a one hour enduro for
the standard class (unmodified saloon cars) and it had no less than 63 entries.
The race was very entertaining, but, as always, the paddock, where they had
their driver changes, was a hive of activity. It's not a spot for faint hearted
or absent-minded people with cars coming from every direction at a rate of
knots. I stayed for the first few laps of the modified class, before hitting the
road for my afternoon target.

   It was about an hour's drive to the twin tracks at Zottegem, VLG. This was a
VRCB organised meeting. They always have their non contact classes on a dirt
course and their contact class on a tiny dirt oval. Pam, Guy and Gordy have seen
such races and just like when they came over the dirt course was rutted and
rough running. It was also a bit dusty. Most non contact classes had acceptable
fields, but the lowered Beetle plateaus and the buggies (the two fastest
classes) had less than 5 cars running. However, the most spectacular part of a
VRCB meeting is the huge field of bangers (31 this time) that drives on a very
small and tight oval, smaller than most American bullring tracks. And they don't
stop the race when cars overturn, except when the driver is hurt. Luckily, this
wasn't the case at this meeting, but at a VACB meeting in Bellegem, a buggy lost
a rear wheel, which injured three spectators.

   After having been to 197 previous Belgian tracks, I was surprised how easy it
was to jump from 197 to 200. No track was further than a 45 minute drive from
home, although in different directions. Moreover, it was fitting to get a track
in Wallonia and two in Flanders and having to drive through the Brussels region
to get from one to the others.

   I have no plans for next week, maybe I'll rest on my laurels a bit.

   Roland

   -----------------------------------------
   Visit our website! http://www.nbb.be

   "DISCLAIMER: The content of this e-mail message should not be
   construed as binding on the part of the National Bank of Belgium
   (NBB) unless otherwise and previously stated. The opinions
   expressed in this message are solely those of the author and do not
   necessarily reflect NBB viewpoints, particularly when the content
   of this message, or part thereof, is private by nature or does not
   fall within the professional scope of its author."




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

Football is back!  Hooray!  But minor league baseball is almost over.  Boo! 
Thankfully, racing season never ends.  With that in mind, we based our Labor Day
plans around football first, baseball second, and racing third.  After work on
Friday we followed the Freedom High Patriots as they went on the road for the
first game of the year.  The heavily favored Pates played like crap and lost the
game on a field goal with 15 seconds left.  So much for Friday.

On Saturday we headed to Penn State to see the Lions take on Pam's Alma Mater,
the Ohio University Bobcats.  I am not pleased with the way the NCAA treated
Penn State, and even more unhappy with the way Penn State treated Joe Paterno. 
Therefore, I had no plans to go to any Penn State games this year.  But Pam
wanted to go to see OU, and her brother has multiple season tickets that are
great seats.  Not a problem, I can be flexible and compromise if it's important
to my dear wife.  So instead of saying I was going to see Penn State, I just
said I was going to see OU, which was the truth.  We wore OU apparel and cheered
(respectfully) for the Bobcats, and in the end things worked out perfectly for
Pam as her Cats knocked off mighty Penn State by ten for their first win ever
over State.

After the game, we were looking for something to do for a few hours in the
evening.  I got the idea to go to Cove Valley Speedway, which was just over an
hour away.  I had only been there one time before, with Will White in 1999.  At
that time we saw Senior Champ Karts.  This evening, the "PA Wings" traveling
series of Winged Outlaw Karts were an added attraction.  By stopping there
again, I could upgrade my analog track photos to digital, and upgrade the top
class I have seen race there as well.  Pam was game.

We arrived around 6:00, the time the website said the races begin, but they had
not yet started practice.  There was no one collecting admission, so we just
drove in and parked near turn four.  There was an "order of events" sheet
showing 17 classes.  The TC small car classes were the Senior Champ Karts (only
four this week), the PA Wings Sportsman/Intermediate class (seven), and the PA
Wings Unlimited class (nine).  The Sportsman and Intermediate classes run
together when they don't have a big field, but are scored separately.

After we parked our car and set up the lawn chair, I headed to the refreshment
stand to get some food.  On the way, I ran into our former (though still a
member of our listserve) group member Randy Lewis.  Since I haven't kept up with
his escapades, I stopped to have a friendly general conversation, but that
didn't go too well.  I go to the races with Pam and with my friends to have fun
and to promote the sport and our hobby.  When I felt Randy pulling me into his
dark world of perpetual confrontation, accusation, and anger, I quickly put an
end to the conversation and returned to my wife to enjoy our evening together,
while Randy headed off alone to enjoy his holiday weekend and hobby in his way. 
I wish him the best.

The races began around 7:00.  At that time, they came around and collected $7
admission from the spectators.  I have not seen this system, of letting everyone
in first and collect the fee later, before, but they said that's how they do it
every week.  I would think it would be much easier to miss people this way, but
they seemed to think it works well for them.

Cove Valley is a nice little small car and go kart track.  It has a very
friendly atmosphere and once the races began they moved them right along.  We
had decided before we even got to the track that we would watch all the cars and
karts race once, then head to Altoona where we were staying that night.  We
actually ended up watching the unlimited all star karts race a second time, as
they were the only class that ran two sets of heats.  Right before the Unlimited
Winged Outlaw race it began to rain.  I was in the bleachers for that one, but
headed to the car to watch the last two heats.  After the heats, the rain let up
some and intermission began.  We headed out as planned, so I'm not sure if they
got all the features in the books or not.

Cove Valley remains a nice family oriented kart track and after a great morning
and afternoon at Penn State with Pam's brother Bruce, Pam and I had a nice
partial evening at Cove Valley.


Guy & Pam Smith 2012 Summary

2012 New Tracks--Guy 48 / Pam 42
2012 Events--Guy 67 / Pam 42
2012 Total Tracks--Guy 71 / Pam 45
2012 Additional Non Classified Tracks--Guy 6 /

Lifetime Total Tracks--Guy 1,466 / Pam 829


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks Bruce. I'll now have to start working on reaching this target in the USA
as well. I'll do my best for that.



Roland



From: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Bruce Eckel
Sent: 04 September 2012 22:16
To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] TrackChaser update





Roland,

Congratulations on reaching 200 tracks in your homeland.

Bruce

----- Original Message -----
From: Vanden Eynde Roland
To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com <mailto:TrackChasers%40yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2012 5:34 AM
Subject: [TrackChasers] TrackChaser update

Hello colleagues,

Last year, I added a 200th Dutch track to my list and for this year, my target
was to do likewise in my home country. For a long time, it looked as though I
would not be able to reach this goal, but recently, a few new events were added
to the autocross calendar, to compensate for events earlier in the year that had
to be cancelled because the local authorities failed to deliver the necessary
permits.

As Sunday was also the date of the Belgian Grand Prix and this creates a huge
traffic jam on the motorway from Francorchamps all the way down to Brussels, I
first went to the track of Odeur, WAL, which was only two miles off that
motorway. Luckily, the organisers had adapted the hours of the meeting and would
start early at 10.00 a.m. Traffic was dense, but still fluid and I arrived at
the track largely on time for the first one hour enduro race. I had already been
to an autocross track at Crisnée that was in a field only yards off the
motorway. This time, they had transferred the meeting to the oddly named hamlet
of Odeur (smell), which is also a part of Crisnée. The organisers are a Dutch
speaking group which has all its meetings, bar this one, in my home province of
Vlaams-Brabant. As a fair number of participants come from the French speaking
province of Liège, they started having a yearly foray into that province five
years ago. The track was a very nice and large clay course, with a lot of fast
flowing bends on undulating land. The 10.00 a.m. race was a one hour enduro for
the standard class (unmodified saloon cars) and it had no less than 63 entries.
The race was very entertaining, but, as always, the paddock, where they had
their driver changes, was a hive of activity. It's not a spot for faint hearted
or absent-minded people with cars coming from every direction at a rate of
knots. I stayed for the first few laps of the modified class, before hitting the
road for my afternoon target.

It was about an hour's drive to the twin tracks at Zottegem, VLG. This was a
VRCB organised meeting. They always have their non contact classes on a dirt
course and their contact class on a tiny dirt oval. Pam, Guy and Gordy have seen
such races and just like when they came over the dirt course was rutted and
rough running. It was also a bit dusty. Most non contact classes had acceptable
fields, but the lowered Beetle plateaus and the buggies (the two fastest
classes) had less than 5 cars running. However, the most spectacular part of a
VRCB meeting is the huge field of bangers (31 this time) that drives on a very
small and tight oval, smaller than most American bullring tracks. And they don't
stop the race when cars overturn, except when the driver is hurt. Luckily, this
wasn't the case at this meeting, but at a VACB meeting in Bellegem, a buggy lost
a rear wheel, which injured three spectators.

After having been to 197 previous Belgian tracks, I was surprised how easy it
was to jump from 197 to 200. No track was further than a 45 minute drive from
home, although in different directions. Moreover, it was fitting to get a track
in Wallonia and two in Flanders and having to drive through the Brussels region
to get from one to the others.

I have no plans for next week, maybe I'll rest on my laurels a bit.

Roland

-----------------------------------------
Visit our website! http://www.nbb.be

"DISCLAIMER: The content of this e-mail message should not be
construed as binding on the part of the National Bank of Belgium
(NBB) unless otherwise and previously stated. The opinions
expressed in this message are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect NBB viewpoints, particularly when the content
of this message, or part thereof, is private by nature or does not
fall within the professional scope of its author."

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

Our weekend started with high school football Friday night, college football
Saturday afternoon, and racing on Saturday evening.  On Sunday afternoon we
continued with a minor league baseball game for the Erie Seawolves.  That was
the last professional baseball team in our home state that we had not seen play
a game.  The field is in downtown Erie, right next to the Tullio Arena, where
Pam, Mike, Gordy, and me saw indoor racing in 2009.  The Seawolves are in last
place, and they lost to the Altoona Curve.  I think it was Pam's 75th different
pro baseball tem to see play.  We are both looking forward to the day when we
can say we have been to over 100 in two different sports (baseball and racing).

After the game we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.  Just as we were about
to leave, who should show up?  The Altoona Curve.

I wanted to thank Brian Hickey for passing along the info on the Figure-8 race
at the Waterford Speedbowl last Sunday.  If I would have known about it more in
advance, I would have probably worked it into our weekend schedule.  But we had
a great time in Erie, so all was good.  Hopefully Waterford will repeat the
Figure-8 race again in 2013.

On Monday we went to the Port Royal fair.  The great race card featured the
Winged 410 Super Sprints and the ARDC Midgets.  We were hoping to meet up with
Mike Knappenberger there, as he was on the way home from a solo weekend in
Ontario where he saw four new tracks.  We were also hoping to meet up with Bruce
and Pat Eckel, who were Hurricane Isacc'ed out in Indiana and Ohio, but at least
made it to Williams Grove on the way home.  The bad forecast kept Mike heading
towards home without stopping, and it kept the Eckels at home.

We arrive around 11:30 and it was raining.  We paid the $4 fair admission and
headed inside.  We had decided much earlier that if we got close to the fair, we
were going even if the races were rained out.  We did see one TrackChaser group
member wandering around the fair, Dwight "Tweety" Bucks.  One of our Port Royal
fair traditions is the turkey dinner at the Lutheran church stand.  We enjoyed
the dinner and some blueberry pie while the rain continued to fall.   They said
they were going to race if at all possible.  Patsy texted me to eat a church
dinner for her, and I told her I just finished my turkey.  She said she gets the
roast beef, so I would have to eat another.  I considered it.

The rain stopped and we walked around the fair while they worked on the track. 
About 2:30, the rain returned and at 2:45 they sadly had to cancel the show.  It
was far too early to eat another church dinner, so I sent my apologies to Patsy,
who suggested I get one to go.

We were home before dark, glad that we were able to go to the fair, but
disappointed that we did not get to see any races that day.

Guy Smith


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Fri. Night got to see sprintcar mania at the RPM Speedway in Hays KS. Very good
show and a very nice facility.

Sat. Night at the Washington Speedway in Washington KS. I witnessed the best
racing so far this year. The 600's put on one whale of a show as well as the
rest of the mini sprints.

See ya at the track
Brian

On Aug 29, 2012, at 7:30 PM, Brian <BHICKEYJR@...> wrote:

> Uranium capital speedway on Sat night in NM.
>
> Two from last week
> Sat Independence Speedway in IA
> Sun Casino speedway in SD
>
> On Aug 1, 2012, at 9:11 PM, Brian <BHICKEYJR@...> wrote:
>
> > A very dusty night of racing at Toccoa Speedway in Ga.
> >
> > See ya at the track
> > Brian
> >
> > On Jul 23, 2012, at 12:19 AM, BHICKEYJAOL.COM wrote:
> >
> > > Just one this week. Sat. Senoia Raceway Senoia,GA. dirt oval
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Sun, Jul 15, 2012 11:12 pm
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Thursday State Park Speedway. Wausau,WI. A very well run show that was
over by 10pm and the best side by side racing in all divisions that i have seen
all year.Not a bad race all night.
> > >
> > > Friday Grundy County Speedway. Morris,IL. Lackluster qualifying and heat
races with much better racing in the features.
> > >
> > > See ya at the track
> > > Brian
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Mon, Jun 25, 2012 11:27 pm
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Sunday Enid Speedway Enid,OK. What a differance a day makes. poor track
conditions very poorly run show and lousy racing
> > > until the final a mod feature.
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Sun, Jun 24, 2012 7:15 pm
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Sat. Centerville Speedway Centerville,Ar.
> > > Very good racing in all divisions except for the E-mods. The show was well
run and had a near capacity croud on hand.
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 23:52:02
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Tuesday. Milwauke Mile Speedway
> > > Vintage races were good just wairing for the ASA race to start.
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:28:33
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Sun. Benton County Raceway,Vinton,Ia. Great racing in all divisions,very
quick,fast paced show with all features in the books by 8:45
> > >
> > > Brian
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:59:26
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Sat. Nevada Speedway Nevada Month. A little dusty,started off a little
lackluster for the heats but the features were very good in all divisions
> > >
> > > Brian
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:52:38
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Fri Heart O Texas Speedway Waco Tx
> > > Started on time, no intermission no waisted time between races. They
double digit car counts, the b mods had 25, very competative racing all night.
> > >
> > > Brian
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 00:32:52
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Gordy
> > >
> > > Found it by accident trying to get
> > > Info on the track at the Montazooma County Fairgrounds in Co. I went to
the IMCA website and was scrolling down thru member tracks and theirs was
listed.
> > > It is a new track at the fairgrounds run pretty well, great food from
outside venders. I stayed overnight and did some exploring in the morning and
found an offroad coarse out back. Did not investigate if it is countable or not
yet.
> > >
> > > Brian
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: RPMGORDY@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 20:05:33
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Brian,
> > >
> > > How did you find out about Millard County?
> > >
> > > Gordy
> > >
> > > In a message dated 6/3/2012 1:20:48 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > > BHICKEYJR@... writes:
> > >
> > > Friday eve Thunder Mountain Speedway Olathe,Co. very dusty, small crowd
> > > and low car counts for a two day show.
> > >
> > > Saturday eve Millard County Raceway Delta Ut. not as dusty as Thunder
> > > Mountain, better croud, much better racing and slightly better car counts.
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Wed, May 30, 2012 12:59 am
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > friday lincoln speedway lincoln,il
> > > saturday fairbury american legion speedway fairbury,il
> > > sunday farmer city speedway farmer city ,il
> > > monday macon speedway macon,il
> > > excellent racing at all of these 4 speedways a great weekend of
> > > trackchasing!
> > >
> > > see ya at the track
> > > brian
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Sent: Thu, May 24, 2012 10:39 pm
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Scratch one off of the bucket list with me finally getting to the Tony
> > > Hullman
> > > lassic at Terre Haute Speedway.
> > > ent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > rom: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > ender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > ate: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:50:05
> > > o: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > eply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > ubject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > Met up with The Man of Steel on Friday and we headed up to Southern Ohio
> > > peedway to catch their 2000 to win super latemodel show.
> > > On Sat. Eve I headed over to Corbin Speedway in Ky. For their regular
> > > weekly
> > > how.
> > > Guy
> > > You may want to get some dining recomendations for your Kansas City trip
> > > from
> > > he Postman, I heard the Duck Fat Fries are a must.
> > >
> > > See ya at the track
> > > Brian
> > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: RPMGORDY@...
> > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:44:55
> > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > >
> > > Julian,
> > >
> > > We DO care. One of the best parts of this deal is the telling of
> > > stories to any and all that will hear them. I wish I had more time to do
> > > so.
> > > Never be intimidated by some of the numbers or believe your own numbers
> > > aren't worthy. So many times the good bench racing to, from and at the
> > > track is
> > >
> > > etter than the actual racing. I hope you get to share a road trip with any
> > > of us some day to see what I mean. This past weekend was proof of what I
> > > say. On the way to champkart hell at NHIS, Guy, Mike and I got to enjoy a
> > > nice show at the Waterford Speedbowl and raise the tide in the sea of
> > > sarcasm
> > > as we watched the Granite State Kart Club stumble and bumble their way
> > > through their program while lamenting "a little bad luck".The confusion
> > > brought
> > >
> > > bout by malfunctioning transponders was as comical as it was ridiculous.
> > > Why, they had to actually score the racing by hand with real people. The
> > > Horror! I wonder how racing survived all these years doing just that. No
> > > matter how much we see, we will never see it all. Adios.
> > >
> > > Gordy
> > >
> > > In a message dated 4/13/2012 4:11:05 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > > kidroberts@... writes:
> > >
> > > I haven't posted on here in a while, but I figured I'd let everyone know
> > > what I have been doing...if anyone cares.
> > >
> > > Last year I made it to 52 Races, 22 Tracks, and 6 States. That was a
> > > personable best for me and I COULD have made 60 if I wanted. This year, I
> > > have
> > > made it to two races, two tracks, and two states. I should be adding
> > > number
> > > three in each category later on today. I consider myself more of a race
> > > chaser, but I do like adding new tracks as well!
> > >
> > > - Julian
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Community email addresses:
> > > Post message: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subscribe: TrackChasers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > > Unsubscribe: TrackChasers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > > List owner: TrackChasers-owner@yahoogroups.com
> > >
> > > Shortcut URL to this page:
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TrackChasersYahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------
> > > Community email addresses:
> > > Post message: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subscribe: TrackChasers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > > Unsubscribe: TrackChasers-unsubscribe@ya


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Guy,

We did squeeze in Gas City on Friday sitting with Roger between the rain storms.
Good racing in all divisions with the wingless sprints pulling in 32 cars and
Robert Ballou besting youngster, Logan Jarrett (who had never won) on the white
flag lap.

Bruce
   ----- Original Message -----
   From: RTRYFBAR@...
   To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 12:21 PM
   Subject: [TrackChasers] 2012 TrackChaser Report--Port Royal, PA (Rainout)



   TrackChasers:

   Our weekend started with high school football Friday night, college football
Saturday afternoon, and racing on Saturday evening. On Sunday afternoon we
continued with a minor league baseball game for the Erie Seawolves. That was the
last professional baseball team in our home state that we had not seen play a
game. The field is in downtown Erie, right next to the Tullio Arena, where Pam,
Mike, Gordy, and me saw indoor racing in 2009. The Seawolves are in last place,
and they lost to the Altoona Curve. I think it was Pam's 75th different pro
baseball tem to see play. We are both looking forward to the day when we can say
we have been to over 100 in two different sports (baseball and racing).

   After the game we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Just as we were about
to leave, who should show up? The Altoona Curve.

   I wanted to thank Brian Hickey for passing along the info on the Figure-8 race
at the Waterford Speedbowl last Sunday. If I would have known about it more in
advance, I would have probably worked it into our weekend schedule. But we had a
great time in Erie, so all was good. Hopefully Waterford will repeat the
Figure-8 race again in 2013.

   On Monday we went to the Port Royal fair. The great race card featured the
Winged 410 Super Sprints and the ARDC Midgets. We were hoping to meet up with
Mike Knappenberger there, as he was on the way home from a solo weekend in
Ontario where he saw four new tracks. We were also hoping to meet up with Bruce
and Pat Eckel, who were Hurricane Isacc'ed out in Indiana and Ohio, but at least
made it to Williams Grove on the way home. The bad forecast kept Mike heading
towards home without stopping, and it kept the Eckels at home.

   We arrive around 11:30 and it was raining. We paid the $4 fair admission and
headed inside. We had decided much earlier that if we got close to the fair, we
were going even if the races were rained out. We did see one TrackChaser group
member wandering around the fair, Dwight "Tweety" Bucks. One of our Port Royal
fair traditions is the turkey dinner at the Lutheran church stand. We enjoyed
the dinner and some blueberry pie while the rain continued to fall. They said
they were going to race if at all possible. Patsy texted me to eat a church
dinner for her, and I told her I just finished my turkey. She said she gets the
roast beef, so I would have to eat another. I considered it.

   The rain stopped and we walked around the fair while they worked on the track.
About 2:30, the rain returned and at 2:45 they sadly had to cancel the show. It
was far too early to eat another church dinner, so I sent my apologies to Patsy,
who suggested I get one to go.

   We were home before dark, glad that we were able to go to the fair, but
disappointed that we did not get to see any races that day.

   Guy Smith

   [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

(Weekly Listserve Update #88).  As always, I'm pleased to be able to share the
travels and accomplishments of the group with everyone each Thursday.  This week
we added 23 new TC tracks to the database, added one NC track for one of our
project drivers, and added dates for two other track visits.

Two of the tracks were for our project drivers and were from previous years, but
the other 21 were from 12 different activeTrackChasers group members and all
were from the past week.

The week got off to a busy start as eight TrackChasers-- Bruce Eckel, Pat Eckel,
Mike Knappenberger, Bing Metz, Guy Smith, Pam Smith, Paul Weisel, and Will White
all took in the first ever race on the temporary dirt figure-8 track at the West
End Fair in Gilbert, PA.  For Mike and Pam, it was not their only new tracks of
the week.

As has often been the case this year, Mike Knappenberger had the most new tracks
during the past week, adding four in Canada to his Monday race in PA.

Others seeing racing at a track for the first time last week were Chris Tyrell,
Roland Vanden Eynde, Vince Sadowski, and Brian Hickey.

Roland saw racing at his 200th track in his native Belgium.  Roland is the only
person to have seen 200 tracks in two different countries, having also been to
200 in Netherlands.  An impressive accomplishment.  Congratulations Roland.

New tracks were added in the USA, Australia, Belgium, Argentina, and Canada
during the past week.  In the USA, states included PA, NY, CT, and KS.

No new states were added this week, but the total number of states visited is an
impressive 40.  The missing ten are Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Rhode Island, and Wyoming.

The one new NC track added was the Pikes Peak Hill Climb for Mario Andretti.  He
won.

Russ Currie of New Jersey submitted his track list of over 285 tracks this week.
When separated into TrackChaser tracks and Non TrackChaser Classified tracks,
his TC total is just slightly under 200 at 192.  We look forward to welcoming
Rusty to the website listing sometime in the near future when he reaches 200 TC
tracks.  He has been a member of our group for a long time.

The research group has also submitted the next TC Project Driver to add to the
website.  It will be an interesting addition.

Anyone who wants to * add dates to their listed tracks, * change orcomplete
track namesthat appear on their track list, * add information to their
personal"Notes" column for each track, * add tracks in any of the"Non
Classified" group categories outside of TrackChasers, * orrequest any other
changes to their track lists are encouraged to do soat any time and if possible,
the changes will be made in the order theyaresubmitted.

There were 21 new 2012 tracks added this week.  There have been 472 new tracks
reported so far for 2012.  That'snotenough, we want more!  Mike Knappenberger
has contributed the most tothe group total with 82 new tracks to date.


2012 WEEK 1-34 ADDITIONS (JANUARY 1 - AUGUST 26)

none


2012 WEEK 35 ADDITIONS (AUGUST 27 - SEPTEMBER 2)

Monday, August 27

Bruce Eckel--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Pat Eckel--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Mike Knappenberger--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Bing Metz--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Guy Smith--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Pam Smith--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Paul Weisel--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA
Will White--West End Fairgrounds F8, PA


Friday, August 31

Brian Hickey--RPM Speedway, KS
Chris Tyrell--Thunder Mountain Speedway, NY


Saturday, September 1

Brian Hickey--Washington Speedway, KS
Mike Knappenberger--Mosport International Speedway Oval, ON, CAN
Mike Knappenberger--Peterborough Speedway, ON, CAN
Vince Sadowski--Bethel Motor Speedway, NY
Pam Smith--Cove Valley Speedway, PA


Sunday, September 2

Mike Knappenberger--Kinmount Fairgrounds F8, ON, CAN
Mike Knappenberger--Orangeville Fairgrounds, F8, ON, CAN
Roland Vanden Eynde--Odeur, WAL, Belgium
Roland Vanden Eynde--Zottegem Road Circuit, VLG, Belgium
Roland Vanden Eynde--Zottegem Oval, VLG, Belgium


Monday, September 3 (Labor Day Holiday Bonus Day)

Vince Sadowski--Woodstock Fairgrounds, CT

**********

2012 SUMMARY

Total New Track Visits Reported--472

Number of TrackChasers Reporting New Tracks This Year--39

US States Visited for New Tracks--40 (AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL,
IN, KS, KY,ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA,
SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV)

Canadian Provinces Visited for New Tracks--2 (ON, QC)

Countries Visited for New Tracks--15 (AUS, BEL, BHR, CAN, CHE, DEU, ESP, FRA,
GBR, IRL, ITA, NLD, RUS, SWE, USA)

Lifetime Group Total of Reported TrackChaser New Track Visits--34,899 (+23)

Lifetime Group Reported Total in the new "Non Classified Tracks" Categories--36
(+1).

**********

The 2012 TrackChasing season is dedicated with love and respect to the memory of
Edward Jonathan Esser.

All TrackChaser statistics are available at any time on
www.roamingtheraceways.com;Please report your new tracks in as timely a manner
as possible so thatall can enjoy and celebrate the travels of others.  Thanks
for thegreat participation, support, and ideas.  Continue to submit your ideas
for changes or improvements to my site.

Guy Smith




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

Below is an update on the Little Diamond I received from the the folks at Big
Diamond Speedway.  Although they had originally said no races until 2013, it
looks like they have had a change of heart.  We may get an TC division race
there yet this year, but not this one.  If I'm home that day, I'll head over to
check it out and report back --Guy Smith



Although the official season at Big Diamond may be completed, thingsare just
beginning at the recently completed "Little Diamond Speedway" After two very
succesful Sunday afternoon practice sessions, managementhas decided to try and
run some shows on the "Little Diamond" beforefall turns into winter.  The first
of these events is tenativelyplanned for Sunday, September 23rd at 1:00 PM
featuring the quartermidgets.  This event will be run using QMA rules and all
classes of QMAcars are invited to compete except for the "B" and Half
Midgetclasses.  There does not seem to be enough interest in those twodivisions
to warrant having them on the schedule.  We will draw forheat starting spots and
a coin flip will be held after the heats todetermine if the features will be
straight up or inverted from the heatfinishes.  Each class will run warm-ups,
heats, and feature events. The number of laps will be determined based on car
counts in eachclass.  Heats will be a minimum of 6 laps each and features will
be aminimum of 15 laps each.  That may not seem like a lot of laps, butremember,
the quarter midgets do not typically run on tracks as largeas 1/5 of a mile in
distance, so there will defitnely will be enoughtime for the car from the back
to get to the front.

Earlycar entry fees for this event will be $10.00 per car per division(driver
pit fee included).  Entry the day of the show will be $20.00per car per division
(driver pit fee included).  Pit fees for everyoneelse day of race will be $10.00
per person.  Entry forms will be postedon the Big Diamond website and possibly
other areas sometime thisweekend.

Even though we are running QMA rules, weinvite all drivers from any and all
quarter midget tracks to attendthis event.  We are hoping to have weekly races
for the quarter midgetsin 2013 if the interest is there.

Thank You.

Tim Long
For Little Diamond Speedway


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Guy,

      They did that late collection when I was at Cove  Valley, also.
Strange, indeed. I'm also glad you weren't pulled over to the dark  side.
(insert
your best Darth Vader breathing here)

      Congrats to Mike and Roland on recent milestones.  Adios.

Gordy

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello colleagues,

I was all geared up for a weekend without trackchasing, when I consulted
my notes on new tracks racing. I had overlooked a Dutch autocross and it
turned out to be only 100 miles from home in the province of
Noord-Brabant. Thus, on Sunday morning I got on the way in glorious
sunshine to the little village of Nuland, where a small sanctioning body
held a very well attended autocross on a hard but rutted clay course. As
usual, there were quite a few classes and as is also usual, the two
buggy and lone lowered beetle classes had skinny fields (3, 4 and 4
respectively), but that was largely made up for the junior class (20)
and both standard saloon car classes (16 and 15). The heats were rather
long (10 minutes) and the meeting was well organised. They even served
salad lunches in the catering tent, a feat that is rare in this basic
form of motorsport. As the spectator enclosure was a grassy field, this
meeting looked a lot like a garden party.

Next week, I'm aiming at another Belgian autocross.


Roland

-----------------------------------------
Visit our website! http://www.nbb.be

"DISCLAIMER: The content of this e-mail message should not be
construed as binding on the part of the National Bank of Belgium
(NBB) unless otherwise and previously stated. The opinions
expressed in this message are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect NBB viewpoints, particularly when the content
of this message, or part thereof, is private by nature or does not
fall within the professional scope of its author."

TrackChasers:

Yesterday Mike Knappenberger went to the Figure-8 race at the Lincoln County
Fair at the fairgrounds in downtown Beamsville, Ontario.  He reported to me that
there were signs there indicating it was the last one.

I checked the fair website, and the Beamsville fairgrounds property has been
sold.  The fair is merging with the Smithville fair, and they have purchased new
land in West Lincoln.  They were looking for a location that is more rural than
the current fair in the middle of the town of Beamsville.  Next year's fair will
be held in the new location.

Assuming they will continue to have Figure-8 racing there next year, this would
be a new track as it will be a completely new fairgrounds in a different town,
similar to what happened when the Ancaster Fair moved from their downtown
Ancaster location to a new fairgrounds in Jerseyville in 2010.

Guy Smith


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

An excerpt from an upcoming Trackchaser Report…….

 
Just as I was entering the Cove Valley Speedway pit
area tonight I ran into Guy Smith.  If
you don’t recall, Guy is the originator of the “Guy Smith controlled and
Pennsylvania based trackchasing list�.  Guy took over the trackchasing
commissioner’s job after Will White
resigned.
 
 
Guy Smith now controls everything in
trackchasing.  He was the ring leader in
developing the rules.  He keeps the
trackchasing results and decides who gets to do what.  He is also the moderator
of the Yahoo Groups!
Trackchasing email conference.  If
anything happens in trackchasing it requires Guy Smith’s approval.
 
 
I personally don’t care for this “one stop shopping
approach�.  This is why I was relieved to
hear Guy Smith shout from a mountain top that Will White’s somewhat draconian
policy of “track listing� was being changed.  With Will, once you submitted
a new track for listing purposes you could
never get it removed.  I didn’t have a
problem with that at all.  You knew that
was Will’s policy going in.  If you
decided to submit your track list then you knew it was there in perpetuity (or
as long as Will White was in charge).  Actually I thought the trackchaser’s
who submitted their lists to Will
and then later wanted to “pick and choose� which tracks were counted were
out
of line.  That wasn’t the agreement when
they signed on with Will White.
 
 
However, when Guy Smith eagerly assumed the
trackchasing leadership role upon Will White’s demise he sought to “quiet
the
natives�.  Guy Smith would have a new
policy when it came to being part of the trackchasing group.  He told everyone
that if they didn’t want to
be part of the trackchasing group they didn’t have to be.  If you wanted some
of your tracks removed from
the list or all of them you could have it your way.  It was going to be just
like Burger King.  This was a breath of fresh air.  Sign me up for the
program!  For a long time I had been wishing that I
didn’t HAVE to be part of the trackchasing list.  I felt this way for several
reasons, which I
won’t bore you with now.  At my earliest
opportunity I asked Guy Smith to remove me from the trackchasing lists.
 
 
He told me he would “take care of that�.  However, he didn’t.  Yep!  I
was surprised too.  Maybe he didn’t
expect the group’s #1 trackchaser to opt out.  Maybe he didn’t really want
to follow through on his promise to let
everyone have their tracks listed the way THEY want them.  I really didn’t
know exactly what his
reasoning was.
 
 
By the way, some of you don’t know Guy Smith
personally and/or have never ever met Guy Smith.  If that is the case you
shouldn’t be
influenced one way or the other about my summary of our encounter.  I don’t
think people should make any
conclusions about another person unless they have talked to them personally and
had a chance to sit down and have a conversation eye to eye.  It’s only then
that you can get a fuller
understanding about someone.  I’ve been
able to do that several times with Guy Smith, which leads me to the conclusions
I share today.
 
 
One other important point.  I don’t want anyone to construe my comments
as a personal attack on Guy Smith.  They
are not.  However, sometimes the case has
to be taken to the people.  As we’ve seen
in recent foreign political situations only when the people know everything
that the dictator has been up too will the dictator be willing (forced?) to do
the right thing.
 
 
Normally, I would not be all that thrilled to run
into Guy Smith at the racetrack.  On the
other hand I really enjoy talking to his wife Pam at the track.  I never miss
the opportunity.  She’s a very interesting lady, doesn’t hold
back, has well thought out ideas on all kinds of subjects and speaks her mind
freely.  Good for her.  That’s how it should be done.
 
 
Nevertheless, tonight’s chance meeting with Guy
Smith would give me an opportunity to ask him directly why he was still listing
my tracks on his website at www.roamingtheraceways.com.  I figured it’s
always best to go directly to
the source.
 
 
With threatening weather in the area, along with
personal preferences, our initial conversational pleasantries were cut
short.  Nevertheless, there was enough
time for me to ask Guy Smith two very direct questions.
 
 
The first thing I wanted to know was why there was
still a link (The link) to my track list on his
site especially after he had promised my list would be removed.  Have you ever
seen one of those CBS 60
Minutes’ interviews where Mike Wallace shows up and knocks on the door of some
criminal asking why they stole millions from their investors?  Most of the time
those folks didn’t want to
talk to Mike Wallace.  Guy Smith really
didn’t want to answer my questions either!
 
 
I asked him very directly and in a conversational
tone (just like Mike Wallace would), “Why did you promise to remove my track
list from your website and not do it?�  That seemed like a very easy to
understand question.  Guy muttered something that was as near to
unintelligible English language as I’ve ever heard.
 
 
Maybe he didn’t understand the intent of my
question.  I was speaking very clearly
and in an even tone.  I asked him the
same question again.  As he again fumbled
with the answer I noticed myself turning to my left.  It seemed as if in an
effort to avoid eye
contact Guy Smith was moving to HIS right.  It was a cloudy evening I knew the
sun wasn’t in his eyes.  I was still not getting any direct answer to
my question.  I asked the same question a
third time and then a fourth time.  All
the while I was moving left trying to maintain direct eye contact and Mr. Smith
was back peddling to his right.
 
 
Finally, after asking the question for the fourth
time I got a direct answer from Guy Smith.  “It’s for historical
purposes�,� he blurted.  Historical purposes!  That sounds like a Will
White answer (a
trackchasing historian), not an answer from Guy Smith who preaches ‘if you
want
to be part of the list you can be and if you don’t want to be that’s fine
too’.  Why would Guy want someone involved in his
“Guy Smith controlled and Pennsylvania based list� if they didn’t want
anything
to do with it?  Was he trying to increase
the likelihood that someone “Googling� my trackchasing activities would
stumble
across his website?
 
 
The “historical purposes� theory would be fine if he
had not promised the group that each trackchaser was in charge of his
own list.  That would be fine if he had
not told the same thing directly to me.  After
he established that policy I wanted to be in control of just one thing…..how
my
trackchasing list is or is not displayed on www.roamingtheraceways.com. 
However, Guy Smith is a bit of a control
freak.  He wants to be in charge…..of
everything.  Now that he has “eased out�
all of the people in trackchasing who were involved one way or another he IS in
complete charge.
 
 
We left our conversation with Guy saying “he would
think about it�.  Think about it?  What was he going to “think about�? 
Was he trying to decide if what he said when
he told everyone they were in control of their own list was really true?
 
 
Not long ago, Guy Smith and I exchanged a few
emails.  We discussed trackchasing issues
in these communications.  We tried to set
some guidelines.  At the beginning I
suggested that each of us be able to ask the other any questions we wanted with
the expectation that the other person would do their best to answer
forthrightly.  At first, Guy Smith agreed
to this proposal.  Then the very next day
he told me he couldn’t really go with that idea.  He didn’t want to answer
any of my
questions.  I didn’t have a big problem
with that.  He had only agreed to do that
the day before and I figured if he didn’t want to answer any question I asked
him that was certainly his call.
 
 
I will tell you this.  When I read the track reports of Guy Smith
they do prompt lots of questions on my part.  Guy is the king of making it seem
as if he is doing one thing when he’s
really doing another. 
 
 
He likes to portray himself as a race fan.  In reality, he is a trackchasing
fan.  Folks, there’s a huge difference in being a
race fan and a trackchasing fan.  A race
fan wants to see good racing.  They will
often travel long distances to see their favorite types of racing whether it's
short track stock cars, sprinters, NASCAR or Formula 1.  A trackchasing fan is
perfectly happy to see
three junk cars traveling around a muddy figure 8 track at 20 M.P.H.  I should
know.  I’ve been both.
 
 
Guy goes to the racetrack so that he can add a new
track.  That’s it.  Let me remind you, there is nothing wrong
with that.  It’s just a little strange
when he tries to tell his audience that he was motivated to go somewhere as a
race fan.  In almost every case, if he
goes back to a track that he’s already seen it’s so his wife can add it to
her
list or because he’s in the area for a trackchasing visit of his own. 
That’s not being a race fan! 
 
 
I don’t know if he’s ever taken off for a traveling
weekend to some faraway place (to a track he’s already visited) to see
something like the Knoxville Nationals or the World 100 or some other big
racing weekend, without tying it into a trackchasing visit.  If he has it
hasn’t happened very often. 
 
Real race fans will routinely travel long distances
to see their favorite racing shows.  They
will be motivated by only one thing….to see good racing.  That is the reason
why fans travel such long
distance to events like the Knoxville Nationals, the World 100 or the major
NASCAR or Indy events.  Being a race fan
is why so many east coast and Midwest racing fans came all the way across the
country, year after year, to see the “Turkey Night� races at Ascot.
 
 
I’ve been to these types of shows, far from my home,
more than 100 times to see the show for the racing quality with zero interest
in any trackchasing impact for my wife or me.  Heck, I’ve been to Eldora 35
times that I know of and that track is more
than 2,000 miles from where I live.  I
mention Mr. Smith’s “I’m still a race fan� history because it’s part
of a
serial misrepresentation of the facts that is common when it comes from Guy
Smith.  I think that particular tag line
should be changed to “I’m still a race fan – LOL�.
 
 
Here’s another example sent to me by a fellow eastern-based
trackchaser.  I had not noticed this
myself.  On Guy’s site he lists himself
as the #1 trackchaser (as this is written with 1,466 tracks).  My name is at
the bottom of the list with
simply a “dash mark� --- for my track totals.  In reality my track totals
exceed Mr. Smith’s by more than three hundred!  I found it interesting that
Guy would include
a link to my list (for historical purposes) but not include my track
totals.  Was it because my totals were so
much greater than his? 
 
 
On the other hand, Mr. Smith chooses to INCLUDE my
totals in the Total Countries seen category.  Why would he not include my track
totals when I am being compared to him
but INCLUDE my totals in the Total Countries category?  Hmmmm?  Would it have
anything to do with his good buddy Roland Vanden
Eynde?  He lists Mr. Vanden Eynde’s
country total at 50 countries seen, a very nice accomplishment indeed.  In this
category he chooses not a simple
“dash mark� for my totals but credits me with seeing racing in 49
countries.  This seemingly puts Mr. Vanden Eynde in the
lead as the most prolific international trackchaser ever.  Is that the truth? 
Not exactly.  I have seen racing in 61 different countries.  Ah, you just
gotta love Guy Smith.
 
 
Additionally, during our brief email communication
Guy Smith and I agreed that whatever was discussed would remain between the two
of us.  It wasn’t long before Guy
violated that agreement.  Tonight I asked
him why he did that.  He didn’t want to
answer that question either.  Now I know
how Mike Wallace must have felt!
 
 
Each time Guy Smith changes his mind and does
exactly the opposite of what he promises he pleads ignorance and is “sorry for
any misunderstanding�.  I guess anytime
you don’t want to follow through on a commitment then you can simply say,
“You
had a different understanding of our agreement than I did�.  When you think
like that you NEVER have an
agreement that you need to stick too. 
 
 
Unfortunately, Guy Smith cannot be trusted.  I don’t state these words
lightly but I
strongly believe Guy Smith is a dishonest person.  I know that is a strong
statement.  I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t think it were
true.  I’m sorry to have to say it, but
Guy Smith cannot be counted on to keep his word.
 
 
I don’t want anything to do with the “Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based trackchasing lists�.  Guy Smith has told
everyone they are “in
control� of their own lists and don’t have to be part of the group if they
don’t want to be.  Guy Smith needs to
come clean.  If he isn’t going to allow
people to get their track lists removed COMPLETELY from his website, if that’s
what they want and exactly as he has promised, then he should just say he is
reneging on his previous statements.  Can
it be any simpler than that?  I’m sure he
can “explain away� the situation.
 
 
I don’t want to have any hard feelings with Guy
Smith.  However, it might be a little too
late that though.  I just wish Guy were
an honest straight up person.  He might
not be a bad guy if he was.  Maybe that
is too much of an expectation.  I hope
not.
 
 
What kinds of response do I expect to get from Guy
Smith.  I don’t really know.  He could say, “Oh, ya?  And you’re momma
wears combat boots� or the
factual equivalent.  Maybe those in Guy’s
inner circle will get with him to say, “Hey, this is making us look bad.  If
you don’t act, folks are going to really
start believing those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers� stories�.  Then,
although less likely, Guy could simply
say, “Well I certainly don’t want to include anyone in the ‘Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based track listings’ that doesn’t want to be
part
of the program.  You’re free to leave the
list and welcome back anytime�.  Which of
these responses in most likely?  I’ll let
you decide that one.  But I’m betting Guy
simply portrays himself as a victim who is helpless to control his own destiny.
 
 
By the way, this will likely be my last post until I
sent my 2012 Trackchasing Annual Report.  Under normal circumstances that is my
only post of the year.  That will probably be in late January.  It’s been a
good year.  As this is written I have posted 1,784 tracks
in 61 countries.  Of course, if Guy kicks
me off this trackchasing forum then I guess this will be my LAST post.  :)
 
 
Many of you already receive my Trackchaser Reports
and view my videos on YouTube.  If you
don’t get any of my stuff and want too simply send me an email or join my
YouTube channel, which is called “RANLAY�.  When you do that you’ll be
able to see the TWO videos I post after each
track I visit.  Of course, you can visit
my website at www.randylewis.orgat your
convenience.
 
 
Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Randy:

It's always an adventure to hear of your interesting perspective on things.

Quite some time ago I deleted all of your tracks from the TrackChaser group
rankings as per your request, and you are no longer ranked in any category on my
website.  If you want your name and all historical references to your tracks
from during the time that you were a member of our TrackChaser group removed
from my website listing, I'm OK with that as well, as long as the policy is
fairly applied to everyone involved.

If the above is what you want, please remove any mention or reference to me from
your website and agree to do the same for anyone else in the group that asks. 
Also, truly leave our group  by unsubscribing to our group listserve.  If that
is what you decide to do, when you finish, let me know.  As soon as I can verify
that you have removed the references from your webiste of anyone that has asked,
I will most certainly do the same for you.  I'm fine with things either way,
whatever best suits you going forward.

This issupposed to be a group of friends who share a similar love of short track
racing, seeing new race tracks, and who wants to enjoy  learning about each
other'sadventures in the hobby.  If you decide to stay in the group as a
listserve member, when posting please use it only for its intended purposes: To
share reports of races attended, pass along track news to the rest of the group,
or exchange friendly posts with other group members in a positive way.  Perhaps
a complete break from us would aid in helping you learn how to enjoy racing
again just for the fun of it, and not always seem to be so full of resentment
and anger.  I hope you can again someday recapture the enjoyment for our hobby
you once shared with the group so many years ago.

Best to you,

Guy Smith






-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Lewis <ranlay@...>
To: Trackchasers <trackchasers@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Sep 10, 2012 11:06 am
Subject: [TrackChasers] There are some people you will meet in life that would
better off being avoided.




An excerpt from an upcoming Trackchaser Report…….


Just as I was entering the Cove Valley Speedway pit
area tonight I ran into Guy Smith.  If
you don’t recall, Guy is the originator of the “Guy Smith controlled and
Pennsylvania based trackchasing list�.  Guy took over the trackchasing
commissioner’s job after Will White
resigned.


Guy Smith now controls everything in
trackchasing.  He was the ring leader in
developing the rules.  He keeps the
trackchasing results and decides who gets to do what.  He is also the moderator
of the Yahoo Groups!
Trackchasing email conference.  If
anything happens in trackchasing it requires Guy Smith’s approval.


I personally don’t care for this “one stop shopping
approach�.  This is why I was relieved to
hear Guy Smith shout from a mountain top that Will White’s somewhat draconian
policy of “track listing� was being changed.  With Will, once you submitted
a
new track for listing purposes you could
never get it removed.  I didn’t have a
problem with that at all.  You knew that
was Will’s policy going in.  If you
decided to submit your track list then you knew it was there in perpetuity (or
as long as Will White was in charge).  Actually I thought the trackchaser’s
who
submitted their lists to Will
and then later wanted to “pick and choose� which tracks were counted were
out
of line.  That wasn’t the agreement when
they signed on with Will White.


However, when Guy Smith eagerly assumed the
trackchasing leadership role upon Will White’s demise he sought to “quiet
the
natives�.  Guy Smith would have a new
policy when it came to being part of the trackchasing group.  He told everyone
that if they didn’t want to
be part of the trackchasing group they didn’t have to be.  If you wanted some
of
your tracks removed from
the list or all of them you could have it your way.  It was going to be just
like Burger King.  This was a breath of fresh air.  Sign me up for the program!
For a long time I had been wishing that I
didn’t HAVE to be part of the trackchasing list.  I felt this way for several
reasons, which I
won’t bore you with now.  At my earliest
opportunity I asked Guy Smith to remove me from the trackchasing lists.


He told me he would “take care of that�.  However, he didn’t.  Yep!  I
was surprised too.  Maybe he didn’t
expect the group’s #1 trackchaser to opt out.  Maybe he didn’t really want
to
follow through on his promise to let
everyone have their tracks listed the way THEY want them.  I really didn’t
know
exactly what his
reasoning was.


By the way, some of you don’t know Guy Smith
personally and/or have never ever met Guy Smith.  If that is the case you
shouldn’t be
influenced one way or the other about my summary of our encounter.  I don’t
think people should make any
conclusions about another person unless they have talked to them personally and
had a chance to sit down and have a conversation eye to eye.  It’s only then
that you can get a fuller
understanding about someone.  I’ve been
able to do that several times with Guy Smith, which leads me to the conclusions
I share today.


One other important point.  I don’t want anyone to construe my comments
as a personal attack on Guy Smith.  They
are not.  However, sometimes the case has
to be taken to the people.  As we’ve seen
in recent foreign political situations only when the people know everything
that the dictator has been up too will the dictator be willing (forced?) to do
the right thing.


Normally, I would not be all that thrilled to run
into Guy Smith at the racetrack.  On the
other hand I really enjoy talking to his wife Pam at the track.  I never miss
the opportunity.  She’s a very interesting lady, doesn’t hold
back, has well thought out ideas on all kinds of subjects and speaks her mind
freely.  Good for her.  That’s how it should be done.


Nevertheless, tonight’s chance meeting with Guy
Smith would give me an opportunity to ask him directly why he was still listing
my tracks on his website at www.roamingtheraceways.com.  I figured it’s always
best to go directly to
the source.


With threatening weather in the area, along with
personal preferences, our initial conversational pleasantries were cut
short.  Nevertheless, there was enough
time for me to ask Guy Smith two very direct questions.


The first thing I wanted to know was why there was
still a link (The link) to my track list on his
site especially after he had promised my list would be removed.  Have you ever
seen one of those CBS 60
Minutes’ interviews where Mike Wallace shows up and knocks on the door of some
criminal asking why they stole millions from their investors?  Most of the time
those folks didn’t want to
talk to Mike Wallace.  Guy Smith really
didn’t want to answer my questions either!


I asked him very directly and in a conversational
tone (just like Mike Wallace would), “Why did you promise to remove my track
list from your website and not do it?�  That seemed like a very easy to
understand question.  Guy muttered something that was as near to
unintelligible English language as I’ve ever heard.


Maybe he didn’t understand the intent of my
question.  I was speaking very clearly
and in an even tone.  I asked him the
same question again.  As he again fumbled
with the answer I noticed myself turning to my left.  It seemed as if in an
effort to avoid eye
contact Guy Smith was moving to HIS right.  It was a cloudy evening I knew the
sun wasn’t in his eyes.  I was still not getting any direct answer to
my question.  I asked the same question a
third time and then a fourth time.  All
the while I was moving left trying to maintain direct eye contact and Mr. Smith
was back peddling to his right.


Finally, after asking the question for the fourth
time I got a direct answer from Guy Smith.  “It’s for historical
purposes�,� he
blurted.  Historical purposes!  That sounds like a Will White answer (a
trackchasing historian), not an answer from Guy Smith who preaches ‘if you
want
to be part of the list you can be and if you don’t want to be that’s fine
too’.
Why would Guy want someone involved in his
“Guy Smith controlled and Pennsylvania based list� if they didn’t want
anything
to do with it?  Was he trying to increase
the likelihood that someone “Googling� my trackchasing activities would
stumble
across his website?


The “historical purposes� theory would be fine if he
had not promised the group that each trackchaser was in charge of his
own list.  That would be fine if he had
not told the same thing directly to me.  After
he established that policy I wanted to be in control of just one thing…..how
my
trackchasing list is or is not displayed on www.roamingtheraceways.com.
However, Guy Smith is a bit of a control
freak.  He wants to be in charge…..of
everything.  Now that he has “eased out�
all of the people in trackchasing who were involved one way or another he IS in
complete charge.


We left our conversation with Guy saying “he would
think about it�.  Think about it?  What was he going to “think about�? 
Was he
trying to decide if what he said when
he told everyone they were in control of their own list was really true?


Not long ago, Guy Smith and I exchanged a few
emails.  We discussed trackchasing issues
in these communications.  We tried to set
some guidelines.  At the beginning I
suggested that each of us be able to ask the other any questions we wanted with
the expectation that the other person would do their best to answer
forthrightly.  At first, Guy Smith agreed
to this proposal.  Then the very next day
he told me he couldn’t really go with that idea.  He didn’t want to answer
any
of my
questions.  I didn’t have a big problem
with that.  He had only agreed to do that
the day before and I figured if he didn’t want to answer any question I asked
him that was certainly his call.


I will tell you this.  When I read the track reports of Guy Smith
they do prompt lots of questions on my part.  Guy is the king of making it seem
as if he is doing one thing when he’s
really doing another.


He likes to portray himself as a race fan.  In reality, he is a trackchasing
fan.  Folks, there’s a huge difference in being a
race fan and a trackchasing fan.  A race
fan wants to see good racing.  They will
often travel long distances to see their favorite types of racing whether it's
short track stock cars, sprinters, NASCAR or Formula 1.  A trackchasing fan is
perfectly happy to see
three junk cars traveling around a muddy figure 8 track at 20 M.P.H.  I should
know.  I’ve been both.


Guy goes to the racetrack so that he can add a new
track.  That’s it.  Let me remind you, there is nothing wrong
with that.  It’s just a little strange
when he tries to tell his audience that he was motivated to go somewhere as a
race fan.  In almost every case, if he
goes back to a track that he’s already seen it’s so his wife can add it to
her
list or because he’s in the area for a trackchasing visit of his own. 
That’s
not being a race fan!


I don’t know if he’s ever taken off for a traveling
weekend to some faraway place (to a track he’s already visited) to see
something like the Knoxville Nationals or the World 100 or some other big
racing weekend, without tying it into a trackchasing visit.  If he has it
hasn’t
happened very often.

Real race fans will routinely travel long distances
to see their favorite racing shows.  They
will be motivated by only one thing….to see good racing.  That is the reason
why
fans travel such long
distance to events like the Knoxville Nationals, the World 100 or the major
NASCAR or Indy events.  Being a race fan
is why so many east coast and Midwest racing fans came all the way across the
country, year after year, to see the “Turkey Night� races at Ascot.


I’ve been to these types of shows, far from my home,
more than 100 times to see the show for the racing quality with zero interest
in any trackchasing impact for my wife or me.  Heck, I’ve been to Eldora 35
times that I know of and that track is more
than 2,000 miles from where I live.  I
mention Mr. Smith’s “I’m still a race fan� history because it’s part
of a
serial misrepresentation of the facts that is common when it comes from Guy
Smith.  I think that particular tag line
should be changed to “I’m still a race fan – LOL�.


Here’s another example sent to me by a fellow eastern-based
trackchaser.  I had not noticed this
myself.  On Guy’s site he lists himself
as the #1 trackchaser (as this is written with 1,466 tracks).  My name is at the
bottom of the list with
simply a “dash mark� --- for my track totals.  In reality my track totals
exceed
Mr. Smith’s by more than three hundred!  I found it interesting that Guy would
include
a link to my list (for historical purposes) but not include my track
totals.  Was it because my totals were so
much greater than his?


On the other hand, Mr. Smith chooses to INCLUDE my
totals in the Total Countries seen category.  Why would he not include my track
totals when I am being compared to him
but INCLUDE my totals in the Total Countries category?  Hmmmm?  Would it have
anything to do with his good buddy Roland Vanden
Eynde?  He lists Mr. Vanden Eynde’s
country total at 50 countries seen, a very nice accomplishment indeed.  In this
category he chooses not a simple
“dash mark� for my totals but credits me with seeing racing in 49 countries.
This seemingly puts Mr. Vanden Eynde in the
lead as the most prolific international trackchaser ever.  Is that the truth?
Not exactly.  I have seen racing in 61 different countries.  Ah, you just gotta
love Guy Smith.


Additionally, during our brief email communication
Guy Smith and I agreed that whatever was discussed would remain between the two
of us.  It wasn’t long before Guy
violated that agreement.  Tonight I asked
him why he did that.  He didn’t want to
answer that question either.  Now I know
how Mike Wallace must have felt!


Each time Guy Smith changes his mind and does
exactly the opposite of what he promises he pleads ignorance and is “sorry for
any misunderstanding�.  I guess anytime
you don’t want to follow through on a commitment then you can simply say,
“You
had a different understanding of our agreement than I did�.  When you think
like
that you NEVER have an
agreement that you need to stick too.


Unfortunately, Guy Smith cannot be trusted.  I don’t state these words lightly
but I
strongly believe Guy Smith is a dishonest person.  I know that is a strong
statement.  I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t think it were
true.  I’m sorry to have to say it, but
Guy Smith cannot be counted on to keep his word.


I don’t want anything to do with the “Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based trackchasing lists�.  Guy Smith has told
everyone they are “in
control� of their own lists and don’t have to be part of the group if they
don’t want to be.  Guy Smith needs to
come clean.  If he isn’t going to allow
people to get their track lists removed COMPLETELY from his website, if that’s
what they want and exactly as he has promised, then he should just say he is
reneging on his previous statements.  Can
it be any simpler than that?  I’m sure he
can “explain away� the situation.


I don’t want to have any hard feelings with Guy
Smith.  However, it might be a little too
late that though.  I just wish Guy were
an honest straight up person.  He might
not be a bad guy if he was.  Maybe that
is too much of an expectation.  I hope
not.


What kinds of response do I expect to get from Guy
Smith.  I don’t really know.  He could say, “Oh, ya?  And you’re momma
wears
combat boots� or the
factual equivalent.  Maybe those in Guy’s
inner circle will get with him to say, “Hey, this is making us look bad.  If
you
don’t act, folks are going to really
start believing those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers� stories�.  Then,
although less likely, Guy could simply
say, “Well I certainly don’t want to include anyone in the ‘Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based track listings’ that doesn’t want to be
part
of the program.  You’re free to leave the
list and welcome back anytime�.  Which of
these responses in most likely?  I’ll let
you decide that one.  But I’m betting Guy
simply portrays himself as a victim who is helpless to control his own destiny.


By the way, this will likely be my last post until I
sent my 2012 Trackchasing Annual Report.  Under normal circumstances that is my
only post of the year.  That will probably be in late January.  It’s been a
good
year.  As this is written I have posted 1,784 tracks
in 61 countries.  Of course, if Guy kicks
me off this trackchasing forum then I guess this will be my LAST post.  :)


Many of you already receive my Trackchaser Reports
and view my videos on YouTube.  If you
don’t get any of my stuff and want too simply send me an email or join my
YouTube channel, which is called “RANLAY�.  When you do that you’ll be
able to
see the TWO videos I post after each
track I visit.  Of course, you can visit
my website at www.randylewis.orgat your
convenience.


Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

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Guy,
 
 
Thanks
for your note.  It always nice to hear
from you…..O.K., I’m kidding!
 
 
I’ll try
to address the points you mentioned.  You
can characterize my feelings on this subject anyway you want.  They are your
characterizations.  I certainly would not have picked
“resentment� and “anger�.  What in the
world do I have to resent?  I am
certainly not angry over an issue like this.
 
 
What I am
is disappointed.  I am disappointed in
your behaviour with this issue.  In my
world I don’t work or play with people who don’t keep their word.  I am
disappointed that you choose to not
follow through on a very specific promise you made to the entire trackchasing
group.  You told everyone that if they
didn’t want their tracks to be part of the list then they didn’t have to be.
 
 
When you
made that statement were there any “conditions� attached to it?  If so, I
must have missed that memo.  Now, after the fact, you want to add
conditions to whether or not you will do what you said you would do?  That
doesn’t seem right does it?
 
 
I have no
intentions to change the writing style or makeup of my Trackchaser Reports in
any way.  That’s why so many trackchasers
and non racing people read them.  I know
that you have certainly been a long time reader.  Carol always asks me, “Do
these guys read
every word you right?  When we meet up with
them it sounds like they have committed your reports to memory!�  Folks like
the entertaining content and can
always count on the facts being facts and the opinions being opinions.  In
total they can count on my always writing
an honest review of the situation.
 
 
I guess
that means you will have to “regretfully� make no changes since I won’t
agree
to your newly posted conditions, which weren’t in place when you made your
promise to the group.  Trust me, I
understand.  That’s the Guy Smith way of
doing things.
 
 
I know
that you would love to have me “truly leave our group by unsubscribing to our
group listserve�.  You always have a liberal use of the word
“our� when what is really being discussed is “you�.  I have no
intention of doing that.  I know it has to absolutely gall you when I
make my normal one and only post showing above average trackchasing results
year after year after year.
 
 
I would
simply ask you to do what you said you would do.  It’s pretty simple.  Just
follow through on your promise to the group,
which is that if people don’t want their tracks listed then they will be
removed. 
 
 
Clicking on
a link so that people can see the “deleted� tracks sounds a little bit like
how
the government might do things.  That can’t
be a compliment can it?  It that really your
definition of deleted? 
 
 
However,if you don’t do what you said you
will do I’ll understand.  There’s a
reason it’s called the “Guy Smith CONTROLLED and Pennsylvania based
trackchasing list�.
 
 
One final
point.  I think this email conference and
this type of message is exactly what’s needed when the “Trackchasing
Commissioner� doesn’t follow through.  If
you use this forum to tell the group how you’re going to run things what
“forum�
does a forum group member have if they disagree with a policy or how a policy
is being administered?  As long as the
message is kept respectful and factual how else would you recommend a
response/question be communicated?
 
 
Randy
Lewis
Alberta’s
#1 Trackchaser


________________________________
  From: "RTRYFBAR@..." <RTRYFBAR@...>
To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] There are some people you will meet in life that
would better off being avoided.


 

Randy:

It's always an adventure to hear of your interesting perspective on things.

Quite some time ago I deleted all of your tracks from the TrackChaser group
rankings as per your request, and you are no longer ranked in any category on my
website.  If you want your name and all historical references to your tracks
from during the time that you were a member of our TrackChaser group removed
from my website listing, I'm OK with that as well, as long as the policy is
fairly applied to everyone involved.

If the above is what you want, please remove any mention or reference to me from
your website and agree to do the same for anyone else in the group that asks. 
Also, truly leave our group  by unsubscribing to our group listserve.  If that
is what you decide to do, when you finish, let me know.  As soon as I can verify
that you have removed the references from your webiste of anyone that has asked,
I will most certainly do the same for you.  I'm fine with things either way,
whatever best suits you going forward.

This issupposed to be a group of friends who share a similar love of short track
racing, seeing new race tracks, and who wants to enjoy  learning about each
other'sadventures in the hobby.  If you decide to stay in the group as a
listserve member, when posting please use it only for its intended purposes: To
share reports of races attended, pass along track news to the rest of the group,
or exchange friendly posts with other group members in a positive way.  Perhaps
a complete break from us would aid in helping you learn how to enjoy racing
again just for the fun of it, and not always seem to be so full of resentment
and anger.  I hope you can again someday recapture the enjoyment for our hobby
you once shared with the group so many years ago.

Best to you,

Guy Smith

-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Lewis <ranlay@...>
To: Trackchasers <trackchasers@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Sep 10, 2012 11:06 am
Subject: [TrackChasers] There are some people you will meet in life that would
better off being avoided.

An excerpt from an upcoming Trackchaser Report…….

Just as I was entering the Cove Valley Speedway pit
area tonight I ran into Guy Smith.  If
you don’t recall, Guy is the originator of the “Guy Smith controlled and
Pennsylvania based trackchasing list�.  Guy took over the trackchasing
commissioner’s job after Will White
resigned.


Guy Smith now controls everything in
trackchasing.  He was the ring leader in
developing the rules.  He keeps the
trackchasing results and decides who gets to do what.  He is also the moderator
of the Yahoo Groups!
Trackchasing email conference.  If
anything happens in trackchasing it requires Guy Smith’s approval.


I personally don’t care for this “one stop shopping
approach�.  This is why I was relieved to
hear Guy Smith shout from a mountain top that Will White’s somewhat draconian
policy of “track listing� was being changed.  With Will, once you submitted
a
new track for listing purposes you could
never get it removed.  I didn’t have a
problem with that at all.  You knew that
was Will’s policy going in.  If you
decided to submit your track list then you knew it was there in perpetuity (or
as long as Will White was in charge).  Actually I thought the trackchaser’s
who
submitted their lists to Will
and then later wanted to “pick and choose� which tracks were counted were
out
of line.  That wasn’t the agreement when
they signed on with Will White.


However, when Guy Smith eagerly assumed the
trackchasing leadership role upon Will White’s demise he sought to “quiet
the
natives�.  Guy Smith would have a new
policy when it came to being part of the trackchasing group.  He told everyone
that if they didn’t want to
be part of the trackchasing group they didn’t have to be.  If you wanted some
of
your tracks removed from
the list or all of them you could have it your way.  It was going to be just
like Burger King.  This was a breath of fresh air.  Sign me up for the program!
For a long time I had been wishing that I
didn’t HAVE to be part of the trackchasing list.  I felt this way for several
reasons, which I
won’t bore you with now.  At my earliest
opportunity I asked Guy Smith to remove me from the trackchasing lists.


He told me he would “take care of that�.  However, he didn’t.  Yep!  I
was surprised too.  Maybe he didn’t
expect the group’s #1 trackchaser to opt out.  Maybe he didn’t really want
to
follow through on his promise to let
everyone have their tracks listed the way THEY want them.  I really didn’t
know
exactly what his
reasoning was.


By the way, some of you don’t know Guy Smith
personally and/or have never ever met Guy Smith.  If that is the case you
shouldn’t be
influenced one way or the other about my summary of our encounter.  I don’t
think people should make any
conclusions about another person unless they have talked to them personally and
had a chance to sit down and have a conversation eye to eye.  It’s only then
that you can get a fuller
understanding about someone.  I’ve been
able to do that several times with Guy Smith, which leads me to the conclusions
I share today.


One other important point.  I don’t want anyone to construe my comments
as a personal attack on Guy Smith.  They
are not.  However, sometimes the case has
to be taken to the people.  As we’ve seen
in recent foreign political situations only when the people know everything
that the dictator has been up too will the dictator be willing (forced?) to do
the right thing.


Normally, I would not be all that thrilled to run
into Guy Smith at the racetrack.  On the
other hand I really enjoy talking to his wife Pam at the track.  I never miss
the opportunity.  She’s a very interesting lady, doesn’t hold
back, has well thought out ideas on all kinds of subjects and speaks her mind
freely.  Good for her.  That’s how it should be done.


Nevertheless, tonight’s chance meeting with Guy
Smith would give me an opportunity to ask him directly why he was still listing
my tracks on his website at www.roamingtheraceways.com.  I figured it’s always
best to go directly to
the source.


With threatening weather in the area, along with
personal preferences, our initial conversational pleasantries were cut
short.  Nevertheless, there was enough
time for me to ask Guy Smith two very direct questions.


The first thing I wanted to know was why there was
still a link (The link) to my track list on his
site especially after he had promised my list would be removed.  Have you ever
seen one of those CBS 60
Minutes’ interviews where Mike Wallace shows up and knocks on the door of some
criminal asking why they stole millions from their investors?  Most of the time
those folks didn’t want to
talk to Mike Wallace.  Guy Smith really
didn’t want to answer my questions either!


I asked him very directly and in a conversational
tone (just like Mike Wallace would), “Why did you promise to remove my track
list from your website and not do it?�  That seemed like a very easy to
understand question.  Guy muttered something that was as near to
unintelligible English language as I’ve ever heard.


Maybe he didn’t understand the intent of my
question.  I was speaking very clearly
and in an even tone.  I asked him the
same question again.  As he again fumbled
with the answer I noticed myself turning to my left.  It seemed as if in an
effort to avoid eye
contact Guy Smith was moving to HIS right.  It was a cloudy evening I knew the
sun wasn’t in his eyes.  I was still not getting any direct answer to
my question.  I asked the same question a
third time and then a fourth time.  All
the while I was moving left trying to maintain direct eye contact and Mr. Smith
was back peddling to his right.


Finally, after asking the question for the fourth
time I got a direct answer from Guy Smith.  “It’s for historical
purposes�,� he
blurted.  Historical purposes!  That sounds like a Will White answer (a
trackchasing historian), not an answer from Guy Smith who preaches ‘if you
want
to be part of the list you can be and if you don’t want to be that’s fine
too’.
Why would Guy want someone involved in his
“Guy Smith controlled and Pennsylvania based list� if they didn’t want
anything
to do with it?  Was he trying to increase
the likelihood that someone “Googling� my trackchasing activities would
stumble
across his website?


The “historical purposes� theory would be fine if he
had not promised the group that each trackchaser was in charge of his
own list.  That would be fine if he had
not told the same thing directly to me.  After
he established that policy I wanted to be in control of just one thing…..how
my
trackchasing list is or is not displayed on www.roamingtheraceways.com.
However, Guy Smith is a bit of a control
freak.  He wants to be in charge…..of
everything.  Now that he has “eased out�
all of the people in trackchasing who were involved one way or another he IS in
complete charge.


We left our conversation with Guy saying “he would
think about it�.  Think about it?  What was he going to “think about�? 
Was he
trying to decide if what he said when
he told everyone they were in control of their own list was really true?


Not long ago, Guy Smith and I exchanged a few
emails.  We discussed trackchasing issues
in these communications.  We tried to set
some guidelines.  At the beginning I
suggested that each of us be able to ask the other any questions we wanted with
the expectation that the other person would do their best to answer
forthrightly.  At first, Guy Smith agreed
to this proposal.  Then the very next day
he told me he couldn’t really go with that idea.  He didn’t want to answer
any
of my
questions.  I didn’t have a big problem
with that.  He had only agreed to do that
the day before and I figured if he didn’t want to answer any question I asked
him that was certainly his call.


I will tell you this.  When I read the track reports of Guy Smith
they do prompt lots of questions on my part.  Guy is the king of making it seem
as if he is doing one thing when he’s
really doing another.


He likes to portray himself as a race fan.  In reality, he is a trackchasing
fan.  Folks, there’s a huge difference in being a
race fan and a trackchasing fan.  A race
fan wants to see good racing.  They will
often travel long distances to see their favorite types of racing whether it's
short track stock cars, sprinters, NASCAR or Formula 1.  A trackchasing fan is
perfectly happy to see
three junk cars traveling around a muddy figure 8 track at 20 M.P.H.  I should
know.  I’ve been both.


Guy goes to the racetrack so that he can add a new
track.  That’s it.  Let me remind you, there is nothing wrong
with that.  It’s just a little strange
when he tries to tell his audience that he was motivated to go somewhere as a
race fan.  In almost every case, if he
goes back to a track that he’s already seen it’s so his wife can add it to
her
list or because he’s in the area for a trackchasing visit of his own. 
That’s
not being a race fan!


I don’t know if he’s ever taken off for a traveling
weekend to some faraway place (to a track he’s already visited) to see
something like the Knoxville Nationals or the World 100 or some other big
racing weekend, without tying it into a trackchasing visit.  If he has it
hasn’t
happened very often.

Real race fans will routinely travel long distances
to see their favorite racing shows.  They
will be motivated by only one thing….to see good racing.  That is the reason
why
fans travel such long
distance to events like the Knoxville Nationals, the World 100 or the major
NASCAR or Indy events.  Being a race fan
is why so many east coast and Midwest racing fans came all the way across the
country, year after year, to see the “Turkey Night� races at Ascot.


I’ve been to these types of shows, far from my home,
more than 100 times to see the show for the racing quality with zero interest
in any trackchasing impact for my wife or me.  Heck, I’ve been to Eldora 35
times that I know of and that track is more
than 2,000 miles from where I live.  I
mention Mr. Smith’s “I’m still a race fan� history because it’s part
of a
serial misrepresentation of the facts that is common when it comes from Guy
Smith.  I think that particular tag line
should be changed to “I’m still a race fan – LOL�.


Here’s another example sent to me by a fellow eastern-based
trackchaser.  I had not noticed this
myself.  On Guy’s site he lists himself
as the #1 trackchaser (as this is written with 1,466 tracks).  My name is at the
bottom of the list with
simply a “dash mark� --- for my track totals.  In reality my track totals
exceed
Mr. Smith’s by more than three hundred!  I found it interesting that Guy would
include
a link to my list (for historical purposes) but not include my track
totals.  Was it because my totals were so
much greater than his?


On the other hand, Mr. Smith chooses to INCLUDE my
totals in the Total Countries seen category.  Why would he not include my track
totals when I am being compared to him
but INCLUDE my totals in the Total Countries category?  Hmmmm?  Would it have
anything to do with his good buddy Roland Vanden
Eynde?  He lists Mr. Vanden Eynde’s
country total at 50 countries seen, a very nice accomplishment indeed.  In this
category he chooses not a simple
“dash mark� for my totals but credits me with seeing racing in 49 countries.
This seemingly puts Mr. Vanden Eynde in the
lead as the most prolific international trackchaser ever.  Is that the truth?
Not exactly.  I have seen racing in 61 different countries.  Ah, you just gotta
love Guy Smith.


Additionally, during our brief email communication
Guy Smith and I agreed that whatever was discussed would remain between the two
of us.  It wasn’t long before Guy
violated that agreement.  Tonight I asked
him why he did that.  He didn’t want to
answer that question either.  Now I know
how Mike Wallace must have felt!


Each time Guy Smith changes his mind and does
exactly the opposite of what he promises he pleads ignorance and is “sorry for
any misunderstanding�.  I guess anytime
you don’t want to follow through on a commitment then you can simply say,
“You
had a different understanding of our agreement than I did�.  When you think
like
that you NEVER have an
agreement that you need to stick too.


Unfortunately, Guy Smith cannot be trusted.  I don’t state these words lightly
but I
strongly believe Guy Smith is a dishonest person.  I know that is a strong
statement.  I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t think it were
true.  I’m sorry to have to say it, but
Guy Smith cannot be counted on to keep his word.


I don’t want anything to do with the “Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based trackchasing lists�.  Guy Smith has told
everyone they are “in
control� of their own lists and don’t have to be part of the group if they
don’t want to be.  Guy Smith needs to
come clean.  If he isn’t going to allow
people to get their track lists removed COMPLETELY from his website, if that’s
what they want and exactly as he has promised, then he should just say he is
reneging on his previous statements.  Can
it be any simpler than that?  I’m sure he
can “explain away� the situation.


I don’t want to have any hard feelings with Guy
Smith.  However, it might be a little too
late that though.  I just wish Guy were
an honest straight up person.  He might
not be a bad guy if he was.  Maybe that
is too much of an expectation.  I hope
not.


What kinds of response do I expect to get from Guy
Smith.  I don’t really know.  He could say, “Oh, ya?  And you’re momma
wears
combat boots� or the
factual equivalent.  Maybe those in Guy’s
inner circle will get with him to say, “Hey, this is making us look bad.  If
you
don’t act, folks are going to really
start believing those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers� stories�.  Then,
although less likely, Guy could simply
say, “Well I certainly don’t want to include anyone in the ‘Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based track listings’ that doesn’t want to be
part
of the program.  You’re free to leave the
list and welcome back anytime�.  Which of
these responses in most likely?  I’ll let
you decide that one.  But I’m betting Guy
simply portrays himself as a victim who is helpless to control his own destiny.


By the way, this will likely be my last post until I
sent my 2012 Trackchasing Annual Report.  Under normal circumstances that is my
only post of the year.  That will probably be in late January.  It’s been a
good
year.  As this is written I have posted 1,784 tracks
in 61 countries.  Of course, if Guy kicks
me off this trackchasing forum then I guess this will be my LAST post.  :)


Many of you already receive my Trackchaser Reports
and view my videos on YouTube.  If you
don’t get any of my stuff and want too simply send me an email or join my
YouTube channel, which is called “RANLAY�.  When you do that you’ll be
able to
see the TWO videos I post after each
track I visit.  Of course, you can visit
my website at www.randylewis.orgat your
convenience.


Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

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TrackChasers:

While looking on the PA Wings group website to gather information for my AARN
column, I noticed that they have a race scheduled for this Saturday at Middle
Road Speedway, a track I had not heard of.  I discovered it is usually a lawn
mower racing track.

The concern is that the PA Wings group MAY not be racing wheel-to-wheel at this
show.  The home page of the website says that it will be "1 vs 1 Shootout
Races".  It is also their club picnic.  It is not clear whether or not they are
going to have regular races as well as the shootout races.  I'm still trying to
get a clarification as to the format at this time.

Guy Smith


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

Looks like we will get the Little Diamond Speedway this year after all.  See
below for the email from the track that I received last night.  I wish the
second week started as early as the first week.  But it's a new track only a
little over an hour from home, so I'm happy.  I was going to head to New England
that week, but look for me at Little Diamond instead.  Hope to see some of you
there.--gms


Good Evening Mr. Smith.

My name is Tim Long and I work for Big Diamond Speedway.  Knowing you are always
in search of new tracks, I wanted to let you know of two events we have
scheduled for the Little Diamond Speedway - weather permitting.  On Sunday,
September 23rd we will be running a quarter midget race using QMA rules.  Racing
starts at 1 PM.  Then on Sunday, September 30th we are planning on having 270cc
winged micro sprints, 600cc wingless micro sprints, slingshots, and XCEL 600
modifeds.  Racing starts at 5 PM that day.  More details to come.  I will try to
get press releases in AARN for next week's issue.  I know there will be some
issues, as this is my first time trying to run an entire show, but hopefully
everyone will be understanding and I'm hoping for two really nice shows.  Just
wanted to let you know so you can add yet another new track to your resume.  I'm
a huge fan of your column.  Hope to see you there.

Tim Long
For Little Diamond Speedway.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

Last weekend Pam and I headed for Ontario, Canada.  The original planwas to go
to races at two new tracks for us, an off-road truck race ata motocross facility
called Walton Raceway, and the TSP Democross raceat the Owen Sound Fall Fair. 
The truck race at Walton was canceledlong before the fact when they found out
that it is not as easy to getevent insurance when you are racing trucks as when
you are racingmotorcycles.  We decided to go anyway for the Owen Sound Fall
Fair.

We left on Friday after work and headed to Niagara Falls for theevening.  While
driving in western NY, I saw stadium lights from thehighway and made a hard
right to the exit ramp.  Following the lights,we found what I was hoping for:
High School Football.  We enjoyed aburger and fries while watching the
Wayland-Cohocton Golden Eagles takeon the visiting Livonia Bulldogs.

On Saturday morning we planned to take a walk on Goat Island by theFalls, but it
was pouring rain so we stayed in the hotel room untilcheckout time.  With the
rain stopped, we headed into Canada for a latebreakfast buffet on the Canadian
side of the Falls.  When we got toHamilton, the sun was out so we stopped there
to walk on the HamiltonBeach trail in Confederation Park, along Lake Ontario. 
This is one ofour favorite walking paths and we have walked and biked on it
manytimes in the past.

We continued on to Owen Sound and the Fall Fair.  I had made a solojourney there
in 2004 for the Figure-8 track, sitting with RickSchneider that evening. 
Admission was $12 with free parking and noextra charge for the race.  The
fairgrounds was very muddy as they hada lot of rain during the day.  We got good
seats in the top row of thelarge grandstand, but before race time it started
raining again, withthe rain falling pretty hard for about a half hour.  When the
rainstopped, the crowd returned (we just stayed in the grandstand the
wholetime).  A blue rental car entered the parking lot, and who should popout
but two famous TrackChasers, Mike Knappenberger and theaforementioned Rick
Schneider.  They soon joined Pam and I at the topof the grandstands, and the
four of us enjoyed the evening together.

The races were originally reported to be at 5:30 on the Thrill ShowProductions
site, but when I checked the Owen Sound Fall Fair site, itsaid they were at
7:00.  I emailed my friend Sherry Williams from TSP,and she was surprised to
hear about the 7:00 time since their contractsaid 5:30  She promised to check
into it and get back to me.  Of coursethey had to defer to the fair, who had
been advertising 7:00.  It'samazing that it took a guy from Pennsylvania to
point out a startingtime discrepancy of an event in another country.

The Democross races are held on a temporary dirt oval track with a jumpon each
straightaway.  They did not have much room to build a bigtrack, which forced
them to limit the field to five cars per race. They had 19 cars, so that was
broken up into four heats and a consie,with the winner of each transferring to
the feature.  The heats wereten laps and the feature was 15.

The show should have stuck with the 5:30 starting time, as it was muchbetter
during the daylight as the lighting was very, very poor.  Itwasn't great racing
due to all the rain, which left the track a slowand muddy mess.  But I'd rather
that then have them cancel the racesdue to the rain or threat of rain, one of
the current plethora of waysfor American short track racing to shoot themselves
in the foot.

We were damp and chilly during the show, but during the break betweenthe heats
and consie I found some excellent chilly that we teamed upwith the always good
Ontario fries to warm us up.  As usual for theseshows, the ran it off in a fast
paced fashion, and the racing was overby 8:40.  After that, they had two demo
derby events that we of coursedid not stay for.  We headed south back to
Hamilton for the night, withthe mandatory stop at Tim Horton's for a coffee and
a muffin.

On Sunday morning we crossed back into the US, and with the weatherperfect on
this day, we stopped for the walk on Goat Island that wedidn't get to have the
day before.  We were still home before evening,to get ready for another full
work week.

With Pam heading to Ohio for the weekend on a work/school related trip,and with
my own pile of school papers waiting to be graded, I decidedon no overnight trip
this weekend and I'll keep my football and racinglocal.

Guy & Pam Smith 2012 Summary

2012 New Tracks--Guy 49 / Pam 43
2012 Events--Guy 68 / Pam 43
2012 Total Tracks--Guy 72 / Pam 46
2012 Additional Non Classified Tracks--Guy 6 /

Lifetime Total Tracks--Guy 1,467 / Pam 830



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

As usual, Randy Lewis shows us all he's an arogant asshole.  But, of course, we
all already knew that.
 
DJ
 


________________________________
From: Randy Lewis <ranlay@...>
To: Trackchasers <trackchasers@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 2:06 PM
Subject: [TrackChasers] There are some people you will meet in life that would
better off being avoided.


 


An excerpt from an upcoming Trackchaser Report…….

 
Just as I was entering the Cove Valley Speedway pit
area tonight I ran into Guy Smith.  If
you don’t recall, Guy is the originator of the “Guy Smith controlled and
Pennsylvania based trackchasing list�.  Guy took over the trackchasing
commissioner’s job after Will White
resigned.
 
 
Guy Smith now controls everything in
trackchasing.  He was the ring leader in
developing the rules.  He keeps the
trackchasing results and decides who gets to do what.  He is also the moderator
of the Yahoo Groups!
Trackchasing email conference.  If
anything happens in trackchasing it requires Guy Smith’s approval.
 
 
I personally don’t care for this “one stop shopping
approach�.  This is why I was relieved to
hear Guy Smith shout from a mountain top that Will White’s somewhat draconian
policy of “track listing� was being changed.  With Will, once you submitted
a new track for listing purposes you could
never get it removed.  I didn’t have a
problem with that at all.  You knew that
was Will’s policy going in.  If you
decided to submit your track list then you knew it was there in perpetuity (or
as long as Will White was in charge).  Actually I thought the trackchaser’s
who submitted their lists to Will
and then later wanted to “pick and choose� which tracks were counted were
out
of line.  That wasn’t the agreement when
they signed on with Will White.
 
 
However, when Guy Smith eagerly assumed the
trackchasing leadership role upon Will White’s demise he sought to “quiet
the
natives�.  Guy Smith would have a new
policy when it came to being part of the trackchasing group.  He told everyone
that if they didn’t want to
be part of the trackchasing group they didn’t have to be.  If you wanted some
of your tracks removed from
the list or all of them you could have it your way.  It was going to be just
like Burger King.  This was a breath of fresh air.  Sign me up for the
program!  For a long time I had been wishing that I
didn’t HAVE to be part of the trackchasing list.  I felt this way for several
reasons, which I
won’t bore you with now.  At my earliest
opportunity I asked Guy Smith to remove me from the trackchasing lists.
 
 
He told me he would “take care of that�.  However, he didn’t.  Yep!  I
was surprised too.  Maybe he didn’t
expect the group’s #1 trackchaser to opt out.  Maybe he didn’t really want
to follow through on his promise to let
everyone have their tracks listed the way THEY want them.  I really didn’t
know exactly what his
reasoning was.
 
 
By the way, some of you don’t know Guy Smith
personally and/or have never ever met Guy Smith.  If that is the case you
shouldn’t be
influenced one way or the other about my summary of our encounter.  I don’t
think people should make any
conclusions about another person unless they have talked to them personally and
had a chance to sit down and have a conversation eye to eye.  It’s only then
that you can get a fuller
understanding about someone.  I’ve been
able to do that several times with Guy Smith, which leads me to the conclusions
I share today.
 
 
One other important point.  I don’t want anyone to construe my comments
as a personal attack on Guy Smith.  They
are not.  However, sometimes the case has
to be taken to the people.  As we’ve seen
in recent foreign political situations only when the people know everything
that the dictator has been up too will the dictator be willing (forced?) to do
the right thing.
 
 
Normally, I would not be all that thrilled to run
into Guy Smith at the racetrack.  On the
other hand I really enjoy talking to his wife Pam at the track.  I never miss
the opportunity.  She’s a very interesting lady, doesn’t hold
back, has well thought out ideas on all kinds of subjects and speaks her mind
freely.  Good for her.  That’s how it should be done.
 
 
Nevertheless, tonight’s chance meeting with Guy
Smith would give me an opportunity to ask him directly why he was still listing
my tracks on his website at www.roamingtheraceways.com.  I figured it’s
always best to go directly to
the source.
 
 
With threatening weather in the area, along with
personal preferences, our initial conversational pleasantries were cut
short.  Nevertheless, there was enough
time for me to ask Guy Smith two very direct questions.
 
 
The first thing I wanted to know was why there was
still a link (The link) to my track list on his
site especially after he had promised my list would be removed.  Have you ever
seen one of those CBS 60
Minutes’ interviews where Mike Wallace shows up and knocks on the door of some
criminal asking why they stole millions from their investors?  Most of the time
those folks didn’t want to
talk to Mike Wallace.  Guy Smith really
didn’t want to answer my questions either!
 
 
I asked him very directly and in a conversational
tone (just like Mike Wallace would), “Why did you promise to remove my track
list from your website and not do it?�  That seemed like a very easy to
understand question.  Guy muttered something that was as near to
unintelligible English language as I’ve ever heard.
 
 
Maybe he didn’t understand the intent of my
question.  I was speaking very clearly
and in an even tone.  I asked him the
same question again.  As he again fumbled
with the answer I noticed myself turning to my left.  It seemed as if in an
effort to avoid eye
contact Guy Smith was moving to HIS right.  It was a cloudy evening I knew the
sun wasn’t in his eyes.  I was still not getting any direct answer to
my question.  I asked the same question a
third time and then a fourth time.  All
the while I was moving left trying to maintain direct eye contact and Mr. Smith
was back peddling to his right.
 
 
Finally, after asking the question for the fourth
time I got a direct answer from Guy Smith.  “It’s for historical
purposes�,� he blurted.  Historical purposes!  That sounds like a Will
White answer (a
trackchasing historian), not an answer from Guy Smith who preaches ‘if you
want
to be part of the list you can be and if you don’t want to be that’s fine
too’.  Why would Guy want someone involved in his
“Guy Smith controlled and Pennsylvania based list� if they didn’t want
anything
to do with it?  Was he trying to increase
the likelihood that someone “Googling� my trackchasing activities would
stumble
across his website?
 
 
The “historical purposes� theory would be fine if he
had not promised the group that each trackchaser was in charge of his
own list.  That would be fine if he had
not told the same thing directly to me.  After
he established that policy I wanted to be in control of just one thing…..how
my
trackchasing list is or is not displayed on www.roamingtheraceways.com. 
However, Guy Smith is a bit of a control
freak.  He wants to be in charge…..of
everything.  Now that he has “eased out�
all of the people in trackchasing who were involved one way or another he IS in
complete charge.
 
 
We left our conversation with Guy saying “he would
think about it�.  Think about it?  What was he going to “think about�? 
Was he trying to decide if what he said when
he told everyone they were in control of their own list was really true?
 
 
Not long ago, Guy Smith and I exchanged a few
emails.  We discussed trackchasing issues
in these communications.  We tried to set
some guidelines.  At the beginning I
suggested that each of us be able to ask the other any questions we wanted with
the expectation that the other person would do their best to answer
forthrightly.  At first, Guy Smith agreed
to this proposal.  Then the very next day
he told me he couldn’t really go with that idea.  He didn’t want to answer
any of my
questions.  I didn’t have a big problem
with that.  He had only agreed to do that
the day before and I figured if he didn’t want to answer any question I asked
him that was certainly his call.
 
 
I will tell you this.  When I read the track reports of Guy Smith
they do prompt lots of questions on my part.  Guy is the king of making it seem
as if he is doing one thing when he’s
really doing another. 
 
 
He likes to portray himself as a race fan.  In reality, he is a trackchasing
fan.  Folks, there’s a huge difference in being a
race fan and a trackchasing fan.  A race
fan wants to see good racing.  They will
often travel long distances to see their favorite types of racing whether it's
short track stock cars, sprinters, NASCAR or Formula 1.  A trackchasing fan is
perfectly happy to see
three junk cars traveling around a muddy figure 8 track at 20 M.P.H.  I should
know.  I’ve been both.
 
 
Guy goes to the racetrack so that he can add a new
track.  That’s it.  Let me remind you, there is nothing wrong
with that.  It’s just a little strange
when he tries to tell his audience that he was motivated to go somewhere as a
race fan.  In almost every case, if he
goes back to a track that he’s already seen it’s so his wife can add it to
her
list or because he’s in the area for a trackchasing visit of his own. 
That’s not being a race fan! 
 
 
I don’t know if he’s ever taken off for a traveling
weekend to some faraway place (to a track he’s already visited) to see
something like the Knoxville Nationals or the World 100 or some other big
racing weekend, without tying it into a trackchasing visit.  If he has it
hasn’t happened very often. 
 
Real race fans will routinely travel long distances
to see their favorite racing shows.  They
will be motivated by only one thing….to see good racing.  That is the reason
why fans travel such long
distance to events like the Knoxville Nationals, the World 100 or the major
NASCAR or Indy events.  Being a race fan
is why so many east coast and Midwest racing fans came all the way across the
country, year after year, to see the “Turkey Night� races at Ascot.
 
 
I’ve been to these types of shows, far from my home,
more than 100 times to see the show for the racing quality with zero interest
in any trackchasing impact for my wife or me.  Heck, I’ve been to Eldora 35
times that I know of and that track is more
than 2,000 miles from where I live.  I
mention Mr. Smith’s “I’m still a race fan� history because it’s part
of a
serial misrepresentation of the facts that is common when it comes from Guy
Smith.  I think that particular tag line
should be changed to “I’m still a race fan – LOL�.
 
 
Here’s another example sent to me by a fellow eastern-based
trackchaser.  I had not noticed this
myself.  On Guy’s site he lists himself
as the #1 trackchaser (as this is written with 1,466 tracks).  My name is at
the bottom of the list with
simply a “dash mark� --- for my track totals.  In reality my track totals
exceed Mr. Smith’s by more than three hundred!  I found it interesting that
Guy would include
a link to my list (for historical purposes) but not include my track
totals.  Was it because my totals were so
much greater than his? 
 
 
On the other hand, Mr. Smith chooses to INCLUDE my
totals in the Total Countries seen category.  Why would he not include my track
totals when I am being compared to him
but INCLUDE my totals in the Total Countries category?  Hmmmm?  Would it have
anything to do with his good buddy Roland Vanden
Eynde?  He lists Mr. Vanden Eynde’s
country total at 50 countries seen, a very nice accomplishment indeed.  In this
category he chooses not a simple
“dash mark� for my totals but credits me with seeing racing in 49
countries.  This seemingly puts Mr. Vanden Eynde in the
lead as the most prolific international trackchaser ever.  Is that the truth? 
Not exactly.  I have seen racing in 61 different countries.  Ah, you just
gotta love Guy Smith.
 
 
Additionally, during our brief email communication
Guy Smith and I agreed that whatever was discussed would remain between the two
of us.  It wasn’t long before Guy
violated that agreement.  Tonight I asked
him why he did that.  He didn’t want to
answer that question either.  Now I know
how Mike Wallace must have felt!
 
 
Each time Guy Smith changes his mind and does
exactly the opposite of what he promises he pleads ignorance and is “sorry for
any misunderstanding�.  I guess anytime
you don’t want to follow through on a commitment then you can simply say,
“You
had a different understanding of our agreement than I did�.  When you think
like that you NEVER have an
agreement that you need to stick too. 
 
 
Unfortunately, Guy Smith cannot be trusted.  I don’t state these words
lightly but I
strongly believe Guy Smith is a dishonest person.  I know that is a strong
statement.  I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t think it were
true.  I’m sorry to have to say it, but
Guy Smith cannot be counted on to keep his word.
 
 
I don’t want anything to do with the “Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based trackchasing lists�.  Guy Smith has told
everyone they are “in
control� of their own lists and don’t have to be part of the group if they
don’t want to be.  Guy Smith needs to
come clean.  If he isn’t going to allow
people to get their track lists removed COMPLETELY from his website, if that’s
what they want and exactly as he has promised, then he should just say he is
reneging on his previous statements.  Can
it be any simpler than that?  I’m sure he
can “explain away� the situation.
 
 
I don’t want to have any hard feelings with Guy
Smith.  However, it might be a little too
late that though.  I just wish Guy were
an honest straight up person.  He might
not be a bad guy if he was.  Maybe that
is too much of an expectation.  I hope
not.
 
 
What kinds of response do I expect to get from Guy
Smith.  I don’t really know.  He could say, “Oh, ya?  And you’re momma
wears combat boots� or the
factual equivalent.  Maybe those in Guy’s
inner circle will get with him to say, “Hey, this is making us look bad.  If
you don’t act, folks are going to really
start believing those “Dreaded East Coast Trackchasers� stories�.  Then,
although less likely, Guy could simply
say, “Well I certainly don’t want to include anyone in the ‘Guy Smith
controlled and Pennsylvania based track listings’ that doesn’t want to be
part
of the program.  You’re free to leave the
list and welcome back anytime�.  Which of
these responses in most likely?  I’ll let
you decide that one.  But I’m betting Guy
simply portrays himself as a victim who is helpless to control his own destiny.
 
 
By the way, this will likely be my last post until I
sent my 2012 Trackchasing Annual Report.  Under normal circumstances that is my
only post of the year.  That will probably be in late January.  It’s been a
good year.  As this is written I have posted 1,784 tracks
in 61 countries.  Of course, if Guy kicks
me off this trackchasing forum then I guess this will be my LAST post.  :)
 
 
Many of you already receive my Trackchaser Reports
and view my videos on YouTube.  If you
don’t get any of my stuff and want too simply send me an email or join my
YouTube channel, which is called “RANLAY�.  When you do that you’ll be
able to see the TWO videos I post after each
track I visit.  Of course, you can visit
my website at www.randylewis.orgat your
convenience.
 
 
Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChasers:

(Weekly Listserve Update #89). During the past week I was able to add 116 new
track visits to the database, and all now appear on the website for your
enjoyment.  This weeks additions put us over 35,000 new track visits in our
database!

The majority of the new track visits came from the addition of David Brabham to
the listings.  David, who resides in Australia, has 109 different documented
tracks in an impressive 24 different countries.  Of the 109, all but one were
tracks that he competed on.  For the first time for one of the Project Drivers,
the tracks includes a complete description of the class that he raced on his
first visit.  This is something I am hoping to be able to add for other Project
Drivers in the future.  A unique distinction is that David and Sir Jack become
the first father and son team to be listed on the TrackChaser website.  David
becomes the 75th person to be a listed TrackChaser group member at some point!

David also becomes the 13th "Project Driver" to be included in the track
listings of our group.  The 13 include David Brabham, Jack Brabham, Chris
Economaki (not a driver but a legend in the sport), Narain Karthikeyan, Steve
Kinser, Juan Pablo Montoya, Roberto Moreno, Stirling Moss, Emanuele Pirro, Jody
Scheckter, Kenny Schrader, Hans-Joachim Stuck, and Sammy Swindell.  I personally
think that the inclusion of extensive lists of where these icons of racing have
competed is one of our groups greatest achievements and contributions to the
sport, and I thank everyone that contributes to any of the Project Driver lists,
large or small.  I look forward to being able to contribute more to the
"TrackChaser Research Group" in the future when more time becomes available for
me.  Until then, I am proud to be able to enter the data for and to display the
fruits of their hard work.

Of course the line between Project Driver and Active Member sometimes is
blurred.  Men like Bing Metz and Paul Weisel are active members of our group,
but had (have) fine careers as drivers as well.  And although they are not
active members, Chris Economaki and Sammy Swindell (through wife Amy) have at
least at one point contributed extensive information about their tracks to us.

Besides the 109 tracks added for David Brabham, which were all before 2012,
there were seven other track visits from last weekend that were added.  The
amazing thing about the seven new tracks is that NONE of them were in the USA! 
Mike Knappenberger kept up his torrid travel pace, visiting another three new
tracks in Ontario.  Guy and Pam Smith joined him at the Owen Sound Fall Fair. 
Roland Vanden Eynde added yet another new autocross track in the Netherlands. 
And Rick Young added a "Non Classified" track to his total after seeing flat
karts race at the Autodrome Granby Kart Track in Quebec.

The only other changes this week was that Will White supplied an additional date
for one of the Kenny Schrader tracks, and the date of the race at the Saint
Lawrence Motorsports Park, which was off by a day, was corrected for all who
attended.

With racing beginning to slow down for the season, I am very hopeful to soon
have time to begin adding the "Non Classified" tracks to the lists of those who
have submitted them, as well as the "Notes" for others.

New tracks added to the database this week were the dirt road circuit in Nuland,
NLD; the dirt off road oval at the Owen Sound Fairgrounds, CAN; and the
Autodrome Granby Kart Track, which has not held any known TC countable racing as
of yet.

Anyone who wants to * add dates to their listed tracks, * change orcomplete
track namesthat appear on their track list, * add information to their
personal"Notes" column for each track, * add tracks in any of the"Non
Classified" group categories outside of TrackChasers, * orrequest any other
changes to their track lists are encouraged to do soat any time and if possible,
the changes will be made in the order theyaresubmitted.

There were 6 new 2012 TrackChaser tracks added this week.  There have been 478
new tracks reported so far for 2012.  That'snotenough, we want more!  Mike
Knappenberger has contributed the most tothe group total with 85 new tracks to
date this year.


2012 WEEK 1-35 ADDITIONS (JANUARY 1 - SEPTEMBER 2)

none


2012 WEEK 36 ADDITIONS (SEPTEMBER 3 - SEPTEMBER 9)

Monday, September 3

*Vince Sadowski visit to Woodstock, CT added last week


Saturday, September 8

Mike Knappenberger--Owen Sound Fairgrounds Oval, ON, CAN



Guy Smith--Owen Sound Fairgrounds Oval, ON, CAN
Pam Smith--Owen Sound Fairgrounds Oval, ON, CAN


Sunday, September 9

Mike Knappenberger--Barrie Speedway, ON, CAN
Mike Knappenberger--Lincoln County Fairgrounds F8, ON, CAN
Roland Vanden Eynde--Nuland, NETHERLANDS

**********

2012 SUMMARY

Total New Track Visits Reported--478

Number of TrackChasers Reporting New Tracks This Year--39

US States Visited for New Tracks--40 (AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL,
IN, KS, KY,ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA,
SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV)

Canadian Provinces Visited for New Tracks--2 (ON, QC)

Countries Visited for New Tracks--15 (AUS, BEL, BHR, CAN, CHE, DEU, ESP, FRA,
GBR, IRL, ITA, NLD, RUS, SWE, USA)

Lifetime Group Total of Reported TrackChaser New Track Visits--35,014 (+115)

Lifetime Group Reported Total in the new "Non Classified Tracks" Categories--37
(+1).

**********

The 2012 TrackChasing season is dedicated with love and respect to the memory of
Edward Jonathan Esser.

All TrackChaser statistics are available at any time on
www.roamingtheraceways.com;Please report your new tracks in as timely a manner
as possible so thatall can enjoy and celebrate the travels of others.  Thanks
for thegreat participation, support, and ideas.  Continue to submit your ideas
for changes or improvements to my site.

Guy Smith





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Looks like a possible road coarse at South Bend IN. this weekend. I should be
able to make this one. Hope this helps someone get a possible one time only
opportunity.

See ya at the track
Brian

On Sep 13, 2012, at 6:57 PM, RTRYFBAR@... wrote:

> TrackChasers:
>
> (Weekly Listserve Update #89). During the past week I was able to add 116 new
track visits to the database, and all now appear on the website for your
enjoyment. This weeks additions put us over 35,000 new track visits in our
database!
>
> The majority of the new track visits came from the addition of David Brabham
to the listings. David, who resides in Australia, has 109 different documented
tracks in an impressive 24 different countries. Of the 109, all but one were
tracks that he competed on. For the first time for one of the Project Drivers,
the tracks includes a complete description of the class that he raced on his
first visit. This is something I am hoping to be able to add for other Project
Drivers in the future. A unique distinction is that David and Sir Jack become
the first father and son team to be listed on the TrackChaser website. David
becomes the 75th person to be a listed TrackChaser group member at some point!
>
> David also becomes the 13th "Project Driver" to be included in the track
listings of our group. The 13 include David Brabham, Jack Brabham, Chris
Economaki (not a driver but a legend in the sport), Narain Karthikeyan, Steve
Kinser, Juan Pablo Montoya, Roberto Moreno, Stirling Moss, Emanuele Pirro, Jody
Scheckter, Kenny Schrader, Hans-Joachim Stuck, and Sammy Swindell. I personally
think that the inclusion of extensive lists of where these icons of racing have
competed is one of our groups greatest achievements and contributions to the
sport, and I thank everyone that contributes to any of the Project Driver lists,
large or small. I look forward to being able to contribute more to the
"TrackChaser Research Group" in the future when more time becomes available for
me. Until then, I am proud to be able to enter the data for and to display the
fruits of their hard work.
>
> Of course the line between Project Driver and Active Member sometimes is
blurred. Men like Bing Metz and Paul Weisel are active members of our group, but
had (have) fine careers as drivers as well. And although they are not active
members, Chris Economaki and Sammy Swindell (through wife Amy) have at least at
one point contributed extensive information about their tracks to us.
>
> Besides the 109 tracks added for David Brabham, which were all before 2012,
there were seven other track visits from last weekend that were added. The
amazing thing about the seven new tracks is that NONE of them were in the USA!
Mike Knappenberger kept up his torrid travel pace, visiting another three new
tracks in Ontario. Guy and Pam Smith joined him at the Owen Sound Fall Fair.
Roland Vanden Eynde added yet another new autocross track in the Netherlands.
And Rick Young added a "Non Classified" track to his total after seeing flat
karts race at the Autodrome Granby Kart Track in Quebec.
>
> The only other changes this week was that Will White supplied an additional
date for one of the Kenny Schrader tracks, and the date of the race at the Saint
Lawrence Motorsports Park, which was off by a day, was corrected for all who
attended.
>
> With racing beginning to slow down for the season, I am very hopeful to soon
have time to begin adding the "Non Classified" tracks to the lists of those who
have submitted them, as well as the "Notes" for others.
>
> New tracks added to the database this week were the dirt road circuit in
Nuland, NLD; the dirt off road oval at the Owen Sound Fairgrounds, CAN; and the
Autodrome Granby Kart Track, which has not held any known TC countable racing as
of yet.
>
> Anyone who wants to * add dates to their listed tracks, * change orcomplete
track namesthat appear on their track list, * add information to their
personal"Notes" column for each track, * add tracks in any of the"Non
Classified" group categories outside of TrackChasers, * orrequest any other
changes to their track lists are encouraged to do soat any time and if possible,
the changes will be made in the order theyaresubmitted.
>
> There were 6 new 2012 TrackChaser tracks added this week. There have been 478
new tracks reported so far for 2012. That'snotenough, we want more! Mike
Knappenberger has contributed the most tothe group total with 85 new tracks to
date this year.
>
> 2012 WEEK 1-35 ADDITIONS (JANUARY 1 - SEPTEMBER 2)
>
> none
>
> 2012 WEEK 36 ADDITIONS (SEPTEMBER 3 - SEPTEMBER 9)
>
> Monday, September 3
>
> *Vince Sadowski visit to Woodstock, CT added last week
>
> Saturday, September 8
>
> Mike Knappenberger--Owen Sound Fairgrounds Oval, ON, CAN
>
> Guy Smith--Owen Sound Fairgrounds Oval, ON, CAN
> Pam Smith--Owen Sound Fairgrounds Oval, ON, CAN
>
> Sunday, September 9
>
> Mike Knappenberger--Barrie Speedway, ON, CAN
> Mike Knappenberger--Lincoln County Fairgrounds F8, ON, CAN
> Roland Vanden Eynde--Nuland, NETHERLANDS
>
> **********
>
> 2012 SUMMARY
>
> Total New Track Visits Reported--478
>
> Number of TrackChasers Reporting New Tracks This Year--39
>
> US States Visited for New Tracks--40 (AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL,
IN, KS, KY,ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA,
SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV)
>
> Canadian Provinces Visited for New Tracks--2 (ON, QC)
>
> Countries Visited for New Tracks--15 (AUS, BEL, BHR, CAN, CHE, DEU, ESP, FRA,
GBR, IRL, ITA, NLD, RUS, SWE, USA)
>
> Lifetime Group Total of Reported TrackChaser New Track Visits--35,014 (+115)
>
> Lifetime Group Reported Total in the new "Non Classified Tracks"
Categories--37 (+1).
>
> **********
>
> The 2012 TrackChasing season is dedicated with love and respect to the memory
of Edward Jonathan Esser.
>
> All TrackChaser statistics are available at any time on
www.roamingtheraceways.com;Please report your new tracks in as timely a manner
as possible so thatall can enjoy and celebrate the travels of others.  Thanks
for thegreat participation, support, and ideas. Continue to submit your ideas
for changes or improvements to my site.
>
> Guy Smith
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Guy,

      Coffee and a muffin? I thought you were a Timbits  man.

Gordy

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Amarillo National Center (TX) has 2 indoor tracks scheduled to run
this fall.

10/27--Mini Srints
11/24--Figure 8 (Outlaw Promotions)

Will

On my way south I stopped at Afton, NY Friday night and took in the  races
at I-88 Speedway.
The car counts were:

IMCA Mods 19
Modifieds    20
CRSA sprinters 24
Street stock 12
Sportsman 16

The dust was so bad that you couldn't see the cars coming out of turn 4
until they got to the flag stand. Very little passing except for the
modifieds.  One modified was able to go very high in the corner and rocket down 
the
back straight. He got a flat while leading and went in under caution. He was
  able to make it back to 3rd. That was the best race of the night.

Saturday night I stopped at Winchester Speedway (VA). It is a very nice
track that allows 2 wide racing. The car counts were:

4 cyl    6
late model  33
limited late  24
V-8 enduros   6
pure stock 12

Same situation as I-88 (very little passing). One late model set fast time,
  won his heat race, started on the pole for the feature and drove away.

I hope to make some stops at more new tracks on my way back to Fl.  Vince


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello colleagues,

First of all, I'd like to thank Gordy for congratulating me on getting 200
tracks in Belgium. I appreciate that in these troubled times for his wife and
himself he finds the time to do this. I wish both Suz and Gordy a lot of
courage.

Last week, it seemed I would stay in Belgium for the weekend, but on Monday
evening a phone call opened up a whole new perspective. The caller was my old
friend Richard Gabeler. We know each other for over 30 years and in the eighties
and early nineties we went to lots of races together. In fact, nobody has
accompanied me to more race meetings than Richard. Although of Dutch
nationality, his roots lay in the Southeast Asian archipelago of the South
Moluccas. When after the Second World War Indonesia fought its war of
independence against the Netherlands, the South Mollucans fought with the Dutch.
They wanted to part from the rest of Indonesia and become an independent state.
The Dutch had promised them that, but Dutchmen are not renowned for keeping
their promises (ask the survivors of the massacre of Srebrenica in Bosnia
Herzegovina). They retreated and left the South Moluccas defenceless. A number
of important citizens were evacuated to the Netherlands though, and Richard's
father, a jet fighter pilot, was one of them. The family settled at The Hague
and his father died in an Starfighter crash in 1969.

On top of being avid motor racing fans, Richard and I also share an interest in
photography, travel, good food and languages. Being a trained mechanic, he
wanted to make a bit of money on top of his salary by being a free lance racing
photographer. But European drivers are very bad customers who often "forget" to
pay for their pictures, so Richard turned his attention to scrutineering. Since
1996, he's head scrutineer of the Dutch Automobile Club (KNAF). And this brings
me seamlessly to the purpose of his phone call. Through his duties at the KNAF,
he was entitled to two entry tickets for this weekend's Goodwood Revival races
at this famous English road course. So he asked me if I was interested in
joining him for a two day trip to this Chichester based track. Of course, I was.

As my car is a fair bit larger than his, Richard drove to my house on Friday
evening and at 3.15 a.m. on Saturday morning, we got on our way to Calais. We
had done this crossing many times in the eighties and nineties, as we both liked
British motor racing a lot. In fact, we had even been to a meeting in Goodwood
together. On April 22, 1984 we saw a non trackchasing countable sprint meeting
on this track. At that time, the track was in a sorry state. Since 1966, no more
races were held and the premises were totally worn out. In the late nineties,
current Goodwood owner Freddie Marsh has restored the track and its amenities to
their former glory. For the last few years a major historic meeting is held in
September and it's attendance is second to none (last year there were 138,000
spectators over the three days). Another special feat is that Freddie Marsh only
allows spectators dressed in late fifties-early sixties style into some areas
such as grandstands or the paddock. Therefore, I wore a pin striped suit (bought
in Italy by the way) that did the trick. Richard, always a thorough Anglophile
himself, had brought a tweed suit and a flat cap, which also allowed him in. The
track is splendidly retro and all the amenities are so nicely turned out in
early sixties style, one has the impression to have stepped into a time machine
that put one in the middle of a wealthy man's garden party in 1962.

As we were a bit early for the 10.00 a.m. start, we had some time to tour the
paddock. It hosted a splendid array of bikes and cars that used to race on the
track during the 1950-1966 period. On top of those fabulous cars from all over
the world, the field also included a number of well known guest drivers. Some
historic racers shared their car or had brought a car for former Grand Prix
drivers (Jackie Oliver, Martin Brundle, Tiff Needell, Jean Alesi, Richard
Attwood, Rupert Keegan, Derek Daly, Derek Bell, Desiré Wilson, Arturo Merzario,
Martin Donnelly, Vern Schuppan and Danny Sullivan), a former Indy 500 winner
(Kenny Bräck), a former rally ace (Rauno Aaltonen) as well as for F1 designer
Adrian Newey and race loving actor Rowan Atkinson (best known as Blackadder or
Mr. Bean).

Racing was not the only thing going on at the track. There were also various
exhibitions and an air display. After all, Goodwood was an airfield during the
war, before being redevelopped into a motor racing course. It was the very first
time I actually saw airplanes such as the Spitfire fly.

We stayed for the entire Saturday race programme before looking for a place to
stay. We ended up at a rather nice Holiday Inn in Fareham, about 30 miles from
the track. This hotel was the first we encountered which still had rooms
available at a reasonable price. We had dinner in a nearby pub and hit the sack
early. After a good night sleep and an English breakfast at a Little Chef (a
chain Richard made me discover all those years ago), we ended up at Goodwood
again for the second day of undiluted racing nostalgia. Our ticket was called a
Lavant Roving Grandstand ticket and it allowed us onto five different
grandstands on the Lavant straight and into two corners. Two of those
grandstands also allowed us to see the paddock and the pre-grid preparations. As
this was an unconventional meeting, even the catering was a mix of bland modern
race track grub and gourmet lunches. I had a very nice salmon and side salad
lunch with half a baguette and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. And before I forget:
the racing was splendid as well. This was not a series of high speed
processions. It was a number of no holds barred races, much more on the Sunday
than the Saturday, as the number of "guest drivers" was almost double on Sunday.
Martin Brundle and Jackie Oliver still know how to compete for race wins.

We left with great regret before the last two races in order to beat traffic so
we didn't miss our boat to Calais. The trip back went smoothly and at 2.00 a.m.
this morning, Richard switched cars for his last 90 minute stint to The Hague.
It had been a weekend full of wonderful nostalgia. This track and its historic
meeting had been on my list for a while, but last year tickets were sold out two
months before the event. I can't thank my old mate Richard enough for this
golden opportunity to finally score it. It's without the shadow of a doubt the
highlight of the year or even the decade. Strongly recommended even to those
colleagues who have a thorough dislike of road courses. The Goodwood revival is
unique. It's not only a race meeting, but a trip back to went we all were young.


Roland


-----------------------------------------
Visit our website! http://www.nbb.be

"DISCLAIMER: The content of this e-mail message should not be
construed as binding on the part of the National Bank of Belgium
(NBB) unless otherwise and previously stated. The opinions
expressed in this message are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect NBB viewpoints, particularly when the content
of this message, or part thereof, is private by nature or does not
fall within the professional scope of its author."

Sat night found me at the South Bend Motor Speedway in Indiana, for their
asphalt destruction derby. The show was very entertaining and appears to be
successful enough that they are going to have another next month. As long as it
works and helps keep the doors open.

50 lap enduro on a temp paved road coarse.
30 lap trailer race on the paved oval.

See ya at the track
Brian

On Sep 5, 2012, at 12:51 PM, Brian <BHICKEYJR@...> wrote:

> Fri. Night got to see sprintcar mania at the RPM Speedway in Hays KS. Very
good show and a very nice facility.
>
> Sat. Night at the Washington Speedway in Washington KS. I witnessed the best
racing so far this year. The 600's put on one whale of a show as well as the
rest of the mini sprints.
>
> See ya at the track
> Brian
>
> On Aug 29, 2012, at 7:30 PM, Brian <BHICKEYJR@...> wrote:
>
> > Uranium capital speedway on Sat night in NM.
> >
> > Two from last week
> > Sat Independence Speedway in IA
> > Sun Casino speedway in SD
> >
> > On Aug 1, 2012, at 9:11 PM, Brian <BHICKEYJR@...> wrote:
> >
> > > A very dusty night of racing at Toccoa Speedway in Ga.
> > >
> > > See ya at the track
> > > Brian
> > >
> > > On Jul 23, 2012, at 12:19 AM, BHICKEYJAOL.COM wrote:
> > >
> > > > Just one this week. Sat. Senoia Raceway Senoia,GA. dirt oval
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Sun, Jul 15, 2012 11:12 pm
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Thursday State Park Speedway. Wausau,WI. A very well run show that was
over by 10pm and the best side by side racing in all divisions that i have seen
all year.Not a bad race all night.
> > > >
> > > > Friday Grundy County Speedway. Morris,IL. Lackluster qualifying and heat
races with much better racing in the features.
> > > >
> > > > See ya at the track
> > > > Brian
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Mon, Jun 25, 2012 11:27 pm
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Sunday Enid Speedway Enid,OK. What a differance a day makes. poor track
conditions very poorly run show and lousy racing
> > > > until the final a mod feature.
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Sun, Jun 24, 2012 7:15 pm
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Sat. Centerville Speedway Centerville,Ar.
> > > > Very good racing in all divisions except for the E-mods. The show was
well run and had a near capacity croud on hand.
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 23:52:02
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Tuesday. Milwauke Mile Speedway
> > > > Vintage races were good just wairing for the ASA race to start.
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:28:33
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Sun. Benton County Raceway,Vinton,Ia. Great racing in all divisions,very
quick,fast paced show with all features in the books by 8:45
> > > >
> > > > Brian
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:59:26
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Sat. Nevada Speedway Nevada Month. A little dusty,started off a little
lackluster for the heats but the features were very good in all divisions
> > > >
> > > > Brian
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:52:38
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Fri Heart O Texas Speedway Waco Tx
> > > > Started on time, no intermission no waisted time between races. They
double digit car counts, the b mods had 25, very competative racing all night.
> > > >
> > > > Brian
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 00:32:52
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Gordy
> > > >
> > > > Found it by accident trying to get
> > > > Info on the track at the Montazooma County Fairgrounds in Co. I went to
the IMCA website and was scrolling down thru member tracks and theirs was
listed.
> > > > It is a new track at the fairgrounds run pretty well, great food from
outside venders. I stayed overnight and did some exploring in the morning and
found an offroad coarse out back. Did not investigate if it is countable or not
yet.
> > > >
> > > > Brian
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: RPMGORDY@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2012 20:05:33
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Brian,
> > > >
> > > > How did you find out about Millard County?
> > > >
> > > > Gordy
> > > >
> > > > In a message dated 6/3/2012 1:20:48 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > > > BHICKEYJR@... writes:
> > > >
> > > > Friday eve Thunder Mountain Speedway Olathe,Co. very dusty, small crowd
> > > > and low car counts for a two day show.
> > > >
> > > > Saturday eve Millard County Raceway Delta Ut. not as dusty as Thunder
> > > > Mountain, better croud, much better racing and slightly better car
counts.
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Wed, May 30, 2012 12:59 am
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > friday lincoln speedway lincoln,il
> > > > saturday fairbury american legion speedway fairbury,il
> > > > sunday farmer city speedway farmer city ,il
> > > > monday macon speedway macon,il
> > > > excellent racing at all of these 4 speedways a great weekend of
> > > > trackchasing!
> > > >
> > > > see ya at the track
> > > > brian
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: BHICKEYJR <BHICKEYJR@...>
> > > > To: TrackChasers <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Thu, May 24, 2012 10:39 pm
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Scratch one off of the bucket list with me finally getting to the Tony
> > > > Hullman
> > > > lassic at Terre Haute Speedway.
> > > > ent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > rom: BHICKEYJR@...
> > > > ender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > ate: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:50:05
> > > > o: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > eply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > ubject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > > Met up with The Man of Steel on Friday and we headed up to Southern Ohio
> > > > peedway to catch their 2000 to win super latemodel show.
> > > > On Sat. Eve I headed over to Corbin Speedway in Ky. For their regular
> > > > weekly
> > > > how.
> > > > Guy
> > > > You may want to get some dining recomendations for your Kansas City trip
> > > > from
> > > > he Postman, I heard the Duck Fat Fries are a must.
> > > >
> > > > See ya at the track
> > > > Brian
> > > > Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: RPMGORDY@...
> > > > Sender: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:44:55
> > > > To: <TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [TrackChasers] Update For Me
> > > >
> > > > Julian,
> > > >
> > > > We DO care. One of the best parts of this deal is the telling of
> > > > stories to any and all that will hear them. I wish I had more time to do
> > > > so.
> > > > Never be intimidated by some of the numbers or believe your own numbers
> > > > aren't worthy. So many times the good bench racing to, from and at the
> > > > track is
> > > >
> > > > etter than the actual racing. I hope you get to share a road trip with
any
> > > > of us some day to see what I mean. This past weekend was proof of what I
> > > > say. On the way to champkart hell at NHIS, Guy, Mike and I got to enjoy
a
> > > > nice show at the Waterford Speedbowl and raise the tide in the sea of
> > > > sarcasm
> > > > as we watched the Granite State Kart Club stumble and bumble their way
> > > > through their program while lamenting "a little bad luck".The confusion
> > > > brought
> > > >
> > > > bout by malfunctioning transponders was as comical as it was ridiculous.
> > > > Why, they had to actually score the racing by hand with real people. The
> > > > Horror! I wonder how racing survived all these years doing just that. No
> > > > matter how much we see, we will never see it all. Adios.
> > > >
> > > > Gordy
> > > >
> > > > In a message dated 4/13/2012 4:11:05 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > > > kidroberts@... writes:
> > > >
> > > > I haven't posted on here in a while, but I figured I'd let everyone know
> > > > what I have been doing...if anyone cares.
> > > >
> > > > Last year I made it to 52 Races, 22 Tracks, and 6 States. That was a
> > > > personable best for me and I COULD have made 60 if I wanted. This year,
I
> > > > have
> > > > made it to two races, two tracks, and two states. I should be adding
> > > > number
> > > > three in each c


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

TrackChaser:

This past weekend Pam was in Ohio spending the weekend at Ohio University so I
was on my own.  My original plan was to go to Lernerville for the Figure-8 race,
the only track on my HitList for my home state of Pennsylvania.  But before the
Lernerville race, I found out about two more tracks in PA, bringing the PA
HitList total up to three.  After seeing the PA-Wings group race at Cove Valley
on Labor Day weekend, I went to their website to gather information for my AARN
column and noticed they had a race scheduled at Middle Road Speedway on
September 15, the same day as Lernerville.  I had not heard of that track, but
after a little research I discovered it was less than three hours from my house
in Lewistown, and usually hosts racing for mowers and yard karts.  At first I
was unsure if they were going to have any real wheel-to-wheel racing, since the
website was promoting a "1 vs. 1" format.  Once I became sure they were going to
have regular races too, I decided to take the new track closer to home over the
one that has eluded me for three years, the Lernerville Figure-8 track.  Mike
wanted to try to make both tracks, but in the end we both decided to be
satisfied with one.

On Friday after work I visited mom and Aunt Gin and brought them Wendy's chili
for dinner (their request).  That evening, Pam's brother and I headed to high
school football, and the Rough Riders of Catasauqua crushed the Palisades
Pirates 44-0 to go to 3-0 for the season.  Pam and her brother graduated from
Catty High, while I did my student teaching there, lived there for 15 years, two
of my best non-racing buddies are assistant coaches for the football team, and
another buddy's kid is the starting QB.

On Saturday morning I fed the cats and headed to Lewistown.  Warmups were
scheduled for noon, with racing at 1:00.  I arrived right at noon and found thee
friends already there.  Mike Knappenberger had been there for hours, while Rick
Schneider and Russ Currie arrived just before I did.   There was no charge for
spectators, and the pit pass was only $3.  Warmups and racing started pretty
much on time.

The track was small, only 1/10th of a mile. It was perfect for the mowers, but a
tight little bull ring for the PA Wings Winged Outlaw Karts.  I like tight
little bull rings.  The facilities were very nice and it was an very enjoyable
atmosphere to spend an afternoon and watch a show.  The big negative was the
dust, which was surprisingly heavy for such small cars, mowers, and flat karts
that raced there.

The PA Wings said that they would be able to put up to eight cars on the track
at one time.  The Sportsman class only had four entries, so they ran their match
races, a heat, and a feature.  The Unlimited class had 11 cars, so after their
match races they split the field into two heat races.  The top three in each
heat went to the six car A-Main, with the other five to the B-Main.

The show lasted about four hours, with the three Winged Outlaw Kart features
being the last three races of the afternoon.  I had a nice time spending a few
hours with Mike, Rick, and Rusty.  Rusty is only about six tracks away from
reaching the 200 track mark.  I am very much looking forward to displaying his
track list on the website as soon as he gets to 200 tracks.  The four of us made
plans to meet again in two weeks at the TC debut of the new Little Diamond
Speedway.  I have a feeling some other TrackChasers will be joining us that day.

Middle Road Speedway was my 50th new track of 2012.  That was my goal for the
year, as usual.  I have always known that there was no way I was going to be
able to get 50 new tracks every year until I retire, which is scheduled for
2020.  But every year I surprise myself and get one year closer to doing so. 
And every year I make 50 without mining the Michigan treasure trove of
fairgrounds tracks, I know I still have at least one more year of 50 new tracks
left in me while still having to be at work Friday afternoons and Monday
mornings.  Of course, many factors could change that rather quickly.  As always,
I'll go with the flow.

With the goal of 50 reached, I may spend a little more time at football games
this fall.  I probably still have five or six new tracks left in me for 2012, as
well as some other races at old favorites.


Guy & Pam Smith 2012 Summary

2012 New Tracks--Guy 50 / Pam 43
2012 Events--Guy 69 / Pam 43
2012 Total Tracks--Guy 73 / Pam 46
2012 Additional Non Classified Tracks--Guy 6 /

Lifetime Total Tracks--Guy 1,468 / Pam 830



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]