Hello Everyone,

I just saw this in this week's National Speed Sport News:

"A 67-year-old man was killed while competing in a school-bus race competing
Sunday night at Kil-Kare Speedway (Xenia, OH). Glen Cox was doing a figure eight
in the bus he was driving when he was ejected from his bus and struck by another
bus shortly before 9 p.m."

Hopefully this will not have a negative effect on other forms of figure 8
racing.

Andy S

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

Last weekend I had plans to finally get to race at the Ionia Fairgrounds in
MIchigan.  Their website listed a Sunday afternoon race at 4 PM.  I have been
trying all season to get this track , after passing by it many, many times this
summer on my Michigan trips.  I wanted  to confirm the date with the promoter
before makng the long trip.   He called me back on thrusday night that he had
just decided to cancel the event, not enough entries he said.   I then
planned to go to the Claremont F8 the last minute , but their phone had only a
tape,
no live person to ask questions about what time the figure eight would start
and I could not get there until nine pm.   At the very last moment( five
minutes before leaving) I took off heading West in search of possible new
tracks. I
wound up at the Toledo, Ohio Speedway(838) Friday night to finally get to
their figure eight after seven tries!   This was as big for me as Guy finally
getting his Goose Creek, SC  track.   The bonus was that I also picked up their
1/5 mile!   (839) This was a factory stock- figure eight championship night.
They had 16 figure eight cars--. some even had wings/spoilers!  15.00 admission
and the place was packed.  I found a guy in the parking lot selling his extra
tickets and got one for five bucks, which saved me ten dollars!   They stated
right on time and ran all the qualifying races off like clockwork.   Then
they took major intermission.  After waiting nearly a half hour I took off with
the wild idea of possibly making Baer Field for their features to see if
possibly I could catch some feature action on their 3/8 mile oval .  This was a
very
hasty decision, no idea if it was even a possibility of making it, but I
wanted to at least try.  Well, it took almost two hours driving time and I got
there at 10.50 pm. I saw lights, but also met race cars coming out. It did not
look at all promising a this point!  When I rolled into the track it was very
quiet, another bad sign.    Well, guess what, they were having thetir
intermission!  They still had all the features left! .The admission was 12.00,
but they
were no longer charging.  I liked the newer 3/8 mile oval (840) alot better .
The older, larger oval is just too big  .Poor crowd , only about 200 people.
I will admit that the main feature - the " half mile modifieds " put on a
really good show, They had 14 cars and only one yellow flag. This class seemed
alot like the eastern modifieds, really fast!  The show finished about midnight.
The next day, Saturday, I finally got to a place I really wanted bad. This
place is one of the premier weekly short tracks of the entire country., Peoria
Speedway in ILL.(841).  I was not dissappionted,. Full fields of cars , very
efficient show.  Started right on time at 6PM-kind of an early starting time ,
but I was glad since I had to drive home that night. Only negative was no lap
counter. Grandstands about half full , probably 900 people. Ten bucks admision,
very reasonable. This track is the perfect size for a short track. You are
right on top of all the action all the time. Its very rare that the announcer is
located  in the infield judges stand, which is dangerously close to the
track.  Got over about ten.   Note that this place is the original home track of
our own Randy Lewis.  I saw the huge Catapillar Plant he often talks about when
leaving town.   I was happy with a very successfull trip put together the last
moment.  Of course I always have plenty of alternate backup plans, so this
worked out very well.    PJ


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

Thanks to Bruce, Will and Eleanor for all the helpful information..       PJ


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

Sanair, Québec, has a 200 lap enduro scheduled for Sunday, October 2, at
12:30 pm, on the 1/3 mile paved oval.
www.serieprocam.com

I was thinking I may go to Potosky's Cornfield 500 on October 1st but
this complicates things a bit for me.

Will

In a message dated 8/30/05 23:38:57, ranlay@... asks GuySmith:

<< Do you ever have your picture taken at the track or in front of the
track's sign as a remembrance of the outing?  >>

I can answer that, having observed the photo and video ritual for years...
Smith does not have pictures taken of himself at race tracks unless it is with
other trackchasers - such as the day several "got" New Hampshire.  We have
pictures of groups of trackchasers and one particularly memorable one of the day
we met Roland.  Guy does take pictures and video of each track and of track
signs, but the pictures never include him.  We often will re-visit tracks for
which he needs track picture or video, because they are an important part of his
documentation.

<<Why would you be concerned that I record an announcement about my visit to
a track?>>

I doubt that anyone is concerned about you recording an announcement.  That's
your business, as is everyone's means of documenting.  People document their
visits lots of ways.  Some trackchasers keep note cards, sheets of paper,
lists, tiny print in little notebooks, pictures, videos.... all sorts of ways.
But that wasn't the point. Recall that you wrote:
<<When I’m by myself, there is no one to video tape an interview, so I end up

without a video/audio souvenir of the track. >>

The above suggests that your video/audio souvenir of a track can only exist
if it is a tape of the interview.  It makes the interview sound more memorable
than the race.  Perhaps that is not what you meant.

psmith

--- You wrote:
I have a couple New England Questions for any informed track chaser to respond.
  First, does the Claremont, NH  Figure eight, which is weekly, I assume, on
Friday nights,  run at the conclusion of the nights' races , at the beginning ,
the middle of the program or what??  Also, I am thinking of hitting the
Spencer, MA figure eight this Saturday night.  What time does this thing start?
and
is it a definite date?   It is not listed on the track chaser site for Mass,
so I am very concerned about it running.   Thanks in advance for any help, PJ
          * I got four new tracks last weekend and I will file a report
tomorrow evening*.
--- end of quote ---





PJ,

	 Claremont runs the figure 8 as the first feature because they use an inner
track that wouldn't be as well lit.  There's also a new enduro race scheduled in
late Sept. at Bullwinkle's Raceway in Greenville, Maine.  I've never been there,
but my guess is that this might be a one off sort of deal.

Thanks,
Bruce Spencer

PJ,

Yes, Spencer lists the figure 8 on their schedule for Saturday at 6:00
pm. I just updated the web site and the Spencer Fair link is on now. I
am still only about halfway through updating the state pages for 2005.
Then I have to continue working on the rest of the world.

Eleanor,

Did you and Paul go to any new tracks between the Reading figure 8 on
August 12 and the Holmes Co. figure 8 on August 16?

Thanks,
Will

guy,



I read your suggestion with interest.  It seemed like an odd reply, but not
unexpected.  I must admit I am surprised that you rarely seem to make a comment
about the track observations or life experiences of my track reports.  I am not
really sure why that is.



I've already implemented one aspect of your suggestion.  I nearly always take
video and digital photos of the races I attend.  You may have seen some of them
at www.ranlayracing.com.  Of course, I have been doing this for a very long
time.



I might be reading between the lines here, but you seem overly concerned about
my interacting with the local track management.  I thought you were champion of
the idea that folks should enjoy the races the way they want too, not the way
anyone else wants them too.  I certainly think our trackchasers should be able
to enjoy the races the way they want too.



I very much enjoy meeting with fellow trackchasers at the track, race fans and
track owners and promoters as well as the track’s announcers.  I can understand
that some folks might not like to do it this way.  That’s O.K.  When I’m with
other trackchasers I always ask them if they would like to be part of a track
interview that I will be doing.  I have had several trackchasers join me in
track interviews including Allan, Gordy, P.J., and Will.  I hope I have not left
anyone out.  My shining moment in this regard was listening to P.J. being
interviewed at the Great Yarmouth Stadium in the U.K. on the occasion of his
800th new track.  I was snapping pictures of him and the announcer like crazy. 
You may have seen his photograph on the first page of www.ranlayracing.com.



Do you ever have your picture taken at the track or in front of the track's sign
as a remembrance of the outing?  I'll do that from time to time when logistics
permit.  Why would you be concerned that I record an announcement about my visit
to a track?



Although I no longer have the opportunity to read your stories in AARN, it was
my impression that your writing nearly always centered around your experiences
and what happened to you as you visited the racetracks.   That always seemed to
make a lot of sense to me that since you were writing the story and you had the
experiences that the story would be from your perspective and mostly about Guy
Smith.



So anyway, I hope that you enjoy the races the way that you want too.  I hope
you continue to write your stories with the focus on you and your experiences. 
I hope you don't get too concerned that I enjoy the races the way I want too.



Randy Lewis



Randy Lewis
# 1 trackchaser living west of the Mississippi

Media requests should be directed to contact information at www.ranlayracing.com


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

the web site for spencer is
www.SpencerFair.org
  see you later eleanor just got back from fonda

--- In TrackChasers@yahoogroups.com, deskjet960@a... wrote:
> I have a couple New England Questions for any informed tackchaser to
respond.
>  First, does the Claremont, NH  Figure eight, which is weekly, I
assume, on
> Friday nights,  run at the conclusion of the nights' races , at the
beginning ,
> the middle of the program or what??

Claremont runs their Figure 8's near the begining of the program, I
believe. When I was there last month they did. They have no lighting in
the infield do they have no choice.

John

I have a couple New England Questions for any informed tackchaser to respond.
  First, does the Claremont, NH  Figure eight, which is weekly, I assume, on
Friday nights,  run at the conclusion of the nights' races , at the beginning ,
the middle of the program or what??  Also, I am thinking of hitting the
Spencer, MA figure eight this Saturday night.  What time does this thing start?
and
is it a definate date?   It is not listed on the trackchaser site for Mass,
so I am very concerned about it running.   Thanks in advance for any help, PJ
          * I got four new tracks last weekend and I will file a report
tomarrow evening*.


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

Just as a FYI, Allegheny Mtn. Raceway (Kane, PA) owner Harry Spaulding
is planning on adding a mud truck track that will utilize a portion of
the stock car track as well as areas off of turn 3 and 4.  There may be
1 race later this year, if not in 2006.  Just  to let everyone know.

Matt,

The Illiana figure 8 is countable.

Kankakee only counts once. We do not count a second track when they add
banking or make the track a little bit larger or smaller.

Route 66 is one I never heard of before. Was the 1/6 mile inside the 1/2
mile? Did they race more than 2 cars at a time? If they did and it was
an actual race (not just a demo derby where it didn't matter who
finished first or how many laps each car completed) then it counts.
Please give more details about that one, including a date or year if
possible.

By the way, surely you meant dirt oval for Santa Fe Speedway. Do you
have any dates or years for the figure 8 there?

Thanks,
Will



racinheat wrote:

>This is my list of tracks which I have been to.  I came up with 23
>race tracks.  Not sure if they all count within the Track Chasers
>rules but here they are.  The ones that have question marks are the
>ones that I am not sure if they would count or not.  Feedback is
>appreciated.
>
>1.  Chicagoland Speedway-Joliet, IL-1.5 Mile Paved Oval
>2.  Grundy County Speedway-Morris, IL-1/3 Mile Paved Oval
>3.  Illiana Motor Speedway-Schererville, IN-1/2 Mile Pavel Oval
>4.  Illiana Motor Speedway-Schererville, IN-1/4 Mile Paved Oval
>5.  Illiana Motor Speedway-Schererville, IN-Figure 8 Paved Oval:
>School Bus Races-?
>6.  Kankakee Motor Speedway-Kankakee, IL-1/3 Mile Dirt High Banked
>Oval: Done during renovation
>7.  Kankakee Motor Speedway-Kankakee, IL-1/3 Mile Dirt Flat Oval-?
>8.  Michigan Int'l Speedway-Brooklyn, MI-2 Mile Paved Oval
>9.  Raceway Park-Blue Island, IL-1/5 Mile Paved Oval (Closed in 2001,
>10 Minutes from my house)
>10.  Rockford Speedway-Rockford, IL-1/4 Mile Paved Oval
>11.  Route 66 Raceway-Joliet, IL.-1/6 Mile Dirt Oval: A spectator
>division on the Destruction Derby course-?
>12.  Santa Fe Speedway-Hinsdale, IL-1/2 Mile Paved Oval (Closed in
>1995,  All-Time Favorite Track)
>13.  Santa Fe Speedway-Hinsdale, IL-1/4 Mile Paved Oval
>14.  Santa Fe Speedway-Hinsdale, IL-Firgure 8 Pavel Oval
>15.  Wisconsin Dells Motor Speedway-Wisconsin Dells, WI-1/3 Mile Paved
>Oval
>16.  Golden Sands Speedway-Plover, WI-1/3 Mile Paved Oval
>17.  Wisconsin Int'l Raceway-Kaukauna, WI-1/2 Mile Paved Oval
>18.  Wisconsin Int'l Raceway-Kaukauna, WI-1/4 Mile Paved Oval
>19.  Wisconsin Int'l Raceway-Kaukauna, WI-Figure 8 Paved Oval
>20.  State Park Speedway-Wausau, WI-1/4 Mile Paved Oval
>21.  Madison Int'l Speedway-Oregon, WI-1/2 Mile Paved Oval
>22.  Chicago Motor Speedway-Cicero, IL-1 Mile Paved Oval (Closed in 2002)
>23.  Crown Point Speedway-Crown Point, IN-1/4 Mile Dirt Oval
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Guy,

Larry Jendras did not find any results from the WV Interstate Fair so he
doesn't know whether or not they had any champ karts.

Speaking of Larry, he found another countable dirt oval in North
Carolina. This one, Bear Creek Raceway in Dodson, has micro sprints.
http://www.bcrw.8k.com/index.html

Thanks for pointing out the 2 Québec tracks that I didn't realize
weren't showing up on www.trackchaser.com . I'll have to rectify that.
Mont-St-Michel was confirmed as having run this year.

Will


RTRYFBAR@... wrote:

>While you are online, I have a couple of questions I will ask you on the
>forum, as the answers may be of interest to other members.
>
>Did you hear anything from Larry J.  about the Interstate Fairgrounds race in
>WV?
>
>Earlier in the season, didn't you have a post about finding racing at Mont
>St. Michel and also a new place called Festival something or another in Dupuy,
>both in QC?  What happened to those two that they are not listed on the
>website?  I must have interpreted your post to say that they had racing
scheduled
>this year, since I added them to my hitlist.
>
>gms
>
>
>

Hey!  Can you get your elbow out of my butt?  Ouch!  That was my foot you
just stepped on.  Oomph.  Watch it, buddy!

It's getting pretty crowded in here.  Congratulations and welcome Bruce
Eckel, the 17th member of the 500 track club !!!!!!!!

*************

Heeeeelllloooooo!  Anybody else in here?  Hmmm.  Guess I'm all alone.

Congratulations to Andy Sivi for being the first to see Figure 8 races at 100
different courses.

*************

Is there anybody up there?  I can't see anyone.  He must be up there
somewhere, just too far in front to hear.

Congratulations to Randy Lewis for breaking the single season TrackChasing
mark, a record worthy of mention.

**************

It makes me so pleased to see all the people participating in their own
individual ways.


Guy Smith
TrackChasing Founder

In a message dated 8/30/05 19:28:30, trackchaser@... writes:

<< I think I prefer Moose River myself.  Will >>

Aarrgh!  Forgot about that one.

While you are online, I have a couple of questions I will ask you on the
forum, as the answers may be of interest to other members.

Did you hear anything from Larry J.  about the Interstate Fairgrounds race in
WV?

Earlier in the season, didn't you have a post about finding racing at Mont
St. Michel and also a new place called Festival something or another in Dupuy,
both in QC?  What happened to those two that they are not listed on the
website?  I must have interpreted your post to say that they had racing
scheduled
this year, since I added them to my hitlist.

gms

In a message dated 8/29/05 11:09:18, ranlay@... writes:

<< I prefer a succinct mention that I will videotape as my trackchasing
souvenir from the track.  I will do an interview but it really isn’t
necessary.
When I’m by myself, there is no one to video tape an interview, so I end up
without a video/audio souvenir of the track. >>

I think I have an idea that may solve your dilemma.  If you would expand the
scope of your potential track video souvenirs outside of them being strictly
about yourself, you could videotape some of the actual racing at the track for
a souvenir, even when you are not being interviewed.  This seems to work well
for Will and myself.  Hope that helps.

gms

PS: What does one aim the video camera at during a "succinct mention"?  A
speaker?  The announcer tower?

I think I prefer Moose River myself.

Will



RTRYFBAR@... wrote:

>In a message dated 8/29/05 8:27:00, Bruce.A.Spencer@... writes:
>
><< I don't know anything about this track, Greenville is in the middle of
>nowhere Maine, but it would be a good foliage trip that time of year.  It's
gotta
>be good, after all it's Maine's finest 1/4 mile dirt track, LOL.>>
>
>The sad thing is, having been to Barnyard, Bullwinkle's, Cornstock, and
>Corson's Crazy Corners, they are probably right!
>
>gms
>

In a message dated 8/29/05 8:27:00, Bruce.A.Spencer@... writes:

<< I don't know anything about this track, Greenville is in the middle of
nowhere Maine, but it would be a good foliage trip that time of year.  It's
gotta
be good, after all it's Maine's finest 1/4 mile dirt track, LOL.>>

The sad thing is, having been to Barnyard, Bullwinkle's, Cornstock, and
Corson's Crazy Corners, they are probably right!

gms

Received this e-mail today:

Guy , Just a quick note that Sheandoah Speedway will reopen this sat
09/03/05. Race will be on Saturdays only for the rest of season.  Next sat the
USAC
ford focus midgets will be here. The shedule for the rest of the season will be
updated shortly on the web site. www.shenandoahspeedway.com  If you let me
know when you are coming I can get you a  free pass if you would like. Spectator
gates open at 5pm heat races start at 7pm.



                                                       Regards, Kirk Wilson

GREETINGS FROM WILMINGTON, ILLINOIS







AIRLINE ALERT SOMEWHERE OVER THE AIRSPACE OF THE FAR WEST



Following my last track of the trip, I had boarded my American Airlines plane
for the flight from Chicago back to Orange County.  We were more than half way
back to California with a plane full of passengers returning from their weekend
of fun.  It was past 9 p.m. and the cabin was dark.  I was seated in seat 17F,
at an exit row window.



I was watching a Sopranos episode on my computer’s DVD player when the captain
came over the P.A. system with this, “Sorry to interrupt but I have some bad
news I have to tell you.  If the passenger next to you is sleeping you may want
to wake him or her up.”



O.K., you’ve got my attention!  What’s up?  Should I cancel my plans for next
week’s trackchasing trip?  Does this mean I will never get 1,000 tracks?  Why
would the pilot want to share ‘bad news’ with me?  Why does he want me to wake
up the woman sleeping peacefully next to me?  Did the pilot spill coffee on his
lap?  Did he forget his wife’s birthday?  If so, why would he want to share this
‘bad news’ with me?  All of these questions raced through my mind.



I did as instructed and gently shook the shoulder of the attractive woman who
was asleep in seat 17D.  She groggily put her arm around me and said something
like, “Oh, Bob”.  There was no time for small talk.  I shook her from her stupor
and we both listened intently to the captain’s next words.



The captain told us the plane’s computer had identified a “malfunction”. 
Apparently, the plane’s anti-lock braking feature was not working.  The
anti-lock braking option is used when there is rain or snow on the runway……or
when an airport has abnormally short runways.  He needed 7,000 feet to stop
without this option.  The Orange County Airport runways are only 5,701 feet
long.  After listening to the captain, I agreed with him.  We had a bit of a
problem.



Of course, it’s never a good idea to identify a problem unless you have an
accompanying solution and the captain did.  His plan was for us to land at the
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) rather than the Orange County Airport. 
Then American Airlines would have the passengers re-board another jet for the
36-mile “flight” back to Orange County.  Of course, this had to be done with
some haste since no planes are allowed to land at the Orange County Airport
after 11 p.m.  Yes, we have short runways and flight curfews, both in the
evening and the morning.  We Orange countians are a picky bunch.



Because you are reading this, you know we did not crash.  It did take about nine
hours from the time I returned the National Rental Car until I hit the
king-sized bed in San Clemente, but hey, that’s trackchasing!







“TRACKCHASER CHEESE CHALLENGE 2005 PACE OF THE RACE REPORT BROUGHT TO YOU BY
FRONTIER AIRLINES”



This is a comparison of how many new tracks Ed Esser has seen in 2005 and how
many tracks I saw through the same date in 2004 on my way to seeing, at then a
record, 127 tracks.  In order for Ed to win the “Cheese Challenge”, he must see
128 new tracks.



Through August 27 - Ed – 93 tracks         Randy – 83 tracks*



*Note:  To properly evaluate Ed’s chances, remember I added six new tracks on
and after December 26, 2004 in Australia.  At this point in time, Ed has never
trackchased outside of the United States.  He will have a difficult time finding
U.S. based tracks in late December.  Net, he needs to stay 6-7 tracks ahead of
my pace of last year through early December in order to win this challenge.



Prize:  If Ed sees more than 128 new tracks in 2005, he wins a round-trip
domestic airline ticket to anywhere Frontier Airlines flies.  If he cannot see
at least 128 new tracks then I win 10 pounds of the Wisconsin cheese of my
choice.







TRIP ENDING SUMMARY



This short trip provided six tracks in five trackchasing days.  I am satisfied
with that.  I saw a good mix of tracks during the trip.  I started with a county
fair figure 8 race.  That was followed up with a high dollar dirt late model
show and a well run short-track asphalt program.  I then was able to see a
hidden gem of a champ kart track, some excellent bullring dirt late model racing
and another champ kart event.  All of the racing was conducted under generally
favorable weather conditions.  The season is winding down and I have only one
more trackchasing trip scheduled before Labor Day.



I picked up two new states for 2005, Tennessee and North Carolina.  I believe
that’s 23 states and eight different countries for the year.  I’ll try to add
another state or two before I call it quits for this year.



I’ll be home for just two days after which Carol and I will head out on
Wednesday for the next trip.  I am planning on taking Carol to a tourist
attraction that I visited a couple of years ago.  I have wanted to take her here
ever since my initial visit.  Any guesses as to what I am referring too?







PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS



Not much travel news this morning.  It was only about 60 miles from my motel in
Watseka, Illinois to the track in Wilmington, Illinois.  I arrived on time for
their somewhat unusual Sunday afternoon event with a starting time of 1 p.m.



Normally there is not enough time to fly home on the same day as I see my last
race of the trip.  Today was an exception.  I was out of the track by 3 p.m. and
on a flight home from Chicago to Orange County by 7 p.m.



You may know that I enjoy eating at Steak n’ Shake restaurants.  Recently, I’ve
had poor customer service results with SNS, which is very unusual.  During the
past month while eating at Steak n’ Shakes in Michigan, P.J. and I nearly had to
tackle a waitress at midnight to get service.  Carol and I also had spotty
service at the same locations.



Today, I pulled into a SNS near Joliet, Illinois.  I sensed something might be
wrong when, at about 3:30 p.m. most of the tables had not been bused.  I was
waiting to be seated when a server came up and provided this information, “We
are having problems serving our food today.  The waits may be very long.  If you
don’t want to wait a long time, you may not want to eat here today”.  I’ve never
heard that from a SNS or anywhere else for that matter.  I told the server that
I was headed to the airport and couldn’t afford to wait.  I then asked her if
she could give me a strawberry shortcake and Diet Coke to go without much wait. 
A generous tip accompanied my question and helped secure a quick, “Yes sir, I’ll
get right on it”.



While I was waiting for my takeaway order, the manager greeted the folks who
still wanted to be seated.  Here’s what he said, “We have some new help in the
kitchen today and things are not going well.  It’s going to take a while for you
to be served.  If you want to wait, please take a seat and your food will be
free”.  Very unusual!



In what seemed like only a moment I was being served my strawberry shortcake and
soda by a very friendly server, my new best friend.  Sometimes it pays to pay.



Flying home on a Sunday night flight reminded me of my working days.  Many times
I would get the last Sunday night flight following a weekend of trackchasing so
I could get back to work on time.  The sunset as we headed westbound was
gorgeous and lasted longer than normal since we were traveling at 600 M.P.H.
chasing the setting sun.







RACE TRACK NEWS:



JULES RACEWAY, WILMINGTON, ILLINOIS - TRACK #947



Today’s event in Illinois is my 65th countable track in the state.  I have now
seen 6 new tracks in Illinois this season.  I still have 18 countable tracks to
see in the Illini state.  Ed Esser leads the state of Illinois with 79 tracks. 
I don’t think I like the idea of someone else leading my native state. 
Nevertheless, I will just have to suck it up and accept it until I can do
something about it.



I visited this track back in early June following an afternoon show at the
nearby Autobahn Country Club track.  I didn’t stay for their show that day
because of threatening weather.  I believe they were rained out then.



Today was one of very few Sunday afternoon programs on the Jules Raceway
schedule.  Normally, they race on Saturday nights.  The day was warm, about 90
degrees, and the blue sky was nearly cloudless.



I enjoy go-kart racing.  I actually think the racing is better and more
professional than many forms of racing that the trackchasing group currently
counts.  Nevertheless, it is unlikely that go-kart racing will ever be fully
accepted as countable with our trackchasing rules.  Therefore, I guess I will
have to satisfy my thirst for go-kart racing whenever “champ karts” are
participating.



Today’s track was not nearly as well detailed as yesterday afternoon’s oval in
Lake Village, Indiana.  The only countable class was the Star Champs.  There
were other variations of champ karts but they all had an age limit that would
lead one to believe they were not adults.  Our trackchasing rules stipulate that
a driver must be an “adult”.  I believe there is a wide definition as to what
age a person must be to be considered an adult.  I would guess that ages 16, 18
and 21 would be the most common answers to this question if it were posed on
Family Feud.  I frequently tell our children that I am still a kid and Carol
frequently tells me that I don’t behave like an adult.



My policy when watching champ karts is to see each and every class race,
countable or not.  That policy was easy to apply today since the Star Champs
raced last.  There were about 12 classes of karts racing today.  Most classes
had 4-8 carts running.  The Star Champs had five racers today.



With such a hot day the track conditions were not great.  The racing groove was
dry slick with emphasis on slick.  When karts got out of the groove they kicked
up a lot of dust.  They did water just before the Star Champs raced, but they
put so little of the liquid stuff on the racing surface that nothing changed.



Each race had several spins.  EVERY time a kart spun, the yellow was displayed
even though in almost every case the spinning kart was able to get going again
and would not have held up the race.  This track policy made twelve 10-lap heat
races last two hours.  I didn’t mind too much as I was sitting in my lawn chair
in the shade simply relaxing.  If I got done too early here, it just meant more
wait time at the airport.  I would rather wait at the track than at the airport.



One of the flat kart heats was outstanding.  Over the last few laps the lead
changed in every turn with a “slide job” by the second place driver.  I also
liked the two car “baby champ” class.  These karts were about one-third the size
of a normal champ kart but fast enough to spin out which was proven a few times
during the race.



I did notice that all go-kart drivers wore fireproof racing gloves.  They
probably need them a lot less than drivers of bigger and faster cars where they
are often lacking.  I received a nice trackchaser mention and was on my way at 3
p.m.







RENTAL CAR UPDATE:



The National Rental Car Racing Chevy LT was O.K., although I believe I like its
cousin, the Malibu better.







LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:



These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current
trackchaser total.



1.  Rick Schneider – Bayshore, New York - 1,036

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,019

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 994

4.  Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 990

5.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 978

6.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 947

7.  Jack Erdmann, DePere, Wisconsin – 872





Other notables



45.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 209









2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS



1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 138*

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 93

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 69

4.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 57

5.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 52

6.  P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 49

7.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 47

8.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 41

9.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 29

10. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 23



* Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record









Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21st century



Randy Lewis is a freelance writer, who winters in San Clemente, California and
frequently flies in economy class.













CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:



Chicago O’Hare Airport – trip begins

Peotone, Illinois – 57 miles

Bulls Gap, Tennessee – 654 miles

Hudson, North Carolina – 882 miles

Lake Village, Indiana – 1,545 miles

Boswell, Indiana – 1,590 miles

Wilmington, Illinois – 1,731 miles

Chicago O’Hare Airport 1,776 miles – trip ends





Air travel



Orange County, CA – Chicago, IL – 1,726 miles

Chicago, IL – Orange County, CA – 1,726 miles



Total air mileage – 3,452 miles

Total frequent flyer mileage – 6,904 miles





Total rental car and air miles – 5,228 miles







TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:



Will County Fairgrounds - $8

Volunteer Speedway - $35

Tri-County Motor Speedway - $10

Lake Village Speedway - $5

Kamp Motor Speedway - $10

Jules Raceway – Free



Total racetrack admissions – about $68






My past trackchasing stories are available at:


www.ranlayracing.com


Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:


www.trackchaser.com












Planned new racetracks


August 31 – Milwaukee Mile – inner oval, West Allis, Wisconsin



September 1 – Procter Speedway, Procter, Minnesota



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

GREETINGS FROM LAKE VILLAGE, INDIANA AND THEN CHASE, INDIANA







“TRACKCHASER CHEESE CHALLENGE 2005 PACE OF THE RACE REPORT BROUGHT TO YOU BY
FRONTIER AIRLINES”



This is a comparison of how many new tracks Ed Esser has seen in 2005 and how
many tracks I saw through the same date in 2004 on my way to seeing, at then a
record, 127 tracks.  In order for Ed to win the “Cheese Challenge”, he must see
128 new tracks.



Through August 27 - Ed – 93 tracks         Randy – 83 tracks*



*Note:  To properly evaluate Ed’s chances, remember I added six new tracks on
and after December 26, 2004 in Australia.  At this point in time, Ed has never
trackchased outside of the United States.  He will have a difficult time finding
U.S. based tracks in late December.  Net, he needs to stay 6-7 tracks ahead of
my pace of last year through early December in order to win this challenge.





Prize:  If Ed sees more than 128 new tracks in 2005, he wins a round-trip
domestic airline ticket to anywhere Frontier Airlines flies.  If he cannot see
at least 128 new tracks then I win 10 pounds of the Wisconsin cheese of my
choice.







PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS



I would like each of my readers to raise their hands if they have ever seen,
either on TV or in person, a driver do a burnout following a race win.  By the
way, a burnout is when a driver presses the accelerator and brake at the same
time.  This result is a tremendous amount of tire spin and an even greater
amount of tire smoke, which the crowd seems to love.  Well, from the looks of it
just about everyone has seen this display of excitement.  You can put your hands
down now.



Why would a driver who has been babying his or her tires all day, suddenly be
willing to abuse them to such a degree after the race is over?  The short answer
is because he no longer needs to conserve the tires because they have done the
job they were intended to do.



I see this victory lane celebration as analogous to financial planning in
retirement.  The racer has finished his race and now it’s time to kick back and
celebrate.  That’s the same way it is in retirement.  It’s time to kick back and
celebrate.



I was talking to a friend several months ago and he said someone asked this
question.  “How come Randy, who is such a rich guy, is always trying to save
money when he buys things?”  I’m not sure how my friend answered this question,
but I will take a stab at it.



First, I would probably debate the statement of my being a “rich guy”.  Money is
like golf, there is always someone you can beat and someone who can beat you.



I never want to “waste” money; I want to “enjoy” it.  You can waste money when
you spend it or you can enjoy money when you spend it.  This week I can recall a
couple of opportunities where I to avoided wasting money so I could enjoy it
later.



Remember at the beginning of this trip, I hung around the airport for a couple
of hours and then watched a DVD in my rental car for an hour so I wouldn’t get
charged an extra $50 ($42.50 plus taxes) for a day’s worth of rental charges? 
Later in the trip, I changed hotels when the rate was increasing from my $49.50
per night charge to $149.00 the very next night because of the NASCAR race
nearby.  Those two moves saved me about $150.



Long-time readers of the Trackchaser Report can see that I spend a lot of money.
At the same time, I will take the time to save money whenever I can.  I must
compliment Carol in that she is more careful with money than any wife I know.  I
have to encourage her to spend money.  I’ve had several friends of mine say they
wish they had a wife, with regards to spending, just like Carol.



I’d like to continue the tie-in between racing and retirement planning.  Think
of during the race as similar to during your working career.  Just like the
racer has to be responsible and take care of his equipment during the race, if
you’re ever going to have a successful financial retirement you need to be
responsible and take care of your money during your working career.



In pre-retirement, you have three spending choices.  It’s all very simple.  You
can spend a little bit more than you make each year and you will end up in
bankruptcy.  You can spend exactly what you make each year and you will work
until you die.  Finally, you can spend a little bit less than you make each year
and you can have enough savings to enjoy the same lifestyle or better in
retirement that you had while you were working.



Of course, you can choose the first option and hope the lottery will bail you
out.  I had a friend tell me that the lottery is the welfare man’s 401K plan. 
There seemed to be a lot of truth to that.



Let’s say you choose option three from above.  You spent a little bit less than
you made and now you have a surplus as you enter retirement.  You’ve made it to
victory lane.  You’re just like the driver who does the burnout.  You don’t have
to be so conservative with your money that you can’t enjoy it.



The winning driver may cut the victory lane burnout celebration short if he is
planning on passing along his used tires to his race driving children.  You may
want to keep an eye on your retirement spending if you have an eye on leaving a
significant estate to your children.



On the other hand, a friend of mine (not the lottery welfare 401K friend) told
me that if you raised such unproductive children that they need your financial
help with they are more than 50 years old then you raised some derelict
children.  Yes, I’m always getting thoughtful advice from my friends.



I’m the type of guy that when I save 50 bucks on a rental car or 100 bucks on a
hotel room, I don’t want to put that money back in my pocket.  I want to spend
that money that I “saved” on something that I will “enjoy”.



Carol is always telling me that people who are tight with there money are
destined to never have any.  Although I don’t agree with some of the wilder
things she comes up with, I do find her to be very insightful and a good
resource when it comes to common sense.  I believe she is right on with the
above thinking.



Now we come to the end of the trackchasing strategy session.  If you’re still
“running the race”, make sure you save a little for the victory lane
celebration.  If you have already completed the race and are hanging around
victory lane don’t be afraid to enjoy yourself.  You’re only in victory lane for
a short time.



Update:  Carol and I had 27 gasoline fill-ups in July, only two of which were
from San Clemente.  We are now at 131% of the Vacation and Entertainment budget
for the year (7 months).  I hope I have enough cash to finish the season.







RACE TRACK NEWS:



LAKE VILLAGE SPEEDWAY, LAKE VILLAGE, INDIANA - TRACK #945



I had a very pleasant experience at the Lake Village Speedway.  It was a long
drive from Hudson, North Carolina.  I drove nearly 200 miles after the race
there and overnighted in Knoxville, Tennessee.



Knoxville holds a special place in my heart for two reasons.  First, Carol and I
went to the world’s fair there back in the early 80s.  Secondly, and far more
importantly, Carol and I met there for a brief rendezvous while I was stationed
in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  We were married while I was on a 10-day leave
following Marine Corps boot camp.  After our marriage, I was shipped off to Camp
Lejeune and our meeting in Knoxville was the first time together since we had
honeymooned.



Following Knoxville, it was nearly 500 miles up to Lake Village in Northern
Indiana.  The only countable class at the Lake Village Speedway was the champ
karts.  There were six of them.  That means I drove more than 100 miles for each
of the six countable cars at today’s races.



Most of the time, the weather moves from the west to the east.  In case you have
not noticed, my trackchasing weather policy is to get as far east of the bad
weather as I can and watch a race.  Then, I will let the weather pass over me as
I drive to a track location that is now on the back (west) of the bad weather. 
This plan works very well for me.



The Indiana area was supposed to be on the backside of the bad weather. 
Unfortunately, when I arrived into Indianapolis, I ran into some of the darkest
skies I had encountered this season.  Just north of Indianapolis, it rained on
me for several minutes.  Indy was about two hours south of my Lake Village,
Indiana destination.  I did not want to drive almost 700 miles into a rainout. 
Fortunately, the bad weather was centered on Indianapolis and the weather in
Lake Village was clear although very warm.



The track facility is a miniature version of the better dirt tracks you will see
in America.  The P.A. system was excellent and the announcer one of the best I
have heard all season.  He is the former announcer at the Illiana Speedway and
left there when his son bought this track.



The track is a semi-banked one-sixth mile dirt oval.  It switched from tarmac
(asphalt) to shale (dirt) two years ago.  Several years ago, the kart track was
a paved road course.  They race your typical classes of the World Karting
Association.



The staff at Lake Village could not have been friendlier to me.  The track
announcer interviewed me at length and kept saying that he “had never heard of
such a thing” as trackchasing.  Most people have not!



Following the interview, the announcer took me over to the concession stand and
told me to order “anything I wanted”.  Actually, I had just eaten at the Steak
n’ Shake, but I grabbed about three hot dogs and several cheeseburgers and
stuffed them in my camera bag.  I then snatched a handful of Snickers candy bars
and several sodas and was on my way.



No, I didn’t!  I had just eaten at the Steak n’ Shake and as a guest of the
track (even though I paid my five bucks to get in) I accepted a Diet Coke on a
very warm late afternoon.  It would have been impolite of me not to accept some
form of his gift.  The announcer’s son then took me over to the brand new
utility building where the karts are weighed after each race.  He pointed out
the satellite TV that was tuned to the Bristol race and invited me to watch
whenever I wanted.



The announcer invited me up to the announcers booth/flag stand.  I watched a
couple of races from here until the last class had run.  It was now time for the
track to take an intermission.  The flagman was putting his flags away and came
over and shook my hand.  “We’re glad to have you here”, he told me.  Then one of
the scoring women came up and said, “I was busy with lineups when you were being
interviewed, what exactly do you do?”  I gave her the 30-second version on
trackchasing.  Her response, “That’s cool!”



I wandered the pits and ran across Manny Vallejo.  He and his son race champ
karts.  I told him about trackchasing and champ karts and he was interested. 
Manny ran second in his 10-lap champ kart heat.  A young woman was the winner.



There has been a long-standing “gentleman’s agreement” that it’s O.K. to leave
the track after watching a champ kart heat and without staying to watch a champ
kart feature.  I’m not sure how that started but you will not be considered a
social outcast if you don’t stay for the feature.  I’m perfectly willing to go
along with this gentleman’s agreement (as far as I know no women were party to
this arrangement) because the agreement meets and exceeds all trackchasing
rules.



The racing was good this afternoon and early evening.  One major drawback to the
track is that the sun sets directly into the eyes of the spectator.  I hate
that.  Each of the 10 classes or so had 5-10 karts.  The champs has six racers. 
I liked the outlaw class the best.  They ran last and had some rather exotic
looking body styles.  They were fast.



Just as I was leaving the first half of my blended double (without a feature),
the announcer noticed me and motioned me over to the concession stand.  He
thrust another Diet Coke in my hand “for the road”.  I was wondering if the
“Ritter Racing” shirt I was wearing made me look hungry?



Actually, I believe I am treated so well, as a stranger, for just one reason. 
These track owners, promoters and employees are just so happy to see someone who
have taken the time to come a long way to see their track that they can hardly
contain themselves.  They are proud of their operation.  They probably don’t get
a lot of praise.  When someone comes along and introduces themselves, it tells
them they are important enough to warrant a visit, even if it’s just from me.







KAMP MOTOR SPEEDWAY, BOSWELL, INDIANA - TRACK #946



Today’s events in Indiana are my 48th and 49th countable tracks in the state.  I
am now tied for 9th place in the state with Kevin Eckert, a trackchaser I have
never met.  I have seen 10 new tracks in Indiana this season.  I still have 41
countable tracks to see in the Hoosier state.  Roger Ferrell leads the state of
Indiana with 103 tracks. I met up at the track tonight with Indiana’s state
leader, Roger Ferrell and his wife Brenda.  This was my sixth new track to see
with Roger and my second evening with Brenda (for trackchasing).



The racing I saw at the Kamp Motor Speedway was some of the best I have seen all
year.  The track is well lit although the P.A. system is a bit week.  The dirt
oval looks to be about one-third mile in distance.  I don’t think I have ever
seen a track where the viewing angles are any better.  The track seems to have
been lowered to a level below the grandstands, somewhat, and this makes the
viewing terrific.



I arrived while they were still running heat races and saw three classes worth
of consies and the late model and modified features.  The Northern All-Star Late
Model group was the visiting and headline division tonight.  The track promoter
was smart enough to run this division first of the four total classes racing
tonight.  This almost never happens, but I think it is one very bright idea.



The cars raced two and three abreast throughout the pack.  I even got to see
senior citizen Dick Potts #92 race.  I would have thought he had hung it up
years ago.  Steve Barnett was the feature winner.  The KMS is a good track.  If
you have not been there, I recommend it.



Brenda Ferrell was nice enough to give up her padded blanket seat so that I
could bench race with Roger.  Thank you, Brenda.  Roger and I were sorry to
learn that we had missed Paul Weisel when we were at Standish recently.  That
means P.J. and I missed him later in the evening at Spartan Speedway.



I will probably talk more about this at some point in the future, but I think
the frequency of trackchasers meeting up at tracks in the next few years is
going to decline.  We are already seeing the number of trackchasing visits
decrease for many members of the top 10.  I see this as a continuing trend as
the chasers age, the remaining tracks get to be further apart and the cost of
travel increases.



With more and more of the “easy” tracks already being seen, there will be fewer,
not zero, but fewer chances for trackchasers to meet up.  That’s not good, as I
very much enjoy spending the evening with folks that I have a lot in common
with.







RENTAL CAR UPDATE:



I probably would have been better off selecting a Chevy Malibu for its gas
mileage advantage, but the National Rental Car Racing Chevy LT is doing just
fine.







LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:



These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current
trackchaser total.



1.  Rick Schneider – Bayshore, New York - 1,036

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,019

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 994

4.  Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 990

5.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 978

6.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 946

7.  Jack Erdmann, DePere, Wisconsin – 872





Other notables



45.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 209









2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS



1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 137*

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 93

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 69

4.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 57

5.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 52

6.  P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 49

7.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 47

8.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 41

9.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 29

10. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 23



* Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record









Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21st century



Randy Lewis is a freelance writer, who winters in San Clemente, California and
frequently flies in economy class.













CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:



Chicago O’Hare Airport – trip begins

Peotone, Illinois – 57 miles

Bulls Gap, Tennessee – 654 miles

Hudson, North Carolina – 882 miles

Lake Village, Indiana – 1,545 miles

Boswell, Indiana – 1,590 miles



Air travel



Orange County, CA – Chicago, IL – 1,726 miles







TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:



Will County Fairgrounds - $8

Volunteer Speedway - $35

Tri-County Motor Speedway - $10

Lake Village Speedway - $5

Kamp Motor Speedway - $10




My past trackchasing stories are available at:


www.ranlayracing.com


Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:


www.trackchaser.com












Planned new racetracks


August 28 – Jules Raceway, Wilmington, Illinois



August 31 – Milwaukee Mile – inner oval, West Allis, Wisconsin







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

GREETINGS FROM LAKE VILLAGE, INDIANA AND THEN CHASE, INDIANA







“TRACKCHASER CHEESE CHALLENGE 2005 PACE OF THE RACE REPORT BROUGHT TO YOU BY
FRONTIER AIRLINES”



This is a comparison of how many new tracks Ed Esser has seen in 2005 and how
many tracks I saw through the same date in 2004 on my way to seeing, at then a
record, 127 tracks.  In order for Ed to win the “Cheese Challenge”, he must see
128 new tracks.



Through August 27 - Ed – 93 tracks         Randy – 83 tracks*



*Note:  To properly evaluate Ed’s chances, remember I added six new tracks on
and after December 26, 2004 in Australia.  At this point in time, Ed has never
trackchased outside of the United States.  He will have a difficult time finding
U.S. based tracks in late December.  Net, he needs to stay 6-7 tracks ahead of
my pace of last year through early December in order to win this challenge.





Prize:  If Ed sees more than 128 new tracks in 2005, he wins a round-trip
domestic airline ticket to anywhere Frontier Airlines flies.  If he cannot see
at least 128 new tracks then I win 10 pounds of the Wisconsin cheese of my
choice.







PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS



I would like each of my readers to raise their hands if they have ever seen,
either on TV or in person, a driver do a burnout following a race win.  By the
way, a burnout is when a driver presses the accelerator and brake at the same
time.  This result is a tremendous amount of tire spin and an even greater
amount of tire smoke, which the crowd seems to love.  Well, from the looks of it
just about everyone has seen this display of excitement.  You can put your hands
down now.



Why would a driver who has been babying his or her tires all day, suddenly be
willing to abuse them to such a degree after the race is over?  The short answer
is because he no longer needs to conserve the tires because they have done the
job they were intended to do.



I see this victory lane celebration as analogous to financial planning in
retirement.  The racer has finished his race and now it’s time to kick back and
celebrate.  That’s the same way it is in retirement.  It’s time to kick back and
celebrate.



I was talking to a friend several months ago and he said someone asked this
question.  “How come Randy, who is such a rich guy, is always trying to save
money when he buys things?”  I’m not sure how my friend answered this question,
but I will take a stab at it.



First, I would probably debate the statement of my being a “rich guy”.  Money is
like golf, there is always someone you can beat and someone who can beat you.



I never want to “waste” money; I want to “enjoy” it.  You can waste money when
you spend it or you can enjoy money when you spend it.  This week I can recall a
couple of opportunities where I to avoided wasting money so I could enjoy it
later.



Remember at the beginning of this trip, I hung around the airport for a couple
of hours and then watched a DVD in my rental car for an hour so I wouldn’t get
charged an extra $50 ($42.50 plus taxes) for a day’s worth of rental charges? 
Later in the trip, I changed hotels when the rate was increasing from my $49.50
per night charge to $149.00 the very next night because of the NASCAR race
nearby.  Those two moves saved me about $150.



Long-time readers of the Trackchaser Report can see that I spend a lot of money.
At the same time, I will take the time to save money whenever I can.  I must
compliment Carol in that she is more careful with money than any wife I know.  I
have to encourage her to spend money.  I’ve had several friends of mine say they
wish they had a wife, with regards to spending, just like Carol.



I’d like to continue the tie-in between racing and retirement planning.  Think
of during the race as similar to during your working career.  Just like the
racer has to be responsible and take care of his equipment during the race, if
you’re ever going to have a successful financial retirement you need to be
responsible and take care of your money during your working career.



In pre-retirement, you have three spending choices.  It’s all very simple.  You
can spend a little bit more than you make each year and you will end up in
bankruptcy.  You can spend exactly what you make each year and you will work
until you die.  Finally, you can spend a little bit less than you make each year
and you can have enough savings to enjoy the same lifestyle or better in
retirement that you had while you were working.



Of course, you can choose the first option and hope the lottery will bail you
out.  I had a friend tell me that the lottery is the welfare man’s 401K plan. 
There seemed to be a lot of truth to that.



Let’s say you choose option three from above.  You spent a little bit less than
you made and now you have a surplus as you enter retirement.  You’ve made it to
victory lane.  You’re just like the driver who does the burnout.  You don’t have
to be so conservative with your money that you can’t enjoy it.



The winning driver may cut the victory lane burnout celebration short if he is
planning on passing along his used tires to his race driving children.  You may
want to keep an eye on your retirement spending if you have an eye on leaving a
significant estate to your children.



On the other hand, a friend of mine (not the lottery welfare 401K friend) told
me that if you raised such unproductive children that they need your financial
help with they are more than 50 years old then you raised some derelict
children.  Yes, I’m always getting thoughtful advice from my friends.



I’m the type of guy that when I save 50 bucks on a rental car or 100 bucks on a
hotel room, I don’t want to put that money back in my pocket.  I want to spend
that money that I “saved” on something that I will “enjoy”.



Carol is always telling me that people who are tight with there money are
destined to never have any.  Although I don’t agree with some of the wilder
things she comes up with, I do find her to be very insightful and a good
resource when it comes to common sense.  I believe she is right on with the
above thinking.



Now we come to the end of the trackchasing strategy session.  If you’re still
“running the race”, make sure you save a little for the victory lane
celebration.  If you have already completed the race and are hanging around
victory lane don’t be afraid to enjoy yourself.  You’re only in victory lane for
a short time.



Update:  Carol and I had 27 gasoline fill-ups in July, only two of which were
from San Clemente.  We are now at 131% of the Vacation and Entertainment budget
for the year (7 months).  I hope I have enough cash to finish the season.







RACE TRACK NEWS:



LAKE VILLAGE SPEEDWAY, LAKE VILLAGE, INDIANA - TRACK #945



I had a very pleasant experience at the Lake Village Speedway.  It was a long
drive from Hudson, North Carolina.  I drove nearly 200 miles after the race
there and overnighted in Knoxville, Tennessee.



Knoxville holds a special place in my heart for two reasons.  First, Carol and I
went to the world’s fair there back in the early 80s.  Secondly, and far more
importantly, Carol and I met there for a brief rendezvous while I was stationed
in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  We were married while I was on a 10-day leave
following Marine Corps boot camp.  After our marriage, I was shipped off to Camp
Lejeune and our meeting in Knoxville was the first time together since we had
honeymooned.



Following Knoxville, it was nearly 500 miles up to Lake Village in Northern
Indiana.  The only countable class at the Lake Village Speedway was the champ
karts.  There were six of them.  That means I drove more than 100 miles for each
of the six countable cars at today’s races.



Most of the time, the weather moves from the west to the east.  In case you have
not noticed, my trackchasing weather policy is to get as far east of the bad
weather as I can and watch a race.  Then, I will let the weather pass over me as
I drive to a track location that is now on the back (west) of the bad weather. 
This plan works very well for me.



The Indiana area was supposed to be on the backside of the bad weather. 
Unfortunately, when I arrived into Indianapolis, I ran into some of the darkest
skies I had encountered this season.  Just north of Indianapolis, it rained on
me for several minutes.  Indy was about two hours south of my Lake Village,
Indiana destination.  I did not want to drive almost 700 miles into a rainout. 
Fortunately, the bad weather was centered on Indianapolis and the weather in
Lake Village was clear although very warm.



The track facility is a miniature version of the better dirt tracks you will see
in America.  The P.A. system was excellent and the announcer one of the best I
have heard all season.  He is the former announcer at the Illiana Speedway and
left there when his son bought this track.



The track is a semi-banked one-sixth mile dirt oval.  It switched from tarmac
(asphalt) to shale (dirt) two years ago.  Several years ago, the kart track was
a paved road course.  They race your typical classes of the World Karting
Association.



The staff at Lake Village could not have been friendlier to me.  The track
announcer interviewed me at length and kept saying that he “had never heard of
such a thing” as trackchasing.  Most people have not!



Following the interview, the announcer took me over to the concession stand and
told me to order “anything I wanted”.  Actually, I had just eaten at the Steak
n’ Shake, but I grabbed about three hot dogs and several cheeseburgers and
stuffed them in my camera bag.  I then snatched a handful of Snickers candy bars
and several sodas and was on my way.



No, I didn’t!  I had just eaten at the Steak n’ Shake and as a guest of the
track (even though I paid my five bucks to get in) I accepted a Diet Coke on a
very warm late afternoon.  It would have been impolite of me not to accept some
form of his gift.  The announcer’s son then took me over to the brand new
utility building where the karts are weighed after each race.  He pointed out
the satellite TV that was tuned to the Bristol race and invited me to watch
whenever I wanted.



The announcer invited me up to the announcers booth/flag stand.  I watched a
couple of races from here until the last class had run.  It was now time for the
track to take an intermission.  The flagman was putting his flags away and came
over and shook my hand.  “We’re glad to have you here”, he told me.  Then one of
the scoring women came up and said, “I was busy with lineups when you were being
interviewed, what exactly do you do?”  I gave her the 30-second version on
trackchasing.  Her response, “That’s cool!”



I wandered the pits and ran across Manny Vallejo.  He and his son race champ
karts.  I told him about trackchasing and champ karts and he was interested. 
Manny ran second in his 10-lap champ kart heat.  A young woman was the winner.



There has been a long-standing “gentleman’s agreement” that it’s O.K. to leave
the track after watching a champ kart heat and without staying to watch a champ
kart feature.  I’m not sure how that started but you will not be considered a
social outcast if you don’t stay for the feature.  I’m perfectly willing to go
along with this gentleman’s agreement (as far as I know no women were party to
this arrangement) because the agreement meets and exceeds all trackchasing
rules.



The racing was good this afternoon and early evening.  One major drawback to the
track is that the sun sets directly into the eyes of the spectator.  I hate
that.  Each of the 10 classes or so had 5-10 karts.  The champs has six racers. 
I liked the outlaw class the best.  They ran last and had some rather exotic
looking body styles.  They were fast.



Just as I was leaving the first half of my blended double (without a feature),
the announcer noticed me and motioned me over to the concession stand.  He
thrust another Diet Coke in my hand “for the road”.  I was wondering if the
“Ritter Racing” shirt I was wearing made me look hungry?



Actually, I believe I am treated so well, as a stranger, for just one reason. 
These track owners, promoters and employees are just so happy to see someone who
have taken the time to come a long way to see their track that they can hardly
contain themselves.  They are proud of their operation.  They probably don’t get
a lot of praise.  When someone comes along and introduces themselves, it tells
them they are important enough to warrant a visit, even if it’s just from me.







KAMP MOTOR SPEEDWAY, BOSWELL, INDIANA - TRACK #946



Today’s events in Indiana are my 48th and 49th countable tracks in the state.  I
am now tied for 9th place in the state with Kevin Eckert, a trackchaser I have
never met.  I have seen 10 new tracks in Indiana this season.  I still have 41
countable tracks to see in the Hoosier state.  Roger Ferrell leads the state of
Indiana with 103 tracks. I met up at the track tonight with Indiana’s state
leader, Roger Ferrell and his wife Brenda.  This was my sixth new track to see
with Roger and my second evening with Brenda (for trackchasing).



The racing I saw at the Kamp Motor Speedway was some of the best I have seen all
year.  The track is well lit although the P.A. system is a bit week.  The dirt
oval looks to be about one-third mile in distance.  I don’t think I have ever
seen a track where the viewing angles are any better.  The track seems to have
been lowered to a level below the grandstands, somewhat, and this makes the
viewing terrific.



I arrived while they were still running heat races and saw three classes worth
of consies and the late model and modified features.  The Northern All-Star Late
Model group was the visiting and headline division tonight.  The track promoter
was smart enough to run this division first of the four total classes racing
tonight.  This almost never happens, but I think it is one very bright idea.



The cars raced two and three abreast throughout the pack.  I even got to see
senior citizen Dick Potts #92 race.  I would have thought he had hung it up
years ago.  Steve Barnett was the feature winner.  The KMS is a good track.  If
you have not been there, I recommend it.



Brenda Ferrell was nice enough to give up her padded blanket seat so that I
could bench race with Roger.  Thank you, Brenda.  Roger and I were sorry to
learn that we had missed Paul Weisel when we were at Standish recently.  That
means P.J. and I missed him later in the evening at Spartan Speedway.



I will probably talk more about this at some point in the future, but I think
the frequency of trackchasers meeting up at tracks in the next few years is
going to decline.  We are already seeing the number of trackchasing visits
decrease for many members of the top 10.  I see this as a continuing trend as
the chasers age, the remaining tracks get to be further apart and the cost of
travel increases.



With more and more of the “easy” tracks already being seen, there will be fewer,
not zero, but fewer chances for trackchasers to meet up.  That’s not good, as I
very much enjoy spending the evening with folks that I have a lot in common
with.







RENTAL CAR UPDATE:



I probably would have been better off selecting a Chevy Malibu for its gas
mileage advantage, but the National Rental Car Racing Chevy LT is doing just
fine.







LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:



These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current
trackchaser total.



1.  Rick Schneider – Bayshore, New York - 1,036

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,019

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 994

4.  Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 990

5.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 978

6.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 946

7.  Jack Erdmann, DePere, Wisconsin – 872





Other notables



45.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 209









2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS



1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 137*

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 93

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 69

4.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 57

5.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 52

6.  P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 49

7.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 47

8.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 41

9.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 29

10. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 23



* Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record









Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21st century



Randy Lewis is a freelance writer, who winters in San Clemente, California and
frequently flies in economy class.













CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:



Chicago O’Hare Airport – trip begins

Peotone, Illinois – 57 miles

Bulls Gap, Tennessee – 654 miles

Hudson, North Carolina – 882 miles

Lake Village, Indiana – 1,545 miles

Boswell, Indiana – 1,590 miles



Air travel



Orange County, CA – Chicago, IL – 1,726 miles







TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:



Will County Fairgrounds - $8

Volunteer Speedway - $35

Tri-County Motor Speedway - $10

Lake Village Speedway - $5

Kamp Motor Speedway - $10




My past trackchasing stories are available at:


www.ranlayracing.com


Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:


www.trackchaser.com












Planned new racetracks


August 28 – Jules Raceway, Wilmington, Illinois



August 31 – Milwaukee Mile – inner oval, West Allis, Wisconsin







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

This past week Nancy and I headed south for some rare mid-week shows.

Our first stop was at the Charles Town Fairgrounds in Eastern West Virginia.
It would be just over 700 miles so we had to leave the night before, staying
in Toledo. We arrived at the fairgrounds about 6:30. We talked with the
event organizer Dennis Nelson before the race. This was his first year at
the helm of the International Demo Derby circuit after buying it from his
former boss John Anderson. Anderson retired at the end of last year after
sanctioning demo derbies for 30 years. After walking around the pits we were
greeted by the familiar face of Andy Sivi. Andy had enough room in the
stands so Nanc and I went up and set with him. Just before the races were to
start another familiar face appeared and we made room for Ed Esser too. It
was great to set with Andy and Ed.

Dennis and the bunch had to leave immediately after the show as they were
also putting on the event the next night at the Peotone Fairgrounds in
Illinois. His wife said it was about 750 miles, but there were eight of them
to take turns in the van and they'd drive straight thru.

Nancy and I both agreed that the figure 8 races were more of a demo derby
than races. We both prefer the rear-drive figure 8 cars.

The next morning we headed off to look at the Berryville, VA fairgrounds.
Andy had been there the week before. I will add the directions to Berryville
and Charles Town on www.speedwaysonline.com as soon as possible. I added the
directions to six Illinois figure 8 tracks a couple of weeks after visiting
them on the way down and back from Belle-Clair.

Then we stopped at the new Shenandoah Speedway in Virginia. The new track is
temporarily closed as the correct permits were not issued and there is some
sort of dispute going on between the local government and the track's
management. We could not get in to see the track, as there were official
looking signs stating trespassing was illegal. Anyway what we could see of
the track sure looks nice. Let's hope the dispute is settled quickly.

From there we continued on to Bristol for the Hooters race and the Craftsman
Truck race. This was Nancy first visit to Bristol and she loved the place.
She has been to a number of Cup tracks in the past but this was the first
one that she could see the whole track. I personally like the Trucks best of
all of their top touring circuits, because the races are shorter. My first
trip to Bristol was for an ASA race in 1982. Alan Kulwicki won that day. The
track held about 30,000 fans at that time. It now holds 160,000.

We were pretty happy with the outcome of the truck race. Jack Sprague from
nearby Spring Lake finished 3rd and our hometown driver Johnny Benson, Jr.
finished 4th. Nancy has been a member of Johnny's fan club ever since his
older sister Barb started it about 10 year ago. Little John, as his mom Judy
calls him, has one of the largest NASCAR fan clubs for someone without a
steady ride in the Cup series. It's about 8,000 strong. I've know Johnny's
dad since the early 1960's when he was the hotshot at our two local tracks.
Nancy worked with Little John's mom for a number of years at the corporate
office of Sentry Insurance Company here in town. We run into John (Sr.) and
Judy occasionally at the Cheshire Restaurant and we always get the latest
scoop (both info and ice cream). John Jr. and his wife and children now live
in North Carolina, but keep an apartment about five miles from Berlin
Raceway. Young John is part owner of the lease at Berlin along with the
folks who own the Grand Rapids Whitecap minor league baseball team. The
fairgrounds is actually owned by the town of Marne. The fair itself is 150
years old. I still remember when they had the 100th anniversary. My dad won
the prize for growing the largest beard. He wore his grandfather's old suit
to add to the realism of being from the 1850's. I think he called it "tails"
as the back of the suit was a foot longer than the front. It was pretty
cool. I got a chance to wear the suit in a high school class play 12 years
later when I played a hobo. My mom carefully sewed patches on the suit to
make it look well used, instead of in pristine condition it really was.

Back to the trip. The next day we went back to Bristol to do some Christmas
shopping in the team trailers and vendors tents. Then it was on to Volunteer
Speedway. My last visit to Volunteer was in 1980. This would be Nancy's
first visit.

We arrived at Volunteer early and was able to park behind the main
grandstands. We put down our seats at a pretty good spot. We also put down a
couple of extra seat cushions for Randy, and his better half, in hopes she'd
be along too. Then we headed off to the pits and walked around until 6:30 or
so and then it was back to the main grandstands. We kept the extra seats
until feature time, when it was obvious that Randy must have went somewhere
else. With Lawndale and Lanier also running that night I just figured Randy
went to one of them instead. I was surprised to see his write-up on
Volunteer. We never would have guessed he'd opt for setting in his car
instead. A couple of fellows were really happy to be able to move from the
standing room section to have pretty decent seats for the feature.

At Volunteer all eyes in the 100 lapper were on Scott Bloomquist. He missed
the cut as one of the top 16 qualifiers and he had to run one of the consis,
where he finished 2nd. He started the feature 19th and proceeded towards the
front as expected. His fan club put up an extra $10,000 if he could win. He
made a valiant effort but only got up to 7th before getting repassed by
Brandon Kinzer and faded a bit at the end. The announcer kept everyone
abreast of Scott's performance, missing the fact the Arkansas' Jeff Taylor
started outside of Scott and was in front of Scott the whole race. He ended
up 6th. I came away from the track very impressed with Jeff. He ran a heady
race. It's too bad the announcer was so consumed with The Bloomer to notice
the great performance by Taylor. Like Randy mentioned the field was star
laden. The surprise was Donnie Moran and Ray Cook missing the feature. Both
missed the transfer spot by a couple of positions in their respected consis.

I can't help but wonder if Randy got into the huge traffic jam as both the
stands and pits were trying to leave at once as soon as the late model
feature checkered. We wanted to watch the modified feature and we were still
in line 18 minutes before getting out onto the main road. The modified
feature was actually much better than the late models as there were plenty
of passing. I never caught where the winner started, but I remember noticing
him when he was running fifth.

Therefore Will add one track for me
8/24/2005 -  Jefferson County Fairgrounds - Charles Town, WV - Figure 8s

and for Nancy add three
8/23/2005 - Jefferson County Fairgrounds - Charles Town, WV - Figure 8s
8/24/2005 - Bristol Motor Speedway, TN - Trucks
8/25/2005 - Volunteer Speedway, TN - Late Models

We had to head home as my oldest sister went under the knife today. We spent
most of the day at the hospital. It looks like she came out just fine. She
will have to have chemo for the next six weeks. We'll know better then, but
the doctor was very optimistic.

We head off to the north country tomorrow as we take a trip around Lake
Superior. We'll be in northern Wisconsin on Saturday night, but neither ABC
or TNT are scheduled to run so we'll probably not get to any races, unless
we stop at Thunder Valley near Marquette on Sunday afternoon.

Allan

Hello Everyone,

#991     8/27/05     EMPTY JUG RACING, HAWLEY, PA

Dry conditions resulted in the  cancellation of the August 6th racing event so
when I called Woody Hutchinson on Thursday, August 25th I was hoping for better
conditions. Woody said that they should be running and he gave me directions to
Empty Jug. They only had 5,000 gallons of water available so the track did get
dusty. They had to water the track just before each race. There were only 4
stock cars there and one of them could not start because of fouled spark plugs.
The driver had to leave to get new plugs to get it started for the second 15 lap
race. This track has a very rustic and laid back atmosphere and was enjoyable.
The track itself reminded me of my uncle's 2 race tracks he operated in the late
1950s and early 1960s. Also in attendance was Russ Currie from New Jersey who
should be sending to Will soon his list of 200 plus different tracks that he has
been to.


#992     8/27/05     FIVE MILE POINT SPEEDWAY (FIGURE 8), KIRKWOOD, NY

My only previous visit to Five Mile Point was on 5/28/90 for a daytime Enduro
show. That show was a disappointment; only 48 cars started and if a car went
into the pits for a flat tire or whatever they were not allowed to reenter the
race. On this night there were 5 divisions on the oval and the racing was good.
The  eight Figure 8 cars had their one heat at 6:57 and their feature at 7:40
since there was no infield lighting.


#993     8/28/05     UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY (1/3 MILE), VERNON, NY

I initially visited the 1/2 mile Utica-Rome Speedway on 5/26/91 with a return
visit on 5/24/92. I returned once again on 5/6/01 for the 1/10 mile Slingshot
track. The eight 4-Cylinder cars came out at 6:27 for their only race of the
night-a 15 lap feature. After the 7 minute race it was intermission time. The
next feature was for the Pro Stocks and it started at 7:20. At 7:45 the 28
Sportsmen Modifieds came out for their special $1,000.00 to win 30 lap feature.
There were 8 cautions before halfway and 4 more cautions before the red flag for
a flip on lap 26. As it was already 8:30 I had enough of it and began my 421
mile trip home.


Andy S

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

TrackChasers:

Pam and I added one track last weekend.  As I am now back to work, we could
not leave until Friday afternoon, which prevented us from going to Chaudiere.
We drove up to Brossard, near Montreal, on Friday after work.

Our plan was to go to Montreal for the Champ Car street race weekend, but to
go Saturday when the only race of the day was for the SCCA Trans Am class.
The course is on an island, and there is no parking there on race weekend.  You
must take the subway.  I noticed that there were more than 50 different metro
stations on the West side of the river that you could use to access the
system, and only one on the East side of the river.  We were already staying on
the
East side, so we had an easy ten or 15  minute drive to the station, and a
ride of only one stop to the station on the island.  As we were mostly
interested
in the Trans Am race and not the CART qualifying, we did not leave the hotel
until 11:00, and stopped at Harvey's for lunch.  We arrived at the metro
station at 12:10, and saw a sign that said parking for the Champ Car weekend was
$12.  However, we could not find anyone to pay for our parking pass, and we
concluded that they stopped selling parking passes at noon, based on the fact
that
almost all of the cars had the pass displayed, except for the few that were
parked at the far end where we parked.

We each had to buy two $2.50 subway passes, for a total of $10 for us each to
ride the subway in each direction.  We waited less than a minute on the
platform before the subway arrived.  There were very few people getting on the
subway, or already on.  I surmised that most of the crowd arrived from Montreal
to
the West.  We got off the subway and could see some of the stands
immediately.  It was only a five minute walk to the track.

A Saturday general admission ticket was $35.50, which is crap, since it gives
you no seat and the only race was a single lame support class race with only
14 cars.  Trans Am is not the series it once was, by any means.  But the
cheapest seat in any stand would have been over $100, since you had to buy the
seat
for all three days so the crooked weasels can count every person as three
people and dishonestly inflate their crowd numbers.

We were still over three hours early for the race, and we walked around a bit
to have a look.  Not impressive.  There were very few places to see the
track, but there were quite a few vendors displaying their products.  Not as
many
food vendors selling food and drink for three times the norm as I expected,
certainly far fewer than at Toronto.

Here's a funny quote from the event website: "Time certain schedule.  All
sessions, except as noted, to start and finish on schedule.  Schedule subject to
change."

Pam found some shade under a tree and read her book, while I walked around
and took track pictures when the Indy Cars were out qualifying.  At 4:00 they
started the Trans Am race, and we both walked around as I took video.  About a
half hour into the 75 minute race, Pam suggested we see if we could now enter
the stands, since many people had left after the CART qualifying, and since
there were very few people at the general admission viewing locations, we
figured
they had to be somewhere.  We tried and were able to walk right into one of
the expensive stands, and sit as high as we wanted, since they were not that
full.  That gave is a neat view of part of the track, the Montreal skyline, the
Olympic Stadium (where the Expos played), the biosphere, and the river, all at
once.  Getting a seat made the experience much more enjoyable, and we stayed
there until the end of the race.

After the race ended, we had no trouble getting back to the car, since there
were not that many people there anymore, and most went toward Montreal.  Once
again, we waited about a minute for the subway car to arrive, the trip was
about three or four minutes, the walk back to the car about five minutes, and
the
drive back to the hotel ten or 15 minutes at most.

We had a nice dinner at a resto bar called Casey's, then headed to the Old
Port City to walk around for a while.  The last time when we went to the old
city later on a Saturday evening we had a hard time finding a good place to eat,
as all the restaurants were packed (the chocolate chicken day).  Eating first
and then going there to walk and shop worked out better, and we still got ice
cream upon arrival and a Beaver Tail right before leaving.

Sunday we got going early, thankful that the rain that was falling waited
until today, stopped at Tim Horton's for coffee, and headed for home.  These are
the weekends I enjoy the most with Pam, where we can catch a new track, but
also have time to go out for dinner and do something else.  I enjoyed this more
than any of my June three weekends in Michigan, when I could get five, six, or
seven new tracks but having time for little else.  I like being the
"stroker," as Randy aptly described me earlier in the season.

That was track 994, which leaves me with six to go to reach 1000.  And once
again, here is the plan.

THE PLAN--REVISION NUMBER FIVE (NOTE: 6 MORE TRACKS NEEDED FOR 1000)

The only change to the plan this week was the addition of the figure 8 race
at the Gratz, PA fair, which would be new for Pam.  This weekend's weather will
be key in determining if I will be able to reach 1000 tracks in October, or
if I have to add tracks to the schedule to reach 1000 in November, or not get
to 1000 until December.

September

1.  3  St. Marcel, QC
2.  4  Rensselaer County Fair, NY
3.  5  Lancaster Fair, NH

V.  10  Holland Outer Figure 8, NY

4.  17  Shenandoah, VA
P.  18  Gratz Fair, PA

5.  25  Thorndale Fair, ONT

October

P.  1  Bridgeport Inner Oval

6.  8  Dorchester Fair, ONT (Currently predicted to be track 1000)

If this plan would work to perfection for the next six weekends, my 1000th
track would also be Pam's 400th.  But it is unlikely that it will work as
planned, as rain often affects weekend TrackChasing plans in the Northeast in
September.

Hello Everyone,

#989     8/26/05     TRUMANSBURG FAIRGROUNDS FIGURE 8, TRUMANSBURG, NY

The Fair Figure 8 racing was to begin at 8 o'clock and at the nearby Starlite
Speedway hot laps were to begin at 7:30.  Because of the simultaneous racing so
close together I decided at the beginning of the night to leave the Figure 8
races after the heats. Even with this strategy it was not a slam dunk for a
double and I thought that I would miss out on Starlite. The Figure 8 racing
started 10 minutes late and there was a 10 minute delay after one of the heats
to repair a guardrail. There were 7 cars in each of the 8 heats that ran 8 laps.
The 8 car feature race was to be a 10 lap race, so I didn't miss much once I
left at 9:35 for Starlite.


#990     8/26/05     STARLITE SPEEDWAY, TRUMANSBURG (SEARSBURG), NY

After driving 6.7 miles to Starlite I parked in the miniscule parking lot off
the 4th corner of the track. I then stood near the road and watch the racing
along with people who had their cars parked up against the track guardrail/fence
and were sitting in lawn chairs. Nobody asked me for any money so I just stood
there and watched 2 complete Micro-Sprint features before I left. It was a good
thing that I left the Figure 8 race when I did otherwise I would have had to
return to Trumansburg in the future.


Andy S

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

GREETINGS FROM HUDSON, NORTH CAROLINA







“TRACKCHASER CHEESE CHALLENGE 2005 PACE OF THE RACE REPORT BROUGHT TO YOU BY
FRONTIER AIRLINES”



This is a comparison of how many new tracks Ed Esser has seen in 2005 and how
many tracks I saw through the same date in 2004 on my way to seeing, at then a
record, 127 tracks.  In order for Ed to win the “Cheese Challenge”, he must see
128 new tracks.



Through August 27 - Ed – 93 tracks         Randy – 83 tracks*



*Note:  To properly evaluate Ed’s chances, remember I added six new tracks on
and after December 26, 2004 in Australia.  At this point in time, Ed has never
trackchased outside of the United States.  He will have a difficult time finding
U.S. based tracks in late December.  Net, he needs to stay 6-7 tracks ahead of
my pace of last year through early December in order to win this challenge.





Prize:  If Ed sees more than 128 new tracks in 2005, he wins a round-trip
domestic airline ticket to anywhere Frontier Airlines flies.  If he cannot see
at least 128 new tracks then I win 10 pounds of the Wisconsin cheese of my
choice.











PEOPLE/STRATEGY/TRAVEL NEWS



One of the things I have always liked about trackchasing is the ability to see
local tourist attractions.  It’s seems like the last two years of trackchasing
have been so busy that I have not been able to do that nearly as much as I would
like.  For some reason, despite the planning I put into this hobby the tracks
just get further and further apart.  That trend will probably continue as I
continue to drive up, down and over our great country.



In the U.S. most of our racing is at night.  When I was trackchasing in
continental Europe this spring I saw that all of their racing occurs during the
day. That leaves the evening for nice relaxed dinners in gourmet restaurants. 
That is a far cry from the fast food drive-thrus (although salads are my
favorite entrée at these eateries) that I must frequent in order to meet my
schedule here in the U.S.



Also, in the U.S., most of the better entertain venues, i.e. baseball games,
concerts, dinners in nice restaurants, etc. are available at night.  If the U.S.
were like continental Europe and ran their racing in the afternoon leaving the
evenings free I probably would have seen every major concert act in the country
by now.



Nevertheless, I did have the opportunity to see one of the most interesting and
awe-inspiring attractions I have seen in a long time today.  I am talking about
the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.  Have you ever heard of it?



The Biltmore Estate is the largest private residence in America.  Since I built
my house from the ground up just three years ago, I was captivated by this grand
residence.  The Biltmore Estate was designed and built by George Washington
Vanderbilt.  He was of the Vanderbilt’s who first made their fortunes in
shipping and then railroads.



This home was constructed in 1895.  It had two things going for it.  First, it
was huge and secondly, it had all the modern conveniences of the day and some
that would not become commonplace in other homes for decades.



I guess when I describe it you might simply think it’s just a little bigger than
the home you live in and with a few more pieces of “gingerbread”.  That’s what
my builder called stuff he thought was a little over the top when we were
constructing our home.



When the home was originally constructed, it sat on 125,000 acres or rolling and
forested land in Western North Carolina.  The house itself covers FOUR ACRES. 
It took six years to build and was finished in 1895.



This house has 255 rooms!  It has 61 bedrooms, of which 26 were for servants,
and 43 bathrooms!  I keep telling Carol we should have built our house bigger. 
The library has more than 23,000 books.  None of them are paperbacks!  G.W.
Vanderbilt was an avid reader and much like trackchasers kept track of his
“reads”.  He read 3,159 books during his 48-year lifetime.  When the house was
constructed, it had full electricity at a time when electricity in a residential
home was nearly unheard of.



From the outside, the home has a French Chateau appearance.  It is for the most
part symmetrical and features several turrets rising above its stone exterior. 
The grounds also include huge gardens, a stable and winery.  The Biltmore Estate
is not inexpensive to tour.  A one-day tour of the interior of the house and the
grounds costs $39.  It’s an extra $7 to rent headphones for the audio tour.  If
you visit the Biltmore Estate, I heartily recommend the audio tour.  If you
don’t get the audio, you really won’t know what you are looking at.



One of the things I learned on the audio tour was that Vanderbilt had
observation towers constructed at second and third floor heights so he could
simulate the views he would have when the house was finished.  This resonated
with me because we did the same thing so we could see what our ocean view would
be like from our upper flowers based upon various lower level floor-ceiling
heights.



I allowed for a leisurely pace and it took me two hours for my interior tour. 
The audio directs you from room to room.  I saw 61 different rooms and I was
tired of seeing rooms at that point!  Most of the rooms have 20-foot ceilings. 
Many of the rooms measure 50-75 feet on each side.  None of the bathrooms have
sinks.  Water was brought to each room by servants when guests needed to wash
their faces!  The place has a two-lane bowling alley and had a 70,000-gallon
indoor swimming pool that has now been filled in.  Bobby V., you would love the
pipe organ pipes.  There were almost 30 of them.



Breakfast was normally served at 9 a.m., lunch at 1:30 p.m., tea at 4:30 p.m.
and dinner at 8 p.m.  I would love to get Carol on a schedule like that!



There are ample gift shops, a café, an ice cream shop and other gift buying
opportunities on the property.  When leaving the property by car, it is nearly a
15-minute drive as the road winds around and through the property.  During this
drive, you can stop at the stables, winery and view the countryside.  There is
also a beautiful hotel on the property for guests wishing to stay the night.



The rolling hills surrounding the estate seem to go on forever.  The property is
still owned by the Vanderbilt family, which is why the place is called the
largest privately owned home in America.  Actually, the public has been allowed
to visit the Biltmore Estate since March 15, 1930.  What were the prices of
tickets back then?  Two dollars.  Even that seems expensive for the time.  The
property was closed for touring for three years during WWII.



Tonight the Biltmore Estate was preparing for a “concert on the green”.  The
Four Tops and Fifth Dimension musical acts were performing just a few feet from
the mansion.  Tomorrow night Three Dog Night will be here in concert.  I wish I
could have stayed to see these performances.



I have seen two other private residences that rivaled the Biltmore Estate.  This
would be the Hearst Castle in central California and the Palace of Versailles in
Paris.  I might like the Hearst Castle property better as it has panoramic views
of the Pacific Ocean.  I believe I like the Biltmore Estate the best of the
three for its palatial grandeur.



I have grown to know many people who seem to have extreme jealousy for the
wealthy.  I love rich people.  They built things like the Biltmore Estate for
just one reason.  They can!  We don’t build things like the Biltmore Estate for
one reason.  We can’t!  The people who complain the most about rich people are
constantly buying lottery tickets.  Why are they buying lottery tickets?  So
they can become rich!  This is America, where it’s O.K. to overachieve.







RACE TRACK NEWS:



TRI-COUNTY MOTOR SPEEDWAY, HUDSON, NORTH CAROLINA - TRACK #944



Today’s event in North Carolina is my 16th countable track in the state.  This
is my first race of the season in North Carolina and I would have gained those
ever valuable National Geographic Diversity points with my attendance if I
ranked in the top 10 in North Carolina which I don’t.  I still have 35 countable
tracks to see in North Carolina.  Guy Smith leads the state of North Carolina
with 63 tracks.



As noted above Guy has seen the most tracks in North Carolina.  He is also our
#3 ranked trackchaser in all of the world.  Guy is an outspoken critic of
racetracks in the south.  On the other hand, my experiences have been exactly
the opposite when visiting southern tracks.  Although I have not seen nearly as
many tracks in the south as Guy, seeing 16 tracks in a state like North Carolina
is probably enough to allow me to generalize about tracks in the state.



I’ve seen three NASCAR tracks in NC including Charlotte, North Wilkesboro and
Rockingham.  I especially liked Wilkesboro where I once owned nine season
tickets.  I have especially enjoyed like the asphalt short-tracks in North
Carolina.  I’ve seen Bowman Gray Stadium, Ace Speedway, Friendship Speedway,
Orange County Speedway, Concord Motorsports Park and now Tri-County Motor
Speedway.  I cannot think of any group of asphalt short tracks in any state in
the country, that I have seen, that are any more entertaining and have better
facilities than those six.



My dirt track experiences in NC are more limited.  I’ve seen 311 Speedway,
Carolina Speedway, the Dirt track at Lowe’s and Friendship Speedway among
others.  Dirt tracks can vary a good deal.  These four tracks are better than
the average dirt facility that I see in my cross-country travels.  Actually, my
three worst ever tracks are in New York, Ohio and California.  My experiences in
the south have been no worse, and with regard to asphalt short-tracks, probably
better than the composite of tracks I have seen all across the country.  Even my
one county fair figure 8 race in North Carolina was as good as or better than
the average county fair figure 8 event.  I suspect a good deal of the quality of
the event is in the eye of the beholder.



I find the people of the south to be charming.  During my travels over the past
two months, I’ve seen some of the most downtrodden and downscale race fans
anywhere and I wasn’t within 500 miles of the south.  I suspect there are good
and bad tracks everywhere and I personally do not see much variation based upon
geographical region although I would say the rural west has some of the most
basic race facilities anywhere in our country.



Tonight’s track was outstanding.  They had so many things going for them that
most track operators could learn a lot by watching the Tri-County Motor Speedway
program.



Remember, I’m in North Carolina tonight because of a bad weather forecast for
Dayton, Ohio.  In the past few years, I have been taking 15-25 trackchasing
trips each year.  I would estimate that only 2-3 trips are completed exactly as
planned from the point I step on the airplane.  Trackchasing keeps the mind
flexible.



I arrived at the TCMS at 7:20 p.m.  The race program was not scheduled to start
until 8 p.m.  Tomorrow’s afternoon race is in Lake Village, Indiana.  Lake
Village is 681 miles up the road from tonight’s race in Hudson, North Carolina. 
That being the case, it was time for a 40-minute SUPER power nap.  That drive
will be a long haul when Trackchasing’s First Mother is not along to share the
driving duties.



I awoke from my slumber ready for some southern racing action.  I paid my 10
bucks and grabbed a seat in the concrete slap grandstands.  The cars pit in the
four-tenths mile asphalt oval’s infield.  I chose a seat about half way up in
the 15-20 row grandstand and could see the cars racing on the backstretch just
fine.  On the one hand, I would have preferred to have the racecars and haulers
pitted outside the track, but on the other, I could see the goings on in the pit
area that added to the viewing enjoyment.



The track began racing at 8:07 p.m., just seven minutes behind schedule.  In the
world of short track auto racing that is like showing up for a dinner party an
hour and a half early!



This track runs a “features only” format.  I love that!  I think, for the most
part, heat races are not much more exciting to watch than times trials.  I say
that from a race chaser’s point of view.  From a trackchaser’s point of view,
seeing a large number of heat races lets you get a perfect feel for the track. 
Tonight the shortest features were 15 lappers for the first two classes and the
longest was the 50-lap late model feature race.



There are six racing classes tonight.  They include the Tri-County Minis (6),
the Fast and Furious(7),  Mini-stocks (11), Street Stocks (13), Super Stocks
(12) and Late Models (16).



This track is one of the most efficient I have seen this season.  That
efficiency is derived from the slightly paranoid and Hitler like track manager
who runs the track over the track radio.  My race scanner allowed me to listen
in on the often humorous goings on amongst the track’s management.



The track facilities are above average.  The P.A. system is strong, the
announcer was on top of the action and the lighting was perfect.  The restrooms
were modern, well lit, large and clean.   The track has a large electronic
scoreboard and lap counter.  The concessions were simple and low priced.  I had
only a can of pop for $1.  I debated over the BBQ sandwich for $2.50 but passed
due to dietary considerations.



The track allows spectators to view the races from their cars.  People watched
from their cars along the entire backstretch and around into turn one. 
Tonight’s weather was much different from last night’s scorcher with heavy
humidity in Tennessee.  The weather was absolutely perfect except for some
sprinkles that lasted for less than 10 minutes.



I received a brief early trackchasing mention from the announcer and a reference
later in the evening.  Actually, although I have now done more than 100 track
interviews, I prefer a succinct mention that I will videotape as my trackchasing
souvenir from the track.  I will do an interview but it really isn’t necessary. 
When I’m by myself, there is no one to video tape an interview, so I end up
without a video/audio souvenir of the track.



The announcer did make this comment during the street stocks feature event when
referring to the blue #11 car that was starting on the first row.  He said, “For
our California visitor the #11 car’s color is ‘Carolina’ blue”.  Those were
fightin’ words.  That car looked like it was painted in UCLA blue colors to me. 
If I had been interviewed, I would have mentioned that to the Carolina crowd as
well!



Before the races begin spectators can take helicopter rides from the track.  I
don’t know that I’ve ever seen that offered at a weekly show.  I would have
liked to have seen slightly larger fields of cars, but the racing was so close
that the car counts were just fine.  Actually, I prefer a 12-16 car field on a
smaller track to a 24-car field.  Most trackchasers know that a 24-car field
will be a 16-car field after the first five laps and three caution flag
interruptions.



In three of the first five features, the winner won by less than one car length.
With a quality sound system and an announcer that knows how to do their job, a
close race can be very exciting like it was tonight even with fewer cars in the
race.



During the second feature event of the night it began to sprinkle.  Remember, I
was in North Carolina tonight for just one reason, to beat the rainy weather. 
Although it didn’t feel like much rain, when I looked up into the track lighting
it looked like it was pouring.  It rained hard enough for the late model cars to
put their car covers on.  Just up the road in Bristol, Tennessee the NASCAR race
was delayed for two hours by rain.  I am one lucky trackchaser with it comes to
the weather.



The concrete slap seating gave me all kinds of legroom.  I was happy to have my
foam rubber seat cushion though.  For the first couple of races I listened to
the radio communications from the race cars to their spotters.  It seemed
strange to be watching a mini-stock race where the spotter is saying, “Down low,
down low, clear, clear!”  Asphalt mini-stock racing is a far cry from most dirt
track mini-stock racing.  Soon I found the track’s frequency at 461.4875.



Here is just a sampling of the unusual things I heard on the tracks’ radio. 
Caution:  Some of the language may not be suitable for some folks, just as the
thoughts and opinions from the Trackchaser Report may not be suitable for some
folks.



From a woman’s voice in the pit area to the track manager, “A driver and his
wife are going at it behind the concession stand.”  Track manager, “How bad is
it?”  Woman, “It ain’t pretty”.  As this was happening, I saw a track security
officer running toward the infield concession stand.



From the track manager to the on the track pit steward, “We just got a telephone
call that says the #33 car’s right side tire is wiggling, check it out”.  Pit
steward, “I looked at it and don’t see anything wrong”.  This is a new one,
having someone call in and say their competitor is having car problems!



During one race, a car blew a right front tire and drove directly into the turn
#3 wall at a high rate of speed.  This prompted someone on the radio to exclaim,
“Oh Lord!”.  A minute or so later the track manager came on with this, “Who the
hell is ‘Oh Lording’, ain’t nobody seen a G.D. wreck before?  This was followed
by a meek reply from the offender, “Sorry”.



By listening to the track radio, I could identify every major track employee who
was working in the pits or on the track.  The track manager had his eyes on
every employee for every minute.  Just before one race was ready to restart one
of the pitmen working on a racecar went up to talk to the track worker near turn
#1.  Here’s how that communication went.  Remember, the cars are just 4-5
seconds from restarting.



Track manager to turn #1 worker:  “What’s he (pitman) saying to you”.



Turn #1 worker:  “He says there’s debris in turns three and four”



Track manager:  “Debris in turns three and four?.  Throw the yellow.  Throw the
yellow!”



Just as instructed the flagman threw the yellow flag.  This caused a pileup at
the start/finish line and one car was badly damaged.



Track manager to turn #3 corner worker:  “Do you see any debris in turn three
and four?”



After some time the turn #3 corner worker came back and reported there was no
debris to be found.



Now from a very irritated track manager to the #1 corner worker:    “That guy
who told you about debris is as full of shit as a Christmas turkey.  How the
hell could he know there was debris in turns three and four when he’s standing
in the pit area in turn one?  I’m an idiot for even listening to him. Now we’ve
got a car that is totaled because I took the advice of this #$%^&%”.



Editor’s note:  This did not present a good ‘word picture’ for me.  First, I’ve
got P.J. insisting that all county fair food is contaminated by the dirty hands
of workers who have just returned from cleaning out the cow barns.  Now I have
to have bad thoughts in my head when Carol serves her Christmas turkey.  It
ain’t right.



Final note from the track manager to the worker on the track who was responsible
for lining up the cars, “Clarence, get the G.D. red flag and stop that S.O.B. 
What’s the matter with you?”.  This was about the 10th time Clarence had been
rebuked during the night.  He was a bit derelict in his duties, but probably
didn’t deserve the verbal abuse he was taking.



Alas, the track manager had probably not been to the Procter & Gamble
Supervisor/Subordinate communication seminar.  Nevertheless, 99% of the crowd
never heard any of this talk and was treated to a six division program that ran
off in about two hours and 15 minutes.  I was delighted with the racing and the
fact that six classes did not take 4-6 hours as was the case with several tracks
I have seen this season.



The first four classes were done in 70 minutes with about 100 laps of racing. 
At about 9:20 p.m. they took an intermission.  It was a reasonable 12 minutes
long.  I have never seen a track that was more efficient with restarts.  In the
accident above where the car drove directly into the wall at a high rate of
speed, they were racing within two minutes.  They did not use “speedy dry” one
time all night, which can be major time waster at asphalt tracks.



The track lights reminded me a of a quality high school football stadium.  They
are mounted on poles that sit behind the grandstands.  This is good for lighting
in the grandstands, but tonight the bugs were attracted to the lights and that
meant they were attracted to the fans in the stands.  I didn’t like that.



Overall, the facilities were excellent.  The racing was very good and they did
it in a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable price.  You can’t ask for much
more than that.







RENTAL CAR UPDATE:



The National Rental Car Racing Chevy LT provided an almost comfortable setting
for a 40-minute power nap.







LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:



These worldwide trackchasers are within 100 tracks (plus or minus) of my current
trackchaser total.



1.  Rick Schneider – Bayshore, New York - 1,036

2.  Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,019

3.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 993

4.  Any Sivi, Clairton, Pennsylvania – 988

5.  Gordon Killian, Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania – 978

6.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California - 944

7.  Jack Erdmann, DePere, Wisconsin – 872





Other notables



45.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California - 209









2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS



1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 135*

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 89

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 69

4.  Paul Weisel, Orefield, Pennsylvania – 57

5.  Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 51

6.  P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 49

7.  Roger Ferrell, Majenica, Indiana – 47

8.  Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 41

9.  Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 29

10. Allan Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 23



* Trackchasing “New Tracks in One Season” record









Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21st century



Randy Lewis is a freelance writer, who winters in San Clemente, California and
frequently flies in economy class.













CUMULATIVE DRIVING DISTANCES:



Chicago O’Hare Airport – trip begins

Peotone, Illinois – 57 miles

Bulls Gap, Tennessee – 654 miles

Hudson, North Carolina – 882 miles





Air travel



Orange County, CA – Chicago, IL – 1,726 miles







TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:



Will County Fairgrounds - $8

Volunteer Speedway - $35

Tri-County Motor Speedway - $10






My past trackchasing stories are available at:


www.ranlayracing.com


Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:


www.trackchaser.com












Planned new racetracks


August 27 – Lake Village Speedway, Lake Village, Indiana



August 27 – Kamp Motor Speedway, Chase, Indiana


August 28 – Jules Raceway, Wilmington, Illinois




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

Will,

	 I don't know if you know about this race, so I thought I'd pass it along.

	 Ad in the Racin' Paper, 8/28/05:

BULLWINKLE'S
RACEWAY
PRESENTS
100 LAP
ENDURO RACE
ON MAINES FINEST 1/4
MI. DIRT TRACK
IN GREENVILLE ME, MOOSEHEAD LAKE
4 CYLL ANY WHEEL BASE NO TURBO'S

$2000.00 IN CASH AND PRIZES
$1000.00 TO WIN
$1000.00 BACK TO 10TH PLACE
QUALIFICATION SEPT. 24
RACE DAY SEPT 25TH
FMI 207-695-3103
207-343-5904

	 I don't know anything about this track, Greenville is in the middle of nowhere
Maine, but it would be a good foliage trip that time of year.  It's gotta be
good, after all it's Maine's finest 1/4 mile dirt track, LOL.

Thanks,
Bruce Spencer

Hello colleagues,

Weather-wise the month of August has been a very bad one in Europe. I suppose
some of you have seen or read about the devastating floods in Germany,
Switzerland and Austria. While being marginally better over here, August has
been a very wet month in Belgium and the Netherlands too. This has resulted in a
number of rainouts and a number of not very enjoyable meetings on very wet grass
tracks. But water makes plants grow and so my August trackchasing ended with a
flourish last weekend.

After another very wet Friday, Saturday August 27 dawned bright and sunny. As I
wrote last week, Aline likes to shop in the Netherlands and when there is track
racing on a Saturday afternoon nearby a major city, I drive her to the city
centre, dash off to the track and return an hour before the shops close. Last
week this plan backfired due to the cancellation of the autocross at Eindewege,
but this week I was luckier. I drove Aline to the Southern Dutch city of
Maastricht and drove the 30 miles to nearby Belgian track Circuit de Schimper at
Moresnet, a hamlet of the town of Plombières, located in the Pays d'Herve (which
I find the most beautiful landscape in Belgium with its lush green undulating
hills). There a 6 hour endurance cross was held on a beautiful grassy course.
This is by far the best autocross meeting I ever saw and the track ranks second
only to the Czech track of Porici. No less than 45 cars, 80% of them buggies,
were very entertaining on a hilly course with two fast straights and numerous
high and low speed turns on steep terrain. Especially the medium fast turn
between the two fast straights was part of the steepest climb I ever encountered
on any track. The paddock, where driver changes and repairs abounded, was very
specious. The track food was excellent and the entrance fee was unusual at EUR
6.50. This was my fourth track of this sanctioning body and they were all good
to excellent. Unfortunately, there's only one at Hombourg still to go. I'm very
much looking forward to that. By the way, Aline didn't like the shopping at
Maastricht and hadn't bought anything, which made my day even better.

Sunday August 28 was another glorious blue sky day. I left home early to first
go to an autocross at the Belgian town of Poeke. This was an event not organised
by a sanctioning body. Hence, about three quarters of the participants were
local amateurs. With this nice weather and only one other sanctioned event
nearby, they had huge car counts (over 250 participants) and a total of 48
races. Spectators were also abundant and a larger than usual portion was made up
by good looking women and girls. Must go to these independent events more often.
Another unusual feature was that a large forklift with crates of beer and soft
drinks drove up and down the path between track and spectator enclosures, so
nobody would have to leave its vantage points to get a drink. Unfortunately, the
rest is less attractive. The course was wide and well watered, but featureless,
races started 45 minutes late, the quality of the fields was extremely uneven
and the racing uneventful. After nearly two hours racing they had only gotten in
10 of the 48 scheduled races and an intermission was scheduled. Time to leave.

Less than 30 minutes drive south and I arrived at my second Belgian autocross
course at Harelbeke. This was the fourth meeting of the sanctioning body I
recently saw autocrosses of at Westkapelle and Lissewege. It was the first time
they didn't had rain and the meeting was pleasant but just as sloppy as the one
at Poeke. The track was very curvy and every race had almost half of the field
out after the first four turns. Hence long waits to retrieve cars out of ditches
and drag them to the paddock. In-between races I had time to study the rules of
this body and I now know why they even conduct meetings in pouring rain.
Competitors only receive 3, 2 and 1 point for a win, a second or a third
placing. On the other hand, every competitor receives attendance points, which
increase from meeting to meeting (4 at the first meeting, 5 at the second, 6 at
the third and so on). An odd system, but one that makes them race if enough
drivers want to grab the attendance points.

Friday I'm off to Poland and Slovakia for a road race and another autocross.


Roland

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