World’s #1 ‘Trackchaser’ Finds Boone County Raceway

You’ve heard of stormchasers and thrillseekers, but trackchasers?
While it may be a unique hobby, there is a core of avid fans who travel the world to see as many race tracks as possible.
Sunday, the man ranked as the #1 “trackchaser” in the world, Randy Lewis of San Clemente, CA, found his way to the Boone County Raceway in Albion to watch the American Sprint Car Series compete at the Boone County Fair.
Lewis said the BCR was his 1,566th documented track visit, which includes facilities in all 50 states and 41 countries around the world. There are more than 50 people who have visited over 200 tracks, he stated, and eight trackchasers in the world who have seen racing at more than 1,000 venues. Lewis tops the list.
In 2009, Lewis traveled more than 236,000 miles to visit race tracks in 35 U.S. states and 16 different countries. His busy travel schedule continues in 2010.
“The 1/4 and 1/3 mile tracks are my favorites. I like Late Model racing on tracks just like this,” Lewis said during Sunday’s visit.
In fact, Lewis so enjoyed his Albion visit that he ranked the Boone County Raceway facility as his favorite highback dirt oval.
Lewis, who grew up in Illinois, is retired from a sales career with Proctor & Gamble. He said his hobby started from a job that frequently moved him around the country and has flourished from there. He still enjoys the travel and his wife accompanies him on bigger trips. Lewis is planning visits to tracks in Latvia and Estonia soon. He has already been to such unusual racing locales as South Africa, Iceland, Guyana and Australia.
Although he is still ranked #1, Lewis said the trackchaser hobby is competitive and noted younger enthusiasts are catching up to him.
Lewis has a website (www.ranlayracing.com) where he has chronicled his adventures with more than 50,000 photos and reports from each location visited. His Trackchaser Reports also go out to more than 1,000 of the most influential people in auto racing worldwide.
Luckily for Lewis, Sunday’s event beat the evening’s rain and lightning.
“We have to see live racing for a track to count in our total,” he noted.