2008

Randy Lewis - Besuch aus Amerika

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ranlay8/080914AustriaTrackchasing#5246970169561392802

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Randy Lewis, ist sogenannter Trackchaser , dass heisst er versucht in seinem Leben so viele verschiedene Motorsportveranstalungen zu besuchen, wie möglich !
Bis heute hat er es geschafft sich an erster Position zu halten, und das Ranking zu verteidigen !
Ich hatte die Ehre Randy im Namen des MIC St.Martins zu empfangen, ihm alles zu zeigen, und mit ihm Österreichisches Bier zu trinken !
Dass einzige Missgeschick dass Randy passiert ist, er glaubt bis heute der Meinung dass mein Name "Space" Ist !

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Auszug aus seinem Tagebuch auf www.ranleyracing.com :

RACE REVIEW
LAMBRECHTEN STOCK CAR TRACK, LAMBRECHTEN, AUSTRIA

I arrived at today’s track a full two hours before the 1 p.m. start time. It was cool with temps in the low 50s. It was overcast but there had been no rain. The ticket taking operation was located on the entrance road to the track’s location. A man and a woman were collecting the admission money. For a fee of 5 Euros I was admitted to the proceedings and given a small program that identified the drivers.
However, I was surprised when the woman taking my ticket money said, “Are you Randy”? I looked down at my shirt. No, I was not wearing a nametag. My Thrifty Rental Car Racing Chevrolet Kalos did not identify me as “Randy”. What was going on here?
It turns out I was being addressed by Dani (Danieli), a woman who had become aware of my attendance through some advance email correspondence. I didn’t know what Dani’s responsibilities were at the races until today. She was most pleased that an American had come this far to see their rural stock car racing program. I was as well.
here were about 100, mainly homemade, stock cars in the pit area today. I would learn there were nine classes racing today. Most of the classes had 6-10 competitors. There was one very unique thing about the cars and the classes. Various stock car “teams” had an entry in each class. All of the cars from one team were painted in the same color scheme only with different car numbers. I’m sure there were points, trophies and/or rewards for the team that did the best.
As I continued to walk the pits, a young man came up to say hello. This man’s name was “Space,” at least that was what I knew him as via email. Space had been my behind the scenes contact for today’s Austrian races. I tried to communicate with him in German and he did a better job communicating back to me in English.
We spent several minutes in the pit area talking. Space was just 22 years old, but he acted older. He runs the website for one of the racing teams here today. Space told me that Austria has some 90 racetracks. He asked me if I had traveled all this way on my own today. I told him I had. Space seemed concerned about my being able to communicate with my family while I was gone. I told him I was staying in contact, but would only be gone from home for five days.
He continued to tell me about the class structure, the race plan and the various cars that were in the pit area. It is on the ground people like Space that really open up my understanding of what I’m seeing on the track and in the country in general a good deal of the time.
The track had a working P.A. but with all communication in German I had no idea about what they were talking about. Space had mentioned that no racing could take place without an ambulance and fire personnel in place. Those folks would be needed from time to time as nearly every race had a car or cars turning over.
The track’s distance might have been ½-mile in length. The track surface with a mix of dirt and gravel. The track’s elevation followed the natural contour of the pasture it used to be. I had to make a decision between classifying this as an oval or a road course. I ended up deciding it was a road course. In some ways the shape seemed like sort of a “square oval”. However, the backstretch had a couple of “chicanes” that made the drivers turn left and ride. It was these sudden directional turns, along with some coinciding dirt banks, that made for some really wild flips.
was still under the influence of my food poisoning episode. After I had toured the pit area for a good amount of time, I returned to the car for a short nap. I awoke to the pitter patter of rain. Yes, that “60% chance of light rain” was rearing its ugly head just at the 1 p.m. start time. It didn’t take long for the light rain to turn into a steady rain shower.
Standing out in breezy, 50-degree weather when it’s raining and you don’t feel well doesn’t seem like the brightest idea. Nevertheless, I was somewhat prepared. I had my best golf rain outfit (purchased in preparation for a golfing trip to Scotland a few seasons back). The races were all 10 laps long. Except in the woman’s division the races continued despite cars being stranded in the middle of the track. Often those disabled cars acted like magnets drawing in even more cars to the mayhem. I think some of my best racing pictures of the season came from this event. Check ‘em out at www.ranlayracing.com.

After awhile the rain became too much. There was no formal grandstand seating area. There was no shelter from the rain. My rain outfit was beginning to be overwhelmed with the water. It was with regret that I had to pack it in and head on back to Frankfurt. I strongly prefer this type of local racing to what I had attempted to see on the road course in Brno, Czech Republic yesterday.