The 2018 McChump ??/365 Racing Tour

  • Las Vegas, May 15-17, 2018

McChump #2 wanted some excuse to drive to the Phoenix area, and I could get a cheap airfare to Mesa, so why not? It's on! 

Unfortunately I kind of screwed around getting my ticket due to work and so on, so we missed Turf Paradise live season. But that's okay, we thought. We could just drive up to Las Vegas from Phoenix for a few days of giant fun, playing horses at race books and assorted other gamblin; and gawkin' activities, just as we've done so many times in years past. Road trip!

But things have changed there. Been changing there for the past few years. For the worse. And this time it finally went over the cliff. Absolutely the worst and most depressing Las Vegas experience I ever had in my life.


  • Montana State Fairgrounds, Great Falls, MT, July 22, 2018

Alert! Huge news this year: The grandstand is falling down.


  • Arlington Park, Arlington Heights, IL, Sept 3, 2018

Just a couple pix. Mighty quiet day.


  • Kentucky Downs, Franklin, KY, Sept. 6 & 8, 2018

It's been a few years since I went to Kentucky Downs, so when Roxy decided that was going to be his "small track" visit track for 2018, and had assembled a notable band of favorites, I jumped on the bandwagon and made plans to get the old McChump Party together again for a road trip, just like the old days. Chicago to Nashville by auto, for three days of racing at Kentucky Downs, and a visit with old friends from the big parking lot party days, Jeff D. and Deb L.

It turns out Kentucky Downs has changed a bit since I first started visiting back in ot '99. Quite a bit spiffier, at least up at the racing end. (I did not visit the historical racing machine end, but was informed it was a tobacco smoke nightmare.) But it's still the home of great fun.