Lucky!
I had some similar luck at Monza race track the other day. I returned to the car, unlocked it, and then could not find the ignition key which I keep on a separate tag. Searched the car, searched under the car, even took off the spare wheel. No luck after half an hour of searching: nothing for it but to retrace my steps and search the various paths, stands etc where I had been.
I turned right and the person who had helped me search, an employee of the track, turned left and saw my key 2 metres away. Apparently I had dropped it when I got out the bunch of keys to unlock the car.
Mind you there is a lot of difference between 2 metres and 20 miles