The Pylon Place - January 2012
Off Season Racing – The 24 Hours of LeMons!
$500 doesn’t buy you much when it comes to race cars. (Photo courtesy of Craig Driver)
By Marilyn Dash
Fans ask me all the time what we do in the off-season. We spend so much time getting ready for the Air Races in September. We generally get together in June and for many weekends each year for testing. Then we spend about two weeks together during September. But what do we do about the rest of the year? Well, this year, Team Ruby hopes to have a much better answer to the question.
This year, Team Ruby is looking at entering the 24 Hours of LeMons, or Lemons. This is a nationwide series of endurance races for cars costing $500 or less. And it sounds like an incredible time for all of us. Within 24 hours of putting the idea out there, I already had four people sign up to drive and about ten others wanting to get involved. We need to do this!
The original idea for the 24 Hours of LeMons came from Jay Lamm, named the “Clown Prince of Automobiledom.” To combat all the historic car rallies with cars costing into the millions of dollars, Jay decided to start an “average guy on the street” version. This started as the Double 500, which was a 500 kilometer road rally for $500 cars. After a while they decided that was too easy.
Motto: Racing isn’t just for rich idiots, it’s for all idiots! (Photo courtesy of Craig Driver)The follow-up idea was to have a 24-hour duration competition on a racecourse. This created more drama because of the close proximity in the pits, the ability to prank others and to have spectators watch with glee the mechanical crises of the teams.
The first race in 2006 had just over 30 participants, and now well over 100 junkers are expected at each of the 21 races on the 2012 schedule.
The prize money is paid in nickels, because they didn’t want anyone to take the race too seriously. The Rules are hilarious – including Rule 2.4 which states:
Whiners are not eligible to compete. If you believe that you might be a whiner, please check with a domestic partner, guardian, or health-care professional before getting the rest of your team kicked the hell out of the race.
That’s my idea of an interesting idea. And just one of the very interesting set of rules the organizer has in store for us. There is also the rule that says, at any time, your race car can be crushed. Yes, crushed. The crowd can vote you as People’s Choice or People’s Curse.
Some of the previous racers include Eyesore Racing – which merged two wrecked Mazda Miatas into a single vehicle, with an added homebuilt turbocharger. They were the big winner in 2010. Of course, the giant Starship Enterprise on the roof just added to the foolishness.
Other competitors include a Lotus with a ’68 Corvette engine and other odd-lot parts – they called it a Chotus, the Chevy Lotus. Or, the Lincoln Continental with a giant horse on the roof called the Phony Express.
Volvo wagon racecar? (Photo courtesy of Craig Driver)Have you ever considered a Volvo wagon a racecar? Me neither, but throw a number on it, add a roll cage, and put some fancy stickers on it and ta’da it’s a racer!
So, the quest for our LeMon has begun. As we continue our preparation, I’ll try to keep you up to date. Right now, we have an idea and an interested crowd. Now, we need to come up with a welder, sponsors, a theme, a keg and… yes, a LeMon.
My goal is to have it painted red with white sunburst stripes on it to look like Ruby, and some sort of Reno paraphernalia on it. Maybe a Merlin painted on the side? I’ve got plenty of ideas, but, I’ll probably be out-voted by the serious racers on the team. At least I already have my helmet, Nomex and my racing shoes.
Reno Update
Our friends at RARA are doing everything they can to keep the races going. They have decisions to make but no matter what, they say there will be “a world-class aviation event” in Reno in September.
Mike Houghton, President and CEO, said that they are currently negotiating with federal and local organizations to get the waivers we will need to hold the Pylon Racing Seminar (PRS) in June. If we get that waiver, we then start working on the waiver for September.
So, all I can say is go ahead and put in for your vacation in September and let’s all be in Reno that week. We may be racing, we may just be together. But, I know I’ll be there. I hope you will, too.
Let’s have a great 2012!
