The first time we saw this California 24 Hours of LeMons team, they’d decorated their Sentra SE-R like a giant chicken and named their team the Mother Cluckers, in honor of the 2008 Mother’s Day race at Altamont. That was cool, but the Cluckers didn’t really stand out from the crowd. Then: inspiration!
Why not turn the car into a giant homage to Los Hermanos Mario?
Sure, we still sweated the shit out of the team during the BS Inspection at the ’09 Buttonwillow Histrionics and Arse Freeze-a-Palooza (SE-Rs always arouse a lot of suspicion in the eyes of the LeMons Supreme Court, particularly when the team is composed of— in my words— well-connected Nissan freaks with access to many cheaty parts). We handed out BS laps the way hot-rod aftermarket suspension parts hand out better laps times! Team 1Up didn’t give up on their Sentra, however, and eventually we stopped being so harsh on it; being Altamont veterans who get few black flags helps a lot.
What also helps a lot are their great Mario Bros costumes. Here’s the team at the ’09 Arse Freeze.
At the 2010 Arse Freeze, they took the theme to another level, becoming the 1920-style Chicago-gangster version of the Mario Bros, or maybe they’re the video-game-reality version of Chicago gangters. 1UP: Mario Capone and the Untouchables. Well done, 1Up!
Top photo by Nick Pon
1Up!
December 24th, 2010
December 24th, 2010 - 12:17 pm
The next step is a SMB-movie theme (Mojo Nixon is probably available to be on the team, too!). That would be somewhat more surreal.
December 24th, 2010 - 5:12 pm
Mario and Luigi as gangsters? This bears mention, then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk9oa_PiXAk (not *that* NSFW, but you’ll obviously be slacking if you watch it there)
December 25th, 2010 - 5:59 am
This is additional proof, then, that the best LeMons themes are contrived over several bowls of fermented beverages.
Merry Christmas, and a very New Year!