We haven’t had a true 24-hours LeMons race since the Lamest Day, thanks to Communist noise regulations at most tracks, but No Problem Raceway is made of sterner stuff.
I’m busy punishing miscreants in the Penalty Box, and this cell-phone-tether internet connection sucks, so you won’t be seeing much in the way of live updates from me. However, I can fill you in on the high points so far, five hours in:
1. The current leader is the GT$500 Celica, winner of the first No Problem race.
2. The Red Rocket Ratnest Revival Taurus SHO, the only car that had a chance of beating Eyesore for the national points championship, blew its engine a few hours into the race. They’re working on obtaining a replacement, but it appears that they can’t possibly finish high enough to top Eyesore.
3. The Police Brutality Lincoln Mark VIII ran a 13.50 ET at the drag strip last night, shattering the previous record of 14.6.
4. The Substandard Racing AMC Gremlin hasn’t started yet, due to engine woes, but the team has an Eagle engine-donor car.
24 Straight Hours In The Swamp: Laissez Les Crapheaps Roulez
November 20th, 2010
November 20th, 2010 - 9:20 pm
13.50 is almost as fast as my Galant VR4. That’s kind of scary.
November 20th, 2010 - 9:27 pm
Is it an eighth or quarter mile strip?
November 21st, 2010 - 3:36 am
It’s 1/4 mile and Jeff was “baby-ing it” since we all know how Cobra’s don’t like straight line racing without chunking thier IRS’s out the ass end… and we don’t want to try and find a replacement mid-race – not that that hasn’t stopped TPB from some truely heroic repair attempts…
November 21st, 2010 - 2:49 pm
if i’d known they were gunna do a run on the drag strip i’d have stayed past six…
Definitely a participant event!
November 21st, 2010 - 9:47 pm
Did the AMC Gremlin EVER get running???
November 22nd, 2010 - 7:24 am
Yes after my team’s Jetta blew up at 2am, i helped the Gremlin finish the motor swap. They were lucky to have Speedycop & Hoonatic Racing show them what to do and how to do it.
The Eagle motor was mated to the Jeep tranny from the Gremmie around 630am. This team turns a wrench as fast as they turn laps. By 10am or so, it was FINALLY hoisted into the car. It passed final tech around 1pm.
The plan was for each team member to take a lap in the car. This became mandatory as it would boil it’s radiator by turn 2.
They asked me to drive for a lap. It had some body roll for a stock 37 year old AMC suspension, but the 253ci straight-6 made reasonalble torque for an engine that just got it’s first taste of fresh oil in 10 years / 20k miles (only wish they had a new filter to go with it).
When I pitted in, the team should have charged $5 for a photo with the steaming car (would have paid for their $150 fee for oil clean up). It would take 10 minutes to cool before 2 more gallons of water could be added. (The future theme should be Stanley Steamer: More water than fuel). Team Captain Dave Piazza got back in the car, and parked with the engine off at the track entrance. At 255, fired up the Gremlin and took another lap. For the first time the car drove on the 50ft of track between pit-in & out. As he rounded the corner onto the end of the drag strip, the flag worker stood poised with checkered in hand and dropped it as the Gremlin passed.
For working all weekend, they got a heroic fix. Good job Substandard Racing.