MurileeMartin.com

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To win Ununhexium Legend of LeMons status, some teams showed incredible driving skills, others raced Fiat 128s or Cadillac Coupe Devilles, and still others ran their engines on one cylinder. Then there’s Sensory Assault, an Index of Effluency-winning bunch of Texans who rig a new assemblage of Hoopty Grade™ machinery on their RX-7 for each race. At last weekend’s Garrapatas Peligrosas race, the Sensory Assaulters decided to honor Southern racin’ tradition by building a whiskey still… on the car. 
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Nearly 1,000 photos from the hot-n-humid, engine-nukin’ action at MSR last weekend.

Texas Bound!

June 2nd, 2011

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I always look forward to races at MSR Houston, and the Garrapatas Peligrosas 24 Hours of LeMons should be another fun one. Hot, humid weather means that we’ll have crankshafts bouncing off the asphalt and brakes trailing comet tails of flame, which means plenty of Heroic Fix opportunities for the racers. See y’all there!

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The LeMons Supreme Court is nothing if not culturally sensitive, so we like to honor regional traditions when we come to town. For the first state to secede from the Union in 1860, we decided to educate miscreant drivers with a penalty inspired by Southern nuptial customs: the Shotgun Wedding Penalty! 
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When you bring a Super Beetle to a 24 Hours of LeMons race, you really don’t need a good theme; in such a case, the car itself is theme enough. That didn’t stop Cold Source Racing at the ‘Shine Country Classic last weekend. 
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With the six-races-in-seven-weeks madness I just finished, I haven’t been able to keep up with some of the new approaches used by the LeMons Supreme Court to keep miscreant racers from killing themselves and each other in their so-called race cars. The LeMons Supreme Court likes to incorporate current events into penalties (e.g. The Hosni Mubarek), and thus the recent festivities in London inspired this penalty for the Loudon Annoying race of a couple weeks back. 
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This weekend, the 50th race in the 24 Hours of LeMons’ illustrious history will take place. I’ve been present at 41 of those races, which qualifies me for the coveted “41-Time Loser” patch. The second-ever Goin’ For Broken LeMons features an Opel Ascona, a twin-engined Corolla/MR2, and (allegedly) Jaguar XKE. We’ll believe the last one when we see it. Anyway, check in here (and at TTAC) for semi-regular race updates.

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It’s happened before: Spec Miata racers build a super-cheaty Miata for 24 Hours of LeMons race, using “free” parts that were “just lying around the shop.” Said racers, usually well-known by the locals, get a bunch of BS laps from the LeMons Supreme Court. At that point, rather than relaxing and enjoying a long weekend of seat time at their home track, they turn up the volume and drive even more aggressively than their normal red-misty level, and their fellow racers get payback by voting for the team on the People’s Curse ballots. Then, rather than face their punishment, the team skips town. 
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When doing business in the Garden State, it may become necessary to eliminate troublesome rivals and bury the evidence. That’s just tradition, and the LeMons Supreme Court likes to bring local flavor to the Penalty Box when it travels to a new region. Read more »

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It took me a few years and some arm-twisting of LeMons Assistant Perp Nick Pon, but I’ve finally got a photo gallery for every single 24 Hours of LeMons race. From the 2006 Altamont “no fire suits, no problem” race to last weekend’s North Dallas Hooptie, they’re all there. Read more »

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Michigan is very proud of its famous killin’-n-grillin’ son, and rightfully so! Someday, Ted Nugent will be President of the United States, and LeMons HQ wants to be able to tell The Nuge that we were behind him all the way! 
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Civicmaro!

April 21st, 2011

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You can get a Miata into the good graces of the 24 Hours of LeMons Supreme Court by welding a Volvo 245 body onto it and creating a Molvo. No problem! But let’s say you’ve got a 2006 Honda Civic— the newest entry in LeMons history— and you want to get through the BS inspection with zero laps? Only one thing to do: Civicmaro! 
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I’ve been attaching various CHDK-hacked Canon cameras to 24 Hours of LeMons race cars for dozens of races, and they’ve come through the experience scratched and oil-splattered but more or less intact. I figured putting a timelapse camera on a stake at a particularly action-packed corner would work just as well; sure, an errant race car might slide into the camera, but placing the camera outside the area with the most skid marks should keep it safe. Right? Well, that plan worked pretty well… until yesterday in Michigan. 
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Next Stop: Detroit!

April 13th, 2011

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I’m working LeMons races on three consecutive weekends. Here comes #2: The Campaign To Prevent Gingervitis, at Gingerman Raceway in Michigan.

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The LeMons Supreme Court had so much fun with the Build An Engine Penalty in South Carolina and Texas that we used it again in California last weekend! 
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