In case you've never heard of the 24 Hours of LeMons, it's a race that travels the US in which clunker cars try to last a weekend on a brutally competitive track. There are a few rules to the race, and some people even follow them! First off, your car has to be less than $500, excluding safety equipment. This means that the purchase of your car, the work you put into, every PENNY that goes toward the car cannot totally exceed $500. As stated in the LeMons rules, section 4.1.1: Lame-Ass Rationalizations: Cars that "should be" worth $500 don't count; cars that "were worth $500" before you spent another $2000 to fix them don't count; cars you've owned for 20 years and spent more than $500 on during that time don't count; "it would have been worth $500 if it didn't already have a cage" doesn't count. Five hundred dollars means five hundred frickin' dollars.
Living in Charlotte, the closest race of the LeMons is the LeMons South in Kershaw, SC. Now up until I was told about the LeMons South, I wasn't able to point Kershaw out on a map. Now I wish the days would pass faster so I could get down there and race cars with my friends all weekend. The guys I go down to Kershaw with run an automotive repair shop in Charlotte, CMD Automotive. One of the things you need to be able to do at the race is work on the racecar in a pinch! We did everything from blow a tire to wrecking our car and snapping the the neck off the fuel tank. Any and all damages must be attended to immediately, they're not gonna let your car run the race while it's puking gas all the way around the track! The guys at CMD Auto Repair include Jim Gorman and Dwight Patterson, with a total of 7 master mechanics on our team, giving us quite an edge. These guys live and breathe this stuff, so gearheads like them are crucial.
This last month, the weekend of September 12th, we did our most recent LeMons. In this race we had 2 cars, a BMW E30 with Porta Jon Racing, and a Ford LTD with USS Enterprise Racing. Both of the cars were repeat cars, and we had a great time with them, finishing in 42nd and 46th of a total of 113 cars. The race before that was the LTD's premiere race and the car was an immediate favorite and crowd pleaser. We won the "most important" award of the Index of Effluency. This goes to the car that "absolutely, positively should not be on a race track". Along with a hand crafted trophy from the pistons and belts of past LeMons racers, we were awarded a back breaking load of $1,500 in nickels!
The next race hasn't been announced yet, but I check the website pretty often to find out. Stay posted to find out more and I'll be sure to bring you good pictures and updates about the LeMons South and the awesome team from CMD Automotive!
