Topic: Lemons Book

Last year Corey and I started a small booklet for the museum exhibit that got canceled, and this year we are reviving it and have decided that something more comprehensive would be in order. As it was, only west coast teams would have been in it and that didn't seem right. So, how about a book with the provisional title:

Your Hooptie Guide to the 24 Hours of Lemons
Teams, Tales, and Other Stuff

where everybody can be in it.

With the interest there is in a yearbook I thought maybe teams would want to get together on something like this. The basic idea is for every team interested, send in some photos and text, enough to fill up to four pages. I'll insert them in the manuscript and will send back a copy of your entry for you to review. Your chapter would tell the story of your team in whatever manner and style you choose. Team formation, first race, technological innovations, each car in your stable, highs and lows, lover's quarrels, the arrive-and-drive you took out back and shot, that sort of thing.

Mostly Corey and I will be handling this. Maybe Lemons will want a hand in it at some point. I'll have to figure out something about getting fresh eyes to look it over before it goes to print.

Printing will be done by one of the online print-on-demand companies (Blurb, Lulu, MagCloud) and can be purchased online or at the museum, if they'll allow it in the door. Proceeds will go to the Speedway Children's Fund and the California Automobile Museum, 50/50.

At this time the "book" has four sections:

  1. Fair Warning - about Lemons in general

  2. Teams - articles written by the teams

  3. Tales - collected stories, previously written or new, if you have one you want to tell.

  4. Other Stuff - a glossary, acknowledgements, that sort of stuff

If we hustle on this it could be ready in time for Christmas. At the very latest I hope it can be finished by Feb 1.

Mike

P.S. Now would be a good time to tell me I am crazy for doing this.

Re: Lemons Book

Here's the mock-up, roughed out from last year's booklet. Almost nothing is finished but there's enough there to give you the idea of how this will look and what you might write.

The Team Tinyvette article is done, so check it out. The Panting Polar Bear article was done last year but will be revised due to an AMC Rambler. The Balto article is still coming together. I told John I'd put something together based on his and Scott's forum posts and then he could finish it up. The glossary is just a sketch, etc.

Link: http://www.kstreetstudio.com/files/24HO … de2014.pdf

Yes, I'll make you a team-themed lemon if you submit an article.

Re: Lemons Book

Okay, so where do we send our submissions to?

"She's a brick house" 57th out of 121 and 5th in Class C, There Goes the Neighborhood 2013
"PA Posse" 21st out of 96 and 2nd in Class C, Capitol Offense 2013.
"PA Posse" 29th out of 133 and Class C WINNER, Halloween Hooptiefest 2013
"PA Posse" 33rd out of 151 and 2nd in Class C, The Real Hoopties 2013

Re: Lemons Book

Just send them to me. I'll paste it in asap and will reply to you with the the PDF for you article. You can then look it over, make changes, correct my mistake.

Thanks.

I got one from the Corsa Notra guys today.

Mike

5 (edited by m610 2013-11-12 09:33 PM)

Re: Lemons Book

Just to clarify a few things, per questions I've been asked in emails:

  • This is not a yearbook.

  • You will be writing your team's story, so tell it anyway you want. Figure most readers will be fellow Lemons teams and friends.

  • This will not be going to a publisher. It will be printed via an online on-demand printer like Blurb or MagCloud, in color, and binding and cover (hard or soft) will depend on the page count.

  • The market is Lemons, friends of Lemons, and people who stop by the Cal Auto Museum. I suppose there will be a slight chance that tracks that host Lemons races might want to carry a few copies in their souvenir stores. Mostly, people will be able to purchase the book online.

  • Cost will be printing cost plus maybe $5-10, depending on the printing costs/page count. That $5-10 will go to the charities (Speedway Children's Fund, maybe Alex's, I need to talk to Jay.) and the museum. I won't make anything on this.

The reason for doing this? Like I mentioned elsewhere, the book idea grew out of a pamphlet idea for the museum exhibit. I figured it would be a shame to just feature west coast cars, therefore more pages, therefore a book. I don't think there is anything about Lemons in print other than a few scattered newspaper and magazine articles. I expect Phil will do something someday. In the mean time, we'll have this, our own cloud-authored book. There has been talk of a yearbook but I doubt that will happen.

Anyway, this could be fun, and we should be able to get this done in time for Christmas.

As for your submissions:

  • Email them to me

  • Figure on 4 pages max. Less is OK. More is possible.

  • Once I get your submission I'll paste it up asap and will send you your section to review, change, correct my mistakes.

Mike

6 (edited by m610 2013-11-12 09:32 PM)

Re: Lemons Book

BTW, there is at least one Lemons book in publication, on Lulu I believe - "The Index of Effluency", by Philipp Hübner.

Re: Lemons Book

Whenever you get a first submission that sorta meets your criteria, maybe you could post a link to it?  It always helps to have a template, even for the type of commentary to add.

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2013 Chubba Cheddar Enduro - Organizer's Choice, 2014 Doing Time in Joliet
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Re: Lemons Book

Here's an early mock-up - http://www.kstreetstudio.com/files/24HO … de2014.pdf

Skip down to the Tinyvette article. That should be a reasonable model. The Panting Polar Bear article is a good one, too, but it is from last year and will be getting revised.

Don't worry about layout, photo sizes, etc. I'll take care of that. Just try to use photos that are at least 1024 pixels wide (smallish photo) or preferably over 1600 pixels wide.

One submission I have used their "essay", team description that they submitted to Lemons when they created their team. That can be a good starting point for a team's article.

Mike

Re: Lemons Book

Can a new team submit too? We don't have much history but it ends with a bang.

Newest member - White Trash Racing
Owner of the Traveling Hat

Re: Lemons Book

A team is a team. Please tell your story.

BTW, there are two parts to this, one that is about your team, and the other a tale worthy of telling, something that captures the spirit of Lemons. I may even stick a Tinyvette Times issue in this, if I find one that has that spirit.

Re: Lemons Book

I would like to submit my team, will work on something for you ASAP

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
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Lifetime Achievement (of hopelessness) Award Winners

Re: Lemons Book

Tom,

You have to give them the story of the bearing retrieval from the last race.

"She's a brick house" 57th out of 121 and 5th in Class C, There Goes the Neighborhood 2013
"PA Posse" 21st out of 96 and 2nd in Class C, Capitol Offense 2013.
"PA Posse" 29th out of 133 and Class C WINNER, Halloween Hooptiefest 2013
"PA Posse" 33rd out of 151 and 2nd in Class C, The Real Hoopties 2013

Re: Lemons Book

Thanks all.

If we get every team to submit their story we may have to break this up into volumes. wink

Some ideas, if you are not sure your team has a story

  • New teams, expectations verses reality

  • Older teams, the evolution, theme changes, personnel changes, etc.

  • Mulit-car teams, where insanity is a prerequisite and an HOA a project killer

  • SpeedyCop and Spank, in their own categories wink

In the Tinyvette entry I tell the story as a "little engine that could" type story, about a little Opel who wants so badly to be a Corvette and race at Le Mans.

I'd expect SpeedCop and Spank would have more to say about all this than team stories, builds, etc. They seem to have picked up on something, or have developed a viewpoint, that is certainly about more than this crazy racing. Spank's comments during our long drive back from the Ridge, sticks with me, that he is glad to be a part of the story that is Lemons.

Feel free to contribute to the glossary of terms int eh back of the book. I stuck a few that came to mind in there to get the ideas flowing but in this matter I run out of steam fast. You guys are much better at turning a colorful phrase than I ever will be.

Besides the team stories, there are tales, of the K-car recently, of Spank's XC trek with the Citroen, the maiden and only voyage of the radial engine-powered MR2, Sparky Pete and his Oregon adventure, even the fictitious tale of the westward migration of the LeMonites, all great and memorable stuff.

Mike

Re: Lemons Book

racinrob wrote:

Tom,

You have to give them the story of the bearing retrieval from the last race.

Is that story anything like Evil Clint going out on the back of a tow vehicle to find and retrieve his supercharger pulley, during a race?

15

Re: Lemons Book

I'll try to write a article for you at my next available time. You should try and set a due date to spur the procrastinators

Re: Lemons Book

m610 wrote:

BTW, there is at least one Lemons book in publication, on Lulu I believe - "The Index of Effluency", by Philipp Hübner.

Yep! I think there's a few copies floating around Harris Hill. Includes lulzy failure pics, IIRC.

17 (edited by m610 2013-11-13 02:38 PM)

Re: Lemons Book

3pe wrote:

I'll try to write a article for you at my next available time. You should try and set a due date to spur the procrastinators

Good point. The sooner the better. I can spend a lot of time on this between now and Christmas and once it is done it will take about a week for you all to get your copy (a day to print 4-5 to ship).

I'd love to have this ready in time for Christmas, so let's got for Dec 10 as a deadline. That will be a few days after the season ender, time enough for the last stories to be written, and for me to sleep off that race.

Please don't wait until the last second. It takes a little time to paste your stuff in and make up a LeMon graphic, if needed, plus I'll want to run everything by you again in case I made a mistake, need more info (photo credits and permissions), etc.

I just updated the draft. It includes Corsa Nostra's entry and some other minor stuff.
https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/1470323_756959497651543_1625388678_n.jpg

Re: Lemons Book

m610 wrote:
racinrob wrote:

Tom,

You have to give them the story of the bearing retrieval from the last race.

Is that story anything like Evil Clint going out on the back of a tow vehicle to find and retrieve his supercharger pulley, during a race?

Not as crazy,

long story short did a saturday midnight run to the CT/MA border to meet a teammate who was home on Long Island and had our spare suspension uprights which had in them wheel bearings we needed since one on the car failed and they are made of unobtanium. Dropped it back off at the track with instructions how to put the car back together.  Car was on track by 9:30 the next day.

Don't worry theres more to the story its more interesting in full length lol.

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
Click here to "Like" us on Facebook   Click here for our Youtube Videos
Lifetime Achievement (of hopelessness) Award Winners

Re: Lemons Book

RogueLeader wrote:
m610 wrote:
racinrob wrote:

Tom,

You have to give them the story of the bearing retrieval from the last race.

Is that story anything like Evil Clint going out on the back of a tow vehicle to find and retrieve his supercharger pulley, during a race?

Not as crazy,

long story short did a saturday midnight run to the CT/MA border to meet a teammate who was home on Long Island and had our spare suspension uprights which had in them wheel bearings we needed since one on the car failed and they are made of unobtanium. Dropped it back off at the track with instructions how to put the car back together.  Car was on track by 9:30 the next day.

Don't worry theres more to the story its more interesting in full length lol.


Yea, he completely omitted how the teammate obtained these items.  I'll leave it at that and let the suspense build till the book comes out.

Yes, I am a tease....

"She's a brick house" 57th out of 121 and 5th in Class C, There Goes the Neighborhood 2013
"PA Posse" 21st out of 96 and 2nd in Class C, Capitol Offense 2013.
"PA Posse" 29th out of 133 and Class C WINNER, Halloween Hooptiefest 2013
"PA Posse" 33rd out of 151 and 2nd in Class C, The Real Hoopties 2013

Re: Lemons Book

Someone asked about copyrights.

I'll put a copyright notice in the book that says whatever needs to be said to make things difficult for anyone who wants to claim any of your work as their own. It'll be something along the lines of -- individual articles are copyrighted by the authors and are reprinted here with their permission, while the book as a whole is copyrighted by me, or Lemons, if they want it. So basically, you still own your work and can take it anywhere you want, get it published by anyone you can find who will take it, maybe in your memoirs. wink

I just uploaded today's revision. I won't be putting up any more revisions. It would spoil the suspense/surprise/whatever. wink The link is the same as above. There's enough there to give you some examples. There is a section for team profiles/histories/philosophies, and a section for Lemons stories.

Seeing as this is cloud-authored, feel free to comment/correct/add to anything else I have written, for example, the description of Lemons. All that is in flux at this time anyway, and none of it sacred, so chime in.

I'm hoping to get at least 20 teams to pitch in with the in team stories. So far I have 3 with promises of 4-5 more.

I'll get a sample of what I have printed for the Arse-Freeze race if anyone wants to see what it looks like.

The cost will probably be 20 cents a page, full color, 8.5x11, soft bound, plus whatever we add for the charity component. A discount of 20% is available for orders of 20 or more.

Mike

Re: Lemons Book

I will try to get a submission to you this weekend. I have it all written in the daytona thread, just need to cut it down.

20+ Time Loser FutilityMotorsport
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Re: Lemons Book

Thanks. Looking forward to it.

Include photos if you have them, or else I'll just mine the Über Gallery, again.

Re: Lemons Book

I've got a decent collection of photos from the past 3 years. I'll include a bunch.

This will be a great project. thanks for taking it on.

20+ Time Loser FutilityMotorsport
Abandoned E36 Build
2008 Saab 9-5Aero Wagon
Retired - 1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby 2011-2015 "Lifetime Award for Lack of Achievement" IOE, 3X I got screwed, Organizer's Choice

Re: Lemons Book

I'd be willing to offer my help from a design standpoint if need be.

-Greg

Re: Lemons Book

I swear I had a comment on this thread, but alas it seems to have been eaten by the forum zombies.

Anyway, I think this is a fantastic idea! I see you've already put in a blank page for Ferdinand the Bug. I'll be sure to contribute! I was going to add that perhaps we can use the Lemons Wiki to collect the material and also keep it up-to-date past the book's dead-tree publication?

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