The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Bench Racing → Professionals in Lemons
I have been hearing stories of professional drivers like Randy Probst and Tommy Kendall in Lemons for a while.
Kinda curious how many professional race mechanics or pro race teams are out there.
Im a professional cheater in Trans Am TA2 and figured there has got to be others that like working on crapcans outside of "real" racecars.
Also how much Lemons technology makes it backwards to work cars?? Lol
Pic for relevance
IMO, your question is definitely more relevant than a census of how many pro drivers there are slumming in our area of amatuer motorsports.
For Lemons racing, I'd speculate that having a professional mechanic is more valuable for a team than a professional driver.
After all, a Juan Pablo Montoya still needs to contend with all the non-professional driving shlubs on the track (and of course the occasional Dave Montoyas).
If I had a guess, I'd say a sizable number (if not the majority) of the teams that race in some of the biggest west coast races have at least one professional mechanic on the team - but I doubt that there are more than a handful of professional RACE mechanics that are into Lemons at all (just because there aren't that many of you). After all, the number of people who work on cars and are actually car repair/racing enthusiasts is probably far higher than the # of people who are car repair/racing enthusiasts but also happen be dog catchers as a day job (although given the sheer # of people who have raced in Lemons, there has to be at least one).
One more Q for Lemons HQ: how many people have ever raced in Lemons?
I'm guessing that number has to be well over 100K by now.
Regards,
-g
The Mock Grass Racing car was originally owned by a NASCAR crew, I just forget which one.
My impression after 6 years and 20 or so races is that there is, on average, usually at least one professional driver at each race.
Our team has a professional mechanic, and he is as valuable to our success as our drivers.
The interesting thing to me is how many guys are walking around with SCCA or NASA patches on their suits.
Ultimately, this series is flat out fun for any level of competitor.
I know that a group of mechanics who worked for Riley & Scott racing built a car a few years ago. Don't know which car, a friend who worked for the team mentioned it to me.
The Mock Grass Racing car was originally owned by a NASCAR crew, I just forget which one.
They were from the Jimmy Johnson Lowes team and I think the guy worked in the shop for a little while
I guess why we don't have more in there is because of contract issues that won't allow them to put themselves in any other hazardous risk, but alas who knows. I did stand next to the fence talking to John Andretti one day at CMP
Weren't the Pratt and Miller guys the ones who tried to slip in some cheaty car with fancy asslifters and ended up being one of only two cars that have ever been claimed?
http://blog.caranddriver.com/yes-24-hou … heres-why/
We have plenty of pros racing in Lemons. It turns out that having one or two very fast drivers on a team isn't such a great advantage in Lemons, because raw lap times don't help as much as good team organization. Actually, it turns out that pro drag racers do all right in Lemons, because they're good at the wrenching and general organizational stuff.
What does help is when you have a pro crew whose members are used to working together, which has happened from time to time with NASCAR pros from Charlotte coming down to CMP. For example, when Gary Nelson showed up at CMP with a Crown Vic and an all-teenager driver crew, they ran away with Class B thanks to the zero-mistakes operation they had going on (plus the fact that nobody recognized Nelson, nor did anyone realize that those 17-year-olds were all genetically engineered racing monsters who drove the way they were ordered to drive).
Zach Veach (Andretti Indy Lights now with another team) drove with us at Barber in 2015 where he holds the indy lights track record. It just happened that we had one of the fastest cars on the track, Marc's V6 MR2. He had a blast and was a cool addition to the team, lap times were ridiculously fast, still around 4 seconds a lap faster than any Lemons or Chump car has been around that track. He also drove the Accord fast and clean and I would race with him again anytime.
In general, I only consider those whose primary form of income is from racing as professionals. There are a lot of people who race but the number of people who actually make their living from it is fairly small. And a lot of them don't have free time on the weekends when we are racing because they are working.
Cory Kruseman is a open wheel guy who races and owns a driving school. He's driven my car in the past. He really, really enjoys it. Chris Dyson runs his dirt cars from time to time and he's said he'd really like to do Lemons. JJ Yeley wants to drive with us when his schedule allows. He gets a big kick out of hearing what we've built. Shaggy at TRD thinks we're nuts but thinks the series is great. He tried to get some technical help from within Toyota when Spank was building the ToyoHog. Joe Custer at Stewart-Haas told me he made the guys sell their LeChump car (chevy station wagon I believe) because it was drawing focus off the cars they get paid to work on. In general, whether those guys are driving or crewing, it's their job to do that. It's a grind to race week in and week out. Not a lot of them are having a ton of fun doing it but they get paid well. You wave something like Lemons under their nose and it looks like the opening scene from a Jackass movie.
Also how much Lemons technology makes it backwards to work cars?? Lol
The Jagvair drivetrain is becoming so familiar, I might transplant one into my '51 Chevy 3100. Then I can get booed at car shows also.
I know that a group of mechanics who worked for Riley & Scott racing built a car a few years ago. Don't know which car, a friend who worked for the team mentioned it to me.
It was the BoomPowSurprise Ford Probe. Bill Riley and Peter Baron, among others, won the 2010 season-ending 24-hour race on New Year's Eve in Palm Beach with it. I'd be surprised if they didn't have a ringer or two in the car with them. Not sure who the guy next to Riley is in the picture below.
They built a second Probe, then Riley and Jeff Braun built matching Miatas for ChumpCar, which they still race. Bill Riley, by the way, is part of ChumpCar's board of directors, for whatever that's worth.
I've had 2 GT Academy finalists drive my car, Andre Gomes and Nick Barbato. Barbato still does drive with us and is working towards a world challenge drive. Nick's uncle Bob Doyle has driven our car as well, he is an IMSA driver and won the 6 hours of the Glen in GTD a few years ago. Both Nick and Bob will be back in the car at Loudon probably. And I have the head mechanic from CCC Manhattan, GJ Dixon, who is a multi time national champ AutoXer and won Chevy Rev it up national championship, he has been with the team since day 1.
The PEAK Mustang guys had a few pro drivers run with them in Lemons, too. When it was the Little Douche Coupe, Cruz Pedragon raced it and I think Danica Patrick's dad might have been on the team? Not sure about that last part.
Also, one of the drivers of this extremely janky Pontiac Grand Am was an old USAC racer who raced in the Indianapolis 500. And when I mean "old," I mean the guy was like 82. I couldn't tell you his name for the life of me, but when the younger guys on the team told me who it was and I had never heard of him, they looked like I'd killed their parents or something. This might be the hooptiest car I've seen in Lemons, BTW. The rear suspension had literally no travel at all. Like zero. As you can see, it rained in this race, so this car was a serious Penalty Box recidivist, including the octogenarian Indy racer.
The guy who ran the PEAK/Douche Coupe was an Indy engineer of some repute, also, I recall. His name is Eric and, again, his last name escapes me entirely.
EDIT: His name is Eric Debord and he co-founded Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, apparently.
The guy who ran the PEAK/Douche Coupe was an Indy engineer of some repute, ...
That is surprising because just about every race I see it in the car was in the paddock spot barely running.
The guy who ran the PEAK/Douche Coupe was an Indy engineer of some repute, also, I recall. His name is Eric and, again, his last name escapes me entirely.
EDIT: His name is Eric Debord and he co-founded Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, apparently.
I'd be upset if I were a co founder and didn't get my name in the team name.
though the story does check out http://www.dreyerreinboldracing.com/team.aspx
and they have an impressive driver lineup.
I also forgot about Fairlylame. They've got Tad Merriman who is an engine engineer at Hendrick.
There are two professional race drivers who got paid for driving in Lemons. Tanner Foust and The Stig (I'm assuming there's a pro in there) when Top Gear USA ran at Sonoma in December.
Then there's This Guy
I think he'll say the highlight of his career was passing Tsog's SIMCA at Road America
Or maybe it was push-starting a Porsche
There are two professional race drivers who got paid for driving in Lemons. Tanner Foust and The Stig (I'm assuming there's a pro in there) when Top Gear USA ran at Sonoma in December.
"Ran" at Sonoma.
billybobster wrote:There are two professional race drivers who got paid for driving in Lemons. Tanner Foust and The Stig (I'm assuming there's a pro in there) when Top Gear USA ran at Sonoma in December.
"Ran" at Sonoma.
If you mean they didn't try very hard... 'tis true. I was disappointed. Made me question the whole concept of "reality" shows. They seemed so real... to me.
Then there's This Guy
I think he'll say this will be the highlight of his career
Guildenstern wrote:billybobster wrote:There are two professional race drivers who got paid for driving in Lemons. Tanner Foust and The Stig (I'm assuming there's a pro in there) when Top Gear USA ran at Sonoma in December.
"Ran" at Sonoma.
If you mean they didn't try very hard... 'tis true. I was disappointed. Made me question the whole concept of "reality" shows. They seemed so real... to me.
Could have been worse, they could have shown up with their feet up their ass like The Car Show with Adam Carola did.
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