1 Topic by Judge Phil (edited by MurileeMartin 2009-11-07 02:31 PM)

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Topic: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Seriously, at Lemons HQ we really pay little attention to the overall leader during the race (except during the last few minutes, so we can prepare for the ceremony), but we'll get quite worked up about Index Of Effluency contenders. There's a subjective component (Jay) involved in deciding who's in the running for the IOE, but usually the choices are pretty obvious. At Yeehaw It's Texas, the IOE was there for the taking for any one of the air-cooled VWs- beat the TR7 and you take home the nickels!

We're looking forward to a nail-biting, photo-finish IOE battle at Thunderhill. Unlike the slog to the overall win, you can win the IOE even if you have some mechanical problems; this means that your team's wrenchin' prowess is a much larger factor for you than for the dudes chasing the overall win (they break once, they're pretty much knocked out). It's a race within a race, and we've always been surprised that the contenders aren't more aware of who they're trying to beat; if the race has an hour to go and your 39th-place Lancia Scorpion is 1.5 laps back of those bastids in the 37th-place Henry J, it's time to get busy and chase those nickels!

Who are the likely contenders this time? Only Jay can say for sure, but I've got a pretty good eye for the IOE and I say these teams need to start thinking of themselves as front-line competitors for the big win. Come Sunday afternoon, the top two or three of the following teams should start smelling a potential victory:

Unsafe At Any Speed, Corvair
Faster Farms Chickens, Plymouth Belvedere
Purple Lemon Racing, VW Beetle
Starsky And The Bandit, Ford Capri
Family Truckster, Ford Pinto
Wedginator III, TR7
Killer Bees, MGB
Italian Stallions, Fiat X1/9
Dai Hard, Daihatsu Charade
F-ING Renault Fromage 1, Renault Alliance
Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys, Peugeot 505
Mysteries, Inc, Plymouth Voyager
Petty Cash, Jeep Cherokee

Were I betting on the IOE, I'd put my money on the Italion Stallions, Surrender Monkeys, or Killer Bees, due to the LeMons-veteran status of the cars and drivers coupled with past decent (by Fiat, Peugeot, and British Leyland standards) performance. But you never know- maybe the Voyager will use its turbo power to eat up the competition, and the Chickens have a bulletproof Chrysler 318 under the hood. Or maybe a car not quite sufficiently effluent to get on this list- yet still fundamentally terrible- will totally overachieve (the Skid Row '77 Camaro and Carpocalypse NOW Eagle Talon come to mind), come in an improbable 4th place overall, and wrest the IOE trophy from our hands.

But I won't be betting on the IOE (I'd like to, but Jay has this weird idea that being in a position to influence the outcome of the race might tempt me to exploit some ethical gray areas- as if a member of the Lemons Supreme Court would do such a thing!), so instead I just want you IOE superpowers to recognize that you're racing for the highest honor Lemons has to offer. That means you should check those standings during the race and take careful note of how the real competition is doing... and if your car is leading, start looking over your shoulder!

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
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  • Registered: 2009-05-13
  • Posts: 33

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Not to lobby TOO blatantly...

I could still see our rod bearings on Wednesday night.  We didn't feel like plastigauging them, we're just going to run it loose for more power.  We also didn't feel like splitting the block to look at the mains, so we're just going to hope those aren't showing copper too.

The Corvair is much more terrible this time around...

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

You beat those other cars and the IOE is yours. Period. In fact, finish in the top 50 and you'll have a great shot at it.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
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  • From: Olympia, WA
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 210

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

It's too bad past winners are basically ineligible.  When we won IOE it didn't come with any nickels!  We are going to keep on running the Size Matters Fury forever.

Team Oly Express
Current car - 1964.5 Plymouth Barracuda, Former car - Size Does Matter 1967 Plymouth Fury
07 IOE Winner Thunderhill, 12 IOE Winner Sears Pointless
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Team- … 4609354407
  • From: Portland
  • Registered: 2009-05-02
  • Posts: 568

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

rocketresto wrote:

It's too bad past winners are basically ineligible.  When we won IOE it didn't come with any nickels!  We are going to keep on running the Size Matters Fury forever.

Did you guys find a new motor yet?

Matt
Free Range Racing

6 Reply by Speedycop (edited by Speedycop 2009-11-08 05:57 PM)

  • From: Brandywine, MD
  • Registered: 2009-07-15
  • Posts: 4,528

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

I honestly feel that we need to revisit the concept of past IOE winners being basically ineligible. With 22 races in one year alone, and the desire to see more cool old crapheaps instead of Integras, there should be no restiction other than not winning IOE in the same vehicle twice. For example, Jay wants to see the '61 Caddy run again, which means we need a motor, brakes, and much more by April for another IOE bid in Detroit. I also bought the Prefect, which we want to build and run as an IOE competitor this year. If the Caddy somehow wins, would you have us just shelve the Prefect? We aren't interested in paying $1,000+ in entry fees alone, plus the months of hard work and $$$ to build another IOE contender that's largely ineligible, and will just circulate relatively slowly.

Frankly, I'd like to build several different IOE competitors a year, every year. Lots of cool old cars out there, but it won't be worth doing if they don't have a shot. You don't preclude past overall winners from winning, why punish fresh IOE cars? I say encourage EVERY team to build IOE cars by making them eligible at any event, regardless of a team's previous wins. I keep finding cool old cars I'd like to buy for IOE bids, but there's no sense in that if a team can only win once. That's my .02.

Captain: Speedycop & The Gang Of Outlaws -'94 Mark VIII (Least Horrible Yank Tank Stafford '09, NOLA '10) '61 Caddy (Org Choice-NL '09) '63 Tbird (EPIC Repair Failure-Gingerman '10, I Got Screwed-Summit Pt '10, I.O.E. WINNER Stafford '10!) '77 Lancia Scorpion (I.O.E. WINNER Joliet 2010!) '67 Galaxie 500 (Judges Choice-CMP '11)
Future Fleet: 1957 Ford Prefect 1942 Buick 1959 Bugeye Project GLCOAT

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  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 1,993

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

the killer bees have a solid shot......

Richard Doty
1984 Porsche 928 "Estate"
Porsche- "there is A substitute" Racing
Dirt Poorsche Racing #2
  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Speedycop wrote:

I honestly feel that we need to revisit the concept of past IOE winners being basically ineligible. With 22 races in one year alone, and the desire to see more cool old crapheaps instead of Integras, there should be no restiction other than not winning IOE in the same vehicle twice. For example, Jay wants to see the '61 Caddy run again, which means we need a motor, brakes, and much more by April for another IOE bid in Detroit. I also bought the Prefect, which we want to build and run as an IOE competitor this year. If the Caddy somehow wins, would you have us just shelve the Prefect? We aren't interested in paying $1,000+ in entry fees alone, plus the months of hard work and $$$ to build another IOE contender that's largely ineligible, and will just circulate relatively slowly.

Frankly, I'd like to build several different IOE competitors a year, every year. Lots of cool old cars out there, but it won't be worth doing if they don't have a shot. You don't preclude past overall winners from winning, why punish fresh IOE cars? I say encourage EVERY team to build IOE cars by making them eligible at any event, regardless of a team's previous wins. I keep finding cool old cars I'd like to buy for IOE bids, but there's no sense in that if a team can only win once. That's my .02.

Past IOE winners can win again, just not with the same car. Actually, they could win with the same car, if they totally knocked us (or, rather, Jay) out with their performance. Say, if the Lada finishes 8th in its next race, it would be damn near impossible not to give it IOE again.

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  • Spank
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  • From: Escondido, CA
  • Registered: 2009-06-10
  • Posts: 5,864

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

MurileeMartin wrote:

Past IOE winners can win again, just not with the same car. Actually, they could win with the same car, if they totally knocked us (or, rather, Jay) out with their performance. Say, if the Lada finishes 8th in its next race, it would be damn near impossible not to give it IOE again.

So if the mini finishes say, oh, top 10 we could contend?

Spank's Website

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Spank wrote:
MurileeMartin wrote:

Past IOE winners can win again, just not with the same car. Actually, they could win with the same car, if they totally knocked us (or, rather, Jay) out with their performance. Say, if the Lada finishes 8th in its next race, it would be damn near impossible not to give it IOE again.

So if the mini finishes say, oh, top 10 we could contend?

The Mini could probably be a two-time IOE winner with a 40th-place finish.

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  • From: Brandywine, MD
  • Registered: 2009-07-15
  • Posts: 4,528

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

This is good news indeed! Now, where can I hide a bunch of new old cars in my yard? I don't want the county (or the wife) bitching...

Captain: Speedycop & The Gang Of Outlaws -'94 Mark VIII (Least Horrible Yank Tank Stafford '09, NOLA '10) '61 Caddy (Org Choice-NL '09) '63 Tbird (EPIC Repair Failure-Gingerman '10, I Got Screwed-Summit Pt '10, I.O.E. WINNER Stafford '10!) '77 Lancia Scorpion (I.O.E. WINNER Joliet 2010!) '67 Galaxie 500 (Judges Choice-CMP '11)
Future Fleet: 1957 Ford Prefect 1942 Buick 1959 Bugeye Project GLCOAT

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12 Reply by Jer

  • Jer
  • Jer
  • Lemons Staff Stalker
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  • From: West Chester, PA
  • Registered: 2009-05-04
  • Posts: 1,316

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

The IOE is the only reason the Craptation is still sitting in my storage area with time flattened tires and a seized motor.  Maybe someday it will come out of semi-retirement....

Jer / Schumacher Taxi Service
2010 Spring CMP I.O.E. winner
2010 Sebring overall winner
1996 Miata, 1991 BMW E30, 1987 coROLLa (retired), 1984 Citation (retired), 1993 Miata (retired)

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  • From: Bend, Or
  • Registered: 2009-05-18
  • Posts: 88

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

We rebuilt the hatarac-elkdorado...well ok we didnt do anything but paint it, and score a set wheels(with used tires) for it and gave it a new paint job...Its now the plaid-illac elkdorado!! we are hoping to prove its a contender again for the IOE, Mabey some other cool title, but mainly we here for the party!! We devised the idea while getting ready to camo the car, talking about the speeds achievable by our crappy rocket at Fernley and how T-Hill looks faster...someone mentioned it would go ludicrous speed...and then go plaid....and the paint scheme ws decided camo plaid. Thanks Spaceballs!!! Dont count us out yet...were goin plaid at T-Hill

  • JThw8
  • JThw8
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  • From: Mullica Hill, NJ
  • Registered: 2009-06-10
  • Posts: 1,781

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Speedycop wrote:

I
Frankly, I'd like to build several different IOE competitors a year, every year. Lots of cool old cars out there

My brother from another mother.  We could corner the east coast market on bizzarre crapheaps.   I know a perfect junkyard to start with in NJ.  They crush the new stuff but the old and wierd sticks around forever, there was an NSU Prinz there last time I went (many years ago now)

http://wartburg.misfittoysracing.com
OTTER: "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part."
BLUTO: "We're just the guys to do it."

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  • From: Brandywine, MD
  • Registered: 2009-07-15
  • Posts: 4,528

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

None of the yards around me will come off of an entire car anymore. One yard used to say $500, but now they just say no. Craigslist is still a gold mine for these, if you have cash and can jump on the ad when it first comes out.

Captain: Speedycop & The Gang Of Outlaws -'94 Mark VIII (Least Horrible Yank Tank Stafford '09, NOLA '10) '61 Caddy (Org Choice-NL '09) '63 Tbird (EPIC Repair Failure-Gingerman '10, I Got Screwed-Summit Pt '10, I.O.E. WINNER Stafford '10!) '77 Lancia Scorpion (I.O.E. WINNER Joliet 2010!) '67 Galaxie 500 (Judges Choice-CMP '11)
Future Fleet: 1957 Ford Prefect 1942 Buick 1959 Bugeye Project GLCOAT

Speedycop's Website

  • From: Washington State
  • Registered: 2009-05-07
  • Posts: 55

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Have any of the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys tried driving the 505 since Reno. Off and on the trailer doesn't count.

Scott "Leadfoot" Miller
CESM

Scott "Leadfoot" Miller
"The Autosport Lab Rats"
"The Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys"
  • From: p-town, east SF bay
  • Registered: 2009-05-17
  • Posts: 65

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

"Chickens have a bulletproof Chrysler 318 under the hood."

That's right, damn thing still hasn't blown up and we've been commuting with it since last race.

Since last race; new shifter cable (apparently 600lb pull strength isn't enough for the mighty mopar), pass. side motor mount, and a few other maintenance items

Nickels are nice, but making it through a race without one of the team flipping the car midway through would make my weekend...

8 time Lemons loser!
Go team Faster Farms! [ http://fasterfarms.blogspot.com ]
  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

monkei wrote:

"Chickens have a bulletproof Chrysler 318 under the hood."

That's right, damn thing still hasn't blown up and we've been commuting with it since last race.

Since last race; new shifter cable (apparently 600lb pull strength isn't enough for the mighty mopar), pass. side motor mount, and a few other maintenance items

Nickels are nice, but making it through a race without one of the team flipping the car midway through would make my weekend...

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2008/11/FFChix-HoodPose2.jpg

You guys need to raise the awesome level by getting more chicken suits. Two just isn't enough.

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  • From: Olympia, WA
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 210

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

We are trying to put a 360 together now using 4 junk motors, one was in a flood, two were outside for years getting water in them, and a 4th that has A LOT of miles on it.  Should have it in this weekend!  Will lose about 200 pounds off the nose of the car with the Mopar small block and considering how tired the 440 was we had in it I don't think we will lose that much power.  Just trying to get my drivers not to flake out so it's just me at the track.

Love that Belvedere.  We are going to go at it in practice, should be fun.

Team Oly Express
Current car - 1964.5 Plymouth Barracuda, Former car - Size Does Matter 1967 Plymouth Fury
07 IOE Winner Thunderhill, 12 IOE Winner Sears Pointless
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Team- … 4609354407
  • From: p-town, east SF bay
  • Registered: 2009-05-17
  • Posts: 65

Re: Thunderhill IOE competition looks tough!

Notice the rain possibility yet!!?? Practice and Saturday could be interesting...

Awesomness, I remember how well your Fury handled at Fernley, even with the bigblock!!! We're gonna find us a junkyard 360 someday, just as soon as we blow the frickin' 318 up (easier said than done).

Y'know, I might race in a chickensuit (do they make those in nomex?) but nobody looks better than Adrian and Jim in the chickensuits walking round the paddock; I wouldn't want to take away from that.

8 time Lemons loser!
Go team Faster Farms! [ http://fasterfarms.blogspot.com ]