The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Bench Racing → What was your best or worst on track moment in Lemons 2009
... to have a team push us around in our very own $1.99 Caddy Limo to ...
The Limo was a $.99 cent Buy It Now Auction and they would NOT take the money so it was FREE!!!!!
I got a TPS for it the other day so hopefully it will be a self-propelled paddock ride for 2010.
Worst Moment: After blowing our motor at buttonwillow on the practice day, at about 3am I started to realize that we had no idea if the motor we were swapping even ran.. let alone was going to last us the next two days. I started to think all of our overnight work was going to be for nothing.
Best Moment: When our spare motor fired for the first time... and we managed to finish the race on an unknown motor. I'm also REALLY glad we don't have to drag the parts car around with us anymore!
Worst Moment: I got into the seat for my first-ever stint in a Lemons car. (First time doing real wheel-to-wheel racing too. Lots of DE time under my butt, but no actual racing experience prior to MSR-Houston in October.) As I am pulling out of the pits, my spotter tells me to get on it b/c there's some fast-movers coming down the frontstraight and about to be at pit-out. I give the 107hp monster all she's got and manage to hold them off until Launch. Which I COMPLETELY flubbed. The car bottomed out hard on the inside curbing, and I thought I'd broken the damn thing for sure.
Best Moment: See above. 
(Didn't break nuthin'! After I settled in, I ended up running the second fastest laps on my team and managed to be one of only two out of our team of 7drivers who didn't get black flaged over the 2 days of racing.)
The Best moment was passing the V8 Volvo at Reno with the Peugeot Sunday morning with the 505 stuck in 3rd gear. Though watching the BMW tumble end for end at Thunderhill was a close second, so wish that we hadn't lost the video!
I'm also REALLY glad we don't have to drag the parts car around with us anymore!
No more trailer tetris?
FreeRange wrote:I'm also REALLY glad we don't have to drag the parts car around with us anymore!
No more trailer tetris?
But you're legendary for that! Gotta have the ... fit-2-cars-into-1-space thing!
Worst Moment: being beaten by a Chrysler minivan
Best Moment: deciding whether to tuck in behind the '67 Fury, the 1/2 ton Chevy or the bongoed red Alfa....in a road race. Brilliant.
worst: not finishing a race for the first time ever at the last T hill
Best Winning Button willow, actually the last few laps were the best entertainment possible i think
LTDScott wrote:FreeRange wrote:I'm also REALLY glad we don't have to drag the parts car around with us anymore!
No more trailer tetris?
But you're legendary for that! Gotta have the ... fit-2-cars-into-1-space thing!
We stepped it up this year and got an ENCLOSED trailer! Two just doesn't fit. Although, I'm fairly convinced the Anglia and the MR2 will fit in the trailer with some massaging.
I'm fairly convinced the Anglia and the MR2 will fit in the trailer with some massaging.
Back the MR2 in all the way. Back the Anglia in most of the way, then put a floor jack under the pumpkin. Jack it up all the way, push the Anglia back so that the rear wheels are over the hood of the MR2, add two sizeable jack stands, lower the jack a touch so the weight sits on the stands as well, and strap securely. What could possibly go wrong?
Best Moment - The 23 hour, completely nonstop, totally insane, locked-in-a-truck-with-three-smelly-boys haul from Dallas to Ohio that began AFTER I worked a full shift at the hospital, packed and then flew to Dallas. We were completely delerious as we approached the track; the quote of the moment was "I can't believe we're STILL in this F&(^ING TRUCK!" Joe was completely insane popping trucker pills and slamming Red Bull, Bryan was already one of the smelliest things ever, and Chris was laughing like a hyena.
Runner up - Flying through the Carosel at Nelson. It was the moment that I 'got' the whole idea of a racing line.
Worst moment - Spinning out into pit lane at Nelson. In the dark. I'd never spun a car before. The word "terrifying" comes to mind. Thank goodness this happened during the practice session.
I think the quote "What could possibly go wrong?" should be the Lemons mantra. Come to think of it, it already is. OSHA would be proud.
Best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R3n42TK0Q0
2nd Worst: the CoROLLa blowing a head gasket 12 minutes into CMP Fall (or as I like to think of it, "CMP Fail").
1st Worst: getting the CoROLLa back together in time for Sunday afternoon and realizing we had a severe and incurable (in the time we had left, anyway) water leak.
Let's just say one of the things I will not miss about Nelson Ledges is the mens room.
see, i thought the space heater periodically spitting out kerosene mist really added a special "je ne sais quoi" to the men's room experience.
The men's room(and I use that term VERY loosely, it was a pipe into a tank) near us wasn't even heated. Man was it cold in there the first night in the rain.
2009 was an EPIC FAIL for the coROLLa. We'll know in 4 weeks how 2010 will shape up, starting at CMP.
Worst moment was after Nelson Ledges, when I had just sold the 61 Caddy to a guy. We took pics with the Lada guys and the judges, and when I fired the Caddy back up everyone cheered. I revved it up, and it spun a bearing with a loud screech and locked up. Naturally the guy backed out of the sale.
Best moment was only minutes before, when we won Organizers Choice.
Dude, I can't believe I hadn't heard that story. Awesome!
worst: not finishing a race for the first time ever at the last T hill
Best Winning Button willow, actually the last few laps were the best entertainment possible i think
Richard Wolff
Since the car blew up when YOU were driving...I personally blame you.....you were driving it has to be your fault!!!! :>) Its okay as "we can rebuild it...for $100 or less!!"
Its not like it was a POS to start with.... I did think the volume of oil leaking out made a saturday oil change unnecessary...
I wonder how much rod bearing was left when you started your stint....maybe a thin coating all the way around....if that?
I gotta admit calling parts suppliers that sell rod bearings by the set of 8 and asking only for two...is FUN...."you got it in stock..great I'll take it...BUT I only need two!!"
but i was pushing the go pedal as hard as i could like you said to!
how much more pissed would you have been if i ventilated the block?
Speedycop wrote:Worst moment was after Nelson Ledges, when I had just sold the 61 Caddy to a guy. We took pics with the Lada guys and the judges, and when I fired the Caddy back up everyone cheered. I revved it up, and it spun a bearing with a loud screech and locked up. Naturally the guy backed out of the sale.
Best moment was only minutes before, when we won Organizers Choice.
Dude, I can't believe I hadn't heard that story. Awesome!
It wasn't awesome at the time, especially after spending the previous 11 hours changing the head gaskets, only to get 5 more overheating laps out of it before it cooked again. That's why I was fed up and wanted to sell it, and that's why they cheered---it had died on the track in the final turn, and COASTED past the checkered flag! We have a vid of it I'll have to find and post. Here's the pic taken moments before it locked up:
That pic is chock full of win. 
Oh, and I forgot the Snoopy van and crew were there. Sorry, fellas. I hadn't slept in days at that point...
but i was pushing the go pedal as hard as i could
During Lamest Day, our gas pedal broke off from the floor, leaving it a floppy bit dangling from the arm. In a futile effort to get the car to go coming onto the front straight, we all tired to squish the pedal like a bug. Didn't help. Also didn't make my heel-and-toes very good, either.
I got out and said, "the gas pedal's broken" and they guy who drove before me said, "yeah, I know, I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry."
Worst moment was tearing our paddock down on Saturday night at Stafford in anticipation of a thunderstorm / microburst. The downpour dampened 
the post-race beer drinking and handing out with neighbors; we settled for a bar. I can drink beer with my teammates anytime; I was looking forward to a beer or two with other teams.
Worst moment was tearing our paddock down on Saturday night at Stafford in anticipation of a thunderstorm / microburst. The downpour dampened
We hung out with the VW guys wearing white with the gold chains that night. It was awesome. The best was being yelled at by a teammate for peeing where he could smell it... Did he really want me to walk 1/4 mile to the bathrooms?
vwdmc16 wrote:but i was pushing the go pedal as hard as i could
During Lamest Day, our gas pedal broke off from the floor, leaving it a floppy bit dangling from the arm. In a futile effort to get the car to go coming onto the front straight, we all tired to squish the pedal like a bug. Didn't help. Also didn't make my heel-and-toes very good, either.
That reminds me of an event with our car which best demonstrates the camaraderie of Lemons... the throttle cable broke off the gas pedal in our car, requiring a tow into the pits. As our car was getting towed in, a driver from the Formula BMW aka Pink Pig team was walking by and asked what was wrong with our car. When we told him, he said he knew how to fix it and LITERALLY went head first into our car to fix the problem (god bless zip ties).
We then returned the favor by accidentally rear ending their car on the last lap of the race. Oops. Oh well, just another damaged body panel on their car, heh.
Best: there were several instances where the ThunderTerd's 351W/3 speed combo meant all you had to do was look at someone, say 'You are next' and pass at will. Damn that thing was FAST.
Worst: it's a tossup between when one of our drivers got rear ended hard at the end of the front straight or when that same 351W locked up tight. Back in the pits, it would turn over but it wouldn't start, it just went 'skeek skeek skeek'. I know a hopeless case when I hear it. Not many of those floating around, our race was done. 
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Bench Racing → What was your best or worst on track moment in Lemons 2009