Brett85p wrote:...to be honest one of the things most discouraging me from trying it out is the crap spouted on their fourm about our series.
Last time we ran a Chump race, the organizer laid a blanket insult on Lemons drivers from the podium during the awards ceremony. They must have assumed that nobody at that race runs in both series...or maybe they just didn't care. That left a pretty bad taste in our mouths.
So what I want to know is has anyone here run a semi competitive class B Lemons car in a chump race that attracts around 30 cars?
Yes I have. BIR, 2011 and 2012.
Will we be smoked by the uber cheaty BMWs and basically be paying for a track day?
Yes you will. Based on my experience at Autobahn, our Beretta and your Celica are almost evenly matched. In the midwest, we have found that the majority of Chump teams, especially the BMWs, are on another level entirely. We have the power, you have the grip; they have both and are driving at 9.5/10 because they don't have to fear the black flag nearly as much as they would in Lemons. That said, not all teams are super fast, and I disagree with the idea that you would "basically be paying for a track day." There will be teams slower than you, and probably a couple that are around the same speed; you can still race with them and have a good time. The people are not all jerks; we've met some really nice guys at Chump races. In fact, the vast majority of Chump racers are really nice guys. But a lot of them are also really serious about (and much more financially invested into) racing, more so than we will ever be.
I'm only considering this due to crappy Midwest scheduling by our series...
Us too. That's why we'll be going back to BIR to race Chump for a third time this year.
...and a race at home seems to make financal sense even at $1200 for car and drivers plus licenses and number board and lights for the hour or two when we may need them.
We don't care about winning Chump trophies or ChumpChange™, so we are racing in EC (Exception Class) this year. Also exempts us from their valuation system, which does not look kindly on our engine swap + ghettocharger setup. I could probably make a believable budget (at least as believable as what other teams submit) but it would be a lot of work, and why bother? We're not going to win, or even contend for anything anyway.
Former chief proprietor and lead bad idea generator of Binford "More Power" Racing, 2010-2013: humbly self-proclaimed the best Chevy Beretta in Lemons history.