Today, I was reminded about Lemons...not the fruit, the "race." Lemons races fall into that "different" category for sure. As crazy as they were, the Lemons races at CMP remain some of my fondest and craziest car memories. (Other ones: saved for later.) If you haven't heard of these races, they are spoofs on the famous LeMons, and the basic rules are: Take a car valued at $500 or less, add safety equipment and pick a team "theme," and try to get the most laps over 2 days.
The first year, our awesome and spectacular team drove a 1986 (?) Ford Thunderbird, AKA the Deathmobile. Too many mechanical happenings to list, but by the end of the race, we were limping along at 38 mph top speed, earning the "most likely to leave in an ambulance" award. (Note: We obviously didn't, as were were quite good at staying out of the way.)
So, we decided heavy and slow was the bad plan. Now, go for light and breakable. And, hopefully fast. (Note: Faster than my daily driver. Not actually fast.) Enter the 198x Honda Civic hatchback. Civics are everywhere, and they are not expensive, so ... it was an obvious choice. The only problem? Something about an oil pump and only right hand turns and ... bad things. Other than that, they are bulletproof, just don't expect to crash and keep the car in one piece.
So anyway, since they are all $500 cars, you can imagine that most people bring as many spares as possible, and DEFINITELY as many tools as we can. I was fortunate that pretty much every single person other than me on the team were very, very mechanically savvy, so I didn't have to poke around and go, "Hmm......"
Evening of day one race, and our neighbors' civic engine was toasted. They were calling junkyards and everyone they knew to see if there was an engine they could have for day two...and they were striking out everywhere. If they could just find an engine, they could swap it out in what, two hours? One? I'm not sure what their record was, but they are good.
My very-obviously-stock civic was parked kinda between our paddock areas. One of the guys (don't remember who) pointed to my car and goes, "Whose is this?" Chuckling to myself, I smiled and said, "Mine." He goes, "So, you know ... any chance we could borrow your engine? We'll give it back after the race tomorrow."
...
At that moment, I knew that I just HAD to let our neighbors borrow my engine. After all, what's the worst that could happen? My engine could explode and then I couldn't get to work or school? Nah, that'd never happen. I have really good "luck" with my car. They had my engine out in an hour, even though it was kinda scary to watch. ... and the race went on the next day. They were eternally grateful, and did a great job of reconnecting everything the next night so I could get to work. It was so stressful to watch my only car be taken apart, that I swore I'd never do it again!
... Ok, so the above paragraph didn't happen. The question was NOT asked seriously, and I laughed and replied, "Sorry, not my daily driver..." But they DID end up finding another engine, or fixing the toasted one, and finished the race with no problems. And everyone noted that we shouldn't tempt people by bringing the most popular engine in all of Lemons. (I think my engine fits in all models of civics or something, but don't quote me on that.)
Randomly, I am reminded of those experiences, and I laugh. Yes, I am sure I look like a crazy person. I'm that crazy person, laughing to herself while standing at the bus stop, or walking somewhere throughout town.
Crazy, perhaps. So glad to have been able to have such good, crazy times with some of my favorite people? Absolutely.
Below, Lemons 2011. Happy times! Miss you all. From what I heard, y'all placed pretty high in the standings this year... Good job! Wish I could have been there, but I will return. Just thinking about it makes me grin!
Roundhouse Kick Racing: we are ALL Chuck Norris
Before the "parade." VW wheels, cheap paint, denim fabric, and lots of sharpie-penned Chuck Norris quotes
No comments:
Post a Comment