The 24 Hours of LeMons is a two day endurance race for $500 cars. Last Spring, Eric and his roommates decided to enter this October’s race using John’s rusty 1995 Cadillac as the donor vehicle. I’ll admit I was skeptical that they’d be able to do everything necessary to be ready for the race, what with school in the way and all the design, modification and safety work that needed to be done, but they pulled it off.
To even be accepted in the race you have to convince the judges that you’ll be fun to have around. From the Rules:
WILL MY TEAM GET ACCEPTED?
Maybe. Maybe not. We usually get more applications than each racetrack can handle, so we have to pick and choose. Boring applications like “We are four guys who love to race, and we have done (blah blah blah) driving before” don’t give us too much to work with: You might get in, and you might not. Applications like “Choose us, because we’ll wear beaver costumes in the paddock and our car is entirely coated in birch bark” give you much better odds.
And so the Caddy became an aircraft carrier.
Pushin' The Nimitz
More specifically, the USS Gerald R. Cadillac, aka “Pushin’ the Nimitz.” The full team was made up of the five college roommates, Bob (Ian’s dad and generous sponsor) and Mike (friend and team mechanic).
Front row: John, Eric, Ian, Gerard, Peter; Back row: Mike, Bob
For a better play by play account of the process, from entry acceptance to the finish line, read their Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/PushinTheNimitz
Prior to leaving Worcester, MA, very ounce of extra weight was stripped out of the Caddy, and a new seat, rollcage, five point harness and fire extinguisher were installed. Then the paint job.
The Helm of the Nimitz
Fast forward a few weeks, and the guys have driven the car all the way to Joliet, Illinois, arriving the night before the race. Warm-up laps for all – learning the track and how the ship handles, which they tell me is something like a ship. Sarah and I showed up on Saturday morning in time for the official launch.
Boarding the Nimitz
Saturday’s race went incredibly well. The judges assigned the team to Class C, which is the class the put all the cars in that are “likely to explode.” By the end of the day, around 200 laps, the team was first place in their class with a seven lap lead, and in 18th overall – not bad considering there were 87 cars entered in the race.
Down the front stretch
Day Two, not so good. Early in the day the car experienced cooling problems, either related to the whack on the side from another car, or not. The car spent about five hours in the pits on Sunday, with a view the usually looked something like this:
Issues with the cooling rods
Though they never fully solved the cooling problem, they did manage to get it back on the track long enough to take the checkered flag at the end – finishing was a great source of pride for everyone.
Taking the Checkered Flag!
And finally a trip through the gauntlet after final victory laps.
Welcome Home
The Caddy is getting hauled to Connecticut, where it will get some professional help in solving the cooling problem, and hopefully we’ll get to see her race again next year.
More info about 20 Hours of LeMons can be found here: http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_LeMons