It was my first time to a 24 Hours of LeMons race. As soon as I could see the track, I knew I wanted to do this. How else can you race all day for so little money?  With a set of not-so-serious sounding racing rules we told you about in a another post, there were some very serious safety rules in place at the track. Off-track excursions or spins were subject to penalties and that's where the 24 Hours of LeMons style fun started. (click the picture to read) The penalties for a track infraction are wide reaching.  For the worst kinds of repeated offenses, including total disdain for judges, there were simple time penalties, but with a bribe here or there (of course bribes are legal!) you could get off with a written penalties like the ones above.  I won't guess the political affiliation of "Chief Perpetrator" Jay Lamm. So what other kinds of penalties did I see? The top photo shows the tires of one team in the stands so they could, "watch and learn how to race."  Too funny! The car was on jack stands...

I wrote about the 24 Hours of LeMons (yea, I spelled that right) in another blog about the "Strict Racing Rules". I expected some easy going people out to have a great time. I found'm! It took the "Eyesore Racing" shown above 6 months of weekends to put their 94 Mazda Miata together. The car, built for $500 or less by the rules, was made from 2 Miatas practically welded together in the middle. One car had front end damage and no motor and the other had been carefully wrapped around a tree with the front end intact. The engine, including the small rusty-wheeled turbo from a Mexico only Dodge pickup, was resurrected from 4 engines. Where would 24 Hours of LeMons racing be without Craigslist! The team consists of neighbors and friends making up 4 sets of couples out of Long Beach, CA. In the Phoenix race, their 9th race,  6 of the 8 team members drive including "March Hare" Dave, "Tweedle Dee" Jay, "Tweedle Dum" Dan, "Alice" Sara and "White Rabbit" Sarah and my man, the "Mad Hatter" Kyle who helped with the details for this story....

Call them "lemons" or piles of crap or simply junk. Still, can you argue these guys are having fun racing them!? I first heard about the Concours d'LeMons and took note because it was part of the super prestigious and maybe super "snobby" Monterey Concours Week including the world famous Concours d'Elegance. Dating back to 1950, we can't hate on the big-daddy of Concours Week in Pebble Beach because they now include class "U" Hot Rods: Lakesters and Bonneville Racers. Gotta hit that show one of these days! The 24 Hours of LeMons, an obvious play on the 24 Hours of LeMans, the worlds oldest endurance sports car race, the "Lemons" used in this race are cars worth not more than $500.  More than anything I'm wondering, what kind of cars get entered and when can I see this first hand?  Turns out, I'll show you the cars here and see'm first hand in Phoenix at the kickoff event for the LeMons series at Firebird Raceway. Dubbed the Auction-Weekend Gavel-Tap GP in honor of the slew of high dollar auction that are part of Arizona's Auction Week, the race...

If you're a fan of NHRA drag racing, then there's a great chance you're a fan of John Force Racing and his team. As a Ford fan, (don't forget, Pop's was a Ford Mechanic for 25 years) I've been following Force for as long as I can remember so when I got the chance to interview co-crew chief Austin Coil, I jumped at it. Meeting with Austin Coil in the small town the John Force Racing trucks make was awesome. Cruising past the beast Force pilots down the strip as his crew finished prepping for Saturday at the Firebird Race, then stepping into the trailer you often see on TV was unreal. I carefully tried to keep my grin from extending past my ears as I sat down with Coil. Without his trademark toothpick, Coil smiled alot and seemed to be winding down from Friday's session that saw all of John Force Racing cars in the top half of the field. Coil's easy going manner and obvious passion for racing and technology made this interview a breeze. I just had to keep up... WHAT’S CHANGED THE MOST ABOUT FUNNY...

Story Submitted by John C. Hill or MoparMagic Old Fuelers Never Die!! (They just become "killer" bracket cars) Many of you that were spectators at drag races during the late 60's, the 70's and early 80's probably remember a lot of the fantastic Top Fuel and Funny Cars that used to compete. Some of these cars may have been favorites of yours, but have you ever wondered what became of these ultimate drag race machines? It's not like you could take the pink slip and sell it to your neighbor after the racing season was over. These were special built cars with only one purpose in mind: go fast and do it quickly! A lot of these cars ended up out behind the garage as scrap, or perhaps pushed over in the corner of the garage and covered with a tarp, never to be raced again. Some of them ended up in museums such as Don Garlit's Drag Race Museum in Ocala, Florida. If you have ever been to his museum you would be amazed at the number and quality of Top Fuelers and Funny Cars on display there....

Out of all the days... It rains here 0.8" on average in February in "sunny" Chandler, Arizona, but for some sick, demented and just play wrong reason, it had to rain on my vacation day at the NHRA Nationals. Why not rain on some damn golf event! 26 days of rain a year! That's all we get... It's a fact. 7% for the math challenged... 7 days out of 100. I guess I'm just lucky. I did have a good time though! Hang'n at a track is always fun. My buddy Dave (click for his garage) races a 1974 Vega in Super Street. Lucky me had a dry trailer to hang in and I got to bring the 12 pack and the Carl's Jr. Just in case you're wondering, a "Combo meal with a side of hamburger" isn't a joke. It means get an extra burger or Joe's (click for his garage) gonna be hungry. Somehow we survived with a 4-buck hot dog to ease the hunger pain. Dave wasn't so lucky, or was he? After his shake down run, he felt his powerglide slipping. (Was that the name...