(All Photos Courtesy of the Author)
As you probably know by now, the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series is one of the BangShiftiest events, on the calendar, no matter what track they visit. Last weekend, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park hosted the GP Du Lac Chargoggetcetera, named after the lovely Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (yup, that’s a real place, good luck pronouncing that!) in nearby Webster, MA. This race is a good one, and an event we circle on the calendar every year. This was our third year attending this insane celebration of backyard craftsmanship paired with build ideas that were probably cooked up in the minds of friends after drinking about 10 too many beers, and I mean that in the best way possible. If you haven’t seen the action of one of these Lemons events up close, the next best thing is checking out the pics below!
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you; that’s The Bluesmobile. We featured this very car last year, built by the Interceptor Motorsports racing team to make the closest Bluesmobile replica they could for the event. It’s based on a Plymouth Fury which has been converted to look like a real deal Dodge Monaco. The guys even dress up as Jake and Elwood in the pits. So awesome!
Yes, it’s 2017, and there’s such a thing as a $500 Corvette out there. This golf-themed C4 spent as much time in the pits under repairs as it did blasting around the track, hence being a $500 Corvette. At one point, I saw the exhaust on the ground… next to the transmission…
There were a few Fox-chassis Fords at the event, including this “Thunderstang”. Fox “Mutts” are just the coolest.
Since cheap pickup trucks are generally used for truck stuff until they break in half, you usually don’t see more than one or two at an event. This event, however, had a total of four. There was this S10…
This sharp looking 1997-2004 Dodge Dakota…
This stake body Isuzu Hombre fielded by Lemons veterans Three Pedal Mafia (that giraffe is theirs too)…
And this bedless freak Ford Ranger. As terrible as it looks, it was the highest finishing truck, and earned a “1990’s Minitruckin’ Magazine Award” for its efforts.
Right smack dab in the middle of traffic is the Super Grover Rover, which finished first in Class C. Every time I saw this thing go around the rack with Grover clinging for dear life to the roof, I couldn’t help from cracking up!
One of my favorite team themes was the Altimate Warrior Nissan Altima, which is obviously a tribute to former WWF World Champion The Ultimate Warrior. The car had the wrestler’s facepaint on the hood, the championship belt where the front plate goes, and even the Warrior’s arm tassels flowing in the breeze tied to the rear bumper. These guys blew their motor 15 minutes into the test and tune session, but sourced another engine to get the thing to turn laps all weekend. Nice!
Also at the event was our friends Nuthin’ But A Z Thang and their sharp looking 1976 Datsun 280Z. You might know these guys from out “BangShift Goes Racing!” series we did which followed the build of this car. These guys had their best race yet, placing 18th overall out of a field of 111 cars, and the car was flawless all weekend. Keep it up, guys!
One of our favorite cars in Lemons is this ridiculous widebody , mid-engine, Subaru six cylinder powered Chevette that drives itself to-and-from the track on its own. Personally, I hold this car in very high regard, right up there with the Bad Seed Chevette that Hot Rod built in the early 2000’s. It had a very rough weekend, though. First, the transmission lunched itself during the test and tune session. Then, after they fixed that, the 3.0L Subaru flat six lost all compression after a few hours on day one, so out that came. After wrenching until 3:30AM Sunday morning, they slapped together another 3.0L six, which blew up even more spectacularly by shooting rods all over the place. They had to tow it home this time, but they will be back!
That orange and white car is a genuine, honest to goodness Porsche 928. The funny thing with cars like this is that unless they are in really nice shape, no one wants to tackle restoring one and spending tens of thousands in the process. That said, ratty examples are bargains for those brave enough to try and do something cool with it. This one looked sweet and made wonderful, exotic V8 sounds all weekend long.
The whole race is like a who’s who of Malaise Era cars! In this pic alone, there’s a Dodge Daytona Turbo, a Fiero, The Bluesmobile, and more!
We’ve heard a lot of people denounce the $500 car aspect of the race because they have thousands into the safety equipment which doesn’t count toward the budget. There’s a reason why: accidents can and DO happen. Over the weekend, there were plenty of breakdowns and spinouts, including this one here. These situations can get dangerous.
Those events look like so much fun. It would be great to put a car together and join in.
Actually the yellow s10 won best truck… the ranger won org choice. The hombre and da-ko-duh won nothing.
I stand corrected!
That’s right; the S10 won the MiniTruckin’ award, while the bedless Ranger won Organizer’s Choice because they kept telling them it sounded like a terrible idea and they somehow made it work.
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