I’m not sure if I should be paying more attention to the ChumpCar World Series and 24 Hours of LeMons racing series. I like the basic premise of the racing itself: $500 beaters that are beefed up enough to be safe running a 24-hour endurance race sounds like a blast, but while the ChumpCar races are more straight ahead, the LeMons experience is the somewhat-circus, somewhat-sideshow aspect of the series: There’s a panel of judges that can do everything from ordering something obnoxious welded to your car to basically letting the crowd turn your new race car into a high-school car bash fundraiser, minus the cash. I could do completely without the circus part, but I’m all about racing some shitbox in the hopes that either I attain glory, or the engine goes out with it’s boots on…frankly, either way wins.
While digging through this year’s racing highlights for a story inspiration, I was stunned to see a VERY familiar grille running around the track at Michigan. Long-time forum members might remember the precursor to the Raven Imperial, the Project SuperBeater 1981 Dodge Mirada. That Dodge was a $600 garage find I bought on an impulse with the full intention of beating to death as a way of coping with a divorce. It ended up a cool street beater before it was discovered that the passenger rear subframe had been eaten so badly by rust that the structural integrity was just like a Pringle chip. Originally I wanted to turn the Mirada into a racer, but life happened and sadly the car ended up flatter than a pancake.
Now, the closest BangShift has come to LeMons dates back to the CarJunkieTV.com days, when Freiburger and Chad ended up with the ’73 Fury that was last seen donating it’s running gear to Roadkill’s General Mayhem Charger. The Fury got two runs at LeMons, once about 2007 or 2008 and once last year, and both times the car was like watching the USS Nimitz on an autocross course, weaving through Cavaliers and Miatas with all the grace of a drunken elephant. It’s not like it’s hard to swap-meet your way to a cheap car, and stuff like the ‘cage, belts, brakes and tires don’t count to the $500 limit, so it’s not like you’ll die on the first lap, so what would you pick? Finding another two-door barge would be cool, but if I absolutely had to play the circus bit I’d look for an AWD Caravan, get a few guys together, call it Daddy Day Care Racing and have someone dressed up as the baby from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? running around the pits, yelling on the radio.
Xj Cherokee, good power, light weight, touch as nails engine and trans. Look up team petty cash.
SHO powered Miata.
Easy – Kia Sephia (only choose this path if you bought the entire chumpcar / lemons racing package + a blowed up Kia thrown in for good measure).
After that – the “eh, let’s actually pick our car” car would be a 3rd gen camaro, though a F22 swapped honda insight would be a fun one.
the Lemons web site said that they have done away with the crush it because we wanna aspect which is good
I am currently looking for a $500 V8 rear drive (GM) coupe or sedan
to flog at next springs race in Michigan
Im teaming up with a couple retired (super modified) class racers
who just happen to have a couple garages full of extra (stuff) that could be used to build a competitive car wish us luck
…..an $89,000 Cadillac
Having spent time serving onboard the USS Nimitz (2006 – 2011) , I can easily say that the Fury can out handle the ship on a autocross course.
I would do anything to find & Lemon-ize a Soviet era car, such as a Lada, Skoda, or Zil. Why? Потому что коммунизм отстой!
I’m a fan of the Miata with the 900cc Polaris 2-stroke, 3-cylinder snowmobile engine personally. It works better than you would think
A 4-door GM H-body car with a 3.8.
Stout enough engine, cheap enough platform, but still suitably granny-car enough to be funny, and fairly nimble when put on a sizable diet.
Bryan McTaggart’s 1980-something Chrysler Imperial.
Only if you’re in the trunk for volunteering my car, Scott.
Toyota Previa All-Trac van painted up with scales to look like fish since that’s what the van looks like. Turbo the supercharged motor and put a fish hook in the nose.
Otherwise, an outboard motor powering a Dodge Rampage or other trucklet thing with the lower unit hooked to a rear axle and poking out of the bed.
My friend races 3rd gen f bodies in lemons races. He gets them really cheap and they do well with them.
With intentions on winning I’d try to score a mid 80s vette, for fun I’m leaning towards a continental from the early 90s. Plush and powerful with enough weight to knock the riff raff around.
Early 90s Lexus 400 ls or sc are sold at scrap because people can’t tell the difference between a bad cam sensor and a blown motor. Also seen a couple gtp cars that were trashed because the charger lost the plastic fin liners.
A foxbody Mustang no doubt. They can be had cheap enough, and used parts can be found everywhere.