We raced the truck! Mike Poupart, Robbie Poupart, Chris Wilken, Dennis Gros, Mark Summers and Phil LaHaye teamed together as "The Professionals" and entered a 1995 Ford Ranger in the 24 Hours of LeMons race at Motor Sports Ranch - Houston. The race is a wildly ridiculous tongue-in-cheek attempt at mocking the real 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans), the sports car endurance race held annually in France. The officials have their own special set of rules with safety being first and foremost. Teams are only allowed to spend $500 for their cars (safety equipment, wheels & tires are outside of that restriction). All cars have to pass through tech and BS, and those who are caught cheating have to endure the wrath of the LeMons Supreme Court Judges who could assess heavy penalties if not bribed. And yes, they took bribes! Its all about the game, the drama, the lies, and the cheating. If the Judges don't catch you cheating, other teams are quick to rat you out to the authorities.The truck had many labels -Danger Ranger - Lemon Hauler - Crapsman Truck. Whatever the label, the truck was a blast to drive! The team finished in 9th place out of the 75 or so cars that actually started the race. The truck ended up being a huge surprise for everyone. It was the ONLY truck entry in the field of 75 cars accepted to run this race. It had not been run except to the corner and back a couple of times. It handled and turned like no one expected. It never overheated or had any brake failure. In 403 laps, not one of our team drivers spun out. Only 1 driver put 2 wheels off and it was an evasive move, not an out-of-control one. After starting 14 laps down, we actually got a top 10 finish!
We also won the No Prayer of Finishing class award. We were not expected to finish the race and, if we did, we weren't expected to make it into the top 40. How 'bout that!
The Lemon Hauler blog has posts from the entire weekend and several slideshows with lots of pictures. Additionally, the link to the results on the 24 Hours of LeMons website is: http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/results. There are complete resuts up on MyLaps: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=996969. Jalopnik's coverage can be found at: http://jalopnik.com/tag/24-hours-of-lemons. There is also some great coverage on http://www.autofiends.com/ under "Great Moments in Texas LeMons Judging." Look for all 4 parts to the series of articles and a couple of other miscellaneous articles.
~Patty
P.S. We want to race the truck! I get to race the truck next on Nov. 1-2, 2008 in the Grand Bayou Race Series at No Problem Raceway. Check back here post-race for that report!
The Lemon Hauler blog has posts from the entire weekend and several slideshows with lots of pictures. Additionally, the link to the results on the 24 Hours of LeMons website is: http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/results. There are complete resuts up on MyLaps: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=996969. Jalopnik's coverage can be found at: http://jalopnik.com/tag/24-hours-of-lemons. There is also some great coverage on http://www.autofiends.com/ under "Great Moments in Texas LeMons Judging." Look for all 4 parts to the series of articles and a couple of other miscellaneous articles.
~Patty
P.S. We want to race the truck! I get to race the truck next on Nov. 1-2, 2008 in the Grand Bayou Race Series at No Problem Raceway. Check back here post-race for that report!
