24 hours of LeMONS

What do chickens, blow-up dolls and pirates have to do with racing?
Probably nothing, unless the race you're watching is the 24 Hours of LeMONS.
No, I didn't misspell LeMans; I meant to say LeMONS, because that's exactly what the race is about. Imagine a track full of cars all valued at $500 or less (before the safety equipment is installed), lemons, if you will.

Can you imagine those cars lasting 24 hours? Probably not, but that's half the fun.
This year, at SF LeMONS, which is held at the Altamont Motorsports Raceway in Tracy, Calif., some of the cars I saw were Honda CRXs, Toyota MR2s, Volvo wagons, even a Ford Pinto and Chevy Cavalier.

If the cars used for racing weren’t crazy enough, you should see how they are decorated. One car masqueraded as a chicken, another appeared to be driven by a pirate, and I saw more than a couple blow-up dolls riding along.

Why the wild outfits for the cars? Because they – the participants – can. Wouldn’t you like a pirate driving your Miata? I thought so.

This was my first LeMONS event, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, although I’m pretty sure I’ve seen pictures of the chicken car, from the team Mother Cluckers, in past issues of Car and Driver.

For those of you unfamiliar with LeMONS, it’s a little like the 24 hours of LeMans. It’s an endurance race. The winner is the one who completes the most laps in a certain amount of time. The 24 Hours of LeMONS happens at racetracks across the country, some are actually 24 hours.

In Tracy noise restrictions prohibited a 24 hour race. Instead the race was scheduled to last 14 hours, but about 10 ½ hours were actually completed.

You don’t need to be a professional driver to enter, but you do need to make sure your car meets the safety requirements.

The winner of this year’s race completed over 480 laps. And it seemed like in each lap, something exciting happened. Since these cars weren’t actually made for racing, most of them had problems going into sharper turns which resulted in spin-outs and collisions. It felt like for each lap completed under a green flag, 10 were counted under the yellow flag. Whether it was pushing a car that stalled off the track, putting tire barrier back in place or picking up miscellaneous parts, the flag guys and clean-up crew certainly earned their pay.

The Risk of Racing

It doesn't matter if your car is worth $500,000 or $500, there is a risk involved every time you pull out of the pit on to the track.
At my frist 24 hours of LeMons experience, I saw that risk first hand.
It was around lap 207, or 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon when car number 39, a volvo sedan crashed head on into a wall. The driver had apparently accelerated without making the effort to turn. It was in the fraction of time when he hit the gas without turning the wheel that he risked his own life. A yellow flag went up before anyone realized the severity of the accident. A red flag soon followed. After the rest of the cars had been sitting still on the track, they were ushered to the pits to make way for the rescue crew. The Altamont Motorsports Park safey and rescue truck was first on the scene. The team began working but it wasn't enough. An ambulance showed up later, followed by 3 full-size fire trucks, another ambulance, a smaller fire truck and a fire department SUV.
One photographer was scolded for taking pictures and in an effort to block what was going on, the security guards put up a tarp.
Speculations of what actually happened could be heard by spectators in the stands. Some say the driver may have had a heart attack, or lost conciousness while driving and that's what caused him to challenge the concrete wall. Regardless of how it happened, the outcome left a pall over the grandstands. Though no official anouncements have been made, death is on everyone's minds. The rescue crew did not make a speedy getaway to the nearest hospital.
Events were postponed until Sunday. There was serious damage to the wall, but it seems as though the driver suffered the most crucial damage.
As always, when I get more official information, you will too.
Hopefully tomorrow will end on a happier note.

The pictures you've been waiting for...

Here they are, pictures from the races, awards ceremonies and the pits.

Coming around the corner...

Life in the pits

The pits from above

Super hot Corvette

Sometimes the cars went too fast and I couldn't take the picture in time.

It's an amazing Viper

I was so close, I probably could have touched the cars.

Going into the hairpin turn...

Hello Ferrari

The D-List Celebrity Race

Winners of the Pro/Celebrity Race, Jamie Little and Mike Skinner.

Close up of Mike Skinner and Jamie Little

American Le Mans Series winners

ALMS gets big trophies

Champ Car Series winners prepare for a Victory Lap


Will Power won the final race in Champ Car history.
In second place was rookie Franck Montagny and in third place was Mario Dominguez.


The winning team poses in the Winners' Circle.

Problems and Results

As promised, here is all the information I have. I had to chance down an official to get it, but I thought you'd like to know.

Wilson dropped out of the race due to a mechanical problem. He said he felt a change in the McDonald's car engine and thinks he lost a cylinder a couple laps before that. From there Wilson said it just got worse.

Annala had to stop racing because of a problem with the brakes in his car. He went off the track in the turn nine run-off area.

And now, for the exciting conclusion of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Finishing in first place, after leading 81 out of 83 laps, Will Power in car No. 8 for Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia, won the final race in Champ Car history.

In second place was rookie Franck Montagny and in third place was Mario Dominguez.

For the Atlantic Championship, Simona De Silvestro took first place. She is the first woman to win an Atlantic Championship race since 2006, when Katherine Legge won in San Jose, Calif.

Alan Sciuto finished in second place, with Kevin Lacroix placing third.

I was lucky enough to get a quick interview with De Silvestro after the race.

Being the first woman to win a race in the Atlantic Championship is a big deal, and De Silvestro was very proud. Especially because she knows losing means she'll just be known as "the girl racer who couldn't win."

De Silvestro said, “It’s so competitive, so I show that I can be upfront and win, so it’s great.”

De Silvestro just seemed so excited to have won, it was really fun having the opportunity to talk to her.

The top five qualifiers of the Atlantic Championship were Jonathan Bomarito, De Silvestro, Carl Skerlong, Sciuto and Lacroix. Four out of the five remained in the top five for most of the race.

Skerlong hit the wall off the start and had to return to the pit to have the nose cones on his car replaced. He returned while the other drivers were on lap three and remained one lap down the entire race, finishing last with only 37 laps.

Bomarito, the top qualifier with a time of 1:15.947, held first place for most of the race. He had a significant lead over the position two qualifier, De Silvestro.

Bomarito went into the run-off in turn one on lap 24, which allowed De Silvestro to move into first place and take the win.

De Silvestro commented on her win over Bomarito.

"Bomarito was very quick ... he has so much experience, it's his third year so I knew he was going to maybe pull off in the beginning," De Silvestro said. "So I thought, 'Oh second place is also great,' so I just kept driving and being consistent. And then he did a mistake so I was very happy he did a mistake so I could pass him, so it's awesome for me to have this win today."

Another one bites the dust...

After entering the pit and staying for between five and 10 minutes, car No. 10 driven by Juno Annala was pushed back to the paddock. You'll get more details when I do.

Wilson out!

After suffering a mechanical problem, Justin Wilson of the Newman Haas Lanigan Racing team sponsored by McDonald's Racing team, is unable to finish the race.

Wilson placed first in the Champ Car qualifiers and took the pole on Saturday.

According to Tiffany Rider, who was reporting from the Champ Car paddock, the McDonald's team had packed up most of their things. The car was covered and the crew looked disappointed.

Race day

OK. I realize I lied about posting more last night, but cut me some slack, I was at school past 1 a.m. working on stories and posting them.

After a three-hour nap, I'm back at the tracks, damaging my ear drums because I enjoy the sounds of the cars as they speed past.

Again, Tiffany and I are in our favorite seats in front of the announcers, between the Imperial Capital Bank bridge and the Toyota bridge. That's the corner of Linden Avenue and Shore Drive for those of you not farmiliar with the track. For those of you unfarmiliar with Long Beach, use a map.

The drivers are speeding around the 1.97 mile track at speeds of about 92 mph.

Before the race, I was able to interview Kevin Lacroix, the 19-year-old who finished fifth in the qualifying session yesterday.

Lacroix seemed optimistic about today's race. He said he finished second this morning during the practice run.

Lacroix started racing at age 6, in go-karts. He's now 19. And yes, that makes me feel old.

Lacroix has been racing well thus far, keeping in the top five.

The race just ended, Simona De Silvestro finished in first, Lacroix finished in third.

I'll post the rest of the results when I get them.

I'm off to the winners' circle, then to get a free lunch.