Final wrap up... End of race

We are a little delayed with posting how we ended up as we had to pack up and head back to Florida and haven't had an internet connection until now.

It was an intersting final two hours to say the least. JD went out for his stint which started in the rain. We were instantly fast again and began passing cars like crazy. It almost seemed not fair. That little car in the rain works SO well, its rediculous... I was on the pit box, spotting for JD as we had to no longer conserve fuel and knew we would make it to the end. The track began to dry out and we continued to go faster and were focused on trying to win the thing.

UNFORTUNATELY, JD radioed in that he had slight contact with a BMW on course who checked up as he got sideways in the rain and John did a little tap to the rear bumper as he had nowhere to go. The officials black flagged us and we had to report to the pits. Then it got interesting... Because this is Lemons racing and not regular endurance racing, the officials idea of penalties is a little odd. Both JD and the BMW driver were asked to get out of the car and remove their helmets. From there they had one of their legs taped to the other guy's leg and asked to walk around the pits and find a Dr. Pepper for the official's kid. They succeeded quickly but the 2 liter bottle was "too big" the kid said, so they had to pour it in a cup. Upon opening the bottle, it exploded all over JD. Meanwhile I got the car ready to get back on track, knowing we just lost a TON of laps (and before this penalty we were vying for the win). JD was not happy, but I strapped him in and told him "you know what to do now"... John hit the track again and drove the hell out of the car, ringing its neck for the remainder of the race., passing many cars everywhere...

So, we ended up in 7th place overall (of 128 starters), and 4th in class. We had, by far, the best fuel mileage of any car out there and both the team and car performed flawlessly... (BUT, the car did have a pool of oil under it just as we brought it in at the end of the race, perfect timing... )The event was a bunch of fun and we hope to do another one again very soon.

Huge thanks to Diane Mould, Steve Molnar, Dylan Nelson (crew chief extraordinaire), and the 24 Hours of Lemons staff for a fun weekend of racing.

MANY more pics of the event at: http://cafephoto.smugmug.com/24hr-LeMons-MSRH-2-2010