There are penalty laps assessed if the judges think you spent too much money. But all rules in Lemons are vague. If your car is cool / lemony enough, it doesn't matter much what you've spent.

Exactly. If you bring a crappy old thunderbird with a diesel BMW motor, the penalty doesn't matter much. You are never going for the outright win. And even if you did, I doubt anyone would care how much you spent cause it would be damned impressive.

To continue Jasons account of the race...Fast foward to the last leg of the race and hopefully everyone else on the team will fill their stories in...

Nathan pulls in to the pits on Sunday around 2:20 - we are on lap 843 in 6th place. The driver change goes fairly smoothly and just under 9 minutes later, the car is fueled, I am strapped in and we are back on the track. Jim's parting words to me were "remember there doesnt have to be anything left of the car when you finish". Taking that to heart, I was driving aggressively and moving through the field at a good rate and feeling in a groove.

Being the last 2.5 hours of the race, everyone else had gotten in to the "win or spin" mentality and there was a LOT of action on course. Cars were going off track, spinning and getting wrapped up with other cars more than during the rest of the race, except maybe for the section run during the rain (or maybe it just seemed worse because I was in the middle of it - who knows). In any case, I found myself dodging quite a few cars that decided to face the wrong way directly in front of me - always a good way to get the adrenaline flowing!

After an hour of driving, we had moved up to 5th place. I was feeling good confident, too confident as it turns out, and made a poor passing decision. Going down the front straight tight on the bumper of the car in front of me, the car in front braked very early for turn 1. I glanced ahead and saw an opening so quickly moved out from behind them and stayed on the gas to go around them on the outside. Unfortunately, I ran out of track before I could get past them and went off track in turn 1. This resulted in our second (and last) black flag for the race. Fortunately, it was deemed a pretty minor offense and the judges were easy on us so we spent less than 4 minutes off track. When we got back on track though, we had slipped out of 5th place and back in to 6th.

For the remaining 1.5 hours, I eased up just a little bit so as not to risk another flag so close to the end of the race. We were now solidly in 6th place and so as long as we didnt have to come off track again, we were pretty much assured a 6th place finish. The plan paid off and we ran the next 1.5 hours clean, gained some ground on 5th place and pulled further ahead of 7th but when the checker dropped, we ended the race in 6th place.

It was another awesome race and I cant wait for the next one!!

My stint wasn't all that eventful (just the way I like it!)

I started day 2, and since we were in the top 10 (6th), we started in order. Its a great way to start your stint, you know who you are racing (about the only time that happens in the race without radios), and get a few laps to get acclimated, warm up the car etc. I spent the vast majority of my stint neck and neck with a couple of the Alfas. I'd pass them in traffic, and a few laps later they would pass me when I got caught in the wrong lane. I don't think I ever got one lap without passing someone the whole 2+ hours. And much of that was spent trying to pick the right line to get past slower traffic (the cow was easily in the top 25% in outright speed, so you pass a lot more than passes you). There was a lot of avoiding incidents, and one incident that I saw coming (a fiero spinning, imagine that) got us tagged in the rear end by an Audi that didn't look far enough ahead.

My stint ended a bit early as the hood started to shift up on the straightaway, and I realized that we were losing our hood pin! Given that the first time I drove the 240 on the street, the hood flew up in my face, I decided not to take chances, and came in a bit early. It was a good thing I did too, as the nut holding the pin on had come loose, and was probably 2-3 laps from coming off altogether! Easy fix, but it could have been a serious accident in the making if the hood flipped open going into turn 1!

Luckily the weather was a bit less crazy than Summit Point (at least for me), so heat wasn't as big of an issue. Of course my driving suit was thoroughly soaked through and I needed a lot of water when I came in still!

My takeaway this year was that if we had been clean, we would have been VERY competitive. The team that finished 2nd was only a small amount faster than us on track (and in many cases slower as Russ will tell you!). We just barely missed beating them at Summit (they were 7th, we were 8th), and beat them at Stafford last year. Shows that a slow car (they had a BMW 528e) can be competitive at Stafford. I also want to publicly thank the whole team, it was an awesome weekend, and everyone did a great job. We all work on the car (unlike many teams), are all pretty darn close in lap times, and most importantly place having fun above being competitive.

I don't really have much to report that's much different from what the others have said. I was the fourth driver on Saturday, driving to the end of Day 1. The heat had gotten pretty brutal by late afternoon, and Jim wisely came in early, so I ended up going out a little early. Since I would be driving into the night (the track has lights), I figured that the heat problems would diminish. They sort of did, but not really enough to make a difference. By the time I stumbled out of the car at 10:00 p.m., I was pretty well done.

Despite that, it was a very fun driving stint. Jim had gotten us up to 8th, and we lost 3 places during the driver change/refueling, so I started in 11th. I sort of forgot my endurance racing mindset, and started driving pretty much at 10/10ths, which probably wasn't smart, but it sure was fun. I passed lots of cars, until about 2 hours later the tires suddenly went away big time. I actually radioed in to the guys in the stands to check and see if I had a flat, it felt that bad. It turns out they were just overheated, and after a while of about 7/10ths driving they cooled back down and I was able to push a little harder again. But by that time the heat was getting to me, and my neck muscles were dead, so I kept it in maintenance mode and just kept turning laps until the checkered flag fell at 10:00.

Anyway, it was a superb event, and I couldn't ask to be on a better team. (Thanks guys!) Not only do we have a great team, but we have a great car, too. The Volvo cow is surprisingly good handling in its current configuration, and even pretty quick given its anemic little stock engine, as long as there aren't any long straights.

Finally, I want to direct people's attention to the fantastic exploits of Team Police Brutality, the guys with the '63 T-bird with the BMW diesel engine. There's a hugely entertaining account of their adventures here: http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?pid=54364. These guys really get what LeMons is all about. Though, having said that, it's kind of nice having a car that just runs.

Since Tom doesn't post...

It rained a little while Tom was out there. They brought everyone in off the track during the deluge.

This was the parking area where out support vehicles were after the rain ended:



I didn't get any pictures of the puddle on the track, but here's a crazy one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photorad/4 ... 501270651/

There are a few more on that flickr stream (which belongs to one of the Space Monkeys).

Working backwards through the driving stint stories, I guess...

Firstly I want to echo what everyone else has reported - this is a great team to be a part of and I'm bummed I've only done 2 of the 3 races we've competed in, having missed Summit Point race in June. It turns out that the Summit Point experience might have been more important than I realized.

Saturday at Stafford Springs was a typical summer day, but still hot and humid, near 90 and high humidity. After spending all day in the sun and then getting in a 3-layer suit around 4:45, just an hour so after the post-thunderstorm sauna set in, my body and mind probably weren't ready for the heat of battle. I filled up on water and Gatorade, had a good amount of food in me, and was feeling confident and only slightly nervous. The experience of last year was fresh in my mind and I knew what this track was all about and had confidence in our car's handling and reliability, so pretty much everything was good.

The driver change from Tom to me was actually our fastest of the weekend by a few seconds. I credit the guys quick and through cinch-down job after fueling for getting me back out so fast. The Volvo fell easily to hand and the extra grip of the Dunlop Star Specs this year over the Nitto NeoGens from last year became apparent the first or second time through the banked turn. It was very easy to pass the slower third of cars but there were less out-and-out roadblock-slow cars than last year. Curiously, 2 or 3 of the Miatas were very conservatively driven and pretty slow. The driving during my stint was relatively clean but I didn't come out 100% unscathed.

Incident 1 involved a spin in the narrow part of the track after Turn 1 in front of me and a concertina back up / stop of 4 or 5 cars. Front lock up and an engine stall from me, but no contact. A few nervous seconds finding our vague first gear and then back to work. Later on in the stint, in the heat of battle with a well-drive A2 Golf in Martini colors, the Golf went low on the sweeper and understeered hard up into the Volvo's left rear quarter panel with a loud thud/thwack. Suddenly I was yawed 45 degrees to my left facing the infield at the start of the straight, but cool nerves and instincts kicked in. A bit of opposite lock and steady throttle and the Volvo was pointing the right direction again. Last year this type of incident would have landed both cars in the penalty box, and I was sure that was going to happen again. Two laps later though, the Martini VW got the black flag and I was allowed to drive on. It was definitely the correct call, but I give the flagger and spotters credit for getting it right - it would be much easier to just flag everyone who is involved in any sort of contact.

About 1 hour into my stint I began to notice just how dry my throat was. Swallowing spit worked for a little while but just shy of about 90 minutes in I was telling the guys on the radio I wasn't going to last the full 150 minutes. There were a several yellows in a row that helped me gather my composure, but overall my awareness of my own overheating and dry mouth was staring to overcome the attention I was able to place on the race track. Jason later said pacing yourself on longer stints is hard to do and he was right. The frenetic pace and enthusiasm I had in the first 30 minutes simply couldn't be maintained in that heat, though it was fun while it lasted. I vowed to make it to 7:00 and did, planning on pitting on the next long yellow after 7pm. That last 15 minutes I definitely had a few close calls that I hadn't had earlier and was pretty sure it was due to simply being dehydrated and heat exhausted, so when a yellow got thrown at 7:01 or so, I came right it. It was a smooth changeover to Dave but I could see in my teammates faces they weren't too psyched that I was going to be giving him a 2:45 long stint. I knew I'd made the right decision, but it was tough to feel, even temporarily, that I'd let my teammates down.

Honestly I'd been out there at a crucial period of time, and we were able to drive up the order as other teams ahead of us got penalties and problems, and I'd driven clean and aggressively. In retrospect, I'm very happy about how I contributed to the effort, but would have loved to had more time in the car. There was a chance I was going to get in the car at the very end of the day when Russ was close to running out of fuel, but that last change wasn't needed. Either way, it was a great weekend, but very different than last year as the experience wasn't 100% brand new. It was great to hang out with the Buffalo Knuckles team again, although I was bummed to not get much time on the track with the Supra. Hey, at least I got to back it into Cliff's garage last week!

On to Palm Beach Iinternational Raceway (formerly Moroso) in December - anyone want to help us trailer it? Google Maps says it's only 26 hours.

Stint 2 - Tom's story about rain, ice, standing water and possibly snakes.
Jason came in with a bum bumper - just a BUMper I guess and team cowmino went to work on it, Once I saw the bumper ripped off I ran over to the fueling station and waited..... and waited.... and then asked my girlfriend where the *BLEEP* the car was. She reported back that they had to remove more bumper pieces but they were on the way. Ok, car pulls in, i rip out the fire extinguisher like a crazed lunatic - more on that later, and proceed to hand that to a wobbly jason and started filling the car. First container went in great. Starting the second container i decided to splash a quart of fuel all over the car and into the bed of the cowmino, tires, myself, everywhere because I am special and was just moving too fast. Car fills up - more gas spews forth. Stupid! Then we get me in the car, strapped down and its at least 1 million degrees out with 1000% humidity. Guess what - my overzealosness has destroyed the fire extinguisher bracket. We work on it, to no avail for 5 minutes while I feel like I am in a shower, thats how much sweat is pouring off me. I went to summit point - spent 2.5 hours in the car, but somehow, this was worse. Eventually we drive back to the paddock and we ZIP tie the extinguisher into place. I think my only thought was - I hope that gas I spilled EVERYWHERE doesn't spontaneously combust because it won't be easy to get the fire extinguisher out. Getting to the track I just closed my eyes and did a full speed merge hoping that people would move out of the way. I figured - I've driven the garden state parkway, which has been called a parking lot at 90 MPH, how much harder could a quarter mile oval be! I eventually got into a groove after a little while, and while passing cars screaming overtake into the Mic because thats what you HAVE to do. Then i hear some static over the radio, Tom it looks like its about to rain, so i prepare myself for this. After another few laps, yellow, they are bringing everyone in. Well, before i got off the track i couldn't see the brake lights of the car in front of me. The rain was unreal. I pull into the paddock, refusing to get out of the car because this is my driving stint! Russ comes over with an umbrella and something to fix the fire extinguisher. I put the umbrella through the hole in the roof positioned over my helmet and I'm able to keep out most of the monsoon taking place in connecticut. I'm still getting wet and after 30 minutes of downtime they tell us to line back up and we start circling the track again. Total downtime - 45ish minutes. i get back out there and cringe. There is standing water on the track everywhere and its a MESS! I drive through the puddle twice, get yelled at by russ and decided against instantly destroying all the electric in the car. From there it was 60% throttle for a little while as i watch at least 3 cars in front of me end up going the wrong way. I managed to dip, duck, dive, dodge around the cars in front of me that are spinning out like some sort of ballet concerto. Eventually the track dries - I manage to stay on and gain positions during this fiasco and i'm back to full throttle racing. After spending about 2 hours driving and worried about the rain and just the overall danger on the road i decide its about time to come in, then ANOTHER spin in front of me that caused me to slam on the accelerator, close my eyes and pucker my, well, you can imagine - which isn't easy to do in a 5 point harness and I BARELY escape past this car that would have T-Boned the driver door. Thankfully, the girlfriend didn't see it as I keep telling her racing is safe because of a 5 point harness and Joey Kale's roll cage. But i decide after that close encounter of the 5 point kind its time to end my stint. I drove clean, watched cars spin out everywhere and continued to drive as well as I could, climbing positions. I got in 28 laps off the leader and finished 21 laps off the leader and climbed from 25th place - after the bumper, fire extinguisher fiasco to finished my stint in 12th place.