| 24 Hours of LeMons 2011 Season Summary - Page 2 |
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June Summit Point: Five cars---What was I thinking?!?!?!?The Galaxie. The Lancia. The Crown Royal Victoria. The Wounded Warrior Fundraising Cougar. The Pontiac Bonneville Donk. It was chaotic, stressful, and almost overwhelming for the team, trying to keep five cars going. Yet whole team pitched in (the arrive-and-drives too), and we managed to get everybody out on the track. In the process, we sold enough stints and took enough donations in the Cougar to raise nearly SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS for the Wounded Warrior Project!!! Special thanks to Jim Whitley of www.rollcagecomponents.com who graciously supplied the cage (and assisted me in installation), Midnight Graphics of Shippensburg, PA who provided graphics, and B/A Products, who donated $250 worth of fuel. Fritz, Phil, and the Dahlin boys Mat, Jake, and Tim transformed a mundane Crown Vic into the very cool, purple-felt-covered, giant-crown-topped Crown Royal Victoria, and together with Olaaf’s help, kept it going all weekend. Tom (Bonedriver) spent most of his weekend helping get new drivers in and out of the WWP Cougar, with the help of some of the arrive-and-drives.
The Galaxie suffered yet another engine fire, this time due to an improperly connected fuel line. The 1980 Pontiac Bonneville that I had bought (not running) for $300 was fitted with a $99 spring cup lift, a $400 craigslist set of 22’s off of a Range Rover, and some ARP wheels studs. A starter, a set of plugs, and some fresh fuel and it was running again, though not very well. Thanks to my neighbor Don Trevett for help pulling the dents out, to DC Doug, Dave, and Joe for spending two months building the Donk with me, to Big Joe and Joey D for the time spent on all the cars, and to DC Doug for spending a ton of time setting up www.woundedwarriorracing.com. We won the Organizer’s Choice award with the Donk!
We had the greatest time ever on Saturday night. It involved about 30 people, about 40 of the giant foam crash pads lining the jersey walls, and a whole lot of peer pressure: Judge Phil and the Donk penalty: July Gingerman: The Impala Rent-A-Wagon
Timelapse build vid: July Stafford Motor Speedway: Wayne Carini and the crew of Chasing Classic Cars race with us! The Lancia hit the wall on Sunday while in the top ten in the standings, and the ensuing failed repair knocked it out for the last few hours. Lesson learned by a few members of my crew: DO NOT re-engineer the entire cooling system by removing the hood and replacing the radiator with a larger borrowed unit turned sideways and some thoroughly kinked hoses, when two minutes with some JB Quick Weld putty would have fixed the tiny crack in the plastic tank. D’oh! The Donk somehow took the extreme abuse all weekend and finished 16th out of over 50 cars, winning our third IOE in the process! The episode of CCC filmed there has yet to air, but be sure to look for a link to it here once it does. After the race, Wayne invited us all back to tour his shop, F40 Motorsports, and see his private collection. It was AMAZING. Thanks again, Wayne! See you in NH!
Look at the air under that front left tire! IOE win story here: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/0 … ner-is-17/
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