And The Winner Is…

by Murilee Martin

Published: January 1st, 2011

Yes, somehow a Ford Probe— one of the least reliable cars in 24 Hours of LeMons history— has taken the overall win at a 24 Hours of LeMons race. Not only that, the BoomPowSurprise Probe won by a commanding 32-lap margin, meaning the car could have nuked its engine with nearly an hour to go and still won.

Speaking of nuked engines, here’s what the BoomPowSurprise Probe looked like the last time it was leading a LeMons race. Note the flames under the car. We’ve seen this car in a half-dozen or so events, and we’ve seen it throw rods in just about every one of them. Not this weekend! Congratulations, Team BoomPow Surprise!

#24HoursOfLeMons #24HoursOfLeMonsMiami #Ford #FordProbe #Mazda #Probe #Racing

Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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Golden2husky on Jan 01, 2011

I'm happy to see one win as well since I still own one. Not so happy to think my pristine example could someday end up looking like that. I am curious as to why they have had, until now, such a poor record at LeMons. Th six spins willingly to 7K and the boards are not full of engine issues, other than oil sealing...

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- Cdotson on Jan 01, 2011
  
  Really? I thought timing chain tensioner wear was pretty endemic....at race conditions that can cause all kinds of valvetrain problems.
  
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- Golden2husky on Jan 01, 2011
  
  I believe the 4 cylinder engine (an interference design) has had the tensioner problem, not the six, as far as I know...
  
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Speedycop on Jan 01, 2011

As a former Probe GT dirt track racer and multiple feature winner, I approve of this win! Congrats, fellas. You have been tough competitors and have suffered hard luck for a while now. Glad to see you win one!

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