And the Winner Is…
Most of the time, the winner on laps of a 24 Hours of LeMons race takes the checkered flag with a nail-biting half-lap cushion, but that’s not how it went for the Goin’ Nuclear 1989 Honda Civic. This team built up a double-digit lead by Saturday afternoon, defended it all day Sunday, and ended the day with 14 more laps than the second-place car (an Accord).
Sometimes— in fact, most of the time— a Civic grinding out lap after screaming 6,000 RPM lap will pop its head gasket or worse, and that’s about the only hope Team Goin’ Nuclear’s pursuers had. As is always the case with a LeMons overall winner, Goin’ Nuclear ran a clean and consistent race, seemingly invisible on the track. The team’s drivers were especially skilled during the rainstorms that hit New Hampshire Motor Speedway both afternoons, gaining much of their edge while the competition slipped and slid their way into the Penalty Box. Congratulations, Goin’ Nuclear!
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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Hondas always blow up at LeMons aside from the times they score a 1-2 finish and take fifth as well. That Accord used to be mine.