Hugh Hefner, Rod Rats, and a Tube-Framed Lloyd: BS Inspections of the Arse Sweat-a-Palooza 24 Hours of LeMons

by Murilee Martin

Published: August 5th, 2011

hugh hefner rod rats and a tube framed lloyd bs inspections of the arse

I came down with some sort of terrible New England vasculo-plague at the Boston Tow Party race, and so the croakers said I couldn’t travel to hot, sticky Thunderhill Raceway in California for the second annual Arse Sweat-a-Palooza. Bummer! That doesn’t mean you won’t get to see who and what are racing this weekend, however, because Assistant Perp Nick Pon was kind enough to send in his photos of today’s car inspections.

Judge Armand had the privilege of meeting the female members of the now-Playboy-themed Eyesore Racing, 2010 LeMons Intergalactic Super-Champions. Yes, they can drive… faster than you, suckaz!

In case you were wondering what the members of the LeMons HQ staff choose to drive the 150 miles to the track, here’s a typical pair of daily drivers for the folks that run the event.

The team that created the Bavarian Ranchero has raised the madness level with their latest racer: a tube-framed, motorcycle-engined Lloyd Hansa Alexander. Experience has shown that all such cars struggle to make any laps at all during their first event, but we’re hoping things will be different for the Lloyd… because it’s a Lloyd!

Fresh from the triumph of their feature in the latest issue of Hot Rod (sorry, not available online yet), the members of the Model T GT team have gone with the “rat rod” look for their outfits. Sure, triple-digit temperatures might make those rat costumes a bit sweaty, but sometimes racers need to make sacrifices for the sake of image.

It’s always good to see the teams registering while in uniform.

The Space Shuttle-themed LeMons teams just keep getting better and better.

Legend of LeMons Speedycop just had to come out to California and race where the whole LeMons thing got started, and so he bought the Death Cab V8olvo, which is actually the descendant of my old race car, from the days when I was a black-flag recipient rather than a race official.

Of course, the Ford 302 engine that was once in the V8olvo ended up powering the Model T GT, which meant that Speedycop and henchmen had to find a basket-case engine-donor Mustang the day before the race and do a last-second-frantic thrash to get the V8olvo in semi-driving condition. Will it run? Who can say?

The 283-powered Chevy S10 with full 1985-custom-minitruck regalia has even more boom in the bed this time. Ideally, it will be audible from any location on the track.

#24HoursOfLeMons #24HoursOfLeMonsThunderhill #ArseSweat-a-Palooza #BSInspection #Racing #Thunderhill

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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2 of 8 comments

Raphael Orlove on Aug 06, 2011

is that the lloyd that was on Hooniverse a few months back? I didn't think the comments on the necessity of a motorcycle engine swap were serious, but then I guess I underestimate the LeMons crowd.

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CarPerson on Aug 06, 2011

Hef at 35: Cool dude. Hef at 85: Creepy dude.

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