LeMons Racing In One Photo

So, how’d these three cars — a 944 Turbo, a Pontiac Trans Sport, and a ’75 Civic — finish?

Alright, that was a bit misleading. If you guessed that the order was 944 Turbo, Civic, minivan, you’d be right. Except that it wasn’t that simple. To begin with, it rained like hell most of the second day, letting the Pontiac smoke our second-stint driver on a soaked track. It wasn’t until I got in the car that we managed to even the score by lapping it three or four times. At the end of Sunday’s session, the minivan was 52nd of 85.

The Civic, on the other hand — well, they were kicking our asses until halfway through Sunday, and they managed to make a lot of other people look silly too. Despite posting a “best” laptime of 2:23.539, they put a major hurting on a lot of faster cars and finished 34th. Consistency matters. Getting the most out of the car all the time matters. Disciplined driving and pit work matters. “The Resistance” had it all.

Now for us: Well, we started 20 laps in the hole, courtesy of Judge Phil. The team got three black flags on Saturday. Things were looking extremely grim. But on Sunday we had just one trip to the penalty box and we jumped up from 48th place to finish 31st overall. Unfortunately for us, the lap timer in the car ran out of batteries before my stint began, so I accidentally tossed in a 1:55.209 on a damp track. The only car to go faster was the Model T-GT, which turned 1:54.451 during the dry Saturday sessions. Needless to say, I heard about that from Judge Phil. We might have to take this Turbo racing in AER and peel some Spec E36 scalps with it.

The race was won in convincing fashion by a 300ZX Turbo liveried like a DeLorean. The “Bert-One” Volvo 262 never broke 2:01 but it was just one lap back at the checkers. I liked watching those guys drive, they had a couple “shoes” on the team for sure. I also have to single out “The Syndicate” and their 450SLC for some commendation. Despite running a 2:16 for a best time, they stayed on track and didn’t break until the final half hour, securing 27th place. I wish the car had been ready to run for us last year.

Last but not least… here’s a rare photo of me and super-awesome Jalopnik fan favorite Stef Schrader together!

Look at us in our Nine Four Fours! Squeeeeee! I think I passed Stef seven times in seventy minutes, but she had the last laugh: “Der Porschelump” finished 22nd overall thanks to consistent effort and solid driving.

Without the penalties and the black flags, we’d have finished about fifteenth. Not great for a car that was clearly the class of the field. But it’s always tough to field a new car and a new team on the same weekend. Most people don’t finish (or don’t start, damn it) under those conditions. But the Busted Racers made it happen. I’m proud to have driven the #95 Rust-Eze this weekend. Maybe it won’t be the last time.