Chuckwalla - Arse-Freeze-Apalooza 24 hour of Lemons Dec 7-9th 2012

Well the race is over, lots of booze, lots of laughs, and lots of track time. It was a great weekend!

The highlights included my fiance, Cynthia, driving in her first race, eight different people driving the Spitwad, a great fire pit, a punk rock band, the old Ford making the haul, and the Spitwad pretty much just ran all weekend.



Cynthia completed two 30min stints without issues or giving up. She also watched the Super Snipe flip, and that means, we might have it on video... Speaking of video, I have around 9 hours of it to go through so that will come later.

The list of drivers were, Cynthia, Paul, Cem, Justin, Jerry(my pops), Chris(he earned it), Denise, and my self. Cynthia, Justin, Ron, and I were the original drivers. Ron had to drop out due to a move, and we picked up Paul, Cem, Jerry, and Denise because the Willy Wankel Rx7 hardly ran all weekend. Chris earned his spot by helping my pops work on the Rx7 for hours.




Paul, who races a vintage MGB, brought with him a nice fire pit and lots of knowledge of the track. Gave many of us great tips and his fire pit brought many people around for drinks and conversation. Thanks Paul!

Justin raced multiple stints over the weekend and really was a team player. After some kinda harsh driving at the last race, Justin drove a calm and clean race this time around with no black flags. He also was driving while Judge Phil was snapping photos.



Cem, who raced with us back in March, was there to race in the Rx7.  Since that wasn't going so well, he hopped in the Spitwad for a few stints and drove great as always. Him and his wife Amanda are great people, always a welcome addition. I snapped this shot of him driving.



Though they got shut down hours early do to noise complaints before 9pm, (WTF honestly?) The Mice came out again this year to rock out in the pits. They came along with one of my favorite teams, If It's Not Punk It's Junk. I snapped a few shots of the band and the team's car.





There is so much I could go on about from the race. What I saw, how much fun we all had, the ups, the downs, and the Spider Man story... But I really should get back to work. I had a great weekend, racing, partying, and taking pictures. I will just end with a link to my pictures from the race and a great shot of the Cow Driver working away.

Link to My Photos from Arse-Freeze-2012



Oh yeah, and my Dad! In my version of LeMons in a nutshell..



Spiderman Out!

Final Prep for Arse-Freeze 2012 (Early December)

So here we are, it has been since July 1st 2012 that we have raced. Things have changed, drivers have changed, another car has been built, and life has gotten more complicated. The one thing that remains unchanged is the childish excitement that builds up the week of the race.

There is a bit of anxiety about whether or not the tow rig will make it, how my fiance will do at her first race, and of course did we remember everything? Even with all the spare parts, tools,the extensive packing lists, and our multiple race experince... it just lingers in the brain. I know I am forgetting something and what is going to go wrong? Oh well.. we will do what we gotta do. This is what it is about, seeing how much you can get out of rust bucket junk racer your team built, everyone being safe, and having a freaking blast!

Things have not worked out perfectly, they never do. One of our team members has to move across the country and won't be able to make it. Another has a Hawaii vacation and will be showing up just about the moment when the green flag drops. Well no worries, I will be there to start the race in the Spitwad and once I do... nothing else in that moment will matter. It's just that much fun!

With the lack of help and my lack of motivation, I did not get the spare motor completed yet, but as long as tech goes smoothly I have plenty of hours on Friday to get it finished up. All the parts are there, just need to bolt the head on properly, install the rockers, and put the valve cover on. The plan being not to need it of course.

While taking pictures at the F1 race in Austin, Texas with my cell phone and $100 point and shoot digital camera, I found myself wanting to dive into learning photography and spent a chunk of change on a Nikon D5100 with 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses. This is my first SRL camera ever and I am just starting to learn the basics, but I decided I would try to get some fancy panning motorsport shots at the LeMons race. I spent some time practicing and came up with only a couple photos that the car was even somewhat in focus.



Hopefully things will run smoothly and I will get plenty of time to play with my new camera. Maybe even (and this is a stretch) I will end up with a couple shots to be proud of. This photography thing is all secondary to the racing and mentoring my fiance through out the weekend.

Well here goes nothing! Will be heading out to Chuckwalla in 3 days!