The June Lemons race –
Below is the update I wrote for our Facebook recap plus more personal stuff:
2021 B.F.E. GP Recap (our first win!!!!)
TLTLDR: we had fun
TLDR: we took a gamble and won overall despite constant mechanical gremlins with Scrappy (the angry purple Miata), Ralphie (the angry yellow Miata) had its own set of issues but found a way to log over 250 laps, had a great experience on and off the track, our team kept a positive attitude and worked hard to keep the cars running, we had a blast blasting around High Plains Raceway in this blasted endurance series, we can hardly wait to do it again during the true 24 Hours of Lemons in September
Thursday:
The normal whirlwind that is packing up for a Lemons weekend was compounded for Flat Face Racing as we were running two cars for the first time. We managed to keep to our schedule via copious list-making and a few late nights beforehand.
A disaster was narrowly avoided when the receiver on our RV collapsed just as we were entering the track. The damage was minor and we were able to use spare wheel studs as a patch to limp to our car port. Scary to think how things could have been if the receiver had broken driving 65 MPH on I70 versus plodding along at five MPH on the track entrance road. Yikes indeed.
Once we were unpacked and settled I took Scrappy out for testing which ended prematurely when all electrical power was lost. After getting a push back to our car port I found that a connection (which had previously held up to a full 24 hour race and multiple lapping days) had come apart. Thankfully it an easy fix to make though we had to wait on other teammates to bring parts.
Ryan arrived soon after us to set up his RV in one of the secret premo spots followed later by Will in his white van. Alvin showed up around midnight with Ralphie in tow which we hastily unloaded. As is the way of things Susan and I stayed up far too late walking around and talking with other teams.
Friday:
We were up early to test cars and did just that. Scrappy was running quite poorly which became its theme for the entire weekend. Alvin spent a lot of time trying to stop the engine from telling the ECU it was starving for gas to no avail. It was to be a “backfire uncontrollably under 5,000 RPM” weekend for Scrappy. Not a lot of fun when we shift at around 6,000 RPM but what can you do.
Will took Ralphie out to get a feel for the car which went well until it didn’t. The plastic clip holding the fuel rail to the fuel line broke and Ralphie needed a push back to its paddock spot. Fortunately it another easy fix which was made easier as our pal Jonathon hooked us up with a new grade-A aftermarket clip which fit perfectly. Coincidentally his Neon had experienced the exact same issue earlier. Zip ties were also incorporated into the fix just in case.
Brad and Dave arrived mid-morning followed by Ian in the early afternoon to fill out the team in time for tech to start.
We passed tech with no issues and were presented with an unexpected option during the BS inspection: receive no penalty laps in return for being held up longer for black flags or take a few penalty laps upfront and get the regular black flag experience. To the horror of my teammates I chose to take no penalty laps upfront. Narrator (voiced by Morgan Freeman): “this turned out to be a wise decision.”
We spent the afternoon fiddling with the cars. Much talking and imbibing of adult beverages occurred after the track was closed for lapping. Despite our mild efforts Susan and I didn’t get to bed until after midnight.
Saturday:
It was race day so, of course, I found myself staring at the RV’s ceiling for an hour before our alarm finally went off. After the (thankfully) brief (but informative) drivers meeting and the team’s rechecking of this and that, Dave and I strapped into our respective cars to line up with the other racecars.
Ralphie’s Saturday:
Ralphie’s day started off well before going to poop. Besides stopping for a faux black flag Dave’s stint went without any issues. During the second stint Ian had to stop on the track and exit Ralphie as smoke was coming out the front and back of the car.
It turned out that I had mounted the killswitch too close to a metal support tube. The electrical tape wrapping the power terminal had wore through during the first few of hours of hard driving which caused a major short. After getting pushed back to paddock the team worked furiously to replace scorched wire and terminals and then move the switch panel up and away from the metal support tube. Luckily the killswitch and other major electrical components somehow came through the experience unscathed (at least they looked fine and were functional).
Ian went out again but soon was pulling back into the car port with other mechanical issues which persisted throughout the remainder of the day. Various fixes were attempted but nothing really solved the problems. The team kept their heads up as worked hard and everyone got to drive, albeit in short bursts. The efforts to resolve Ralphie’s issues continued long after the checkered flag was waived.
Scrappy’s Saturday:
Scrappy bucked, backfired, and barked its way around the track. The inconsistent power delivery was greatly offset by upgraded aero which kept our lap times respectable. While accelerating was rough the handling was second-to-none.
During Susan’s stint there was an all-course red flag for a rollover (RIP awesome LUV truck). While Susan was sitting on the long straight the throttle position sensor decided to completely cease functioning. Luckily we had time for a push back to our car port for a quick ECU-reset before the field was restarted. Amazingly we lost no laps in the ordeal, only track positions.
Scrappy had been barely making it to the end its stints with fuel and I just managed to get through the finish at the end of the day. I literally ran out of gas 50 yards before the finish line on the final lap and coasted by as Glenn waived the checkered flag. Just about as close as it gets. Scrappy ended the day in fourth place with only a single lap between it and the top spot.
Saturday Evening:
Once the driving was done we laid out our team’s potluck contributions: our patented “Cheaty Chicken Chili” and new menu item “Pulled Ahead Pork” sandwiches (sorry Mark from Virtual Reality 6, we’ll do beef next time). Susan fortunately had remembered to start cooking the food early enough so as to not poison anyone (my head was spinning all day and I had completely forgotten). She really saved the day here!
A side note about the BBQ sauce we put out with the pulled pork – it was gifted to us by one of our arrive-and-drive Lemons drivers at the Heartland Race way back in 2019. Amazingly the expiration date was November of 2021 so we brought it along for this race’s potluck. The feedback on the BBQ sauce was that it was tasty with a kick of spice. Thanks Brandon!
The food was all yummy but the company was better. We enjoyed talking about all things racecar with our old and new Lemons friends. Susan and I put in some real effort to get to bed before midnight and just barely succeeded.
Sunday:
Ralphie’s Sunday:
The angry yellow Miata named Ralphie drove much better on Sunday. While mysteriously down on power at times, Ralphie mostly performed at its full potential and the drivers put in many a quick lap. The team finished the race in 30th place out of the 60 entrants with 253 laps. I have little doubt Ralphie would have been in the top five had there not been mechanical issues.
Scrappy’s Sunday:
I had an absolute blast dicing it up with the 350Z during my first stint. That car was very quick and I was only able to pass using lap traffic (their driver picked the wrong car to freight train behind). Alvin had figured out how to apply a band aid of sorts to Scrappy’s ECU. Eventually the engine went back to thrashing around like a person drowning in a pool but for a few laps I got to experience glory.
After the close first stint I didn’t have much hope we could catch the 350Z. It was just too dang fast and their pit stops were quicker than ours. Luckily for us (and unfortunately for them) the last driver caught a black flag which knocked the team out of contention.
Our fuel-guzzling issues had been continuing all day with Scrappy barely able to get 90 minutes out of a stint. I went out for the final stint with 87 minutes left in the race and one car to pass to take the top spot. We were quicker each lap and eventually I caught Zoom Zoom Kaboom’s #76 Miata. After overtaking I kept their car in my rear view mirror for much of the remainder of the stint to conserve fuel. Scrappy finished the race in first place by 51 seconds after 336 laps.
Sunday aftermath:
The awards ceremony was its usual entertaining time. As is proper for Lemons the overall winner is the least of the awards and we were happy to cheer on the other more-deserving victors. After the awards were done we took some team photos before scrambling to pack before a fast-approaching storm arrived to soak the track. Will was able to tow our enclosed trailer home which was great as we didn’t trust the RV’s hitch to handle the load. I think we’ll be unpacking for the next few weeks.
Thanks and stuff:
Our team was simply amazing this weekend. The drivers were all fast and, more importantly, clean which is all one can really hope for out on the track. Off the track they worked diligently to identify and fix the multitude of problems each car experienced while keeping a positive attitude. I was apprehensive about running two cars but the drivers made the weekend flow smoothly enough that we may try it again. Maybe.
Thanks to Jonathan and Brian for providing some needed parts (these things literally kept us going). Thanks to the nameless guy (sorry, I can’t remember) who helped work on Ralphie (sorry I couldn’t offer you a ride, maybe next time). Thanks to Jeff for selling me your giant wang (heh) for a decent price and, more importantly, pointing me to a store that sells grade 8 metric hardware by the pound (I bought a lot). Thanks to SCR Performance for the killer alignments on the Miatas and some helpful advice on attaching our DIY splitters (both cars were stable and basically unmatched in the handling department). Thanks to Bronson for fabbing and sending beefy rear hubs just in time for the race (his awesome BroFab front hubs installed and functioned perfectly as well). Shoutout to Vi. Engineered for the quick turnaround when building Scrappy’s custom header and side-pipe exhaust (I do believe we were the loudest and best-sounding car on the track). Thanks to Matthew at Ecotec Miata for continuing to answer my questions about Scrappy’s Ecotec swap (one of these day’s we’ll get it all figured out).
Notes on some of the other teams (from the top of the standings):
Zoom Zoom Kaboom 2.0 (#76 – a truly bone-stock 1.6 Mazda Miata) – great driving and it came down to the last stint, incredible pit stops that we’ll be trying to emulate going forward
Killerbasa Racing (#350 – an awesome-sauce 350Z) – Sunday morning we had an amazing battle over many laps, would have been VERY close if it wasn’t for that late black flag
Dropped Packets Racing (#501 – the better-sorted of the two-MR2 team) – fast all weekend but turned it up a notch in the final stint, some fun back and forth at the end
Smokey and the Bandit – fantastic theme and the team ran a great race, happy to see them come in fifth overall, great job David et all!
Salty Thunder Racing (#90 – the faster of the two-Fiero team) – great driving, happy to see the car win class B
GemBesties Racing (#86 – the gem-encrusted black BMW) – had a great “horsepower versus lighter car” battle for several laps which was fun, sad to see a Sunday mechanical issue took them out of top contention
Gutless Cutlass Racing (#307 – the Oldsmobile that was much faster than it looked) – considerate drivers on and off the track, perfect class C car and great team
Caddy Daddy Racing (#181 – the smoke-belching yellow VW pickup) – taking the endurance part of endurance racing to the extreme, one driver team for the entire weekend and he finished in 16th place, pure madness
The Racing Baguettes (#42 –that white Genesis Coupe) – did fantastic for a new team with little or no racing experience, witnessed their lines improve as they learned their way around the track, I think the team will be top contenders if they keep at it
Mighty Midgets (#443 – the insane RX7 one didn’t have to look at to know it had a V8 under the hood) – I’d like to say that we battled it out but this car was so fast that our encounters felt more like pity parties, the last driver clearly figured out the track and I just pointed and waived as they blasted past in the final stint, incredibly awesome car (I’m jealous)
Dirty Racers (#888 – the other fast truck) – so glad to see the truck running most all of the weekend! We know it’s taken a lot to get to this point. Great job Brian Cather!
CU Boulder Racing Team (#719/720 Miatas) – being paddocked next to this team was like watching a roller coaster: a mad dash to install an unknown engine on Friday (which they amazingly got running with few issues), no-hood-pin windshield breakage they fixed with plastic sheeting, breaking a tie rod and welding together a viable replacement, one car getting damaged in a “touch” but still finishing the race, the other car setting the fastest lap for the race and then throwing a rod two laps later. If our team had their problems I think we would have packed up early. Kudos on the massive effort to power through the weekend.
Citroen Motorsports (#100 – the CRV with the big brakes) – why was it so hard to pass this thing? So much fun to race with your team! Lemons needs more CRVs.
Rotary Rookies (#47 – the bone stock RX7) – great chatting with your team throughout the weekend and great driving, such a cool car
Colorado School of Limes (#900 – the blackboard BMW) – team had a good attitude, out on the track the drivers were courteous to the extreme which did not go unnoticed and was greatly appreciated (this also goes for team “Lemons on a Prayer” and several other slower teams), hopefully this is the start to a long future for another college Lemons team
Virtual Reality 6 (#118 – the ski-winged Audi) – such a bummer about the engine issues but so glad y’all got it running(ish) again on Sunday to put down more laps and take the checkered flag, maybe next time you’ll run two Audis, I believe in you Kris Karmel!
Budget Bugeye (#458 – the Subaru Neon) – things seemed to be going well until one of our team members reported that they saw a massive cloud of smoke explode from under your hood. Thrown rods suck. Next time Jonathan, next time.
Deferred Maintenance Racing (#87 – the LUV truck) – we’ve raced along side this team for three of their Lemons races and they have always had a great theme. This time was no exception with their “Big Font” design. A catastrophic off and subsequent double-roll abruptly ended their race on Saturday afternoon. Their driver was completely unscathed (says a lot for their build quality) and the team was rewarded for their efforts by the event organizers with a well-deserved trophy. Sad to see how their weekend turned out but we look forward to what they bring out next time.
Extra thoughts from the race weekend:
Susan and I really had a great time during the Lemons race weekend. We were exhausted when we got home and some things did not go as we’d hoped but overall it was great. I really hated that Ralphie had issues. I spent a lot of time prepping that car just for unforeseen stuff to come up on race day.
The non-killswitch mechanical issues the car had on Saturday were fuel-related which is a sensitive topic in the Lemons community and thus I didn’t mention them specifically in my shared recap. For some reason the pressure release valves on the gas tank weren’t functioning properly which was causing fuel to travel down to the engine bay where it sprayed out. Bad times for sure. The crew came up with a few “solutions” but ultimately the excess fuel had to go somewhere. In the end it was dumped out the back (on the non-exhaust side). Very annoying. I’m likely going to swap out the entire hose/valve system for another that “should” work.
Scrappy’s performance was rough. It’s like we’re on a backward slide with that car in how it runs and in our fueling times. The focus for the next race will be getting the ECU to run happily and installing a fuel cell so we can fuel efficiently and extend the stint lengths.
The dogs were mostly left to their own devices for the racing weekend. We took care of them in the morning and usually Susan would be the one to take them out for potty breaks during the day. They were always happy to see us when we entered the RV. We’re very glad that they can join us at the track.
I mentioned the receiving hitch collapsing in the recap. This was truly unsettling. The safety chains only connect to the receiver so if said receiver ripped off completely the trailer would have completely disconnected from the RV. The two bolts remaining were the only things holding the trailer to the RV. Before we tow with the RV again we’ll be upgrading the hitch to an appropriate size for the loads we carry.
We are undecided on what do to with Ralphie in the middle-term. While it was fun running two cars in its way it also took a lot of my time to prepare and I was stressed about disappointing the drivers. If Scrappy had more issues at the track (beyond the engine running poorly) the weekend would have been much more difficult. We’re really lucky our situation wasn’t worse.
We may end up trying to sell Ralphie before the September Lemons race. We’ve put a lot of time and money into the car and I can’t help but think that I’ve been neglecting Scrappy which should be my first priority. The car is fun as it is a Miata but not nearly as fun as Scrappy. I don’t know now but Susan and I are putting a lot of thought about what to do.
On the Monday after the Lemons race we drove up to Fort Collins to pick up an engineless Mazda RX8. Alvin came along for the ride and helped us load it up. The tentative plan for the car is to do an engine swap and make it into another race car. If that doesn’t work we should be able to resell the car to someone else for what we paid. I realize this seems contradictory when we’re also thinking of getting rid of Ralphie but it’s how I roll. An engine swap wouldn’t be cheap but the car was inexpensive so the overall costs should be relatively low. We’ll see.
I completely forgot to write anything in the May update about buying our pit scooter. I was blabbing to Susan about my desire for such a thing for the hundredth time and she finally trawled Craigslist to see what was available. Susan found a scooter that seemed to be ok and sent me a link. I was instantly infatuated with its yellow color and reached out. The price was low-enough in my eyes that I didn’t care that the batteries didn’t work.
We drove Flo to look at the scooter which was fine as the item folded down to a truckable-size. The guy selling the scooter had an old Toyota Celica and we had fun talking about it. Since the batteries were dead we had to hope that the scooter was functional. We paid the guy his price and brought the scooter home.
I ordered batteries but they were too large (the ad was misleading). Susan subsequently ordered correct batteries and installed them the day they arrived. Thankfully the scooter seemed to run just fine although it was slower than we’d hoped. Susan added some racing decals and labeled the rear tires as “Hoosier” and “Toyo” (tire manufactures known for making race tires). On a lark we cobbled together a wing for the back which Susan painted to match Scrappy and Ralphie.
During Lemons weekend the scooter was nice to have indeed. The temps were hot and we enjoyed not having to walk everywhere if we didn’t feel like it. I expect we’ll bring the scooter with us to each race going forward.
June 12th weekend –
Saturday morning had me up early to feed the dogs and have some coffee. My intent was to mow before the day got too hot but first I needed to find my wide floppy hat. I spent far too much time looking in the RV, suburban, and trailer before I gave up and drove to Walmart to buy a replacement.
After I was back home with my new hat I got to mowing. The front range had been getting a lot more rain than most years and the mowing took longer than normal as the vegetation had grown in thick. Hard to believe I last mowed only three weeks ago. I was mostly finished when I went inside to wake up Susan for coffee.
Alvin is storing both of this enclosed trailers in our lower 40 so when I went back outside I moved them around so I could mow where they had been sitting. Susan came down to help me reposition the trailers to their new spots. Both trailers are larger and heavier than the one Susan and I use. If we upgraded to a trailer of their size we would need to also upgrade our tow vehicle as with the larger size comes extra weight and we’re already pushing our suburban’s limits now.
I busted out the weed whacker to do edging while Susan sprayed thistles and other plants we don’t want on our property. It was very hot outside when we finished our tasks. We hung out with Oliver for a time before going inside to cool off and finish the day off on the couch with the dogs.
I was up early again on Sunday to edit videos from the previous weekend’s race. Susan eventually got up and we had our coffee together. I was resigned to being lazy for the remainder of the day but Susan wanted to be productive. She saw an NC Miata in a junk yard (this is highly unusual) so we got dressed and went to check it out.
The Miata was in decent shape and virtually nothing had been pulled off the car yet. It had been added to the yard that morning. Our plan was to pull the fender, headlight, steering rack, and subframe. We had gotten the fender and headlight out when another group of guys arrived to pull parts off the Miata. They wanted the oil pan and some other stuff we weren’t interested in so there were no arguments or issues (of course, there wouldn’t have been any problems in any case). It was brutally hot and I gave up on pulling the steering rack and subframe (it would have taken me hours) so we left just the fender and headlight.
We were both hungry so stopped at Safeway for some fresh deli chicken to bring home for lunch.
Again, I was prepared to be lazy but Susan insisted we try cleaning our large living room rugs instead. She loaded them into the suburban and we went to our preferred car wash. Spraying off the rugs went alright though one of the mat-attachment points was broken in the stall we had chosen. We made due and spent some time spraying down the rungs before loading them back into the suburban.
Once home we hung the larger rug on a chair and two sawhorses and simply laid the smaller rug directly on the concrete patch in front of the garage to dry. It was very hot so we thought the drying wouldn’t take too terribly long. The east side of the garage was shady so we sat on our new-to-us patio furniture and hung out with Oliver while we waited.
After a time we checked on the rugs. We were disappointed to find them both smelling rather unpleasant after our efforts. Such is. We decided to give up on cleaning and instead buy new rugs so went to Walmart to see what they had (we’d been buying our rugs there for many years now)
We weren’t planning on purchasing much at Walmart but the lack of any shopping carts was still a bummer when we arrived. Apparently someone wasn’t fulfilling their cart-duty that day. Such is. We found some new rugs and other items and soon were on our way back home.
We cleaned up the floor and were happy with how the new rugs looked in the living room. I had had enough of being productive so convinced Susan that we should finish out the weekend on the couch. We watched movies and other streaming before heading to bed. It was a nice weekend.
Tuesday – As I was commuting through the neighborhood to work a dozen or so birds flew in front of my car. I watched in dismay as it appeared one bird didn’t make it by my car. I wasn’t going fast but feared the worst. Later I was elated when a bird flew out from the front of my car while I was stopped at a traffic light. The bird lived on!
Susan picked Mom up at the airport later in the morning. I got off early and we hung out at home for a time before leaving to pick up pills for Bella. The original plan was to continue on to Costco and then to Susan and my annual eye appointments. Instead we decided to go home and swap out to a different vehicle after getting Bella’s pills. The high temperatures were simply too much for Flo’s air conditioning. We ended up utilizing the suburban for the rest of the day and much of the week as its air conditioning was up to the task.
Mom hung out while Susan and I had our eyes checked and after we went to Saltgrass for a late lunch. Saltgrass is often busy but not so much at 2:30 on a weekday which was great for us. The food was tasty and we soon found ourselves stuffed. We made a brief stop at Costco before heading back home where we sat on our patio furniture on the shady-side of the garage chatting about this and that. Though hot outside it was pleasant in the shade.
Wednesday – Susan and Mom went to Brass Armadillo while I worked in the morning. We met at home before leaving again to enjoy a yummy lunch at Viewhouse. On the way home we stopped at Harbor Freight to buy an overly expensive wrench and at Walmart to buy this and that.
Once home we utilized various materials to prepare a large and fragile item to be shipped to Mom’s house. It took an inordinate amount of tape, two bales of packing bubbles, and some creative cardboard-cutting before we were finished. We then made a quick to trip to the closest UPS store to send it on its way.
We then hung out for a few hours to let the temperatures cool before heading outside in an attempt to be productive. Susan and I didn’t do much besides unload Scrappy from the trailer before we called it for the day.
Thursday – Susan and I both worked in the morning while Mom hung out with the dogs on the couch. After I got home Susan ordered us all Jimmy Johns for lunch. The food was alright though Mom’s sandwich wasn’t prepared to her order specifications. Some guacamole from our refrigerator helped set her sandwich right. Again we hung out until the temperatures dropped a bit before heading outside.
Susan and I prepped Betty for the next day’s fun while Mom hung out on the patio furniture. A few odd wind gusts had Mom back in the house while Susan and I finished up and loaded Betty into the trailer. The weather calmed down and soon we were all outside again while I cooked BBQ on the grill. We ate inside and watched Netflix shows in the evening.
Friday – I was up early to go to work for an 8:00 call. Soon after my meeting finished, I went home where we finished packing up before leaving for King Soopers and then heading for the track. We arrived in time to drive a few laps before the lunch break. Luckily there were no assigned fast/slow driving groups which was nice. During lunch we walked around the paddock to look at the various things. After lunch we drove more laps before heading home. Mom performed well in the passenger seat, especially after becoming acclimated to our car getting passed (it happens a lot).
Once home we unloaded what we had to and left again to eat a late lunch at Brothers BBQ. The food was good but the service terribly slow. Home again and Susan and I were preparing to show off Ralphie to prospective buyers.
We had just pulled both race cars out of the garage when Jeff Keacher and his compatriot arrived. They were looking to buy a race-ready car for the upcoming 24-hour Lemons race in September. We talked for a couple of hours about Ralphie before agreeing on terms of sale. We were all happy with the deal and Susan and I could barely believe it worked out. We hadn’t even gotten around to listing Ralphie anywhere. Jeff was informed of our potential desire to sell via Will who was one of its drivers at the last Lemons race. We spent the evening hanging out on the couch.
Saturday – up early for coffee. Mom got up too and we chatted long and loud enough that Susan eventually was up as well. We had to finish preparing Scrappy for a NASA enduro we were to participate in later in the afternoon. I had to remove a quart of oil (I added too much the day before), swap the brakes, and swap out one tire to finish preparing the car. Susan had a list of things for us to work through and then we loaded Scrappy into the trailer. In the early afternoon Susan and I drove to King Soopers for gas, ice, and lunch before heading to the track.
The track was packed with NASA folks and we found only one suitable spot to park, out by the dumpsters. This was fine though moving our equipment to our chosen pit-spot was a pain as it took several long trips. We tech’d Scrappy and which included weighing the car (2,298lbs). Scrappy passed tech alright and, after a brief drivers meeting, we strapped Ryan Dussex (the third wheel of our racing tricycle) into the car.
Below is Susan’s recap from the event:
Since Scrappy was still running (albeit poorly) after the Lemons race, we entered the NASA Midsummer Bash Twilight Enduro just for fun. Being new NASA members, we had to get the car teched which included getting weighed. Fully fueled with a full cool shirt cooler, Scrappy weighed in at 2,298 pounds. Scrappy passed tech and earned her Log Book!
Driving first was Ryan Dussex, second Max, and to finish out the 4-hour race, Susan took the wheel to take the checkered flag. We put ourselves in class E2 which had us racing against a Miata with a built motor and a 350Z, both of which were much faster than our car.
Ryan went out and soon came back in because the cool shirt cooler was leaking. Since we didn’t have zip ties with us in the pits, he went back out while we procured zip ties to tie up the wires to prevent any water/electrical problems. After we zipped up the wires Ryan was off to finish his stint.
When he came into the pit to switch drivers to Max we elected to run our driver-change pit stop the same way we preform our Lemons pit stops (this even though NASA rules allow fueling with the driver still in the car). Max strapped into the car, zipped out of the pit, and raced his stint with no drama except for literally running out of fuel 5 minutes before he was due in for the last driver change. Luckily he was able to flick the steering to the left to get the gas to slosh to the correct side of the gas tank and managed to make it into the pit lane under his own power.
The field had thinned quite dramatically by the time Susan hopped into the car to race. Enjoying a very open track and courteous faster drivers she turned lap after lap with consistent times. The other Miata in our class had wheel bearing issues earlier in the race and was eventually dead in the water with an unfixable broken throttle body.
Susan was almost on empty with over a half hour left in her stint. Only being allowed to put 10 gallons of gas in at a time really messes with our normal strategy so Susan came into the pit where the boys gave her a splash of fuel and then she was back out to finish the race. The 350Z ended his race spectacularly in a cloud of escaping gear oil which left us to just catch up on some laps to get ahead of them. After turning a total of 97 laps the checkered flag flew and we won our second race in just as many weeks.
#FirstInClass #EighthOverall #LastedToTheEnd
After the checkered flag was thrown Susan pulled up behind the other competitors in the hot pit for trophies to be handed out and pictures to be taken. It was dark at this point so we hustled to change to our street clothes and pack up. Luckily the paddock was a bit less busy and a bit more desolate so I was able to move the trailer close to our designated spot in the pit lane. We tried to be quick but packing up took longer than we would have liked and we didn’t leave the track until after 9:00. Mom was in bed by the time we arrived back home and Susan and I hung out for a time before going to bed ourselves.
Sunday – I was up early for coffee and to hang out with Mom for a bit. Susan eventually got up and we all went to Walmart for various stuff. After getting home I spent some time preparing chicken salad and a snack for lunch. The snack was yummy and we hung out on the couch for a time before Mom and I napped. Before we eventually left the house again, Susan and I unpacked some items from the previous night’s race. Then we jumped in Flo to drive up to Kari and Alvin’s house.
John and Kari arrived soon after we did who were followed by Alvin’s parents. Alvin and I set up popup tents for everyone to shelter under. We chatted about this and that before food was BBQ’d and we all ate. We all had a wonderful time and Mom even managed to get everyone together for some pictures before we packed up and went home. We finished the weekend on our couches, playing on our devices and talking about this and that.
My alarm didn’t go off but I was up anyway at the prescribed hour of 3:45 in the AM on Monday morning. Mom’s flight was early and we left the house a hair before 4:00 to go to the airport. We had a nice chat on the way and I dropped Mom at departures. I then went back home where I managed another hour of sleep before having to leave for work.
We absolutely loved having Mom visit and hope the interval before her next trip to Colorado is shorter than the previous COVID-lengthened one.
Tuesday we officially sold Ralphie. The two blokes came by with their trailer and, in exchange for a pile of cash, took Ralphie out of our immediate lives. I feel like I should say that I have mixed emotions about the deal but I don’t know that I do. We did put a lot of work into the car but the work was generally satisfying as the end result was pretty great. We also sold Ralphie for enough to cover all of the costs we put into the car which was nice. The fact that the car should be at the upcoming 24-hour race in September is super-great-nice.
Thursday and Friday had us dropping off and picking up the RV with Lampert Hitch to have a larger receiver installed. The traffic was terrible for both trips but it was worth the trouble as the new receiver should have no issues with our heavy trailer. On trip back on Friday I drove the RV while Susan followed in the NC Miata. I detoured from the normal route and took I70 across town to E470. We got to see the extensive construction on I70 and drive under the old Stapleton runway which was interesting. It started raining hard once we got to E470 and soon we were in a crazy deluge. The RV had no qualms on the wet roads but Susan said the NC had serious hydroplaning issues. We finally pulled into our neighborhood to find some newly incepted ponds and that our normally placid stream was a rushing river. We’ve had some crazy weather this year for sure.
June 26th weekend –
Saturday I woke up early to feed the dogs and edit video from the little NASA enduro we’d participated in. Things were going well until my computer froze up as I was almost finished publishing the first video. I had had enough.
I had recently purchased a new hard drive for my computer as I had a suspicion that the existing hard drive was beginning to fail. Thus I spent much of the day figuring out how to install the new hard drive and move data (including Windows) around.
We eventually had our coffee and chatted which became the only other thing of note we did that day. We mostly sat on the couch watching streaming movies while I fiddled with my computer.
On Sunday I actually managed to get back to sleep after feeding the dogs which rarely happens. When I finally opened my eyes Susan was already playing on her phone so we had coffee together and officially started the day. The plan was to prepare Mia 2 and Tuna Bean to be sold so we had at it.
Tuna Bean needed a thorough vacuuming which Susan handled. The battery was also dead so we threw it on a trickle charger. Mia 2 was my focus as rust issues had delayed me replacing a wheel bearing.
We had purloined the necessary parts from Dan Hipwood when we had visited his Denver house so I thought I had all I needed. This was mostly correct though I did have to make a quick trip to Lowes to buy an additional bolt to attach the brake bracket. Once finished, Susan took Mia 2 on a test drive to verify the fix was effective. A unsettling howl had been emanating from the front driver-side suspension since we had purchased the car. I had figured it likely the wheel hub/bearing needed replacing and I was apparently correct in my assumption.
We next moved on to Mia 2’s driver-side window regulator which wasn’t working. We pulled the door panel off and, with the aid of a helpful YouTube video, soon had the regulator out. After much discussion and work we decided any further efforts and associated costs weren’t worth it so we simply put the door back together.
While reinstalling the door bits and, in a fit of pique, I karate-chopped the top of the window in a vain attempt to move it down a little. This was a mistake as I hit upon a nerve in the blade of my hand. The pain was immediate and unfortunately lingered for several hours. This stupidity sucked up the last of my motivation for the project.
The weather was starting to turn rainy as we finished working on the cars so we sat and relaxed by the small garage door. Eventually we BBQ’d dinner while Oliver slinked around doing his cat-thang. Lately he’s been getting on top of the small garage door and leaping the void to Scrappy. Oliver is a silly kitty for sure.
We finished the weekend out on the couch watching more streaming movies. Besides my stupid hand-injury the weekend was a good one.
June ended with us listing Mia 2 for sale. We have had a few prospective buyers reach out and are hopeful to have the car sold before the 4th of July weekend.
June was such a crazy month between our big 24 Hours of Lemons race, Mom visiting, participating in a mini-enduro race, selling Ralphie, and listing Mia 2. We can’t imagine July will be as frantic but it’s hard to say.
