LeMons report

It was quite a weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. The 24 Hours of LeMons organizers have a slick operation going. They put on these races all over the country and give adult men (and women) an opportunity to fulfil a childhood fantasy of driving a race car.

On Friday each car had to go through a technical inspection to make sure the car met specs. Even though our car was purchased from a previous LeMons team and had raced before, it failed its first inspection. The team was directed to correct some welding on the roll bar. Luckily the guys in the campsite next door had both the necessary welding equipment and a guy willing to do the welding in exchange for a case of beer. There was a party atmosphere throughout the weekend and teams helped each other out any way they could. (click photos for a larger view)



Part of the fun of the race is picking a theme for the car and decorating it. Some themes were funny.



A couple made a political statement.



Our guys paid homage to a scene in the old 70's movie, Dirty Harry, where a school bus was hijacked. They painted the car school bus yellow and striped and lettered it like the one in the movie. The car number was the same as that on the bus. It turns out that having a bright yellow car was an advantage to the spectators. It made it much easier to watch the car on the track.



103 teams registered for this weekend's race. A couple of the teams didn't make it to the start line, but I'm guessing there were 100 cars that started the race.
The assembly of team Terminally Confused was Craig's idea and he served as captain so he had the honor of beginning the race. They decided that each of the 5 drivers would put in 45 minutes behind the wheel and then they'd change out. They later extended the drive time because each driver thought 45 minutes was too short.



Each guy was exhilarated after his turn behind the wheel and Jerry was no exception.





I love this photo of the team watching while Jerry was driving.



During Craig's 2nd time behind the wheel the brakes decided to quit working. He spun out at about 70mph which apparently rattled him. (it didn't do much for his mom either!) The car was pushed off the track and they fixed the issue in about 20 minutes.

Later the inside mirror came loose and was beating the driver, Taan, in the head so they had to pull off the track to fix that.



By the end of day 1 the tires were well worn.



They'd brought a 2nd set of new tires and put them on the car Saturday night. Turned out it was the perfect thing to do as it rained on Sunday and the new tires were great in the rain. We'd ended day 1 in 41st place and by noon on Sunday had moved up to 35th. Not bad for first time racers.

Unfortunately things kind of went downhill after noon on Sunday. There was an oil issue, a minor collision (no injuries thank goodness) and the last nail in the coffin- a problem with the lug nuts on one of the wheels. The last problem was not fixable as the lugs were stripped. Sadly they ended up pulling out of the race about 90 minutes before the end. Even so, they ended up in 51st place. I left the course at noon on Sunday to come home. I told Craig that the reason things fell apart Sunday afternoon was because I wasn't there to cheer them on! Next time I'll have to stay through the entire race.

All in all it was a great showing for a rookie team. They are already planning the next race (in February) and are using this race as a learning experience.

24 Hours of LeMons

After a couple of months of preparation Jerry, Craig and several co-workers have finally reached the weekend of the 24 Hours of LeMons race. This is a race for cars with a value of $500 or less. (the $500 limit does not include the required safety equipment) Today was spent getting the necessary safety inspections, etc and tomorrow is the first day of actual racing.

Beach vacation

We have just returned from a glorious week in Myrtle Beach. We stayed at Ocean Lakes which is a family oriented resort that has accommodations varying from traditional campsites to elevated beach homes. Since I don't do camping we rented a beach house. Our friends, John & June, Jim & Susie, and Ned and Linda rented homes nearby.

We have all vacationed together in the past and somehow our times together evolved into Pirate events. In honor of that I made each couple a pirate quilt.

Here are the guys with their quilts: L-R: John, Jerry, Jim & Ned (click photos for larger view)



Then the girls: June, Susie, Me & Linda



I haven't quite figured out what prompted this photo:



Craig, Chrystal & the kids were able to come up last Saturday & Sunday and then again yesterday. The kids loved the beach. Noah enjoyed the water while Hayden just wanted to dig in the sand. At one point she even flopped down to make sand angels on the beach and had such a grin on her face while doing it.

The week was wonderful and the weather could not have been more perfect. Days spent on the beach and evenings spent driving around Ocean Lakes in a golf cart are my idea of paradise. We're already planning next year's trip.

38 years

Today we celebrate 38 years of marriage. We were married in the garden of the Botsford Inn, a historic hotel in the Detroit suburbs. (which is no longer an Inn but part of the adjacent Botsford Hospital.) It was a beautiful late summer afternoon with vivid blue skies and puffy white clouds. A neighbor of ours, who served as minister of his church in addition to being a Detroit City Cop (interesting combination of jobs!) performed the ceremony. I don't remember a lot about the ceremony but do recall my mother complaining that Jerry's shoes needed polishing.

Four days after the wedding Jerry left for a tour of duty in Scotland with the US Navy. I joined him in Scotland 2 months later. We've been moving around every few years since!

Lemons car

The 24 Hours of LeMons race is quickly approaching.

Jerry, Craig and the rest of team Terminally Confused have been working diligently getting the car ready for the race. Today was painting day. They have an obscure theme for the car having to do with the highjacking of a school bus in the movie Dirty Harry; thus they painted the car to resemble a school bus.



Apparently the painting project created a bit of interest in Craig's neighborhood and prompted a couple of his neighbors to come investigate. Glad that old clunker is in his yard and not mine!

Challenge quilt

Our guild always has a community service project. This year our project is Camp Happy Days, a camp for kids 'living with cancer.' In addition to the quilts we've made throughout the year, the community service coordinator issued a crayon challenge. We pulled a crayon from a paper bag and had to make a quilt using that color.

My crayon was black and this is the quilt I made. (click photo for larger view)



I know, the quilt isn't really black is it? This was a 4 patch swirl that I started some time ago and I decided it was close enough for the challenge - since the quilt is going to charity, they won't mind that it's not really black.

We turn in the challenge quilts next week and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone made.