Once again the team and I are taking the mighty Toyota Supra down to MSR south of Houston for the first 24 hours of Lemons race ni 2009.

The car ran and drove flawlessly at the even down there in October but due to the rantings, ravings, and simply dumb behavior of one of the drivers (NOT ME) we ended up spending nearly 2 hours in the penalty box (the equivalent of over 100 laps). We STILL managed to finish 18th out of nearly 80 starters and were 82 laps out of winning the darn thing.

And yes, the offending party was severely beaten about the head and shoulders repeatedly.

Anyway, the race is Sat and Sun, Feb 28 and Mar 1. Here's a link to the webpage with more details LINKY.

Anyone that would like to come down and watch, say hi, have some fun, come on down. Look for a black 38' gooseneck trailer, a Maroon Supra #86, and a charcoal Chevy extended cab 3/4T truck. Somebody is sure to be around there most times.

If you want more information on what goes on there, shoot me a pm.

John Stricker

[This message has been edited by jstricker (edited 02-09-2009).]

Dang, I love to attend but, I'm thinking I've have to hitch back. Will the truck and trailer be guarded?

Ron

That linky took me to where I can reply. Bad linky?

That does sound cool, wonder if we will see you on the Speed channel?

Linky fixed. Thanks for the heads up.

This will be our third Lemons race and we're finally feeling like we're getting a handle on what it takes to maybe podium in the thing. We'll see how it comes out.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by 2.5: That linky took me to where I can reply. Bad linky? That does sound cool, wonder if we will see you on the Speed channel?

Is Carl coming this time?

I've been to MSR before. I took their student safety course down there. Boy, was it alot of fun. Nice guys too.

Yes. I didn't ask him if the bruising had faded.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by litespd: Is Carl coming this time?

Myself, my sister and brother-in-law will be there Saturday John.
Jane has to work.

It will be good to see you again, Don, and meet your sister. There is no mention how much it is to come in and just watch. It doesn't say on the Lemons website and there's nothing on the MSR website either. I emailed Jay Lamm to see if he'd know and I'll also email the track. I'd hope it's not that much. If it's outrageous I'll post in this thread.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by maryjane: Myself, my sister and brother-in-law will be there Saturday John. Jane has to work.

Sounds like somebody needs to bring a "Rolling Roach Coach" to the track and make a killing.

Brad

I wanted to come out last year and be a corner worker but I had a schedule conflict. As of now I should be able to be a corner worker for this year. I will be rooting for you.

Just make sure that you "wave big" when the yellow comes out for the maroon supra #86. Some of our team seems to have an issue seeing the flags................



John Stricker

quote Originally posted by FieroReinke: I wanted to come out last year and be a corner worker but I had a schedule conflict. As of now I should be able to be a corner worker for this year. I will be rooting for you.

quote Originally posted by jstricker: Not sure what that is, John Stricker

Roach coach is a mobile food truck like you see everyday around construction sites and large places of business. Sell soft drinks, cold sandwiches, hot dogs, burritos etc.

This is just a bump to remind the TX folks of the Lemons race south of Houston this weekend. We have the car ready, most of the tools loaded, and we're planning on leaving early afternoon tomorrow.

I look forward to seeing you there, Don, and hope others can make it down as well.

If you DO make it we're the Maroon Toyota Supra, #86. Black gooseneck trailer, charcoal colored Silverado. Probably be some people sitting on the roof of the trailer watching the festivities unless we're doing a driver change or fueling.

John Stricker

Good Luck Pops!

I'm running a NTFC club meeting on Saturday afternoon, that perfectly interferes with your race.
How about next time you ask the organizers to not have the Lemons on the 4th Saturday of the month?

Break a leg! (better than an axle for this kind of thing, right )

Or, sonny, how about you actually roll out of bed before noon once in a while and come down Sunday??????????????



John Stricker

quote Originally posted by blakeinspace: Good Luck Pops! I'm running a NTFC club meeting on Saturday afternoon, that perfectly interferes with your race. How about next time you ask the organizers to not have the Lemons on the 4th Saturday of the month? Break a leg! (better than an axle for this kind of thing, right )

1. What ticket do we need to purchase to get in the area where you will be--Paddock?
2. Can we bring lawn chairs and sit in the infield?
3. Will they let us bring a cooler in with cokes and snacks?

I read the FAQ and other links--not much info there regarding spectators--you have any new insight?

Expect some wind from south--been blowing hard for the last 2 days-10-20 mph.



Directions to track:
http://www.msrhouston.com/m...uston/directions.asp

http://www.mapquest.com/map...nce+Dr&2z=77515-7878

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 02-26-2009).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: 1. What ticket do we need to purchase to get in the area where you will be--Paddock? 2. Can we bring lawn chairs and sit in the infield? 3. Will they let us bring a cooler in with cokes and snacks? I read the FAQ and other links--not much info there regarding spectators--you have any new insight? Expect some wind from south--been blowing hard for the last 2 days-10-20 mph. Directions to track: http://www.msrhouston.com/m...uston/directions.asp http://www.mapquest.com/map...nce+Dr&2z=77515-7878

1) I think you only have two choices on the tickets, the one day ticket for $20 or the weekend pass for $30. The main entrance will take you right into the pits/paddock area. Just find a place to park and walk over. It's not a long walk from some parking areas. Once you get in you're free to walk around the pits, up to the viewing stands, wherever you want to go really. My guess is the tickets might be wristbands, makes it easy to identify people.

2) There is no acces to the infield of the track, but there are some elevated viewing areas over some of the garages. No chairs or bleacher seating so yes, bring some camp chairs. We have some as well as an awning in the trailer all the time. When you're walking around the pits stay alert. There are cars moving around all the time and can pop out of nowhere.

3) I don't think there's a problem with coolers, they never looked twice at ours. They didn't sell anything at the track other than vending machines so they weren't protecting any contracted vendors. I do not know their policy on alcohol. I do normally have a bottle of Crown but never drink any at all (if at all) until after the end of the day. I didn't see anyone with beer cans or anything last time, but I wasn't looking either.

The Track Website has some information, but not much. This is a private, normally "members only" track so they don't have policies for a "normal" track day or event. Having outsiders come in is a rarity there, from what I gathered at the last Lemons race in October. I think that's why there's just not much information about what is and isn't allowed, basically as long as you behave you're good to go.

I do realize that in your case, Don, that might be a tall order, but I have high hopes for you since you're leaving the trouble-making half of they family at home.

10-20 mph is windy??? Sheesh, that's a little breeze from what we've had up here in Feb. Lots of days of 35 knot winds, and a couple of 55 knot days thrown in. I think I can deal with that.

John Stricker

PS: I'm bringing you down a nice little Rocky Patel Cigar I think you might enjoy.

I'll be with my older sister, so I'll be good. maybe

quote Originally posted by jstricker: PS: I'm bringing you down a nice little Rocky Patel Cigar I think you might enjoy.

Nice choice... you boys have fun. Burn one for me.

Well, things are going fairly well. It's a little cool and windy, but nothing like KS at the moment.

After Day 1, we are running 23th out of 95 and 23 laps down from the leader. The car is running well and we're making good time. We were as high as 11th and 5 laps down when our 3rd drive got caught for a pass under yellow. The penalty wouldn't have been bad, we had to switch drivers. The problem was I was the next driver and he had only been out there for about 10 minutes so I wasn't ready.

When we drive in these, we take the safety side pretty seriously. Full firesuit and nomex underwear, race shoes, gloves, radio headset in the helmet, and you don't just throw that stuff on in 2 minutes, especially when the trailer is 1/4 mile away and the 4 wheeler is at the trailer. It cost us a total of about 20 minutes and we are now running where we're at because of that.

We're not to unhappy though. That has been the only penalty. We've avoided some fairly serious on track altercations. About 25 or more have dropped out either by being kicked out (only a couple) or mechanical failures. One car blew up rather spectacularly right in front of me and I got my tires oiled. By right in front of me I mean RIGHT in front of me, maybe about 15 feet. It took a couple of easy laps (fortunately under yellow) to get them dried back off. I've turned our fastest lap time of the race which was a 1:27 and change, and I'm happy with that considering the traffic of 65 cars on a 1.2 mile or so track. The traffic is a nightmare, especially with all the new drivers that have never been on a road race course before.

I have a friend from KS that has been coming with me to the Lemon's races for the last couple years, always as a mechanic. We finally got him to give driving a try and he agreed to try it yesterday on the test and tune to see if he liked it. He did pretty well starting out turning laps at 2:10 but by the time he'd completed 20 or so laps he was turning 1:38's. He decided to try it in the race and ran for an hour. This first two race laps were right at 2:00 minutes but by the end of the hour he was running pretty consisten 1:35's and even knocked of one lap at 1:29. I think he's hooked now.

Maryjane made it down and we got to chat for a bit. It was nice to see him again, but I turned around and he was gone!! As it turned out, when he left we needed to fuel the car so I had to get my firesuit on (fuelers have to have suits on, as well as the fire bottle man with helmets because this year we're fueling in the hot pits) and then I ended up having to run like hell to get ready to drive after the penalty.

Sorry if it seemed I abandoned you Don. It was good to see you again.

We hope to improve our position tomorrow and we're really pretty happy so far. Last year after Day 1 we were running something like 50th due to all the penalties on the first day and we ended up 17th overall. If we can keep our nose clean and car keeps running, we might actually break into the top 10. One of our team members has a blog for the race at http://www.johanssonbrothersracing.blogspot.com/ if you want to keep up a little, but the internet service at the track is pretty bad so updates won't be anything like regular.

For instant updates you can send a text to 41411 and in the message put "Lemons 86". It will give you our current place and how many laps behind the leader we are. Normal text charges apply.

John Stricker

I walked down to get some pics of that dumb lobster car, went to the truck to get my chair, and never could find ya again. I stayed a while--sampled those waaay overpriced burgers, and it was 4pm as I drove out the gate. That wind on the upper deck was killin my ears.

An interesting type of race--all the little bs rules aside--it's about as pure stock car racing as you can get nowdays. There are lots of body alterations--mostly for appearance sake--and of course safety alterations, but performance wise, it was just as they were when they were on the street. IMO, it takes a better driver to run this type of race; on this type of track, than a lot of the other kind of racing, because so much of it is driver rather than car.

That hot fueling 'system' is just downright scary tho--all that spilled fuel. Went down and sat at the end of the straightaway for awhile--thought to myself as I looked at that pile of tires and short guard rail, watcing the cars come straight at me thru my binoculers--- "Self--this ain't the safest place in the world to be watching this from.".

It has been about 5 yrs since John and I had seen each other, and it was kinda funny. I was looking for him and finally called him on his cell--he told me where on the grounds he was located. I went there, didn't see him, went to the other end, and then returned to the spot he described. Saw him--I thought, about 6' away from me, as he looked right at me but I wasn't sure, but he must have thought the same thing, because he walked down the stair where it wasn't so noisy and called me. Neither of us had recognized each other for sure. Kinda awkward and funny at the same time.

When Jane wakes up, and if she feels like going, we may take a ride back out there today. Good luck racing.

Sorry John, the flu is keeping me down. I was looking forward to going too. I would have liked to see that lobster car. I hope you did well in the race.

Jane

------------------
Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality

quote Originally posted by maryjane: I walked down to get some pics of that dumb lobster car, went to the truck to get my chair, and never could find ya again. I stayed a while--sampled those waaay overpriced burgers, and it was 4pm as I drove out the gate. That wind on the upper deck was killin my ears. [quote] You're not the only one the wind was giving issues with. It didn't bother me that much because I'm pretty much used to it, but it definitely wasn't a very nice day. [QUOTE]Originally posted by maryjane: An interesting type of race--all the little bs rules aside--it's about as pure stock car racing as you can get nowdays. There are lots of body alterations--mostly for appearance sake--and of course safety alterations, but performance wise, it was just as they were when they were on the street. IMO, it takes a better driver to run this type of race; on this type of track, than a lot of the other kind of racing, because so much of it is driver rather than car.

There are a lot of modifications you can't see, if you want to see it make it to the end, but you're right that they are as close to the old stock cars as one can see anymore.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: That hot fueling 'system' is just downright scary tho--all that spilled fuel. Went down and sat at the end of the straightaway for awhile--thought to myself as I looked at that pile of tires and short guard rail, watcing the cars come straight at me thru my binoculers--- "Self--this ain't the safest place in the world to be watching this from.".

We knew we would have to have a better system of fueling than last year, we used jugs then. We did not know about fueling in the hot pits, that wasn't allowed last year. They made the change because of pedestrian traffic between pit out and over to their fueling area. We built a 40 gallon tank with an electric pump that will deliver 10 gpm on a four wheel car. We could fill our car in less time than it took to change drivers and we never spilled more than a cup of fuel. I had half a dozen people come look at our rig and I suspect there will be more like it at the next race because of the time savings and safety factor.

I know where you're talking about standing, and I wouldn't be comfortable there either. Although most of the cars aren't FAST fast, we were still doing close to 80 before braking on the front straight.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: It has been about 5 yrs since John and I had seen each other, and it was kinda funny. I was looking for him and finally called him on his cell--he told me where on the grounds he was located. I went there, didn't see him, went to the other end, and then returned to the spot he described. Saw him--I thought, about 6' away from me, as he looked right at me but I wasn't sure, but he must have thought the same thing, because he walked down the stair where it wasn't so noisy and called me. Neither of us had recognized each other for sure. Kinda awkward and funny at the same time. When Jane wakes up, and if she feels like going, we may take a ride back out there today. Good luck racing.

When I lost you I had to go get suited up to fuel. I was hoping you were still in the stands when I got back but couldn't find you. Our whole team had a lack of organization due to the team "captain". That won't happen again. If we have enough drivers the next race I may not drive and do nothing but coordinate and organize the team to keep people where they are supposed to be. We had a problem with people (our people) just wandering off and not telling anyone where they were, not being dressed in time, not being prepared, and to be blunt, just grab-assing around. That's going to stop. Racing should be fun, we're not in it professionally, but it's dangerous and when you have a car and drivers that are capable of winning the thing, and don't because people just aren't prepared, that's unacceptable to me.

I may even just start a new team of my own. I have a two state champion sprint car driver that would like to give this a try. My friend from up here that has been going with us to the races to mechanic finally got in the car and did very, very well. There are a couple other guys from here that can stay with anyone we had driving. I could put together my own, or a second team fairly easily. Maybe even with a Fiero. Maybe even with a 4.9L Fiero. I would have to get aggressive on selling parts off the car to offset some expenses, but it could be done, I think.

As far as this race goes, we did well. We finished 8th out of 95. We'd have been in the top 5 if I hadn't dropped the ball and not been ready to go when we got our penalty. With a little luck and better organization, we had a legitimate shot at winning the thing.

If anyone has a desire to go racing, this is about as cheap (and brutal) as you can get, but don't think you're going to do it for $500. We burned $120 in gas in the race car over the three days. Another $500 going to and from the track. The safety equipment you HAVE to have is going to run at LEAST another $1200. On a Fiero, a brake upgrade will be a must (and brakes are considered safety so that's whatever you want to spend, it doesn't count against the $500). Wheels and tires are also safety so a wide set of custom wheels are going to cost around $350, then another $350 or so for legal tires. Motel rooms, meals, firesuit, helmet, etc., etc., etc. There ain't no such thing as CHEAP wheel to wheel racing, but this is about as cheap as you're going to get.

Hope Jane feels better, and sorry we lost track of each other Don. We may try to make the race in October down at Houston, and maybe even win.

John Stricker

Here it is John--downsized.


The lobsters and the billy big mouth bass are all hardwired into some sort of music system, and they are animated to "sing" and clap their claws to the music. The 2 critters on top do the bass and solo vocals.


A couple of the race cars--yep--that one is made up to resemble a tank.


Court is in session. The judges decreed this driver was guilty of passing under yellow (I think), and he had to remove his suit, don a b&w striped shirt, beret, and whiteface himself as Marcel Morceux [sp], and mime out his transgression in front of a crowd. It's my understanding, that it doesn't take a whole lot at all to end up in front of the judges and be penalized X # of laps, as well as having to jump thru some hoops such as the driver above did.

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 03-02-2009).]

Road and Track actually ran a 4 cyl Fiero a few races ago for a Lemons event. Here is the rule regarding fuel tanks:

quote 3.18: Fuel Bulkhead: The fuel-tank area must be totally separated from the driving compartment. For example, if the fuel tank is in the trunk area, any openings between the trunk and the cockpit must be permanently sealed with bolted, riveted, or welded metal panels. OE fuel tanks that are separate from, and located completely below, the trunk floor or rear-cabin floor are acceptable. If the fuel tank can't be completely separated from the cockpit by metal panels, a metal-encased, FIA-compliant fuel cell with all related compliant fittings must be used.

As long as it is physically separated from the passenger compartment with metal (that is, you don't cut a bunch of holes in the floor panel that aren't filled back in) and it is a stock OE tank, you're good to go. Anything else and you need a real fuel cell.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by maryjane: I thought I read in the rules, that no centerline fuel tanks were allowed? Maybe I have it confused with somthing else tho, but pretty sure there was something about Fieros that excluded them from eligibility.

quote Originally posted by jstricker: As far as this race goes, we did well. We finished 8th out of 95.

Holy Crap that's good! WTG pops!

Was Reinke there working corners or anything?

quote Originally posted by jstricker: Road and Track actually ran a 4 cyl Fiero a few races ago for a Lemons event. Here is the rule regarding fuel tanks:

John, Check your PMs.