24h of Lemons! I went to watch a race once. We were actually going to enter a car but we ended up in a less wacky endurance racing league.
The car cannot cost more than $500 for the initial purchase price. But the cheapest part of this car is the initial price. It adds up quite quickly with safety gear and consumables.
Roadkill entered once and to get the car to run they had to put a $600 MSD ignition box on it, the scrutineers called them on it their defence was “Yes its a $600 part but the moment we bolted it to the car it became effectively worthless”
I fucking hated Freiberger when he thinks he’s being clever like that. His knowledge of muscle cars is respectable, but he’s just a conceited asshole too often for me to follow.
Honestly I think he comes across as genuine. Yeah he can be a bit abrasive but I also cant stand tv presenters who are always so fucking nice and obviously fake.
Its why I always liked the way Jesse James hosted Monster Garage. He was (and is) arrogant AF, but also an experienced fabricator who was happy to call people out on fucking off for the camera too much and not putting work in.
Ive always thought “Personalities should have personalities” otherwise its just interchangable douchebags.
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I’ve seen that, and honestly would love to get a few buddies to chip in and find a jalopy and see how well we can do
Sounds like the Gambler 500. Same $500 ballpark limit but it’s not about speed. Just a fun rally where you go off road from checkpoint to checkpoint in beater rigs, the crazier and dirtier the better. The “gamble” is whether your car makes it 500 miles to the end lol
https://www.jalopnik.com/take-a-shit-in-a-bucket-and-look-at-this-gambler-500-ra-1794806737/
That’s what I was thinking it was, since I didn’t read article…
The rally aspect / 24h endurance is new to me, but trash car races have existed for times immemorial. Or maybe I’m not quite grasping the concept here?
It certainly looks fun though!
It’s the 24 hours of lemons. It’s been going for a good decade+ now. It’s a ton of fun.
Much longer than a decade, I knew some guys that did a lemons race in Illinois about 20 years ago. Wikipedia says they started up in 2006 but I could have sworn I read about those guys before then.
Lemons is an excellent racing league and a fun idea. They have managed to make racing somewhat affordable and kept it from being a “who has the biggest wallet” contest. The race wrap ups on their YouTube channel are also hilarious.
I highly recommend it if you are interested. On their user forums there are lots of already prepped cars for sale so you don’t even have to figure out all of the safety regulations right away. It’s also fun as a spectator so if there is one in your area go check it out for a couple hours, walk the pits, take part in the shenanigans.
Also for a laugh and a good read on the vibe check out their official policy on bribing the judges :
https://24hoursoflemons.com/blog/how-judicial-bribes-work-at-24-hours-of-lemons-inspections/
Those cars definitely have more than $500 in safety parts inside.
Also the cyber truck could soon qualify as a under $500.
Safety equipment is excluded from the cost cap
The key to winning is figuring out how to make winning things safety related and thus not subject to the price cap. New tires won’t blow out unlike the old worn out tire - safety so now you can spend a lot of money on the best racing tires. Good brakes are important so I replaced the warped rotars with competition ultralight racing brakes (if you want to check I can find worn out brakes at a junkyard and you won’t the actual brakes were fine). Those are easy/obvious examples, winning teams are really good at finding such things.
My issue with 24h of Lemons is that everyone seems to just ignore the $500 cap and just take the penalties at the end, so it all evens out. Anyone who does try to limit themselves to $500 would be competing against people who didn’t, and might lose even if they didn’t take any penalties.
shows up in a Power Wheels car
“Y’all 'bout to eat my dust!”
