It was that time of year again this past weekend. Once again I was rendered speechless. This time not because I was awestruck by the sheer raw passion fostered by this highly democratized version of endurance racing, but by laughter at the pure creative comedy inspired by a race structure that is forcefully, unbelievably, almost religiously cheap. It is impossible to be so financially invested in this race that you forget to just have fun racing. It is genius! Any form of glamor or glitz will immediately starve to death at the 24 hours of LeMons as the culture is decidedly void of the requisites. Sure not all teams are built and equipped equal but all cars are about as close to equal as any other race could ever hope to be. You can go to all the big races you want, but you haven’t felt this kind of passion until you spend at least one day at one of the many 24 Hours of LeMons races nationwide.
I covered this race last year and posted about is here:
24 Hours of LeMons – Arse-Freeze-Apalooza
The weather this year was challenging. Last year’s was dry, cold but clear. This year’s was wet, foggy, not as cold and very poor visibility. Nothing is ever perfect.
Los Luchadores del Fiero Libre
As always I had to cover my favorite team the Luchadores of Fiero Libre. Since the last time I saw them at Sears Pointless, they’ve had a few mishaps, including an unfortunate accident that wrecked the whole front of their Fabled Fiero. The new front end came off a red fiero. This prompted a rebirth of the Fiero Libre as a red-ish speed demon. It was more of an evolution of the team. This year their theme was Luchadores dressed as Michael Jackson in Thriller!!! WTF!!!??? Yeah, I thought so too! Upon arriving to their pit, all the rain and fog disappeared as I was welcomed by the comedy. I was in stitches the whole time. Here are highlights from my coverage of Team Fiero Libre from setup, drivers’ meeting, pre-race prep and race start.
Setup and Prep
Upon arriving and checking-in with Team Fiero Libre, I walked around and snagged a few candid shots of the various teams just waking up and getting ready for the long day ahead. Spirits were high despite the very damp and gloomy weather. Folks were as happy and friendly as anyone could be while following their bliss. Humbling indeed.
New race teams or new cars?
I spotted a few cars I did not recognize from last year’s spectacle. They could be from entire new teams or new cars from previous teams. Considering these cars were already dead, or should I say already dead anything is possible. If there were ever an automotive zombie apocalypse, this is what it would look like!
Misc race and action shots
Below are some miscellaneous track shots from the race. Please feel free to contact me if you don’t see your team car here. I may have some good shots in my archives and am more than happy to share them with you. There is no licensing fee for shots from my coverage of the 24 Hours of LeMons races. Please feel free to re-post, re-blog and publish with proper credits of course. 🙂
PhotoSnob 