DECEMBER 27-28, 2009 WILLOWS, CA
It wasn’t even an option for me. I just had to make the “24 Hours of Lemons” at Thunderhill Raceway Park this last weekend. So, I drove on Christmas Day (Thursday) leaving OC at 7PM. I couldn’t stay awake so I decided to sleep at a Rest Area overnight knowing that the raceway wasn't open until the morning. I finally arrived at the Thunderhill Raceway in the City of Willows at about 9AM and had a chance to walk around the facility. I took the trip of over 1000+ miles round trip with one goal in mind - to engage all my senses and understand what it takes to compete in an endurance race. I was on a mission and employed the discerning eye of a Race Director/Manager tasked with learning how to manage team logistics.
The race was broken up into two separate races on Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to stay for the entire race not knowing the truncated format. The organizers, with their wisdom, decided not to have the race continue through the night because when night descends the dangers of speed are increased by multiples. The Lemons Series make motorsports affordable and conceivably inexperienced drivers of unknown quality can walk on and be a part of any race team. Get a lineup of experienced and inexperienced drivers and throw in the dangers of night driving and a heap of jalopy-nous rolling metal and you could have the entire recipe for disaster.
I had to be at work at my beloved pizza parlor on Sunday and had to leave after the first part of the race was concluded. I brought my Nikon Coolpix 5600 with the intention of taking a ton of pictures. Eventually, I was able to muster enough courage to use the video feature and took a number of clips accompanied by some amateurish commentating. (I discovered an unconscious tendency to say the words terrific and wonderful repetitiously.) After watching the end product and getting a sense for the pre and post production that goes behind news reporting, I could say with grudging respect that Brian William’s job is safe and secure. Nevertheless, if you can look past the quality of my first attempt at video reporting, I think you might find that special intangible that I found in the “Lemons” - that inexplicable something that inspired me to try to get a team together and join the ranks of other junk heap driving loonies.
TRACK CLIPS
FRIDAY MORNING TESTING
FRIDAY AFTERNOON TESTING
RACER INTERVIEWS
VOLVO SKELETON CREW
BMW #101
JORDACHE CAR
MASKED RACER
OTHER CLIPS
CHICKEN TEAM
MISSILE CAR
PHOTO ALBUM
'08 24 HRS OF LEMONS (THUNDERHILL)
It wasn’t even an option for me. I just had to make the “24 Hours of Lemons” at Thunderhill Raceway Park this last weekend. So, I drove on Christmas Day (Thursday) leaving OC at 7PM. I couldn’t stay awake so I decided to sleep at a Rest Area overnight knowing that the raceway wasn't open until the morning. I finally arrived at the Thunderhill Raceway in the City of Willows at about 9AM and had a chance to walk around the facility. I took the trip of over 1000+ miles round trip with one goal in mind - to engage all my senses and understand what it takes to compete in an endurance race. I was on a mission and employed the discerning eye of a Race Director/Manager tasked with learning how to manage team logistics.
The race was broken up into two separate races on Saturday and Sunday. I had planned to stay for the entire race not knowing the truncated format. The organizers, with their wisdom, decided not to have the race continue through the night because when night descends the dangers of speed are increased by multiples. The Lemons Series make motorsports affordable and conceivably inexperienced drivers of unknown quality can walk on and be a part of any race team. Get a lineup of experienced and inexperienced drivers and throw in the dangers of night driving and a heap of jalopy-nous rolling metal and you could have the entire recipe for disaster.
I had to be at work at my beloved pizza parlor on Sunday and had to leave after the first part of the race was concluded. I brought my Nikon Coolpix 5600 with the intention of taking a ton of pictures. Eventually, I was able to muster enough courage to use the video feature and took a number of clips accompanied by some amateurish commentating. (I discovered an unconscious tendency to say the words terrific and wonderful repetitiously.) After watching the end product and getting a sense for the pre and post production that goes behind news reporting, I could say with grudging respect that Brian William’s job is safe and secure. Nevertheless, if you can look past the quality of my first attempt at video reporting, I think you might find that special intangible that I found in the “Lemons” - that inexplicable something that inspired me to try to get a team together and join the ranks of other junk heap driving loonies.
TRACK CLIPS
FRIDAY MORNING TESTING
FRIDAY AFTERNOON TESTING
RACER INTERVIEWS
VOLVO SKELETON CREW
BMW #101
JORDACHE CAR
MASKED RACER
OTHER CLIPS
CHICKEN TEAM
MISSILE CAR
PHOTO ALBUM
'08 24 HRS OF LEMONS (THUNDERHILL)
