A buddy and I purchased a 1986 Prelude for twenty-four Hours of Lemons racing. We spent June, July and a part of August in New Orleans (search for it on a map proper subsequent to the solar) fixing it up. We purchased it from a man who had desires of Lemons racing himself, so we didn’t have as far to go as we would. To at the present time, I’ll by no means perceive how a Japanese engineer checked out that nightmare vacuum system and thought, “nailed it.”

This was late aughts and we proudly trailered our child to the closest Lemons Race- Can’t Get Bayou on the Circuit Grand Bayou in Belle Rose, La. It was 4 billion levels. We took the Prelude out on the observe for some follow laps…

And the truth that we by no means dropped the oil pan fucked us. Somebody within the chain of possession had RTV’d the pan and whereas below racing circumstances, it melted and clogged the consumption, drying the oil up and destroying the engine.

We name off the 2 others who have been coming from Texas to race with us (one was the unique proprietor). As an alternative of turning round, they begin craigslisting for appropriate donor vehicles. We discover one we’re sure will work, they purchase it EN ROUTE for 500 bucks and we put together our automobile to obtain its new engine. The entire time we’re getting help from each staff within the paddock and the race organizers. We didn’t know what the hell we have been doing more often than not and folks got here out of the woodwork with instruments and recommendation. Lemons racers are a few of the greatest folks.

Automobile will get there within the night of the primary day of racing. We go at it, tearing the brand new engine away from its auto transmission (and authentic automobile) to get it able to mate to our handbook. About 2am or in order that evening we uncover that engine and transmission are, in truth, NOT suitable. We pack it in and have some beers.

After the race ends the next day, we keep to have fun the victors solely to seek out that we’d been awarded the You Bought Screwed award, a lot of cheers from our fellows, and a $500 purse- which we instantly signed over to those that purchased our doomed donor automobile.

We might go on to place many laps on our shitty however beloved carbureted Prelude at some great southern racetracks (Barber completely guidelines). However that first race, the place we by no means truly raced, was my fondest reminiscence of the game.