Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - 24 Hours of Lemons

Senator · 12-28-2015, 06:33 PM

The blame must be given to Clay Sauncy.

While casually waiting on a late Thursday afternoon, for a meeting with upper management, I asked Clay what he was doing for the weekend. He said he was racing a car in Houston. I expected something like, "going to Home Depot with the wife", or "seeing another TCU football game", but I wasn't quite expecting what he told me.

I immediately started peppering him with questions. My other co-workers were looking at me with a "focus man, we are about to go into this meeting" look, but the more I asked, the cooler it sounded.

He and some friends had been working for months prepping a BMW to run in the 24 Hours of Lemons in Houston. I hadn't heard of it before. I was an F1 fan until my hero, Aryton Senna was killed in a race at Imola in 1994. I lost heart, and went on to other things. But before that, at age 6 and up, my favorite cartoon was Speed Racer. I loved the parts where they showed him in the drivers seat, with total concentration, willing this make believe car to do what he wanted. Aryton Senna was the real life embodiment of Speed Racer to me.

I spent that entire weekend researching everything I could about the 24 Hours of Lemons. Where were the races? What were the best cars to use? How much was this going to realistically cost? When the family went to sleep, I went to work.

When Clay returned to work Monday, I pestered him all day to come debrief me on the race. He was sore and tired, but he did have a big smile on his bearded face. He was young, I knew he could bounce back from that. I wasn't so sure about me.

His team had done well, but by showing up in a BMW, they were penalized 100 laps and spent the entire 2 days making up for it. They have something called a BS Tech Inspection and it's meant to even the playing field. So much for buying a BMW to enter.

I asked him tons of questions, and he said, "I ran this race and you seem to know more about it than I do." One of my thousand quirks. My family calls me the research king, and I don't think it's a compliment.

So, after conferring, ie. begging my wife to let me buy a $500 dollar race car, I began my search. Question one. Do I buy a car, gut it, and make it a race car? Or do I buy a car already setup to race?
Question two. How much was this really going to cost me?

12-28-2015, 06:33 PM	#2
Senator FOFC's Elected Representative Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The stars at night; are big and bright	The blame must be given to Clay Sauncy. While casually waiting on a late Thursday afternoon, for a meeting with upper management, I asked Clay what he was doing for the weekend. He said he was racing a car in Houston. I expected something like, "going to Home Depot with the wife", or "seeing another TCU football game", but I wasn't quite expecting what he told me. I immediately started peppering him with questions. My other co-workers were looking at me with a "focus man, we are about to go into this meeting" look, but the more I asked, the cooler it sounded. He and some friends had been working for months prepping a BMW to run in the 24 Hours of Lemons in Houston. I hadn't heard of it before. I was an F1 fan until my hero, Aryton Senna was killed in a race at Imola in 1994. I lost heart, and went on to other things. But before that, at age 6 and up, my favorite cartoon was Speed Racer. I loved the parts where they showed him in the drivers seat, with total concentration, willing this make believe car to do what he wanted. Aryton Senna was the real life embodiment of Speed Racer to me. I spent that entire weekend researching everything I could about the 24 Hours of Lemons. Where were the races? What were the best cars to use? How much was this going to realistically cost? When the family went to sleep, I went to work. When Clay returned to work Monday, I pestered him all day to come debrief me on the race. He was sore and tired, but he did have a big smile on his bearded face. He was young, I knew he could bounce back from that. I wasn't so sure about me. His team had done well, but by showing up in a BMW, they were penalized 100 laps and spent the entire 2 days making up for it. They have something called a BS Tech Inspection and it's meant to even the playing field. So much for buying a BMW to enter. I asked him tons of questions, and he said, "I ran this race and you seem to know more about it than I do." One of my thousand quirks. My family calls me the research king, and I don't think it's a compliment. So, after conferring, ie. begging my wife to let me buy a $500 dollar race car, I began my search. Question one. Do I buy a car, gut it, and make it a race car? Or do I buy a car already setup to race? Question two. How much was this really going to cost me? __________________ "i have seen chris simms play 4-5 times in the pros and he's very clearly got it. he won't make a pro bowl this year, but it'll come. if you don't like me saying that, so be it, but its true. we'll just have to wait until then" imettrentgreen "looking at only ten games, and oddly using a median only, leaves me unmoved generally" - Quiksand