No, not the Ferrari thing, but this:
“There is a difference between an “activity” and a “race”, and it is important to understand what those differences might be. If Lemons and Chump Car were really races, then the primary purpose would be to have a race – but, that’s not the primary purpose and everybody knows it.”
I wrote that passage a couple of days ago in my post Chump Car!!!, about this weekends event at Portland International Raceway. It turns out that not everybody “knows it”.
Here’s an example from a 24 Hours of Lemons race:
Recently, I made a number of inquires to friends and acquaintances asking for photos of their Chump Cars and descriptions of their driver line-ups. I didn’t get many takers. The reason, it seems, is that they don’t want anybody to know what they’re up to…
Why not – you may ask? I think they figure that if they hide until just before the race (that would be now), the officials won’t notice that they’ve grossly exceeded their budgets. The rules clearly state that cars will be assigned penalty laps if they run afoul of the $500 prep rule. Actually, maybe not so clearly, but they do say this:
“If you screw-up… you’ll either be docked laps or you’ll have to face “The Wrecking Crew.” We hope that you’re as good at fixin’ cars as they are at dismantling them.”
If we apply just a little bit of logic we can deduce that since this is specifically supposed to be affordable racing ($500 cars), that the powers that be will vigorously protect this idea (crap-can racing commandment) by imposing “penalties” on those that “screw-up”. After all (dare I say it), if we just want to do laps in $2000 cars we can do that at a Conference event.
Anyway, I did receive some photos of a mobile Italian restaurant, which is really cool and I wouldn’t think counts toward the $500. But, they have no pictures of the race car? – Suspicious indeed… I’m told it’s a Fiat X 1/9, well actually (counting the pasta cooker) it’s a Fiat X 1.5/9 which (if you take the time to do the math) is really a Fiat X 1/6.
In any case, I’m not so worried about this one because the vital bits of the motor in an old Italian car like that will be organized much like a bowl of seafood linguine by the time the second bottle of Chianti is gone… Ask me how I know sometime.
Then there are a couple of teams with reclaimed Spec Miatas that they think nobody knows the cost of parts for. Excuse me – hey look over here, there are some guys that have built a couple of these things.
For example: the hard top on your $500 car is worth $800 all day long on Craigslist – “but we only paid $200 for the car, from my co-driver…” These guys must think that the officials are Ferrari F1 fans.
And, if we put some fins on this one then maybe everybody will think its a fish and not a real race car..? Until they start falling off of the poor thing – but that’s okay because the corner workers (both of them) will be looking for something to do around midnight…
It’s no secret that this was (very recently) a real race car. Again, we know stuff and we’re not afraid to prove it. Lest you think that this is sour grapes or garden variety whining – reconsider. Mostly I’m just bored, but there’s nothing gardeny about it and I am not telling you what to think of any of this, anyway – that’s all up to you (and those who would judge you). I just shine the light of righteousness on those of sinister intentions – yes, I’m talking to you Schrader.
