The fact that the 2020 24 Hours of Lemons Halloween Hooptiefest is happening is kind of a miracle. Whatever it took to make it happen, I’m glad it’s here. This will be the first race that I am doing in over two years. While other obligations kept me from competing, my teammates did two races with the mighty Park Bench Racing #451 Buick (NASCAR-like shout-out to our nonexistent sponsors here). One of those was a straight 24-hour race, which must have been exhausting.

We have been racing this Buick, *checks notes*, oh mah gawd, since 2013! I actually paused as I was writing this and emailed Eric Rood to ask if there is one car, not one team, that has been racing longer than us. And we’ve been doing between one and three races per year.
Eric said:

In New England, there’s the

– Rusty Tear Fiero (Raced in like 2007 or 2008)

– Black Solara

– the Haterade E30 that has been through a few teams

– maybe the We Audi Be Faster Audi Coupe

But you’re in that discussion.

Wow. Holy crap. It’s now my mission to have the most used race car in Lemons and still be competitive.

Being our Lemons best

Speaking of being competitive, we have not done much to the car in its time. Because why improve on perfection, right? We got a Class C win once and an Organizer’s Choice one. What more would you want from life?

And so, the Regal continues on with its supercharged engine and an automatic transmission that sometimes does not go into fourth gear. Our Camaro brakes have been great but proper race pads are getting difficult to find. The Eibach springs are still supported by some AutoZone shocks. Pontiac Grand Prix sway bars are swaying like they did twenty years ago. Proper alignment, now with more camber, always helps.

And we got some new tires!

We have had some minor tire issues on this car. The Continentals ExtremeContact Sport would just fold in corners. We had BFG g-Force Sport COMP-2 that were great but wore out prematurely. The Dunlops Direzzas were awesome but we can’t buy them anymore.

The Toyo Proxes R1R has a 200 treadwear rating, higher than Lemons-mandated minimum treadwear rating of 190, and are available in our size. I reached out to Toyo and they agreed to send us a set for this race. From what I have read and from its specifications, this tire may be as good as the Dunlops. I’m very interested to see how it holds up in a weekend of crap-can racing.

Wish us luck!

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, there can be no spectators at the 2020 24 Hours of Lemons Halloween Hooptiefest. This means that those two people will have to look for coverage via various social media channels. The rest of you will have to wait until next week to see how we did. Wish us luck!