LeMons - not Le Mans - 'squeezed' onto summer racing schedule

In 1923, the first car endurance race was held.

This event eventually turned into the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most famous events in the automotive world. It is still held each year in France (there are even American Le Mans competitions this summer at the race track at Lime Rock Park) — and it has spawned its own parody race, held at tracks around the United States.

It is called the 24 Hours of LeMons, and it is in many ways the exact opposite of the French original, which is considered a particularly stylish and elegant competition.

In the original 24 Hours of Le Mans, cars from around the world race on a track for 24 hours straight.

The 24 Hours of LeMons has a similar premise. However, in this particular race, all cars must be worth $500 or less to qualify.  

This event is custom-made for amateur drivers with a sense of fun and a sense of humor. The website at 24hoursoflemons.com describes this competition as, “Endurance racing for $500 cars. It’s not just an oxymoron; it’s a breeding ground for morons. It’s where Pintos and Maseratis battle to lap a Le Car. It’s where laughing first-timers dice with Nomex-soiling pros.â€

Nomex is the name of the fireproof fabric worn by race drivers.

This year, the 24 Hours of LeMons will be held in 13 different states. On July 24 and 25, teams will compete at the track at Stafford Springs, Conn.

Hard at work in preparation for the race, toiling away on a $500 Audi at a workshop in Millerton, is a team of six local car enthusiasts.

Ed Reagan, the team captain, discovered the 24 Hours of LeMons on the Internet, and became intrigued. One by one he managed to drag a handpicked crew of friends, racers and mechanics into the competition, and to create a racing team of six: Reagan, the Rev. Carl Franson, Dan Andrus, Alex Kramer, Ted Sullivan and Don Drislane.

Each will take a turn driving for one to two hours at a time, for a total of 15 hours.

All have racing experience but several haven’t raced in a while. Quite a while.

At a recent interview, Franson (a retired race car driver who is now a Methodist minister, formerly of the Sharon Methodist Church) wondered if he would be able to get into a properly competitive frame of mind.

“Will I be able to generate it or will I be driving like an old man?†he mused.  

There is more than mental preparation needed, of course. Even though the value of the car has to be $500 or less, there is no limit to how much money can be spent on safety features for car and drivers.

The team has already spent somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 to strip out any flammable fabrics or breakable glass, to install a racing seat and a metal roll cage made of seamless tubing and to upgrade the brakes and tires. Then there’s the cost of gas, helmets and specialized fireproof driving suits for each of the racers.

The car was donated by Franson’s wife, who was getting tired of the broken-down vehicle sitting around on their property.

How, one might wonder, is it possible to know the value of the car if it was already owned by a team member? The team members did research to see what comparable vehicles are selling for.

There have been teams in the past who tried to get around the $500 rule. They arrived at the track with a nicer car than others in the competition.

But the rules of the 24 Hours of LeMons allow the other teams to decide to disqualify cars that are thought to be too valuable. Those cars are then destroyed, right there at the race site.

The Tri-state team estimates that its car will travel at relatively moderate speeds, 70 to 80 miles per hour, on a half-mile oval  track, with about 30 other teams. The oval also includes a short race course in the center of the track.

The team members don’t anticipate any unsafe high jinks, any death-defying lane changes, or any aggressive fender bashing.

“We’re not in it to win anything, just to have a good time and finish,†Reagan said.

Of course, not all the drivers will  share this laid-back attitude. But in the 24 Hours of LeMons, if anyone appears to be putting other drivers in harms way then that driver and his car are removed from the race.

The Tri-state team has gone through all the necessary safety precautions and gone to great lengths to make their broken-down $500 race car safe.

“The one thing they are serious about is safety,†Franson said of the LeMons organizers.

All six members of this team are aware of the comical elements of this race. But they also feel it is eminently worth doing. Franson and Reagan were both race car drivers, many years ago, and they feel this race is an important antidote to the high cost of real racing.

“Every time someone comes up with a new way to go faster, it costs more money,†Reagan said. “Competitive racing is like war: The cost keeps escalating.â€

And as with war, perhaps the best way to approach it is with a sense of humor.

“For me, I think this is the nuttiest thing I’ve ever done,†Franson said.