I got a chuckle when I read you comment, “no welding of inward-facing spikes to the radiators of aggressive cars” But I am sorry to report you are wrong. I took pictures of at least one car that had permanently affixed bolts sticking out at least an inch all along the front bumper. Keeping this in mind for those who don’t remember, I would ask them if they knew what the most common cause of vehicle explosions by fire were. I’ll give you a clue… Old school VW Bugs. The factory VW Bug had the front plates bolted onto the front bumper with two one inch bolts and often when a VW bug would rear-end a full-sized car this two bolts would puncture the fuel tank many times causing a fire.

I sure am glad you informed me about the way you were treated. Excuse my French but I have to say that really pisses me off. I ran a couple times with such an organization some years ago at Laguna Seca (no affiliation with LS) where I had a similar experience as yours. That kind of attitude is not becoming to auto racing and in most cases is not to be found. Boy would I love to mention their name right now but the less publicity they get the better. Favoritism seems to dictate the way they run their operation. What’s ironic about the whole thing is none of them are fast drivers that have ever accomplished anything and yet they are supposed to be “instructing”. It just proves one more facet of what type of operation we are dealing with.

I have no doubt that had we ran we would have had a great time but the bottom line is I sure would hate to learn someone got hurt due to the lack of enforced safety guidelines. No window nets? What’s bad is they just don’t have a clue but someone will pay the price unfortunately before they figure it all out.

Stay in touch and I want to hear more about the freeze plug incident after you left Mexico.

You know I had a feeling you or Will would be there with an old beater. Now I know not to tell you if I invite Will onto my team next time around

I’ll try to respond to your 2 posts as best as I can.

Nets: I can confirm the cars aren’t required to have window nets, but many people do use them anyway. We’ll be using them plus a hans device if we’re allowed back in,(big If).

Speeds: LeMons shortened the track for us, so we weren’t using the entirety of Thunderhill in order to keep speeds down, and there were chicanes to lower speeds on the start/finish straight. That being said, it was freaky out there to be sure, especially while it was raining or dark and 3 deep in a turn.

Safety: In a break from tradition, organizers didn’t tolerate bumping, punting, blocking, spinning, or any number of shenanigans that are normally associated with LeMons this time, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Lots of black flags were flying, (and many for questionable reasons), lots of required driver swaps/penalty times, and I hear a few teams were shown the door. But, aside from the crushing of the People’s Curse car, not many penalties other than time delays were given. Surprisingly, there was no shock collars affixed to the driver’s wang, no fish emulsion balloons, no welding of inward-facing spikes to the radiators of aggressive cars. That stuff seemed to be all for laughs in the driver’s meeting.

Long story short: While LeMons is by no means safe, sane, or fair, it certainly is a hell of a good time. It’s kind of like 5-year-olds playing soccer; There’s no dazzling footwork, no discernible playbook, plenty of inexperienced referees with inaudible whistles, lots of players crying on both teams, occasional boo-boos, and yet everyone’s still having fun.

All the best,
Colin