Anyone who has ever spectated, worked, crewed or raced at a round the clock endurance race will tell you that the energy throughout the weekend is unlike anything you will ever experience anywhere else. For those who have crewed or raced, it might just be the toughest thing you will ever do and you will certainly tell the story for the rest of your life.
Donny Edwards has turned the experience up a notch by running the race solo. They call it Ironman. As I’m writing this, Donny is just a few minutes away from 22 hours, making him officially the new NASA Ironman!
Not that it has all been smooth sailing, as the team has had their challenges through the night. First a leaky fuel jug made for a long pit stop, then later on there was a 5 minute penalty resulting from that leak. As often happens, pit reports are becoming interesting as the hours wind on. Donny stopped for a 1/2 hour massage, while Will Faules kept his balls warm with hot chocolate.
Not all teams have had it so easy. Early on, there was a 4 lap full course caution while a Mazda that crashed & burned was cleaned up, the BIGGSB Racing Subaru has burnt the paint off the hood thanks to an oil leak and while I haven’t heard details yet, there are many on the trailer.
Between Will and the NASA live chat, I’ll try to keep our readers in the loop for the final 3 hours of the race. For now, you’ll have to check out the giant gallery of images from the first hours of the race yesterday courtesy of official NASA photographers Head-On Photos.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Reading this it sounds as if Will was keeping Donny’s balls warm but I assure you that wasnt the case. If Will was keeping anyone’s balls warm it was his own. lol
Hmmm – I didn’t think of it that way – usually I’m the first one to go down the naughty road!
I laughed my a$$ when reading that…. I was trying to picture the massage table and how Will would have to navigate to do his thing.