Now the two have been unnaturally combined! The sordid tale of a rag tag team of misfits who create a 24 Hours of Lemons racecar from a $300 1987 Toyota Supra with 200k miles, and proceed to dominate the 70th percentile with their awesomeness and turgid mediocrity. Hilarity ensues. We start in Spring of 2011 as Team Don't Ask, Don't Tell. For our steed we picked a $300 Supra bought from a charity.
It has over 200,000 miles on it, and is tired and creaky. We aim to drive the wretched beast on the Infineon Raceway with 170 other cars for two 7 hour days at full speed without any real racing modifications. Our car is pink and covered with c**k camouflage. What could possibly could wrong? Oh, and its raining when we get there. After a first day of learning the Lemons ropes, and racking up a handful of bad driving penalties, things look good for a mid-field finish. Day two comes and the tired old engine decides to leave us for greener pastures. Home early, lessons learned. Team members: Mike Sarcona, John Ficarra, Pierce Plam, James Barton, Carlo
We return in the Fall of 2011 to Infineon Raceway as Team Eradication, completely unaware that we were allowed to race under the same name twice. The Supra is now covered in the scattered parts of human remains and under the hood is something special. With the stock 3.0 liter gone kaput we have sourced on craigslist a 2.5 liter twin turbo 1JZ engine from Japan, supposedly with on 40k miles on it. It looks the business, but unfortunately not one team member has any experience with turbos or Japanese powerplants. We stick it in and pray. On the track the car is quick, but it is overheating. Apparently we were suppose to put in an intercooler or some nonsense, and maybe a bigger radiator. We nurse the car through the two days and see the checkered flag for the first time. Team members: Mike Sarcona, John Ficarra, Carlo
Spring of 2012 arrives and for some unknown reason we are still pursing the dream of not coming in not last. We head for what is now called Sonoma Raceway (Infineon naming rights had expired, thank god) with Team Historically Hopeless. The name comes from the Lemons organizers themselves. When we ask for some leeway to buy and intercooler and radiator they permit us saying that our car is "historically hopeless." In go the intercooler and radiator and we hope that the overheating issue is resolved. Also new to the team is the brilliant Yumi Dietz, two time winner of The 2904 Transcontinental Motorized Vehicular Tournament of Efficiency and Endurance. The Supra is outfitted in the livery of the Smokey Yunick NASCAR Chevelle, possibly the most brilliant piece of cheater car ever invented. The car runs strong, but hot. It rains heavily on Saturday and everyone of us has a spin. To avoid being qualified we sit out the last hours of Saturday. Sunday comes with sun and the car is a blast to drive and we make up a few spots. The Supra is starting to come on form. We see the checkered flag for the second time. Team members: John Ficarra, Mike Sarcona, Yumi Dietz
A new track come our way in the Fall of 2012. Thunderhill raceway near Chico, CA is a fast, long track that is just awesome. Joining us on this outing is John's dad, John. At 75 years young he will be taking to the track for the first time. An inspiration to us all. The Supra is tarted up like the character Wingo from the Pixar movie Cars. It looks great. The only problem is that on the race weekend the temps are in the 90s and our car (and the drivers) don't like the heat. The car is equipped with cool shirts to keep the driver's temps down. Basically an ice chest that pumps cold water into a special shirt that the driver's wear. It works a treat and saves our butts. The car is not as happy. We burn through a full set of brakes after the first day. The previous brakes had lasted 3 races at Sonoma. In the course of two day we cover more miles and complete more laps that any previous race and finally reach the 50th percentile. Team members: John Ficarra, John T. Ficarra, Mike Sarcona, Yumi Dietz
Up next, Spring 2013... Sonoma. "Velocitas Eradico"
