by Caroline on Crack (web) from LAist

What do you do when you're a gearhead with lightning-quick MacGyver fixes, $500 to spare and the need for speed? Most likely you're racing a junker you rebuilt with zip-ties and duct-tape at the 24 Hours of LeMons in Altamont Motorsports Park located between Livermore and Tracy in Northern California. That's where I spent this past weekend, tagging along with one of the LeMons veteran teams, Eyesore Pimpin (formerly known as Eyesore Racing) from Long Beach. This was their fourth LeMons race.

This weird and wonderful race series was started by Bay Area car guy and editor of various car magazines, Jay Lamm, at Altamont Motorsports Park in 2006 and spoofs the well-known 24 Hours of Le Mans car race. Its popularity with racing enthusiasts has spread and the series has extended to Connecticut, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas as well.

The premise of LeMons is that each team builds a $500 endurance racecar (not including the cost of safety equipment but including the cost of the junker and prep) and then races it for 14 hours (split into two 7-hour days).