LeMons Yee-Haw It’s Texas Day One: BenzGay 300E Leads, Black Gold 280ZX Close Behind

Saturday, February 11, 2012

LeMons Yee-Haw It’s Texas Day One: BenzGay 300E Leads, Black Gold 280ZX Close Behind

After a long, cold, windy day at Texas Motor Speedway, the checkered flag finally dropped on the field of battered sub-$500 race cars… some of which were worth much less than their value when the green flag waved on Saturday morning.

The Team BenzGay Mercedes-Benz 300E won the Garrapatas Peligrosas race at MSR Houston last summer, and the big Benz has emerged as one of the top contenders of the Gulf LeMons region. With a mere four-lap lead at the end of Saturday, the BenzGay guys will need to keep their rainbow-flag-adorned machine out of the Penalty Box and breakdown-free all day Sunday.

The Property Devaluation Racing Ford Fairmont wagon (sponsored by the Brown Car Appreciation Society) started off strong and spent the early part of the session as the race leader, but a pair of black flags intervened and the Fairmont finished the day in sixth place— close enough to be a threat.

Sitting four laps back of the BenzGay car, we've got the Z-Wrecks 280ZX. Z-Wrecks won the '12 Gator-O-Rama race, so the BenzGay drivers no doubt break out in a sweat when they see that Black Gold 280ZX looming in the rear-view.

Yes, Team Z-Wrecks spent Friday night performing a quick re-theme job on their formerly alligator-ized car, in honor of the 10th Anniversary Datsun 280ZX.

The Index of Effluency battle started out with the Turbo Style Chevy Sprint looking strong, with the 1972 Mazda RX-2 of Sensory Assault as a real challenger for the race's top prize, but the problem with IOE contenders is that they react badly to being pushed too hard on a race track.

So, the Turbo Style Sprint got a little loose, spun out, dug in, and went on its roof. Nobody hurt and the car was still drivable after being put back on its wheels, but LeMons rules state that a car that flips over is done for the weekend.

Meanwhile, quite a few connecting rods were liberated of their confining engine blocks during the course of the day. Here's a pair of Texas Nissan 240SX gurus contemplating the reason their car is no longer turning laps. Saturday night will be the usual frantic wrenchfest in the TWS pits.
At 9:00 AM Sunday, it all starts again. Check in Sunday night to see who won the fourth annual Yee-Haw It's Texas 24 Hours of LeMons!