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Perhaps more than in any other region, Midwestern 24 Hours of LeMons races face the wrath of Mother Nature, from howling winds to torrential downpours. After a pleasant day for Friday's Doing Time in Joliet BS Inspections, Mother Nature bestowed a second unexpected day of pleasant, sunny weather for the hardy Midwestern LeMons crews. Naturally, Sunday's forecast calls for rain, which could potentially throw the whole race into disarray. Here are how things stand at the end of Saturday's nine-hour race session.
Unusually pleasant weather brings an astonishing leader: The Save the Ta-Ta's Chevrolet Camaro. Earlier this year at Carolina Motorsports Park, Team Molde Carlo's G-Body Monte Carlo became the first team to take a Small-Block Chevy to the Winner's Circle. The Ta-Tas are vying to be the second bowtie to capture a win this year and the first to take an unbeatable-on-paper Camaro to the top of the standings at the checkered flag. The Camaro has proven fragile in the past and rain could slow the lightning-quick car to a crawl, so a win is far from certain.
Looking to stop the Camaro are The Blue Shells, who are best known for running long stints in their Honda Accord to Class B victories. While the Accord is racing this weekend, the team's twin-cam Dodge Neon is the star today, finding itself in P2 by a margin of just three laps. If the rain comes, the Shells' front-drive Neon could make a strong run at the top spot.
Just one lap behind The Blue Shells are the wily veterans from Don't Mess With Lexus. Their V8-powered LS400 is always fast and ready to pounce if either of the top two stumble.
In Class B, Bad Mojo's Opel GT shooting brake holds an eight-lap advantage and worked its way to sixth place overall at the end of Saturday. This breadvan team chucked the stock Opel powerplant, instead throwing a Ford Lima four-cylinder from a Ranger under the bonnet.
The veteran Schnitzelwagen Volkswagen Squareback leads Class C by a whopping 24 laps. Doing some fuzzy math, that means they have at least 50 minutes in hand over the second-place Zero Budget Chevy Chevette Diesel, but that's far from a guarantee in the class where cars are most susceptible to mechanical issues. One big problem (or a couple small ones) for the Schnitzelwagen could make Class C very interesting.
The highly anticipated V6 Geo Metro Battle Royale looks headed toward blowout status for the Ford Taurus SHO-powered Charnal House. The NoPro car currently sits second in Class B, 12th overall.
Their opponents from Knoxvegas Lowballers spent most of Saturday pulling the rear subframe so they could diagnose and fix a blown head gasket on their Sable V6. The easiest way to accomplish this, apparently, involves jacking the rear of the car several feet off the ground and wheeling out the subframe. This leaves their race car looking more like Fred Flintstone's whip.
They're not the only team turning wrenches instead of rowing gears. Some cling to the false hope that Porsche shop manuals hold salvation.
Others marvel at how many holes a freedom-seeking connecting rod can make in a Mazda BP block.
More still question the destructive potential of severely overheated Neon brakes. With more than five hours of racing Sunday and potential for wet weather wildness, check back to see how the 2013 Doing Time in Joliet 24 Hours of LeMons shakes out.
from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com | 
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