We didn't have time to inspect all 90 entrants on Friday, which means we'll be getting up at oh-dark-thirty to inspect the remaining cars before the cars hit the Stafford Motor Speedway track at noon Saturday. However, it's clear that the makings of a mighty three-way race for the Index of Effluency— the top LeMons prize, given to the terrible car that achieves beyond all expectations— are already in place.
We've got the veteran Chard Beef Regal, a former IOE winner and a car that has singlehandedly consumed 75% of the junkyard small-block Chevy engines in Connecticut. You might remember this car from last year's race, during which the Chard Beef crew performed so many engine swaps that they should probably consider going with Velcro engine mounts— or maybe a Chrysler 318 swap— this time around.
Then we've got the Abarf Fiat 131S Mirafiori, which looks like a great race car... on paper. In practice, we expect it to have infinite a few issues, and so we didn't even bother to open the hood during the inspection. Maybe they've got a 600-horsepower SR20DET in there!
Our first two-stroke LeMons racer! This late arrival didn't show up in time for the Friday inspection, but we'll get the chance to check out this instant IOE front-runner on Saturday morning. Excellent car choice!
I'll probably be too busy to do much in the way of daytime race updates, but you never know— check in tomorrow and you might see some surprises!
Disclosure: Murilee Martin gets crazy baksheesh for his work on the LeMons Supreme Court