After showing up to the bustling metropolis of Willows, California, we got some Camarones de Diablo at the Mexican joint next to the motel, then headed over to Thunderhill Raceway to see what manner of crazy person hardcore competitor would be wrenching on their sub-$500 race cars on a 40-degree night. In the rain. We're going to have to give our first Spirit of LeMons award to Team Dirty Drifters, whose Corolla's 3TC developed a rod knock during a practice run earlier. They'd already driven 500 miles down from Portland, then sent a team member another 170 miles to San Jose to buy another engine... which they'd probably start swapping back into the car at about 1:00 AM. Oh, and they also blew the differential.
We were happy to find that the Carpet Pissers will be racing, though the Pissers themselves were nowhere to be found; perhaps they were rolling a few frames. Give us ze money!
We saw this Mazda racing at Altamont in October (they came in 37th), and here it is again. Team members were too busy with a welding frenzy to chat with us.
Team Nerd Herd was hard at work prepping their MR2- looks like they failed the decibel test and had to add a muffler. Nerd Herd was playing it smart, with a parts car in reserve.
Speaking of parts cars, how about this '91 Nissan SE-R? Team Krider Racing brought a clean-looking 4-door Sentra, and they were just gearing up to pluck all the parts they might need to swap during the race tomorrow. Front Wheel Drive Hoonage Potential!