LeMons—Altamont 2008
Friday
This time around, LeMons feels very different than it did leading up to Thunderhill. For T’hill, we were working on the car every week for six weeks prior to the race, and weren’t totally sure everything would come together in time. Leading up to Altamont, though, we didn’t start on the car until two weeks before the race, even though we needed to replace the clutch, the center bearing on the driveshaft, make a strut brace, and a variety of other little things that somehow added up to a lot. Nevertheless, we were all pretty chilled out about it, and it all got done.
We also have two new drivers for Altamont. Mike and Nick dropped out, and Robert and Stephan stepped up. We don’t have nicknames for them yet, but I’m sure they’ll have some by the end of the weekend. Who knows, maybe Mason might even lose his Captain Slow title.
We were planning for everyone to go out to Altamont on Friday and stay in Livermore, but half the team ultimately decided to sleep in their own beds, leaving me, Captain Slow, and Mr. T to hold down the fort at the La Quinta here in Far East Livermore. We waited too long and missed out on getting a room at the Best Western that is acting as the de facto headquarters for the race teams. No worries, however, because it’s just across the parking lot from our digs.
The track opened up at one o’clock this afternoon, so Mason, Stephan, and I high-tailed it out from SF to ensure we got good paddock spots and got the car teched. We had the good sense to have the car trailered out to Altamont by a real transport company that happens to be run by the guy, Chris Overzet, who converted our 4-point cage to the newly required for 2008 6-point configuration. Synergy, I tell ya. This was a great improvement that made getting to the race a low-stress process.
With the kind cooperation of Team Size Matters, we were able to secure three adjacent paddock spots for Bernal Dads Racing and the two cars Chris and his people are running. They’ve got a full complement of gear and toys that I hope we have no need of this weekend.
After tying up some loose ends, we got the car over for tech inspection around four o’clock and promptly discovered that this author is a knucklehead. I left at home the inspection form that had been mailed to me. The inspectors gave us a hard time, but eventually a form materialized, and we got through. After that, the BS judges pored over the car, made some polite insults, and passed us with no penalties.
Thomas showed up not too much after this, and while he and Mason did whatever it is that they did, Stephan and I took the opportunity to walk around the paddock and peep some of the other entries. High points were the pirate-themed Miata of San Jose Scalawags and the pimped-out (literally) first-gen CRX of Eyesore Pimpin’—complete with pimps and hos. I think both of these teams are likely to be in the running for the People’s Choice award. If the pimpmobile does win, we’ll have had a part in it because we donated our unused pair of fuzzy dice to them. They were quite excited by the gift; we had done our good deed for the day.
Coincidentally, one of the pimps went to university with Stephan. They were chatting for a bit before they realized that they knew each other. I think they might have been distracted by all the hos.
We then rendezvoused with the other two and hooked up a cooling fan to blow air on the driver. We also checked fluids and buttoned everything up so we could leave by the six o’clock track closing time. Stephan headed home, and Mason, T, and I headed for the La Quinta.
As I write this, Mason is on the bed, soaking in some television and trying to persuade me and T to go see Iron Man tonight. He’s also informed us that he forgot the charger for his iPhone. I’m not sure we’ll make it out alive without Mason’s iPhone. Pray for us.
Bernal Dads Racing is supported by