stuttgart46

Have you guys been to one of these? I went this weekend to one at MSR Houston. I was going to drive but I wanted to check it out before hand.
I've never seen such a horrible thing at a racetrack. I saw several cars get black flagged and then stop on the track at the flag stand or right after it to see what they did wrong. I saw 100's of passes under yellow.
I grasp the concept of these events but someone is going to get hurt but other's people ignorance.

txhokie4life

If you can -- check out the Chump Race in San Marcos this coming weekend.
There's a 7 hour race on Saturday and 7 on Sunday at Harris Hill Road Oct 6/7.

I did Lemon's when I first started a couple years ago. So my comparison might be dated.
ChumpCars is a similar concept with smaller fields. Most of the Chumps have some race experience.
I'm on the low end of the pole from that perspective.

The competition seems higher. The BS is lower. More about competitive racing than
a spectacle.

Mike
Flat Out Racing #85 Porsche 924S

Plavan

Chump is wayyyyyyyyyyy better than Lemons

PJorgen

IMHO Lemons races have become victims of their own successes. It used to be a few races with guys who pretty much knew what they were doing and it was pretty safe. I drove in 2 Lemons races at Thunderhill a number of years ago, but won't do it again, it's really changed. Gotten way too popular and everybody and their dog thinks they can drive a race car.

I have no experience with Chump Car, may have to check it out.

GuyIncognito

you do Chump races?

I'm doing my first one at Road America in a couple of weeks. depending on how that goes I might be interested in more, if you ever have an open seat.

IcemanG17

I disagree.......I have found the racing to be very exciting and nothing teaches you how to handle traffic better......sure there are plenty of a$$-hats out there, but Lemons system of penalties quickly weeds them out.....

A few weeks ago at Thunderhill we had 186 cars on track....honestly it didn't feel that bad.....when we ran 170+ at Sears it seemed more crowded....

Bottom line, its not SERIOUS racing.....its fun racing....if you show up we a hard core serious attitude they will quickly spank you.....

177mph

Love the lemons series. Lots of fun and lots of good racing. Great people as well. Run 2 races and will run many more....

"team spongebob"

Horus2000

And that, IMHO, sums up the difference between the two series. Chump at least tries to be serious racing. Many of the teams at a Chump race that are not serious contenders for a podium and are truly just doing it for the fun of it. It's intended to be racing on the cheap, but racing still. The rules, penalties, professionalism, competition etc. of Chump is relatively serious. It's a ton of fun, but focused on racing. My observation is that for Lemons, it's fun first and racing is a distant secoond - which is totally cool, too. Just depends on what you're looking for.

consolidated

Do a few LeMons races and you eventually go Chumpcar. Cute paddock games and random penalties get uncute quickly. LeMons: carnival masquerading as a car race. Chumpcar: endurance racing with junk cars.

Chumpcar racers are there to compete, LeMons racers are there to participate. Find your happy spot.

We've been hit, spun, taken out in LeMons multiple times, never in Chump. LeMons drivers can be anyone, i.e. no track awareness, never been to a DE, unpredictable but with aggression. A little less so in Chumpcar.

xsboost90

in my area the chump races started getting pretty full at 80+ cars per race. Our first race was a Lemons race and we got the curse so no more of that. We did two more years of chumpcar and it was great but the bumps and bruises per race kept getting higher and higher. Mostly people coming over on you in the middle of a corner who arent looking out for other drivers.

samluke

I race both Pca and chumps. Love them both. I am not attracted to Lemons.

IcemanG17

I have little faith in Chumpcar......I find it odd when all of a sudden timing and scoring doesn't work (the app worked fine).....a couple hours later the official results came out and the 3rd place team won....umm okay.... Jay intentionally runs a circus......John claims to be serious, but shows his true colors and play favorites even worse than Jay does...Jay has never held back the results for two hours then changed the winner......

PJorgen

I admit it has been some time (4 years maybe) since I did Lemons at T'Hill but I cannot imagine 186 cars on track! The starting grid must have stretched most of the way around the track. The guy on pole is lucky he didn't rear-end the last guy on the grid at the start.

Of course, everything was better in the old days, and the older I get, the better I was.

FGL28

LeMons and Chumpcar are a blast. It is Burning Man for Gear Heads.

User 52121

I've been running in the Lemons series since 2010 with a few friends (most of them are also RL'ers here). Good time but I agree, lots and lots of idiots out there (who CLEARLY have NO experience on a track). Passes under yellow - yep. Also people who SLAM on the brakes when they see a yellow (lost count of how many people I've almost piled into because of that!) Definitely more "spectacle" than "racing" and you definitely need to have the right attitude ("fun" first, "racing" second).

It IS fun though. We have a great time.

As a team I think we'd prefer to get into Chumpcar ("racing" first, "fun" second) but the closest Chumpcar race to the Chicago area is Road America. Lemons has much closer rounds (Autobahn twice, GingerMan once) so until Chumpcar picks up something closer, we're stuck with Lemons.