Corvette Racing = Class Acts!

[Rogue Leader]

So me, my dad, and my girlfriend Pam headed to Limerock for the ALMS race this past weekend. I of course sported my 24 Hours of Lemons T-Shirt and Pam her Lemons hat. So we actually managed to get into conversations with a couple teams about Lemons (and I think we even convinced 3rd place at LeMans GT finishers Robertson Racing to actually do it), but nothing beat the reception we got at Corvette Racing.

I walked up and this guy ahead of me says to Oliver Gavin "Great job at LeMans, I don't know how you guys do it every year." He responds with "yeah I know, its tough but we are just driven" or something inspiring like that, and I say "Man I can't imagine, I have a hard enough time with the 24 hours of Lemons!"

Well that was like the secret password!

Their publicist (I guess thats who she was) was behind them holding the Lemans trophy and says "You're a Lemons Driver?" and I said "yeah I have a team we have run 5 races." She says back "some of our Engineers do Lemons too" which I knew. Now all 4 Corvette drivers are like asking me questions, Pam is looking at me like WTF is going on here these famous pros are asking my boyfriend about his piece of **** VW Fox?. They asked about our results and stuff. When I mentioned how we were up to 6th at Loudon and our engine blew up with 3 hours to go they all were like "wow man, that sucks we know how that is."

Then the best part, they invited us in to check out the garage, and the publicist was like "hey want to get a picture with the trophy?" I was like, HELL YEAH. So here we are:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e302/tommy861/IMG_5067.jpg

Entirely grateful to the whole Corvette Racing team from Pratt & Miller. Also she said if we run into their Lemons team at a race to show them this, but we don't ever end up on the west coast so I doubt that will happen. Either way, was a great experience, and many thanks to Corvette Racing!

[SteveH]

Very cool :thumbup:

[Trevor Longman]

Wow what an awesome experience! I love the casual atmosphere that ALMS races have. The way you can chat with the drivers on the grid is great, and people are nice enough to do things like this. It must be such a thrill to hold the Le Mans trophy! My dad and I had a blast this weekend and I'm sure you did too! :cool:

[Rogue Leader]

Wow what an awesome experience! I love the casual atmosphere that ALMS races have. The way you can chat with the drivers on the grid is great, and people are nice enough to do things like this. It must be such a thrill to hold the Le Mans trophy! My dad and I had a blast this weekend and I'm sure you did too! :cool:

I agree we had such a great time, they are really great at making you feel like you're part of the action. I didn't even realize they had that grid walk till they called it over the loudspeakers, it was awesome to just be down there on the grid while they get ready! Also anyone who says attendance to these things is down, needed to check this out as it was packed, enough to be pretty crazy but not enough to be frustrating. Overall great time!

[rosawendel]

Now that's a great story.
P.S. any woman that looks good in a bucket hat is a keeper in my book.
p.p.s. i love my wife.

[extramundane]

Nice. :thumbup:

I've heard from more than one LeMons-er that Dan Binks & Co are some of the classiest competitors when they show up. It's always funny to hear about some Spec Miata team showing up and acting like their **** doesn't stink, yet P&M rolls in and helps other teams work on their cars in the middle of the night.

[Rogue Leader]

Nice. :thumbup:

I've heard from more than one LeMons-er that Dan Binks & Co are some of the classiest competitors when they show up. It's always funny to hear about some Spec Miata team showing up and acting like their **** doesn't stink, yet P&M rolls in and helps other teams work on their cars in the middle of the night.

Yes I've heard the same, we haven't encountered them because we really only run on the east coast. They are also known for having gotten the most BS Penalty laps ever (for cheating). They showed up to a race with an 86 Camaro that had an engine that from the outside looked like a POS, but the organizers decided to pop open a valve cover and found an engine made up of "spare parts from around the shop". It was supposedly a hilarious moment. Theres a claiming rule that they can buy any car for $500, and they bought that one, took the engine and gave them back the car lol.

And yeah you're right about the SM teams, we had one up at Loudon that graced us with their presence and ended up earning the Peoples Curse.

[Andrew Longman]

I remember seeing Pam sometime over the weekend. Sorry, not you. I think the hat caught my eye. ;)

Good for you. :thumbup: Meeting the team and holding the trophy must have been cool too.

[Anteater]

Awesome photo! :):thumbup: And how cool that you compete in the "24 Hours of Lemons!" I didn't know anything about this event until I watched "The Car Show" the other night--it looks like a blast!