Randy Pobst wrecked our car!

Help us get back on track and also raise money for Lemons of Love.

Hi, I'm Gene. My 19 year old son Caleb and I had a dream to race cars together. It seemed out of reach, but then we learned about the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series. It's endurance racing for $500 cars. Realistically it costs a lot more than that since the cars must be outfitted with a roll cage and other important safety equipment as well as good tires and brakes, etc., a race ready car costs quite a bit for regular guys on a budget. Then there's the race entry fee, fuel, lodging, and so much more. It's not an inexpensive hobby, but we were determined. We recruited my colleague Jack from work and our new friend Matt. We're all rookies with no racing experience. We bought a car from another Lemons team, a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback with an amazing Ghostbusters theme (all cars are required to have a theme). We registered for our first race at Road Atlanta 12/9 - 12/10/23 and were so excited.

On the test day before the race the weather was great and we each got a chance to turn a few practice laps. The car felt great. Saturday morning the rain was pouring down during the drivers meeting and we were all a bit nervous with the idea of starting the race in the rain with over 100 other cars, including many other rookies like ourselves. My son noticed professional racecar driver Randy Pobst standing a few feet away and had an idea. We asked Randy if he would like to take the first stint in our car. We thought he could keep our car safe during the early race mayhem in the rain and then coach us after he came back in. We asked and he said YES!

Things were going great. Randy said the car felt really good and after 30 laps he was just about to come in and let our first driver take over. Then it happened.

Video taken from another car shows the wreck (see video below). It's hard to see due to the wet conditions, but ahead and to the right of the car taking video is a Crown Victoria It starts to fishtail and the driver taking video lets off the throttle. At this point Randy is behind and to the left of the car taking video and can't see what's happening to the Crown Vic. The Crown Vic loses control and begins to spin counterclockwise. Randy is simply passing the now slower video car on the left, but by the time he can see the Crown Vic and hits the brakes, the Crown Vic has spun nearly 270 degrees and is roughly perpendicular to the track directly in front of Randy and he has nowhere to go and t-bones the passenger side of the Crown Vic. Thankfully no one was hurt, all that safety equipment did its job.

The wreck destroyed our engine and caused significant frame damage. The 4 of us never got a chance to race. On the positive side we did get Randy to join us in a Ghostbusters costume at the awards ceremony where we won the "I Got Screwed" award, but sadly it's not a cash prize. It's possible this car may never race again (TBD) and we'll have to start from scratch with another car, but we're determined to push forward. Our goal is to have a car ready for the upcoming race at Carolina Motorsports Park 4/20 - 4/21/24. We just weren't expecting to have to start over before ever getting a chance to race.

Our lemon may have been squeezed but we'd like to make lemonade, so 25% of all donations up to our goal amount will go to Lemons of Love, a worthy charity that helps those affected by cancer and is supported by the 24 Hours of Lemons community. And, if we exceed our goal, 75% of all donations above our goal amount will go to Lemons of Love. Can you help us get back on track and also support Lemons of Love?