24 Hours of Lemons, Hooptiefest kick off wild, wacky weekend at NHMS
LOUDON, N.H. (Oct. 25, 2012) – It’s time to make lemonade at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The 24 Hours of Lemons, a door-to-door, bumper-to-bumper endurance-race series that features cars that cost $500 or less, returns to “The Magic Mile” this weekend (Oct. 26-28). With over 10,000 participants spread across tracks coast to coast, no other event creates bigger, weirder, more hilariously crazy challenges than these weekend-long blowouts of intense and immensely fun competition between cars that are due for the scrapheap.
The 24 Hours of Lemons is restricted to cars that were purchased, fixed up and track-prepped for a total of at most $500. Racing consists of tech inspection and track testing on Friday, and endurance-race sessions on Saturday and Sunday, with only breaks for sleeping, eating and Band-Aid application every night.
In conjunction with the 24 Hours of Lemons will be the first-ever Hooptiefest, an unusual country competition that includes wife carrying, spud-gun shooting and pumpkin hurling contests. There will also be an opportunity to carve Jack-o-Lanterns.
Hooptiefest is a separate event from the 24 Hours of Lemons, but drivers are encouraged to participate. All participants must register for events separately from the 24 Hours of Lemons.
It all begins on Friday, Oct. 26 with the 24 Hours of Lemons test session, which will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Participating vehicles will also have to go through a tech inspection (12-5 p.m.).
On Saturday, Oct. 27, the day kicks off with the Wife Carrying Contest at 8 a.m. Contestants, who are encouraged to dress up in costumes, will carry their partners through an obstacle course. Impediments include the “Widow Maker,” “Potty Pirouettes” and the “Tunnel of Doom.” Best costume will receive a prize. The first 24 Hours of Lemons session will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cars will compete on the NHMS Road Course. At 5:30, the Spud Gun and Pumpkin Pitchin’ contests will take place. First-place prizes will be awarded in all contests with the spirit of the competition inspiring each reward.
Sunday, Oct. 28 will culminate with the second 24 Hours of Lemons race from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony at 5 p.m.