A Corolla, a Rabbit, a Furnace, and a Whole Lotta Family Feels
Thunderhill’s 25 Hours and 1 Minute was back this past weekend, and yeah — it’s still the longest race in North America. No fluff. Just a full day (plus one legally questionable extra hour) of chaotic, questionable, and occasionally brilliant endurance racing.
About 118 cars lined up: some built for battle, others held together by hope and zip ties. It’s multi-class madness:
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Class A Winner: Cerveza Racing – 1983 BMW 533i
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Class B Winner: Dirty Duck Racing – 1983 VW Rabbit
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Class C Winner: Mighty Morphin No Power Rangers – 2000 Toyota Corolla
Let’s talk about Dirty Duck, yeah, that’s us. After 15 years, 54 races, many bad decisions, we finally took home a real win. In a heat-blasted, beautifully abused 1983 VW GTI Rabbit, my dad, Uncle Rye, cousin Nash, and I drove our absolute hearts out. We’ve had trophies before, sure — but this one meant something. This one was the real grind.
It was brutal. It was a billion degrees. But it was ours.
Racing Lemons is weird like that. The cars are junk and the paddock is full of duct tape and dreams. But the people? Family and friends. We wrench together, bark about strategy, and have a ton of fun.
Thunderhill was, as usual, a furnace. Mid day we were slowly turning into jerky.
Track action? Surprisingly clean — well, for Lemons. One car did a barrel roll in Turn 1, but the driver was totally fine. Mostly, it was just good fun racing.
And at night? Total vibe. Neon numbers, blasting headlamps, slightly cooler air, and racers running on fumes and Red Bull.
We’ll be back.
– Ted, FastLap Supply
