"When Halloween meets Gasoline"
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watched from the side of the he sun beat down on the track, quietly chuckling to himself at the spectacle he had Altamont Speedway, and the created. This was no ordinary dust blew through the nextrace. This was the 24 Hours of to-empty stands. I, a boy of only nine, sat in the bleachers LeMons. 24 Hours of LeMons is bored out of my mind. But an endurance race, which down below, the racers were John started in 2006. As the having a blast. name implies, it lasts for 24 As each destitute, beatdown car rolled up to the line, hours. The twist is that, bea group of judges in robes and sides safety features, each car must value under $500. Today powdered wigs would approach. They interrogated the the races are held all over the drivers as to the origins of the country, and with each year it’s following expands. The car, and of course how they found it for the magic number unique culture that John has fostered with this simple price of only $500. The self-titled “Chief Perpetrator”, John requirement has led to the races’ widespread “Jay” Lamm, popu-
By Nick Lamm
larity and created a home for many people that share his lighthearted and carefree love of the car hobby. If you were to ask, John would be happy to tell you about his cars. In a garage near his home in San Francisco, he currently houses a 1960 Kellison J4X, which he is in the process of restoring. “This is one of probably about 12 in the world,” he says, eyes gleaming as he describes the repair process. There’s also his Porsche 911, which he recently loaded onto a truck for
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his upcoming cross-country several car magazines, he was road trip. eventually offered an editor His love of cars can be position for Sports Car Illustraced back into his childhood. trated. This work led him to John grew up in Stockton, meet several sports car enthuCA as the son of a self-emsiasts, including Martin Swig, ployed writer, whose primary a successful businessman who passion was automobiles. As ran several car rallies. Togetha child, he grew up making short films. Around the age of 16, he began his own foray into the world of automotive journalism. “I looked around and the options were working at Taco Bell or writing about cars for a lot more money for like 4 hours a month instead of 100 hours a month,” he says. “That’s a really easy decision.” Not long after, John took the GED and left high school early for UC Santa er, Martin and John started the Cruz, where Double 500. he failed out “ If you really want to after two “Martin separate the guys who years. Afsaid, ‘You understand cars from ter writing know the the guys who don’t, take some books people who on cars, he away the checkbook, and run this returned to the only way you can event really finish school understand take away the checkbook at Brown, cars, or is if you only let them where he else they says he wouldn’t be spend $500 on a car.” was mainly here’ and I admitted to said ‘You due to his previous profession- know what? That’s crap. The al writing experience. After people who run this event doing freelance work for have enough money to give you a check to have you solve all their problems and then they
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drive their fancy expensive cars. If you really want to separate the guys who understand cars from the guys who don’t, take away the checkbook, and the only way you can take away the checkbook is if you only let them spend $500 on a car.’” The Double 500 was a 500 km race for $500 cars. But after a few years of that, John decided that 500 km was too easy. He wanted to do a 24 hour endurance race. “And Martin said ‘I don’t need that kind of aggravation, if you wanna do that you’re gonna have to do that yourself.’ And so I did.” John called many racetracks before finally settling on the altamont, which he picked because “It was just by dumb luck that I stumbled across this one little rinky-dinky little track run by this criminal idiot, who was too stupid to know that what I was proposing was a really bad idea.” It turned out to not be such a bad idea after all, but at the time, no one knew. John secured the track, secured the prize
of $5000 in nickels, and thus the 24 Hours of LeMons was born. John weaved his own personality into almost every aspect of LeMons, and his jovial sense of humor is present in everything from the race names, like “Southern Discomfort” and “Arse Freezea-Palooza”, to the penalties, such as the “Al Gore” penalty, in which racers producing excessive smoke must pull off to the side of the road and plant a tree. The end result is a lighthearted environment where everyone can feel welcome. “You’ve got the folks who are equal parts Steve McQueen and MacGyver, who like
working on race cars and driving at the same time. And then you’ve got just kind of artistic folks, who have realized that it’s a way to express themselves,” said Rod Diridon, who has been racing in LeMons since the second race in 2007. “All of them find a home with Jay, and that’s one of the unique things that he’s created, that at the 24 Hours of LeMons, people can self-define what’s cool.” John’s attitude in this respect has created an extremely friendly competitive environment. “We have exceedingly friendly rivalries,” said
John. He has done his best to remove the negative, aggressive “macho facade” attitude that has become commonplace among most car racing. “Anyone who has that aggro attitude, we call those guys trophy addicts, and we try to make their lives as unpleasant as we possibly can. We just don’t put up with that. So some of these guys will come in and be shocked that we’re not kowtowing to their temper tantrum, and 80% of those guys figure it out and then they’re fine, and then 20% either kick themselves out or get kicked out.” This approach
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has created a community of helpful competitors. If your fuel pump goes bad, or you lose a tire and are out of replacements, chances are someone else in the pits will be able and willing to lend a hand. Another part of the LeMons difference has become the zero-pressure attitude of the racers. Because everyone has
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a very laid back vibe, people are rarely concerned about winning. “In this venue it’s not really failure, because they can just say ‘Hey I was just kidding, I was dressed as a giant chicken,’” said John. Dressing as a chicken, of course, is just one example of the outlandish stunts pulled by racers, which have over the years come to include a car built inside the body of a
Cessna, and another with the body flipped upside-down. 24 Hours of LeMons has been running for over 8 years, but John is aware that it won’t last forever. For one thing, while safety is a major concern (safety features and parts that frequently wear out are not included in the $500 total), he is aware that it’s only a matter of time. “It’s still a really chaotic environment
and you try to interrupt the chain of events that lead to a bad outcome, but sooner or later, something bad is gonna happen.” Another concern is the state of the auto industry itself. As cars change, who can say for sure what will happen to the car enthusiast? John belifeves that coming changes, such as driving automation and alternative energy, will “cure” people of car enthusiasm. But only time will tell. In the meantime, John’s races have created good times and happy memories for thousands of people across the country. “One of the richest, smartest people I know once said, ‘Spend your money on experiences, not things.’” And the 24 Hours of LeMons is truly one experience that one will always remember.
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