07/21/2026
Post Race Report - Autobahn South 24 hours of Lemons.
This was our first race with the current team all driving together, which had a bumpy start to this race before we even got to the track. After having overheating issues at the last race and coming into this weekend of brutal heat, we managed to get a full weekend of racing in, but not without avoiding some ebbs and flows.
The Drivers:
This was our best overall race we’ve had and everyone drove phenomenal. Richie Pottier took 3 years off, couldn’t get a drive in on test day due to some (censored) rules… and didn’t drive Saturday due to some unfriendly weather. Despite that, he jumped right out on the track Sunday morning and we immediately noticed he was taking some great lines for having 3 years of rust, and ended up having an optimal lap time right in the mix with the rest of the team while handling the crazy traffic jams with ease! Nick Fogleman had the highest top speed of the weekend and has officially put the team on notice that no fast laps are safe from him anymore! Tyler J Smith absolutely shredded wet lap times during a monsoon that rolled through that will be studied like a textbook, and didn’t let up when it dried out after he heard rumors that Nick was talking trash (he was asking if we HAD any trash, but Tyler wanted some extra motivation so we just let him roll with it).
The Weather:
This race was absolutely brutal. We had multiple downpours with high wind gusts come through and make our paddock a mess, and when that wasn’t happening we were dealing with heat that seemed to have come directly from the depths of hell. Watching drivers get out of their cars on Saturday looked like a battlefield from the heat exhaustion, and our beloved Hellcan’t does not have power steering, a coolsuit, or any ducting for airflow(we never claimed be smart). To say it was a sweatfest is an understatement. Two of us have been doing cycling, running and triathlon events for the last 20+ years and have never experienced anything like this, and one absolute madman (Nick Fogleman) left the track to go directly to a week long bike ride across Iowa. We're assuming he's still alive, but pending confirmation.
The Results:
What a mixed bag this race was. We came in hoping to do well for the first time in our Lemons racing history, and with 88 cars registered it wasn’t going to be an easy task. We had overheating issues 5 weeks prior with lesser weather, but managed to get through this weekend with only a minor post race overheating incident.
Friday - We got 4 laps in on test day before going to tech, where we were told we needed to make changes to be able to race. Begrudgingly, we got to work on it immediately and were able to get finished that evening, allowing us to get confirmed ready to race Saturday morning.
Saturday- We started out with nice (but hot) weather, and started making our way through the pack quickly, getting up to 6th place overall and 1st in class before our first driver change, which came earlier than expected due to fuel consumption. We had wild downpours in the middle of the day, and had to run the last stint with a toasted rear wheel bearing we had to limp across the finish.
Sunday- With the heat not quite as scorching, all four drivers taking their full stint and the rain holding off we ran the first half of the day at a great pace thanks to Richie and Nick taking charge. By the last half of the race the wheel bearing on the other side went out and forced us to limit pace to make sure the car was able to make it to the end, but we made it and were able to finish with a 10th overall and 3rd in class.
Penalties:
No comment
Summary/TLDR:
We had several levels of adversity to battle through, despite all of that we had our most complete race weekend to date! We may not have gotten the results that we were capable of, and the Hellcan’t did… Hellcan’t things.. But this team finished with our heads up high and could not be more proud of how much we’ve progressed this year!
Looking Forward:
We get a break from racing to try and make some more improvements on the car, with the hope of being a little more reliable, and a little faster for our next race with Champcar at COTA at the end of the year. We’re absolutely stoked to see what the future holds for this team and our Hellcan’t. See you all at the end of the year at Circuit of The Americas!
Special Thanks to Dumpster Fire Motorsports for helping us out with everything from finding drivers gloves and dropped phones, lending their paddock for a Nascar style tire swap (spoiler alert, Nascar will NOT be calling us to pit crew for them, but may be using the video from our stop in a "what not to do" seminar. Maybe Justin Allgaier will let us know if that happens), lending a catch pan for fueling and generally being an awesome group of racers!
