Aleco Sanchez--College of Charleston

My friend Hunter and I drove a U-haul four hours to Sebring, Florida to race our $450 car. It was my first ever organized road race: the 24 Hours of Lemons. Every car must cost less than $500.

Nine months before that, we bought the car from a guy I found on Craig’s List. The interior and the engine bay were infested with bugs, spiders, and roaches. I was very naive to think this would take 2-3 days when in reality getting the car to race ready took much longer.

Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. The engine mount blew out and the entire car started to sag. When we opened the electrical panel, the mass of colorful wires fell out. None were connected. I turned the steering wheel, and it came off in my hands. I really thought I had gotten in over my head. I called in friends to help with mechanical issues. 

We had the car towed from one friend’s house to the other. It was Hunter’s house if we had an oil leak, Ruben’s house if we needed electrical work and Donny’s house if we needed it lifted. It was only at my house for a couple of days. My mom said it looked like an eyesore and it blocked the garage, which we use. The car was towed so often, the driver, Luis gave us a discount and a sticker to display across the rear bumper that read TREMONT TOWING.  

The day before the race, the U-Haul was stocked with a new set of tires, extra oil, radio equipment, and jacks. The night before the race we checked into a motel and were so excited we couldn’t sleep. On race day we woke up at 5 am and headed to the track. Once our car had passed the highly anticipated pre-race inspection, we were given the all clear and assigned to a pit garage to do our final checkups. We made our way onto the track and almost immediately we started dropping positions. I was optimistic we’d recover, and an hour later, we’d climbed our way back. 

Then, our car had its first problem. It started leaking coolant and the engine started to overheat. A generous crewman from another team lent us some coolant. After we repaired the leaky radiator and refilled the coolant, we got back in the race. Four hours later, Donny was driving when he blew out fourth gear. The car limped its way back into the pits. We opened the engine bay and there was black smoke and basically, from there, it was done. 

I didn’t get a chance to race the car. My four-hour stint would have been next. I tried to remember that when we first bought the car, we never thought we’d get this far. But the energy of the racetrack had given me hope. Still, I was bummed.

When we got back in the U-Haul to drive home, I researched where the next 24 Hours of Lemons would be held: New Orleans in six months. I thought about all the cars I would need to wash to raise money. And I made a list of all the things I needed to do to get the car race ready: repair the transmission so we could be more competitive; buy a new communication system, so we could coach each other and capitalize on pit stops; study the track a lot more.  

I started looking toward the next challenge. I understood what needed to improve. I couldn’t believe I’d actually gone from building my own car to fixing it up for competition. Following something through from beginning to end, despite the disappointment, showed me that if I stay focused, I can do anything.  

In New Orleans, I got to race second and although we didn’t win, we got further. Next race, Daytona.