Any Lemons Racers out there?

After several hours of YouTubing and even more beers a few friends and I have decided with as much certainty as one can muster after lots of beers to build a 24 Hours of Lemons car. It looks like they have events at tracks all over the US, I was wondering if anyone else has taken a stab at this? It seems like with a group of 4-5 people who have mechanical inclination and welding skills the costs wouldn't be bad and it could be a heck of a lot of fun.

Has anyone else been dumb enough to do this??

For those of you who aren't familiar the 24 Hours of Lemons is a shit show of epic proportions described as this:

"Endurance racing for $500 cars. It's not just an oxymoron; it's a breeding ground for morons. It's where Pintos and Maseratis battle to lap a Le Car. It's where first-timers dice with Nomex-soiling pros. Wanna watch? Heaven forbid, wanna race?"

https://www.24hoursoflemons.com/

 

There seem to be some local canidates out there...

http://medford.craigslist.org/cto/4847396180.html

http://medford.craigslist.org/cto/4836481939.html

 

http://roseburg.craigslist.org/cto/4803832191.html

 

TTT for the evening crowd...very interested to see if anyone out there has participated or attended one of these

 

I swear I have seen that car before.
It would be very interesting to do.

 

It would be a lot of fun, but never raced one or even watched one.

 

i know someone who does it regularly,sounds like it could be fun,but from what i gather from the stories i hear,the $500 limit is for people that play fair.

 

I don't know how much weight this holds but:

Why not cheat on the $500 limit?
Because our BS-Factor judging panel will dock you one lap for every additional $10 it thinks you spent. It's also a claiming race, meaning the organizer can buy your car after the race for $500 if he thinks you've been cheating.

Essentially if you dump 2K into the car the organizers can, in theory, buy your car for $500

 

I am thinking of entering, I have a 98 Maxima that runs and drives that I got for free. I have wanted to do it for a while but can't find the time to put in all of the required safety features.

 

looks pretty cool and would be a fun hobby with friends. Do you have to show how much you paid for the car?

 

I don't think so but your car can get confiscated if the judges you think you spent too much, I think a lot of it is in the merit of racing a pos that you totally destroy.

 

It's like that Top Gear episode where they were racing junker cars and at the end of the race, a racer could buy one of the cars for the limit that was set.