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COVID Updates, May 18: CMP, High Plains Postponed & Series Restart Info

Bad news first: Our childish affection for law and safety means pushing back our return to racing a little farther by postponing the BFE GP at High Plains Raceway and Southern Discomfort at Carolina Motorsports Park on June 6-7. If you were entered in either race, your team captain can let us know whether you’d rather get a refund, or roll the team’s entry forward to a later race of your choosing (We’ll send you these cool patches!), or just do nothing and be automatically entered our next race at the same track.

The good(ish) news is that we have more events already scheduled at both of those tracks, again on the same weekend–September 12-13. We have a couple of changes in mind:

  • The High Plains Drifter at High Plains was originally planned to be a true 24-hour race. We’re going to offer an option for a shorter 14-hour race in case you don’t want to race all the way through the night.
  • Since the now-canceled Southern Discomfort race was originally slated for 24 hours, we also have plans to offer an option to race for either 14 or 24 straight hours.
Restart Target: NJMP

Now for the good (fingers crossed) news: Lemons plans to start racing again at the Real Hoopties of New Jersey at New Jersey Motorsports Park in June, and then follow the schedule as published with Gingerman, The Ridge, Thompson, and so on. Every race still depends on getting timely and positive answers from local governments, Covid data, and of course you guys, but that’s what we’re hoping for.

Some More Info On Racetrack Guidelines

Last week, we posted some pretty onerous guidelines. We’re happy to say that we’ve talked (ad nauseum) to experts and among ourselves and we’ve been able to expand on some of our COVID regulations for the racetrack, which you can find on our COVID information page here.

  • First, everyone asked about face covers. Face covers are to help keep your own gnarly spit goobers in so that you don’t infect somebody else–they’re not to keep viruses out, because you ain’t an ICU nurse. This is a decency thing: Just wear something over your nose and mouth–the Surgeon General says a mask, a hankie, a buff, whatever–whenever you’re not in your own paddock space. Yes, balaclavas are also fine.
  • Next, various teams had ideas for real penalties that wouldn’t increase drivers’ or judges’ cootie quotient (CQ). We’re totally fine with that, so in the next week or so we’ll be making an organized call on social media for your own Covid-safe-yet-humiliating penalty ideas to contribute.
  • Hot-pit fueling came up as well. Yeah, there are still a few tracks where the pathways for fuelers can be made one-way or otherwise suitably distanced, and in those place sure–there’s no reason we wouldn’t keep doing that. In others, if it can’t be made reasonably safe, we’ll just have to do paddocks and pumps.
  • The last topic was inter-team socializing, and this one’s just got to evolve as the pandemic progresses. For now, will we kick you out if you’re talking to a rival team six feet away? Of course not. Will we kick you out if you keep licking BBQ sauce off of Kim’s fingers? We absolutely damn will, and not just for Covid-19, either.
  • So those are all good things, but there’s still one additional bummer: Until further notice, we can’t allow spectators or day-of registrations at any upcoming events. To get through the gates, everyone must be a pre-registered driver or crew.

Fingers crossed. Let’s try to start racing. Best regards and more as it happens,

Jay Lamm & Lemons HQ

 

 

 

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