Dunning-Kruger Lemons: Video Recap of 2020 Shine Country Classic in Alabama

This week marks the beginning of weekly content for the 24 Hours of Lemons YouTube Channel. If you haven’t yet, head on over to the YouTube Channel here and click Subscribe so you don’t miss any updates. We’re gonna kick off this weekly madness with the video recap from our season-opening 2020 race, the Shine Country Classic at Barber Motorsports Park. We don’t have any idea what we’re doing, still. But the Dunning-Kruger Effect Racing team made the awesome window banner in the lead image. So we’ve got that going for us, which is nice.

You should have already read about the Heroic Fix here, but Jay and Nick give the rundown on the many goings-on at the season opener in Alabama. The short version: A car blew its own doors off, a Pinto caught on fire, a Pinto didn’t catch fire, and some Corvette drivers sucked on the track since their cars finally ran correctly. Dunning-Kruger? Dunning-Kruger. Everywhere.

Of course, we can expand a bit on some of the stuff left on the cutting-room floor. For example, the TMMI Motorsports Toyota Camry won the race outright. Yes, a Camry beat a field of BMWs, Cadillac-bodied Camaros, and Hot Rod Lincolns. They did it, we should add, because they were one of very few teams to run cleanly all weekend.

Speaking of the Cadillac-bodied Camaro, the Save the Ta-Tas Camaro—wearing a bustle-back Seville Coupe Prototype body—ran well until the flywheel came unbolted and speed. The eccentrically spinning flywheel and clutch sliced almost all the way around the transmission bellhousing. Impressive carnage.

Meanwhile, the Performance Engineered Northstar Integrated Systems Cadillac STS carried its drivers in luxury and calmness to an impressive 43rd-place finish. The car has the stock dashboard in place still with air-conditioning, heat, and a stereo.

The Scuderia Fartari Nissan 200SX returned with evermore modifications. The rear wing came from an airplane salvage yard and is a section of Piper aileron. That’s been on for years. The front splitter, however, is an elevator off a Cessna. Naturally, the engine exploded. So we won’t know until the next race if their aero matched that of Grassroots Motorsports’ Volkswagen Fox.

The Wonderment Consortium’s hyper-rare Isuzu Impulse RS (Turbo! All-Wheel Drive) ran really well…for about 10 minutes. Then it did normal Wonderment Consortium things. That is to say, it found innovative and exciting ways to fail spectacularly.

That theme also applied to the Porsche 944 belonging to the team simply known as “Crash.” But hey, the Fallout paint scheme looked excellent. The real tragedy of its engine tossing a rod is that it puts the Porsche out of its famous 50/50 weight balance.

We’ll wrap up with the Clif’s Birthday Extravaganza. This collection of Ford Festiva enthusiasts brought their Festiva street car and a parts car. Their race car features a turbocharged 1.6-liter Mazda engine—essentially the same engine from a Miata—swapped into the tiny econobox. They’re living their best #StifaLife.

That’s it from the Shine Country Classic. Be sure to watch the video and subscribe. We’ll have a freshly squeezed #LemonsWorld episode next week for your enjoyment.