Summertime

Less than three weeks until race day. Luckily, the cars are finished and we have been enjoying team excursions to the lake, where we spend the lazy Summer days swimming and enjoying pre-production samples of beer from Mike's brewery. I look around today, and everyone is looking relaxed, fit and tan. It's Ryan's turn on the iPod, so he's dialed-up some old-school hip-hop. Wives and girlfriends are talking about t-shirts for the race. Somebody says something about food as I drift in and out of sleep. Okay, I need to shake this grogginess. I'm getting hot and the lapping sound of the cool water is calling me. I stand up. Time for a swig and a dip...

...oh, shit. I was dreaming.

Let me wake-up, stumble over to our online project plan, and give a five-by-five situation report. Um, the new car is running. That's good! Well, it idles. We don't know much more than that. The exhaust is still potentially illegal for LeMons. The car still has no fenders and no doors installed. It does have a cage, though it isn't attached to the car. No seat, harnesses, or fire extinguisher. No brakes, but a critical hard line is in the mail and should be here next week. We also now have working brake lights.

A few weeks ago, I drilled a hole in the gas tank, but patched it up, so there wouldn't be an explosion or fire. Later, Eric left a seal off of the gas tank without telling anyone, so there was an explosion and fire, anyway. That's twice this car has been on fire, for those keeping track.

Ryan stands-by with a Windex bottle full of water, while Ken welds, and Stef Shrader records everything for the eventual insurance company investigation.

It's supposed to be the hottest day of the Summer today, so a few of us will be spending our afternoon in a metal box, inside a bigger metal box, which is unprotected from the Sun in any way. I'm wondering if a human can actually evaporate. I have told the team to just consider this heat conditioning for the race. Cool Shirts or not, it's going to be a scorcher.

Jimmy