When the Sharks hooked up that rusty abortion of a turbo, the internal LeMons debate raged. What the hell do we do with these guys? Like, the money and effort it took to get that homunculus to work would have been much better spent on driving lessons. After all, the Sharks have often been described as driving like they just robbed a bank — fast and out of control. The last thing they need is more power. Then there’s the fact that their computer-controlled active rear wing put them over the $500 budget. But do you penalize a team like this? And if so, how?

After much bar-b-q it was decided that we’d let ‘em race. See, if we would’ve dinged the Sharks 100 laps, they would just become intentionally more reckless. Regard for fellow competitors? Ha! But what if we gave ‘em something like 4 laps? Danger! Danger! Danger! Why? Because then they would drive that much harder to make them up. No, in the end we decided that giving the Sharks zero laps and planting the seed in their collective mind that by behaving themselves and driving well, they’d have a chance at winning the nickels. Besides, it’s the Sharks — they’ll spend all race up to their eyelids in black flags. And then we saw the firetruck speeding to the top of the hill, with reports trickling in that the Sharks were on their roof.

Photo by ASK Photography

Oops. There are two different accounts of what happened — the Sharks’ and everyone elses’. Long story short, the D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F. CRX mixed it up with another car and rather than, oh I don’t know — stepping on the brakes, the Sharks felt their new found turbo boost could power ‘em through the trouble. Once again, oops. Aside from getting t-boned and getting their roll cage pushed in six inches, their entire strut tower came undone. And by undone I mean ripped out by the roots. Off to the junkyard they did run to get a sub-frame and other associated crap. $90 later and head wrench Mike is frantically wrenching away. Nearly seven hours and countless cussing later, and we see the Shark roaming around the pits. Holy hell, they fixed it! But will they pass re-tech tomorrow? And if they get back on the track, will it hold together? And if the fixes hold, how long until they crash again? Tune in later, gentle readers. [The Saga of the Sharks Part 2]