Eyesore Racing wins Lemons’ 20th anniversary race at Laguna Seca

Eyesore Racing won the 24 Hours of Lemons’ first race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by one lap on Oct. 12, 2026, in a car made from two totaled Miatas. The event also crowned a wood-paneled Chrysler K-Car wagon as the series’ grand-prize winner and drew 45 cars chosen from more than 320 teams.

Why it matters: - The 24 Hours of Lemons used its 20th anniversary race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to show the series’ core formula still works: low-cost cars, real competition and a big entry pipeline. - The event matters for accessibility. Lemons says more than 40,000 people have raced in the series, and in a 2026 entrant survey, 8 out of 10 said Lemons was their first wheel-to-wheel race. - Laguna Seca had capped the field at 45 cars, which kept Lemons away for two decades until this anniversary event.

What happened: - Eyesore Racing won the seven-hour race on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, by one lap in a 1994 Mazda Miata built from the front half of one totaled Miata and the rear half of another. - The winning car completed 203 laps on the 2.238-mile circuit, or about 454 miles. - Tired Iron Racing’s 1991 Miata finished second with 202 laps. - Dirty Duck Racing’s 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit finished third overall and won Class B. - TPF Racing’s 2010 Mercury Milan won Class C after traveling from Hamburg, N.J., and finished eighth overall with 167 laps. - NSF Racing of Cocoa, Fla., won the Index of Effluency, the series’ grand prize, in a Chrysler K-Car wagon.

The details: - The race, titled “Twenty Ridiculous Years,” was Lemons’ first event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. - The field included 45 cars, all of which made it onto the track. - The cars covered 6,042 laps, or about 13,500 miles, between them. - More than 320 teams entered in the first 48 hours. - Organizers selected the final field by writing team names on 10mm sockets, dropping them into used motor oil and pulling out 45 by hand on camera. - The fastest lap of the day was 1:46.525, set by B Team - Just Plain Stupid’s 1974 Lotus-Chevrolet, nicknamed “Chotus,” which finished 20th. - The top three overall finishers were all longtime regulars with more than 50 Lemons races each. - Eyesore Racing first raced in 2007 and built its reputation on homebuilt turbocharged Miatas. - NSF Racing’s wagon posted the slowest best lap in the field at 2:38.495 but still finished 115 laps. - NSF Racing has won the Index of Effluency before, including with a Nash Airflyte found in a Florida swamp and the first Studebaker ever raced in Lemons. - Bernal Dads Racing was running third with two hours left in its 1992 Volvo 245 wagon, but the drivetrain fell out of the car with a little more than an hour remaining and the team was classified 12th. - TPF Racing earned the Long Haul Award for making the trip from New Jersey. - Team Bean Redux’s 1962 Austin Mini won Organizers’ Choice. - Ran When Parked Racing’s 1951 Triumph Mayflower won Judges’ Choice. - Lost in Translation’s 1995 Mitsuoka Viewt won Heroic Fix after a last-minute engine swap kept the car running to the finish. - Scrubbing Bubbles’ 1965 Volkswagen won I Got Screwed after managing 16 laps. - Skinny Koyote Racing’s 2001 Aston Martin “Half-Asston” won Butt Turrible after completing 24 laps. - The Viewt is a Japanese-market Nissan made to look like a 1960s Jaguar. - Spectator tickets were free and included Paddock All Access. - Press attended on the same ticket as everyone else.

Between the lines: - Lemons still markets itself as serious racing without the usual cost barrier. Teams can go over the $500 car limit, but they pay in penalty laps instead of getting disqualified. - The series mixes comedy and competition, but the results show the racing itself is real: the win came down to one lap, and mechanical failure reshuffled the podium. - The event also doubled as a recruiting tool. Dillon McClelland said some spectators in the paddock had never been to a race before and were already asking how to enter next year. - Jay Lamm framed the day as equal parts success and chaos, saying it was a great day for only some because cars were also blowing up. - Lemons bans car-to-car contact, and anyone who rolls a car sits out for 12 months.

What's next: - The series next races at MSR Houston on Nov. 7-8, then Sonoma Raceway on Dec. 5-6 and Road Atlanta on Dec. 12-13. - The 2027 season opens at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on Jan. 30-31. - Jay Lamm and Dillon McClelland are available for interviews. - Full results are posted at 24 Hours of Lemons results. - Race photos are available at the photo drive.

The bottom line: - Lemons’ Laguna Seca debut delivered the series’ signature mix of bargain-bin engineering, real competition and a winner that beat the field by a single lap.