Movie Monday: It's an ENDURANCE race, remember

Before beginning a race, most crapcan teams and drivers pause to remind each other that you can't win an enduracne race on the first lap or even on any particular turn. But you can lose it. The key is to remember that you're running the Long Race and that the teams who run a reasonable pace and make the fewest mistakes tend to be on or near the podium when the checkered flag flies.

That being said, ChumpCar World Series' "Drift Into Winter Classic" at Road America earlier this month saw four cars involved in two first-lap incidents on consecutive turns.

See the videos after the jump.






From the #50 Penalty Lap Racing Mazda Miata, we can see the #22 IzzI Racing BMW E30 go agricultural on Turn 5's exit. The driver attempts to re-enter the track on the way up the hill to Turn 6 but assails the James Bondo Triumph TR7, which slides into the wall at the foot of the Corvette bridge.




A few moments earlier, the NNM Motorsports Dodge Neon explored the wall to the inside of Turn 5. Through some failure (brake lock-up, brake failure, brain failure, or excessive id), the Neon undergoes a huge wiggle in the downhill braking zone to Turn 5 and ends up in the grass, where he's both unable to control the car and unable to slow it down. The Neon makes a big dent in the nearby Eastern Bloc Attack Mazda RX-7 and then lurches sickeningly into the wall at high speed.




The in-car camera from YouTube user "NitroSpazzz" managed to catch both accidents. The Neon hit in particular looks much worse from outside the car.

The NNM crew fought to get the Neon back on track, but it ultimately only turned a handful laps. The James Bondo car managed just 8 laps on the Saturday race. The dent in the Eastern Bloc RX-7 was relatively superficial and the team clocked 91 laps.

Read about the accidents on the ChumpCar forum here.