Build the Most From the Least

This weekend I came home from Houston Texas with a plaque that I couldn’t have earned a few years ago.  This might sound a little funny, but bear with me for a moment.  If you run a business, you need a hobby.  Sometimes your hobby is purely an outlet of stress, other times it is a place where you can let your mind do some background processing and clarify problems you have in life or in your business.  This is how successful people see a way around obstacles in life.  Sometimes, your hobby is a reflection of the problems in your life that need to be corrected.

One of my longer term hobbies has been racing in the 24Hours of LeMons series.  No, that isn’t a spelling error, it really is lemons.  The cars are junk, literally junk. 

The idea in the 24 Hours of Lemons is that you are supposed to take a junk car that you paid $500 or less for, and race it.  There are a lot of safety rules and track rules and team rules.  When my friend and business associate, Gabrielle Magno of Maxxom Communications in Houston and I first came up with the idea for the team, we both tried to do everything.  We couldn’t get other people to help or pay money to be on the team.  Just like many small businesses, we were targeting the wrong customer base.  Just because someone is our friend, it doesn’t make them a team member.

I had an idea of how to approach the race.  I treated it like a business student project and not a startup.  We came up with a theme, a mission and a set of goals.  Then, short on time we jumped the gun and bought the wrong car.  Gabe took the initiative to change the goals of the team and shorten the goal  list to “Get into the race”.  He found a better car that was nearly a perfect interpretation of the letter and intent of the race rules.   Without him taking action, there would be no team.

Since you need at least four drivers per team, we each went digging and brought some more people in.  We ended up overselling and creating a waiting list.  To make matters worse the first race was a disaster.  We didn’t build the roll cage right, the car failed safety, and because we left half the interior in it, it was really heavy.  Even before the race started, the non founding members of the team started to grumble about our bad idea.  Every business owner that steps out hears the same grumbling from people who won't try.

We also noticed that everybody cheats a little here and there. Gabe and I trudged forward.  He took care of the campground and the disgruntled team mates.  I took the car to another teams shop and started cutting the roll cage out.  At 3:00 am I returned to the racetrack to find it locked up.  I called the emergency contact numbers and no answer.  Here is where some military training paid off, and by 3:30 I was in my camper sound asleep with the car right next door ready to be inspected at 8:00 am.  The emergency contact guy stopped by to ask how I got in, and doing my best Sean Connery, I just said "Trade secrets my son." There were more than a few lessons learned here.

over the next year, Gabe  and I bought a second car, grew the team too quickly and even though the second race went better, a big portion of the team fell apart.  This might sound a lot like a business that grows to fast without direction doesn’t it.  

Even though Gabe left the team and we lost a huge contributor, I pushed forward with Jack Stephens, one of the first to join the team.  After several years of struggling, we now have all of the right pieces in place.  We are lean, only seven people with two cars.  Four per team is the normal minimum.   As the saying goes, "you are closest to success when you are about to give up".  I nearly gave up on the team before this last race.

Everyone on the team pitches in with both labor and financial support.  It doesn’t cost much to run the team any more, and no one wants to pay more than their share.  With the exception of our master mechanic Mark Stephens,  everyone pitches in where ever needed, and when needed.  There is no finger pointing or “what should I do know” kind of thinking.  Everyone looks around, makes sure everything is done and then supports the guys on the track. Mark does everything else we can't do.

Each of us is a little better in some area.  For example, Jim Brenner runs an accounting firm, so he takes care of the team financials, nobody asked him, he stepped up and started collecting receipts, he also keeps everything very transparent so everyone knows where the money went.  Jack Stephens  is  a dentist who also is great at brake jobs.   No one ever said “Hey Jack while you're sitting there….” Instead he grabbed the tools and brake pads and has been the brakeman since day one.

Vic Urenholdt is another Dentist who is pretty good at cooking, so we never go hungry.  You never need to ask, if he isn't on the track there is something to eat waiting for you.  Lee Manning and Don Tamborello are the newest members and they both jump right in and pick up the slack wherever it is needed.  You are never sitting there wondering, "Do we need brake pads?" or "Do the gas cans need to be filled." It just happens.  The right team can change everything.

The plaque we got from Grassroots Motorsports was the award for "Most From the Least”.  When our rusted out, bone stock Chevy Cavalier that we nicknamed the “Crapolier” first showed up, one of the Judges, Scott, said to Jay (the Chief Perpetrator of the LeMons events), “This thing won’t make it one lap”.  Jay replied, “I bet it dies at 20”.  The over under was set and clearly we have made the over.

This past weekend was our best performance yet, the “rust bucket racer” was second in our class for the third time and 9^th overall.  The teams other car was third in class even after a series of missteps by me and the newest member of the team.  Those misteps got us a little more attention from the penalty judges than I would have otherwise liked. You might find some of the team in  pink jail suits on the LeMons website. We beat teams with BMW’s and Celica's that had stiff racing suspensions.  We also beat a couple of former racing Miata’s that bribed their way in and we even beat a really fast Taurus SHO that just couldn't keep the transmission in the car.

It isn’t the same kind of racing as the guys from TruSpeed MotorSports did this weekend at Road Atlanta.  Instead it is lean and mean racing that is a lot of fun while still doing “The most with the least”.  More importantly it is something I am proud of because all of the rules of success that I share in my book are in play here and they are working.  We couldn't have earned this award without the right people, who had the right attitude and who were all going in the same direction.  This was the first time the team was exactly the right people all going in the same direction and it showed.  

The first place car in our division was 4 seconds faster every lap, and stopped for fuel much less.  Without them breaking down or getting into the penalty box, 2nd place was the limit of our equipment.  Sometimes second place is pretty cool.  I think the entire team went home with a smile on their face, feeling great about the performance, even though it was "just second place".

Now we are ready to shoot for first place, are you?