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"         Every December for the past seven years, amateur and professional racers from all over the country assemble in a remote place called Willows, California, to participate in the longest road race in North America. It&amp;#039;s called the , and, for the third time in the last five years, I participated. The competition kicked off at 11 a.m. on a Saturday and ended at noon the following day. The cars on the starting grid, which consisted of 66 entries this year, ranged from Norma M20 prototype racers to Honda Civics, so you can imagine the amount of passing that went on. The race is organized by NASA (National Auto Sport Association) and Thunderhill Raceway Park.   As for my experience at this year&amp;#039;s race, I chronicled it in a full-length feature at . For the record, I made it to the finish line for the first time, thanks to our durable right-hand-drive Spoon Sports . What interested me this year, apart from the racing, were the stories behind the scenes. Let me start with our team boss, Tatsuru Ichishima, the president and founder of Spoon Sports. His cars have been featured in R&amp;amp;amp;T numerous times, but what we failed to mention was that Ichishima is a certifiable race-aholic. This 58-year-old was competing in his 13th endurance race of the year, and was even at the Macau Grand Prix in his Spoon Sports NSX only a week earlier. He truly has the energy of a guy half his age, and is still pretty quick around the track.   There were also a couple of notable teams in this year&amp;#039;s race, including one fielded by Mazda. It was called The 25 for 25, and it featured 25 total drivers that ranged from pros (Lyn St. James) and Mazda employees to journalists. The theory was that each driver got a one-hour stint behind the wheel of the Miata, meaning 25 driver changes. To be honest, I anticipated this strategy would end in disaster, with mechanical trouble early in the race sending the majority of drivers home without ever getting near the car. But the team made it to the checkered flag with all 25 drivers getting seat time.   At the other end of this spectrum was Steve Gorriaran, who also drove a to the finish...solo! He set a new record at Thunderhill, completing all 25 hours of the race by himself. What surprised me, apart from him not falling asleep behind the wheel, was that NASA doesn&amp;#039;t have a minimum driver requirement for this race. Kudos to Steve for this accomplishment, and don&amp;#039;t be surprised to see him backed by Red Bull or Starbucks next year.   Another thing about the race that left me scratching my head was the rules. Our car, one of the quietest race cars I have ever driven, was accused of being too loud by track officials. Let me get this straight: We&amp;#039;re in the middle of the hills, with the nearest city 8 miles away, and our vehicle, whose powertrain is basically stock, is too loud? A closer inspection revealed that the race rules state that no car can generate more than 95 dB at night (a stock Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 produces that much). I asked a track official the reason for this, and he said, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s part of an agreement with our neighbors. I know it sounds a little crazy, but we had to put in some kind of limit.&amp;quot;   Those darned squirrels and rabbits can get nasty without their beauty sleep.   Looking back, this is the kind of stuff that makes the 25 Hours of Thunderhill special. Sure, the racing is fun, especially with driver changes in the middle of the night and the adrenaline that comes from not sleeping. But as I take a step back and observe the other aspects surrounding the race\u2014the people, the teams and some of the rules that don&amp;#039;t make sense\u2014I realize there isn&amp;#039;t a race quite like the 25 Hours of Thunderhill anywhere else in the world, and it draws me to the small town of Willows over and over again. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a15230/peculiarities/>