Red Bull Soapbox Race

This past Saturday was a milestone for the FIT Radio team to say the least. Not only was it our first time attending the Red Bull Soapbox Race but also our first time competing.

 

 

vs.  

Clearly from day one we knew that we were a bunch of amateur misfits in a sea of professional enthusiasts but we didn’t let that slow us down. The amount of dedication and time and effort that these teams sacrificed is nothing short of incredible and we knew it was going to take some serious man power to get us up to speed with the R.B.S.B. (Red Bull Soapbox) veterans. With only two more days before the race, hurdle after hurdle, deadline crunch after deadline crunch we found ourselves among the chosen teams to be featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution!

There is just something about being featured in your hometown’s news paper that fills you with a certain kind of pride (insert blissful moment of silence with weird cheesy smile included.) Anyway back to reality, when Friday came (day before the race) there was no looking back especially since Lexi and I had to push Rusty from Opera Nightclub to Piedmont Park and we literally couldn’t look back because we had to make sure we didn’t push the President of FIT Radio into on coming traffic . No worries, we found time for a photo opp!

After what seemed like an hour we made it to our destination and dropped off our “little” baby into the trusty hands of the Red Bull officials. I could tell it was going to be hard getting any sleep that night. Picture yourself waking up in a panic thinking you’re an hour late for a huge meeting every hour on the hour…yeah not the best nights sleep I’d ever had. Anyway, we got to our pit and this is what one of our competitors looked like:

Yeah, giant Christian Louboutin pumps. Our craft might have not had as much paper mache detail as the others but our sound system made up for it

Around 11:45 am the teams began to get in line to make their way down the course (which didn’t seem as intimidating as we thought unfortunately). While Rusty and the rest of the skit members waited anxiously in line, Lexi and I tried to find a good post to see all the action. Easier said than done. The park was packed and not only was it hot and muggy outside but the amount of people there made me have flashbacks of Music Midtown and getting stuck to sweaty people who couldn’t navigate a crowd if their life depended on it! Sorry, clearly I’m still a little bent out of shape about it. No worries though,we found an awesome spot and were able to see the skit and watch it all on the big screen behind the stage. If my memory serves me correctly the judges gave us some pretty solid scores. We received a 10, 9, 8, 10, 9, 10, 8. But there is a very good chance I could be wrong.

After our car’s run down the hill, we frantically fought our  way through the crowd to meet up with everyone. In case you aren’t aware of the rules, there is absolutely no consumption of alcohol before the race by any of the team members, so you can imagine our excitement when we reached Park Tavern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we had a few, okay many celebratory cocktails somebody remembered that we had to retrieve the FIT Radio Soapbox car and take it home, aka all the way back to Rusty’s place near Crescent Avenue (barf). Luckily for me, I couldn’t help push because somebody had to document everything via camera phone!