It’s chaotic. It’s fast. And there’s nothing under the hood.
Brothers Jon and Patrick Farrington have spent the past eight weeks in their dad’s garage building a soapbox car for this year’s Red Bull Soapbox Race in Salt Lake City.
The brothers from Sandy are one of 45 amateur teams set to compete on June 14 at Capitol Hill, racing homemade, gravity-powered carts down a course filled with curves, jumps — and the occasional crash.
“We've spent the last eight weeks building this and several revisions,” said Jon. “How all projects go, you start with the original idea, and then by time you get to the end, it's like modified 100 times, but we're getting close.”
I got to see their ride up close.
It's a hot rod tribute full of character, themed around Rat Fink, the wild, bug-eyed mascot of 1960s hot rod culture.
It’s the brothers’ first time competing in this race, but their love of cars and creativity runs in the family.
“The main reason we're doing this is to do it together and to kind of honor our dad,” Patrick said. “He's built so many things in this garage, and he did soapbox when he was 12. And so we've kind of come full circle."
Their dad worked in the exhibit industry, designing storefronts, stores, retail fixtures, and even museum exhibits. He loved cars too.
“It’s an honor,” said Mike Farrington, the brothers’ dad. "It's amazing. When your sons grow up, they move away and don't see them as often as you'd like. And this is a good way to get back together and kind of rekindle friendships and associations and all that good stuff that we strive for.”
The brothers will be joined by two of their other siblings who will wear custom made masks and push them down the hill. The brothers will wear helmets.
Jon and Patrick aren’t new to this — they’ve raced and won at Red Bull Flugtag, where teams launch homemade flying machines off a 28-foot platform into the water.
“We’re aiming for 35 mph and just trying to make it down in one piece,” Jon quipped.
