Teams

Rolling Thunder

Garage Headquarters: Bloomsburg, PA

Driver: Kirk Marshal

Mechanics: Jessica Rubeinstein, Tyler Marshall, Nate Cherrington, Brian Wersinger

Nuts and Bolts:

“We are the underdogs – we’re a bunch of kids from a small town going up against professional engineers,” says Kirk Marshall, a dedicated Pennsylvania teacher who will be driving the “Rolling Thunder” racer on behalf of his students. “Everyone can empathize with being a kid and wishing you could beat the adults at their own game.”

In past years, Marshall’s students at Bloomsburg High School have done more than merely dream about success. Despite having to raise all of their own funds and scrounge for materials, the students have manufactured and raced scale F1 cars that are undefeated nationally in the “In Schools CAD/CAM Design Challenge,” and they went on to become World Champions in 2004 and third-place finishers in 2005. In more whimsical competition, Bloomsburg students have participated in Red Bull Flugtag and Dragsterday events, taking first place with their human-powered flying machine at Red Bull Flugtag New York and second place at Flugtag Cleveland. For the Soapbox Race in Providence, the young Pennsylvanians are putting together “Rolling Thunder” – a four-wheeled cloud that will squirt water at spectators and, presumably, at the opponents they blow past. Marshall states, “We’re back and just as passionate as ever when it comes to engineering and fun-fueled education.”