Teams

TuPAC Men

Garage Headquarters: Providence College, RI

Driver: Mark Twohig

Mechanics: Andrew Rosenbush, Dom Roto, Matt Poyton, Tyrone Tamakloe

Nuts and Bolts:

Eight years ago, childhood friends Andrew Rosenbush and Mark Twohig competed in a Pac-Man tournament. Rosenbush made it into the championship round, but fell short of the title due to a strained thumb muscle. This soapbox entry is for him. “Our racer is built to commemorate that Pac-Man tournament, and by winning this race, avenge the losses suffered there,” says Twohig with mock solemnity. Noting that the effort combines two, two, two pop culture icons in one, he adds, “We’ll have Pac-Man sounds and Tupac music.”

Joining in this epic quest for vengeance will be Twohig’s roommates Matt Poyton, Dom Roto, and Tyrone Tamakloe. (Rosenbush is a junior pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Lafayette College, while the rest of the 20-year-olds are juniors at Providence College.) The teammates expect that their entry will have plenty of hometown appeal for the crowd on Waterman Street, and with Rosenbush – who once built a functioning hovercraft – masterminding construction, they’re confident that their vehicle will stand up to the rigors of the race. In fact, they even hope to reuse it after the contest is over. Twohig explains, “Our racer will be turned into a go-kart for transport around Providence College … provided it doesn’t meet the same end as the real Tupac.”