Teams

Bull-a-Cuda

Garage Headquarters: Bainbridge Island, WA

Driver: Douglas Hartley

Mechanics: Daniel Bauer

Nuts and Bolts:

How often can you recall your high school homework being fun? Or getting to push your teacher down an enormous hill for that matter? For a few lucky students at Opportunity Skyway High School in Seattle, Red Bull Soapbox will allow them both. The school is part of the Interagency Academy, a group of alternative schools in the district that teach students who have not made it in a traditional high school system. For Soapbox, the team is comprised of Hartley, who teaches a class in Manufacturing Technology and Aircraft Assembly and fellow teacher Bauer, along with several students.

These students are proving that older doesn’t necessarily mean wiser when it comes to racing expertise – they have built several cars over the past seven years to compete in Electrathon America races, where the goal is to travel the farthest on two car batteries. Their plan for Soapbox is to use these techniques in developing their Bull-A-Cuda, the shark shaped racer that is “the most aerodynamic and fastest rolling vehicle that we could possibly build,” according to Hartley. With the construction almost totally completed before school let out for the summer at the end of June, the students have only one task left to accomplish for the race: casting their line to locals Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart to play their song “Barracuda” live for their skit. With the determination these kids have, they’re sure to reel them in.