Red Bull Soap Box Race The first cart will wheel onto the track at 1:00 p.m.today in St. Louis. Maybe it will be The Shark Attack. Or The Inferno. Perhaps The Pope Mobile will be the initial vehicle to rouse the crowd. Regardless, by the end of the day 42 teams of amateur drivers and madcap machines will have propelled past the finish line at the first-ever Red Bull Soap Box Race. Each will be judged on creativity, speed, and showmanship—and not necessarily in that order. This derby awards as many points for zaniness as it does for velocity. It disallows engines, batteries, and catapults. And it brags that this is "the only race where fast is good, outrageous is even better." That's the kind of stance we can get behind. Check the teams' biographies, browse the sketches of handmade contraptions, play the game if you want. Just be ready when the clock strikes one to cheer as the sneaker—or the corncob—or Mr. Peanut—hits the road (in Sports)
