Every year, Andy's school ends the year with a go cart race. Andy and his friend Jesse decide to bulld a rocket ship for the theme, transportation (movement?) Here is Jesse and Andy posing before the race. Notice the pony keg on the back of the 'rocket ship':
Just Andy. Notice the quick and dirty spaceman costume made from tin foil:
The race is on! It is timed. They are wearing skiing helmets covered with more...tin foil!
Oh no! Andy steers them into a bail of hay! Jesse is the power pushing the vehicle:
Andy had decided to enter his school’s annual year end go cart race with a friend named Jesse. Luckily, that friend had a toy tractor to use as a cart. With the help of Jesse’s father the boys decided to build a rocket for the theme of transportation.
Andy and Jesse colored some cardboard to attach to the sides of their vehicle. Jesse’s father fashioned a ‘rocket’ out of two old buckets that he found at the dump. He tied two pony kegs on the back as ‘oxygen’ tanks. Jesse’s mother covered two t-shirt with aluminum foil. I covered two skiing helmets with foil.
About +/- 70 vehicles lined up the afternoon of the race. There was a preponderance of KLM planes. There were lots of Boings and one piper cub. It was an unseasonably hot day. The school had arranged to have ice cream distributed about every 45 minutes to cool the kids off. And some of the older kids were armed with plant misters to spray the crowd.
I felt itchy and antsy at the start. Where was Mary rose Hullman? Who was gonna say, ‘gentlemen start your engines?’ I’m a hopeless Hoosier.
Andy and Jesse lined up at the start line. They were number two. The carts didn’t race against each other- just the clock. Jesse pushed while Andy steered- right into one of the bales of hay lining the track!
We loaned the foil covered helmets to some other boy. Their cart was also a rocket and they wanted to dress the part as much as possible.
A break was held between the running of the older and younger kids. A dance troop performed. One little girl in the front was truly amazing, she didn’t seem to be aware of how hot it was.
Once all the little kids were done I noticed that the older student’s carts were much sleeker. I think they were build for speed. Not so with the younger group. There was a bride and groom cart. And a fairy cart. Actually there were lots of fairy carts. One fairy cart threw handfuls of rose petals as she navigated the turns. Not fast but certainly with style.
Like I said a there were many, many KLM planes. This allowed the child to wear their dad’s pilot cap and coat. Alarmingly many of the ‘aircraft’ fell apart shortly after crossing the start line.
Also among the field was a quite impressive array of carts done up as boats. One had sails made from obsolete sailing charts, very clever recycling.
Jesse and Andy didn’t have the fasted time, they were second which earned them an honorable mention.
