Red Bull SoapBox Car Races in Manayunk PA

Hey there,

We took the long train over to Philly today.

Connecting all the way to Manayunk, Pennsylvania for the 2008 RedBull SoapBox Car Races. I am pretty certain that half of the total student population from area schools (Temple U, Rutgers-camden and whoever else is close) were there. Oh and half of this group decided to take the R6 from the 30th Street Station in Philly, or the stops at North Broad and Temple. The train ride was loud and wild. These kids were just hyped out of their minds and this in the midst of a “doomsday” hurricane and the start of a new semester. This RedBull event was the consummate cure for all their school woes.

I realized we were at our stop when the train roared in approval. This was shaping up to be one the greatest events in recent history. Well we’ll see….

We got off the train and then lemmingly raced down the stairs under the train tracks into the crowd of thousands. It was impossible to see with the heavy rain and impossible to move with the 10,000 other people going in the opposite direction.

We arrived at the finish line just in time to see a racer end his run. The next guy up was none other than the mayor of Philadelphia Micheal Nutter. The crowd started chanting “Nutter, Nutter….” I video taped his run. Most of it is on the big screen, but I did catch him as he flew by our spot.

The races lived up to the hype but the rain was a real killer. Hurricane Hannah got pretty nasty on us. We retreated back to train station and made our way back to the 30th Street Station. Make sure to visit the next Red Bull event in your area, it will give you wings!

RobertB

ThirdDesign

Here are a few of the pictures from the day to view some more rollover to flickr.com/thirddesign