Teams

Barbie Bandits

Garage Headquarters: Alpharetta, GA

Driver: Les Law

Mechanics: Elana Golder, Chris Hidy, Steve Law, Sean Cassidy

Nuts and Bolts:

While the members of the Barbie Bandits team are careful to observe all Red Bull Soapbox Race rules; they tend to abide by their own Laws. Steve Law, 54, and his son Les, 24, are the ringleaders of the Bandits, an Alpharetta-based group boasting backgrounds in NASCAR, IndyCar, and the Atlanta Region All-American Soapbox Derby, not to mention the 2008 Red Bull Soapbox Race in Cincinnati. “Les has considerable driving experience, having competed in various forms of motorsports for nine years and winning the 2000 Bandolero Division track championship at Georgia's Lanier National Speedway,” Steve says proudly. “At the Cincinnati Soapbox contest, we were among the fastest craft until a suspension failure eliminated us two-thirds of the way.” Steve and Les, with contributions from the other team members – Chris Hildy (24), Elana Golder (24), and Sean Cassidy (25, who happens to be an engineer) – are recycling the group’s Mattel-themed racecar, only this time they’re reinforcing the steel-tube and fiberglass chassis to go the distance in Hotlanta. In building the original car, Steve devoted more than forty hours to bodywork alone. He will put in still more hours this summer, fixing cosmetic dings and suspension/structural issues; but after assessing the competition last year, he feels that his team’s performance for the crowd needs to be just as fine tuned as the car’s performance on the road. The sales executive states, “With our car mostly complete, we can really focus on our showmanship.”

The entry’s name, by the way, was inspired by a couple of young blondes who stole headlines by robbing a bank in tight jeans and designer shades a few years ago. But unlike the original Barbie Bandits, the savvy speedsters from Alpharetta don’t intend to get caught.