Teams

Burro Rosso

Garage Headquarters: Atlanta, GA

Driver: Casey Crain

Mechanics: Carly Queen, Andrew McQuade, Jake Urman, Malik Blount

Nuts and Bolts:

Malik Blount, Casey Crain, Andrew McQuade, Carly Queen, and Jake Urman aren’t afraid to make an ass of themselves on Tenth Street. (Ask anyone who grew up with Casey and Andrew in the Virginia Highland/Midtown district less than three blocks from the Red Bull Soapbox course.) But more important, they’re not afraid to make an ass of their soapbox racer – though they prefer the term “donkey” or “burro,” thank you very much. “Our car is a papier mâché piñata donkey, with suspension balanced by a bellyful of candy,” says Casey. “Besides papier mâché, our cart will be made from recycled bike parts, shopping carts, crepe paper, and a very large sombrero.”

These Atlanta teammates aren’t interested in winning the race. They want to be first among the losers. Casey clarifies, “We’re pulling for second place – we hear the prize is attending the Skip Barber racing school, and we want to get behind the wheel ourselves even more than winning the top award of a trip to a NASCAR race.” First, though, they have to get behind the reins of that donkey. “Our biggest challenge is finding time in our busy lives to build the thing!” acknowledges Casey. The car is coming together at his business, Atlantic Coast Customs, where he specializes in restoration and customization of classic American cars and trucks, as well as vintage German cars. “I also use the shop as a freelance industrial design studio for my personal work,” he explains. Casey’s fellow burro wranglers are employed in professions like fabricator, bike mechanic, and campus field coordinator, plus Jake Urman is a model and prototype manager, and Malik and Andrew are both studying welding at Gwinnett Tech. With their nonstop lives, they’re all in need of a siesta; but that will wait until after they get their ass in gear on August 29.