Teams

Team Miyamoto

Garage Headquarters: Tarrant County, TX

Driver: Alex Welcing

Mechanics: Jesse Hackfeld, Amanda Studebaker, Micah Lumpkin

Nuts and Bolts:

Why would four teenagers named Jesse Hackfeld, Micah Lumpkin, Amanda Studebaker, and Alex Welcing drive all the way from Texas to Los Angeles just to fling a soapbox car into some hay bales? “Amanda and I were bored one day,” Alex explains simply. “So we called up our friends Jesse and Micah and decided to apply.” The four students weren’t even fully acquainted at that critical juncture; yet their combined skills make for a viable contender. When she’s not studying for her classes at Tarrant Community College, Micah modifies go-karts. And Jesse, a senior at Richland High School, works at an automotive shop where the team is constructing their racer. Amanda and Alex, who are sophomores at the University of North Texas, don’t have experience building cars, but they play in a band and are super-creative. Plus Alex is going to drive the racer on September 26 (even though he only got his driver’s license in July), and Amanda’s last name is the same as that of a defunct car company, which ought to count for something…

The Texans call themselves Team Miyamoto in honor of Sigeru Miyamoto, the man who helped to create the Mario video-game series, among many others. “Playing Mario was our inspiration,” Alex explains, noting that the adorable dinosaur character Yoshi is their not-too-secret weapon. Alex comments, “We have lots of ideas to make our team stand out: our enthusiasm, our awesome costumes, tossing ‘Yoshi’ eggs into the crowd; and besides, everyone already loves Yoshi!”