Teams

Killa Bees

Garage Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA

Driver: Thomas Emmett McGinn

Mechanics: Kevin McGinn, Tim Schmidt, Chris Young

Nuts and Bolts:

Thomas Emmett McGinn, captain of the Red Bull Soapbox Philadelphia entry called Killa Bees, guarantees that his team will win. “Our biggest challenge will be not embarrassing the other competitors too badly,” he boasts. What makes this 26-year-old so sure of his chances? First of all, he trusts his teammates: his brother Kevin McGinn (a geology major at Temple) and buddies Timothy Schmidt and Chris Young (a district route supervisor and an accountant, respectively). “We have been friends for years, and besides the advantage of knowing each other so well, we will undoubtedly be the most handsome fellows on the circuit this year,” Thomas grins. Second, there’s home field advantage: They can all walk to the race from their residences, so transporting the group’s ginormous wheeled honeybee to the starting line will be a piece of cake (which is only fitting, since race day – September 6 – is Thomas’s birthday).

Finally, there’s their sense of showmanship. Before they launch down “The Wall,” the Philadelphia foursome plan to dance for the crowd with absolutely no inhibitions, as if no one was watching. “We’ll begin to a hip-hop song with lyrics about killer bees while wearing hoodies and black tear-away pants,” Thomas describes. “Then we’ll strip to reveal bumble bee tutus for a ballet routine!” You won’t want to miss this one, folks. The buzz is fantastic.