Teams

Eat My Sawdust

Garage Headquarters: Rocklin, CA

Driver: Viven Gee

Mechanics: Vihar Rai, Jack Smith

Nuts and Bolts:

Viven Gee, Vihar Rai, and Jack Smith build computer chips for a living, but they dream of fabricating much grander creations. “We often sit in the aisles and brainstorm our ideas at work,” says Viven, who wisely neglects to provide the name of her Rocklin-area employer, “but since no one understands the crazy ideas we draw out, they think we’re doing real work!” These three self-described “inventors, tinkers, and creators” typically devise contraptions that combine fantasy with functionality – including innovative trebuchets, kayaks, amps, speakers, and audio-driven laser pattern generators – so a shot at designing a wacky yet road-worthy soapbox racer was irresistible.

“This is an opportunity to show off our creativity and craziness, to let loose the side of us that we normally have to contain in the real world. And Jack and Vihar, being boys, like to make things bigger, better, faster,” states Viven, whose many knee surgeries hint of her penchant for adventure on the ski slopes. The teammates are also endlessly amused by human behavior, which is why they’ve chosen the quirky theme of belt-sander racing. “In our skit, Cletus, our simple redneck, has a belt sander that he wants to race and win against the city folk,” Viven explains. She acknowledges, “We’re probably not as PC as we should be, but we don’t discriminate. We find humor in everyone and everything, especially ourselves!”