Teams

INFERNO

Garage Headquarters: LaSalle, Ontario CN

Driver: Greg Martin

Mechanics: Joe Klingler, Ryan Martin, Rolf Neumann, Enzo Ritorto

Nuts and Bolts:

There's only one team of Canucks in the Red Bull Soapbox Race line-up, and boy, are these fellas hot. How hot? Their nicknames offer a clue. The five are Joe "Cayenne" Klingler, Greg "Jalapeño" Martin, Ryan "Habanero" Martin, Rolf "Chili Dog" Neumann, and Enzo "Tabasco" Ritorto. There's a 40-year spread in their ages (Habanero, at 15, is the youngest of the group, while Cayenne, a 55-year-old, is the most...um...well-seasoned member of the spicy crew); yet they assert that they are all "damn good looking." And they intend to put on a sizzling show in St. Louis.

At their base in Windsor, Ontario, the teammates are crafting a blazing-fast "Inferno" from a shopping cart tricked out with steel tubing, Lexan (a resin thermoplastic), and 16-inch bicycle wheels. Everybody on the team is fanning the flames in some way, and the work provides a welcome study break for Habanero, who is a sophomore at E. J. Lajeunesse High School, and Tabasco, who is in his second year of Advertising studies at St. Clair College. Transporting the vehicle south to St. Louis may be tricky, but Jalapeño asserts that it's worth the trouble. "We are proud," he states, "to be a Canadian entry in the St. Louis race."