Teams

Gotta Go!

Garage Headquarters: Boston, MA

Driver: Randall Bird

Mechanics: Matt Brigida, Jessica MacKool, Matt Weber

Nuts and Bolts:

“We’re obsessed with bathrooms and bathroom humor,” says Randall Bird of his peers on Team Gotta Go. “We also share an obsession with gravity power and green eco vehicles.” Put those two preoccupations together and what do you get? A porta-potty that, when tipped (and aren’t porta-potties inevitably tipped?), turns into a soapbox racecar.

Randall, 42, is a “Dorm God” at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, billed as the premier institution for the study of contemporary music. Joining him in the race-team effort are Matt “Fantasy” Brigida, 22, a Berklee student; Brad Jarvis, 36, whose bona fide job title is “Master of Whiskey”; Jessica MacKool, 28, the general manager for the Berklee Cafeteria (and infinitely more appealing than any stereotypical cafeteria lady); and Dennis Todd, 27, who as special events coordinator for Northeastern University knows a little something about resourcing the proper “facilities” for major happenings. Needless to say, the teammates are all flush with excitement about participating on September 6. “We once built a ‘Trybrid’ vehicle from scratch, which runs on biodiesel and hydrogen, and some of us competed in the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Providence last year, so we’ve got relevant experience,” states Randall, noting that the team’s presentation will include original music, choreography, and “legal” pyrotechnics. “Our vehicle will look like an outhouse, but race like a demon,” he promises. “It will be the fastest porta-potty ever!”