Teams

Fully Operational

Garage Headquarters: Pleasanton, CA

Driver: Shawn Cordeiro

Mechanics: Kai Mak, Jeff Wilcox, Nils Ratnathicam, Alex Madera

Nuts and Bolts:

The Force is strong with this one. All in their mid-twenties, Shawn Cordeiro, Alex Madera, Kai Mak, Nils Ratnathicam, and Jeff Wilcox weren’t even born when “Star Wars” premiered in 1977, but something Jedi, or maybe storm trooper, or perhaps just geeky, runs boldly in their veins. They’re ready to battle for the universe – at least, that portion of the universe called Dolores Street – at the Red Bull Soapbox Race, and they’ll do it with a Death Star vehicle launched by Darth Vader’s fastest henchmen.

“We were inspired by our everlasting love for all things ‘Star Wars,’” says Shawn, the team’s captain and driver, from the group’s secret rebel base somewhere near Pleasanton, California. “This race affords an opportunity to meet crazy, creative, wacky, like-minded people, and – equally important and alluring in all of this – it’s a chance for glory and bragging rights.” Shawn and Alex both work as designers and production artists, so they’re taking command of the team’s blueprint. All five teammates have known each other since their school days, however, so everyone’s pitching in on construction, and they fully expect that their soapbox effort will go better than the website they once produced together. (It went bankrupt; mostly, they joke, from internal strife.) “We are winners, and we will be fully operational,” Shawn declares confidently. “The emperor has foreseen that we are going to dominate.”