Know Your Own Bone

Last weekend, I headed into downtown L.A. to watch the incredibly goofy and downright amazing Red Bull Soapbox Races. Now, I’ll admit that when Ian suggested that we attend, there was part of me that snobbishly thought anyone who would dedicate an entire afternoon to watching grown men in crazy costumes wipe out while rolling a homemade soapbox down a big very big hill is loser with nothing better do to… But honestly, I really (really) wanted to see it. So I put down my hundred pages of public management reading and Ian closed his laptop on the work he was doing for his startup, and we prepared for a few hours of watching stupidity at its best.

A few minutes after we arrived, however, we were amazed to see a valuable life-lesson in action. The lesson? You cannot be great if you do not take risks. It’s a lesson that we’ve all heard many times, but last weekend, a middle-aged man in frilly red underpants taught this lesson to over one hundred thousand L.A. locals while dodging jumps and clinging to a moving stripper’s pole.

Team Pole Position is off to a rolling start...

The soapbox itself was simple: a flat platform with a single stripper’s pole. In the opening dance, the crew acted as if the riders would be two younger women– but a man in a jumpsuit burst through the commotion and hopped onto the soapbox. He ripped off his jumpsuit to reveal frilly red underwear, pink kneepads, and a rather shocking amount of skin– and away they rolled down the hill. The audience was was loving it.

… until the soapbox reached the first ramp, and the stripper and driver dodged the obstacle entirely. Much of the audience’s laughter transformed into moans, but Pole Position continued down the course. When they reached the turning ramp (the notorious obstacle in which nearly every team wipes out), Pole Position– once again– dodged the obstacle entirely. Among a sea of now loudly booing crowds, the team avoided the final ramp and finished the course with decent timing, and diminished (if not completely non-existent) support.

The judges threw up blank scorecards, and the team received no points.

There’s no doubt that the team would have done much better to embrace the course and risk wiping out on all/any of the obstacles. They had the potential to gain significant style points! Sometimes donning a silly costume (or lack thereof) in a soapbox race is just not enough; you need to deliver that energy and silliness throughout the race.

In the beginning, the Pole Position team had all of the makings of a winning soapbox run: a great opening dance, a hilarious soapbox star, and incredible audience support, but there’s one thing they didn’t have: guts.

In the race right afterward, a giant, pink papier-mache brain received a perfect score and the nerd in me decided that that was appropriate… Then the USC team barely rolled 5 feet from the starting line before breaking down. But… let’s not talk about that.