When someone asks you how you can have the most fun on four wheels, what do you say? Of course you say, "kids in Barbie PowerWheels vehicles without motors drag racing downhill." How could there be any other answer?
On a comparatively gorgeous day in November, the Automobile Club de FASRI's core crew and their families took to Diamond Hill, a former ski area, to see who gravity would favor most.
In five high performance machines made mostly by PowerWheels - an F150, Mustang GT, Ferrari F430, pink Barbie Cadillac Escalade, and Lightening McQueen - we threw caution and rational adult behavior to the wind and raced downhill. You may think to yourself, with such amazing vehicles on hand, how could you go wrong? Well, the Ferrari lost it's left rear wheel multiple times. Luckily we found the parts after the first incident and gave it a quick bodge. It broke for good shortly thereafter. Shockingly, the rest of the four cars soldiered on through the full day, providing endless amusement to crews of children that at times piled into them in packs of three to hurtle themselves headlong down the hill.
Safety is always of paramount importance. So we gathered up random dusty bike helmets, batting helmets and whatever various bits of head protection material we could scrape together. Sometimes we even had full SFI-compliant fireproof race suits! It wasn't until the kids started aiming for the table holding the Pastiche desserts that someone had to crack down on the drivers a bit.
When Eliot climbed out of a car after crossing the line first saying, "Unfair! They cheated!" we had to explain to him that rules were for real racing. This was Barbie PowerWheels racing and we had no room for rules. Or fairness. Or order! The rules finally amounted to, "No biting, no kicking, and no lollygagging. Rubbing is racing!"
Two hours was not enough for most of the racers. But evening was setting in. And there was homework to complete. We had to call it a day. There were no winners (since there were no rules, no timing, no scoring, and no real plan). But I think we all won if judged by the laughter and fun that we all experienced.
Thanks to all who came out for this second annual ACF Barbie PowerWheels Jeep Downhill Drag Racing 2015 Extravaganza. And special thanks to my neighbors, Chip and Charley, for helping us get the vehicles to and from the race course. We tried to get them to take a run down the hill but they proved to be far to smart to fall for it. Maybe next year!
