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Fake Michael Jackson's fake stolen baby injured both knees in the high-flying crash, but not before the pair won the Red Bull Soap Box Derby on Sept. 6 in Philadelphia with a time of 44.7 seconds.

According to Red Bull's Web site, a team called Bank on IT ran the fastest of the 30-plus racers, reaching 41 miles per hour. But in this contest, where showmanship and creativity count as much as speed, Deuces Wild ended up in first place. It was the team with the baby carriage piloted by the ill-fated man-baby and the very funny (according to eye-witness accounts) King of Pop impersonator who pretended to kidnap him.

Katelyn James and co-driver Max Emerich piloted the Sweet Briar team's car on derby day. (c) Francois Portmann/Red Bull PhotofilesBy contrast, the smooth descent of team P.I.N.K.'s giant stiletto-heeled shoe never exceeded 12 miles per hour by brakeman Maxine Emerich's recollection. Emerich, a junior engineering major, sat behind fellow Sweet Briar College student Katelyn James '11 who steered the nearly 7-foot-tall wheeled shoe past beer- and rain-soaked spectators at the derby.

The shoe's ambling pace was no surprise to the team and their faculty advisor Scott Pierce, who had seen to it that no harm came to his students on the treacherously wet track.

They had gotten a good look at the race course beforehand — some 1,785 feet angling downward at an intimidating pitch. Tropical Storm Hanna was coming, but the Red Bull organizers were vowing the race would go on rain or shine. Pierce fretted through a sleepless night on the eve of the derby.

"It was a steep hill," he said of the incline known as Manayunk Wall.

Pierce switched the shoe's smooth bicycle tires for knobby mountain bike treads, but after witnessing several wrecks, including a triple roll over, he went a step further.

"I came close to saying [they're] not going, but instead I rigged it so the brakes really couldn't let go," he said after the team's return to the College.

Despite his dire warnings to ride the brakes the entire way, Emerich confessed she did release them, noting that the slope didn't seem so bad on the way down.

"It was funny seeing Katelyn on the Jumbotron yelling at Max to 'go faster, go faster,' Pierce said.

Red Bull's Web site reports that eight derby cars smashed into the hay bales short of the finish line and were disqualified, but Pierce and Emerich believe several more than that rolled or plowed into barriers. Some people were taken away in ambulances.

Team P.I.N.K.'s giant hot pink stiletto-heeled shoe was one of the crowd favorites. © Chris Tedesco/Red Bull PhotofilesThe morning had been less dramatic. P.I.N.K. and the other competitors set up along "Pit Lane," where they chatted with spectators. The team — including Kate Montemurro '10, MaryAnne Haslow-Hall '11 and Lauren Schwartz '09 — handed out little plastic shoes and pink and green M&Ms to promote both the team and the College. Team members Antionette Williams '09 and Jessie Waitt '08 did not make the trip to Philly.

After the all-night build sessions leading up to the race, the students spent the last night baking cupcakes with icing in the school colors, pink and green, in hopes of garnering "people's choice" votes. Spectators were asked to send text messages to indicate their favorites. Emerich said their booth was a popular stop for the fans, and they ended up fourth in voting. First place went to a team called Dr. Strangebox.

The women wore sundresses for the meet and greet. "People were like, 'OK,' " Emerich said, drawing out the last syllable. "Then they realized we were competitors."

One little girl dressed like a princess gazed in awe at the enormous hot pink pump that was modeled after the shoes that Schwartz, P.I.N.K.'s chief artistic designer, wore on her feet.

Then the rain came. "We should have made an ark instead of a shoe," Pierce said.

He and Emerich agreed that the event was a lot of fun, and Pierce pointed out that they learned a lot about accomplishing a big project on a tight deadline. But he questioned not moving up the race's start to avoid the downpour, which arrived around the time of the first derby run.

"But we survived to compete another day," Pierce said, "unlike Michael Jackson."

Visit Red Bull's Web site for event details. For more information on P.I.N.K.'s participation in the derby, see these related stories:

http://www.sbc.edu/news/items/7613
http://www.sbc.edu/news/items/7591