Brothers Build Unique Soapbox Car for Salt Lake City Race

Sandy, Utah — Brothers Jon and Patrick Farrington have devoted the last eight weeks to building a soapbox car for the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Salt Lake City. They are among 45 amateur teams racing homemade, gravity-powered carts down a challenging course filled with curves, jumps, and the risk of crashes.

“We’ve spent the last eight weeks building this and several revisions,” said Jon Farrington. “How all projects go, you start with the original idea, and then by the time you get to the end, it’s modified 100 times, but we’re getting close.”

Their soapbox car is a hot rod tribute that embodies the spirit of Rat Fink, the iconic mascot of 1960s hot rod culture. This marks the brothers’ first time competing in the race, although their passion for cars and crafting runs deep in their family.

“The main reason we’re doing this is to do it together and to kind of honor our dad,” Patrick stated. “He’s built so many things in this garage, and he did soapbox when he was 12. So we’ve kind of come full circle.”

Mike Farrington, the brothers’ father, reminisced about his own experiences. “It’s an honor. It’s amazing. When your sons grow up, they move away and don’t see them as often as you’d like. This is a good way to get back together and kind of rekindle friendships and associations,” he said.

In addition to Jon and Patrick, two of their siblings will participate, wearing custom-made masks and pushing the soapbox car down the hill. Both brothers will don helmets for safety. They are not strangers to competitive racing, having previously participated in and won at Red Bull Flugtag, where teams launch homemade flying machines into water from a significant height.

“We’re aiming for 35 mph and just trying to make it down in one piece,” Jon joked, looking forward to the race.