Race Tests Bounds of Creativity--for Charity

While space travel and underwater exploration certainly reflect humanity’s desire to discover and chart the unknown, they are indicative of another, equally compelling human need: to engineer and build elaborate, goofy machines.

Sure, finding the edge of the universe or the bottom of the sea is necessary to our understanding of our evolution and our essence. But just as important is the way we get there. Those really cool space shuttles with rocket boosters that blast us into deep space, and those cute little modules that allow us to putt-putt along the ocean floor, connect us to another side of our nature--the silly and innovative side.

So, it isn’t surprising that someone--or a group of someones--would take a septic tank, disguise it as a submarine and attempt to navigate it along Ventura’s city streets, dirt roads and beaches before plunging it into local waters this weekend.

It’s all in the Rube Goldbergian spirit of wit and originality and all for a good cause. The first Ventura Kinetic Sculpture Race, which benefits the Turning Point Foundation, is a generally offbeat event that will be conducted Saturday and Sunday.

“About 20 teams have spent at least the last few months building vehicles that even the major manufacturers of sport utility vehicles haven’t thought up--something that will travel on land, sand, dirt and sea,” said Leo Smith, who wrote this week’s story on the unusual event. (See page 40.)

It takes a group of committed individuals with the combined skills of a mechanical engineer, an artist, a welder, a plumber and an athlete. A lifeguard isn’t a bad idea, either.

“Many of the racers were working up to the last minute putting together their entries,” Smith said. “Some may not know if their vehicles are truly seaworthy until they get them into the water.”

I wonder if the space program got started this way?