Slashdot Mirror
Junkyard Wars Tour
ArtEnvironment writes "Junkyard Wars coming to a... MALL near you!?
Here's your chance to experience Junkyard Wars firsthand, or at least a glorified pinewood, er I mean JUNK derby! You can build unique gravity-racers and compete on a 'special effects-filled', mini race track. In addition, you can watch clips from the show and possibly even win prizes, yay!"
This sounds like a lot of fun. Too bad there's only 9 stops on the tour...
Tour Schedule/Hours:
Fridays: 2 p.m. -- 8 p.m.
Saturdays: Noon -- 8 p.m.
Sundays: Noon -- 5 p.m.
April 25-27, 2003: Washington, DC -- Montgomery Mall
May 2-4, 2003: Atlanta, GA -- Perimeter Mall
May 9-11, 2003: Philadelphia, PA -- King of Prussia
May 16-18, 2003: New York, NY -- Roosevelt Field
May 23-25, 2003: Boston, MA -- South Shore Plaza
May 30-June 1, 2003: Chicago, IL -- Woodfield Mall
June 6-8, 2003: Minneapolis, MN -- Mall of America
June 13-15, 2003: Dallas, TX -- The Parks at Arlington
June 20-22, 2003: Los Angeles, CA -- Westfield Shoppingtown, Santa Anita
It was a lot of fun, but we didn't win (2nd place). Here's how it goes:
Stand in line, then stand in line some more. Fill out a sheet where you list your car's name ("Thundermobile", courtesy of my 3 year old) and the team members (myself, my 5 year old daughter and my 3 year old son). Sign a waiver saying that if you die it's your problem and if you're on TV then you get no money.
Finally it's build time. 3 teams get 10 minutes to assemble their race cars. First, pick a frame from about 1 dozen or so shells and then head to your workbench. Pick 4 wheels (sizes are large, medium, small). Attach wheels (don't forget cotter pins). At this point you have a car to race. You're provided with other items to attach...basically a bin of junk that serves only to dress up the car but can add weight. You also get flashlights and batteries. I was going to pile on the batteries for weight but was told that too much weight will sometimes make the car get stuck on the track. Everything has to be secured with either colored electrical tape or zip ties. After a final check the cars are loaded on the "junkivator" and lifted to the start of the course. Teams are put on stage and the race is run. Winning times are around 5 seconds. The winner gets a team picture with the host and the losers go off to an old auto bench seat. For our effort each of us got a JYW bag containing promotional flyers, radio shack coupons (they're sponsoring the tour), a picture frame magnet, and a JYW mini maglite in a JYW-branded plastic case. The winners get the same plus a t-shirt.
It was fun though not really a challenging build (remember, they have to crank through as many teams as they can which is why the time is limited). A great thing for a family to do together. There's a lot of hype - the host is very energetic (he's the same guy on the tour commercial) and everyone is very nice. The kids liked being on the TV screens around the display and liked the race. My son has been talking about doing it again. All it all it was worthwhile and if they have a tour next year we'll do it again.