By Karen Wolitzer
It's like nothing else on television. For those of you who have never seen it, two teams are placed in a junkyard and given ten hours to build some sort of vehicle (it changes each week). Each show begins at dawn when each team is given a guest expert and are informed what they have to build. Then the expert helps them create the biggest, fastest or strongest contraption with just parts that they find in the junkyard. The two teams compete to find the best junk while the expert draws up plans. They work all day (ten hours) building their masterpieces then the following day at sun-up they race them. I've seen them build hovercrafts that actually worked and boat/cars that drove/floated on both land and water.I marvel at this, because I can't even change a tire...let alone build a whole car! So, why am I telling you all this? I have a reason...
Junkyard Wars is on tour and is going to be at Roosevelt Field this weekend...but instead of giving contestants ten hours to build a vehicle, they're giving them ten minutes to assemble a mini junk race car from an assortment of wheels, frames and spare parts.The show has been on the road for a month, visiting different cities, and host Michael Beneville says that everyone who participates has a ball. "The basic spirit of the day is you think it, you build it, you race it," he says with a smile."People get very inventive and ingenious. You start out with a chassis of a car and then you pick whatever kind of wheels you want to put on it. Then there are batteries and flashlights and tape and swizzle straws to add style. The last time we did it, people came back three days in a row and stood on line to build and race the cars. I was amazed."Kids love it (those under 12-years-old need to have adult supervision), but we have people come on dates, married couples participate, even grandmas and grandpas wait on line to race their cars. Sometimes we'll have two little boys racing against a 60-year-old woman. And everyone-young and old-has a really great time. "I wanted to do this because I love building things. I grew up in Africa, and there kids built their own toys. We made boats out of flip-flops and toys out of soda cans...so this intrigued me. Plus I love the show. And people love creating things out of nothing. It's really fun. It's free and it's great." The course that the cars run on is spectacular. It's called the Junkyard Wars Gravity Crash Course. It's a special effects filled mini-race track, featuring three parallel curving tracks, so that three cars (each two feet long) can race at once. The vehicles thunder down the course (which is 35-feet long), jump a wall of faux fire, snake under a smoking tunnel of doom and careen over several death drops and speed bumps. And each race ends with a photo finish and flashing lights."Everyone's a winner," adds Michael. Each contestant receives a gift bag with great prizes and offers from Radio Shack (the sponsor of the event). There's this really cool little flashlight...and the winners of each race also get a
Junkyard Wars T-shirt. Along with watching each race on large screens, fans can see highlights from actual episodes of
Junkyard Wars. It's sure to be a great day...so bring the kids and head to the mall.
Junkyard Wars
May 16 - 18
Roosevelt Field Mall
Old Country Rd.
For more info call 742-8001
Free
