Face Off!
The top three teams, one of which was not ours, "faced off" to see who would win the coveted BF Goodrich tires. For this event, the diabolical minds of the Sportsmobile Olympic competition committee devised a seat that attached to a front trailer hitch and was suspended in front of the van. Above the seat was a clip that held a water balloon in place. The water balloon was surrounded by a ring with protruding nails. Getting the picture? One team member got to sit in the "hot" seat while another got to drive the 4X4 obstacle course. When the van rocked too much, the balloon swung and was popped by the nails and soaked the occupant of the seat. Each team got five balloons. When a balloon broke, the driver and hot seat passenger were replaced. The winner was the team that got the farthest on five balloons.
The balloon is being attached and David is stoically awaiting his dousing.
Another hot seat passenger looks a little apprehensive...
Chris looks a little more than apprehensive!!!
The third place team.
Laura looking back at her husband Jay, who was driving, saying "just break the dang thing! I'm hot, I'm tired, I'm getting sunburned..." Jay didn't listen. He just kept driving at about 4 inches per minute until he succeeded in overheating the engine.
With the engine overheating, Sportsmobile's "Worst Case Scenario" team came to the rescue, dousing the radiator with cool creek water and turning on the heater. After that didn't work, the competition was suspended for a half hour to let the engine cool down. This was about cocktail time, so we went back to the van and shook up a dry martini and well, never made it back to Competition Island. I understand that Jay resumed his incredible display of eye-foot coordination and never did break the balloon, thereby securing first place, and big tires for his team.