Third ‘Obtainium Cup’ draws hundreds to Vallejo
The point of most races is to come in first.
The point of the Obtainium Contraptors Cup, however, is to use found — obtained — things to assemble a people-powered vehicle that ought to be capable of finishing a course around Mare Island in Vallejo.
It’s a challenge more and more area residents are accepting each year.
Most of the contraptions at Sunday’s race were planned ahead of time, taking a few weeks to six months or longer to assemble. Some have been tested for a couple of years at such events as the Makers Faire and Burning Man.
But some of the entries were more last-minute.
Of the 450 or more who went to Mare Island simply to watch the third edition of the contest, a handful noticed a wheel sticking out of a garbage bin near the beginning of the course.
Curious, Dave Belef of Bike Vallejo, Shelly Redpath, 9-year-old Kaden Weakley and others began pulling out the discarded items.
Banding an old grill to a baby carriage with wire they also found, the new acquaintances spent less than half an hour crafting a last-minute entry they dubbed “Baby Back Ribs.” Their contraption won a medal Kaden wore proudly after the awards ceremony.
And that’s what these people-powered creations and moving art pieces are lovingly called — contraptions. It’s no insult at this rally.
The largest award, the Obtainium Cup itself, went to the elegant Horseless Carriage, a San Jose entry from Mike Saleski and Tina Koch, who won the Intellectual Award last year.
Saleski doesn’t have to take the gigantic metallic trophy home. “It wouldn’t fit on my mantle anyway,” he said. But he does get to find a place for the Excelsior Trophy, which is given the winner to keep.
El Ocho, an eight-bicycle contraption made to look like an octopus, received the Precocious Award; High Spirits won the Flamboyant Award; the Teardrop Aluminum Car earned the Coolest Award; and the Chimera won the Cheater award, because creator Victor John slipped a battery into his three-wheeler shortly after leaving the start-finish line.
John built his amalgam trike of wheelchair, bicycle and moped parts at Obtainium Works art studio on Mare Island out of items for which even artist Shannon O’Hare had no plans. O’Hare and his wife, Kathy, have organized — or instigated — the Obtainium Cup for three years.
The trike’s builder said the Chimera was inspired by the old plastic Big Wheel tricycles made for children.
“I never had one,” John said. So with the help of O’Hare and Andrew Atore, he built one of metal, with a recumbent-style seat between two wheels, with a dominating 40-inch hubless wheel that gives him both steering and power on the front end.
The bicycle pedals don’t simply turn the huge front wheel. It turns a smaller wheel that turns within and propels the larger one. Two even smaller wheels make sure their companion stays on track.
The handlebars are high risers, like those on chopper motorcycles.
Vallejo’s professional baseball team, the Admirals, came out Sunday to support the event, too. Their white and blue jerseys were a contrast to the browns, tans and blacks of the predominantly steampunk crowd that attended the rally.
Kenny McDowall, Andrew Brooks and Elvin Rodriguez took the stage to present the Admiralty Award to a pair of scarecrows, Harrison Farwell of Oakland and Kemrick Smythe of Richmond.
“We figured we’d win by refusing to understand what’s going on,” Smythe said.
For instance, when they encountered the first of three challenges, flying monkeys, the two scarecrows got out of their four-wheeled pedal car to stare into the sky at the rain of stuffed animals that were being shot out of cannons.
They easily convinced the zombies, another challenge, they had no brains to eat, then taught a few of the shambling monsters how to make brains.
“If you give a zombie a brain, he eats for a day,” Smythe rationalized, borrowing from the proverb about teaching a man to fish.
They faced the third challenge, robots, by simply running over them.
The crew of the Superkaleidocollapsatelescopascopotronic, including the Comptess and Henchman Lipcoft, kept capturing other competitors, and that earned them the Naughty Award.
The Morty Tree, built by fourth graders at the Obtainium Works during an art camp for the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service, won the Golden Dragon Award.
Steve Dunsky, the Forest Service’s public affairs spokesman for the Pacific Southwest Region, found himself technically out of uniform as he proudly wore a badge for his own participation in the event with the Woodsy Ride.
The Morty Tree was an Obtainium Works camp project for the children, O’Hare said. “They got to drive it into the event,” he said. “It was the first across the line!” That may have been because the kids doubled back, he noted.
He glanced at the contraptions that were parked on display after making the Mare Island round. “They’re built from junk that was tossed as junk,” he said. He said he was happy with the level of participation by the Vallejo community, as well as from communities beyond.
The event attracted entries from as far away as Folsom and Sacramento. “We’re very pleased at the sheer number of people,” O’Hare said.In other awards, the Pineapple Express, a tropical-themed contraption, earned the Biker Dude award; Acme, a bicycle that expelled smoky gas, took the Stinker Award; the Vicious Cycle was declared the Engineering Model; and the Shutter Speed, a wooden entry that collapsed after overturning on the course, received the Lornful Hope Award.
Vallejo Vice Mayor Bob Sampayan, in his own steampunk top hat and goggles, said the event brings out “a lot of community support.” Artists such as those who organize the Obtainium Cup are changing Vallejo, he said. “There’s spirit — nothing but spirit.”
He wasn’t the only city official there — among the other judges were Robert McConnell and Katy Miessner, Vallejo city council members who also dressed in the Victorian science fiction style.
That style was exemplified Sunday by Lt. and Chief Engineer Emma O’Connell, Mr. Henry Hawthorne Esq., Captain Lucky and Lady Dashwood, all members of the Aether Brigade of Alameda, a performance group entering its fourth year of portraying characters who travel in time and space from 1881 in service to Queen Victoria.
The company had assisted in the Mad Hatter Festival in Vallejo last year, and decided to drop in on the Obtainium Cup.
“We’ve doubled the people who came,” Kathy O’Hare said. The entry caliber has risen as well, she said, and vendors told her that their business was up, too.
“The zombies were spectacular,” she said, admiring the work Wendy Dispennette of Pink Pixie Makeup that had done to transform volunteers into monsters.
She said she’s already planning for the 2015 event, asking participants and visitors about improvements they’d like to see next year. In addition, more Mare Island companies showed interest in participating next year, she said. “We’re going to move down the waterfront,” she added.
The event began three years ago with the O’Hares inviting some friends; about 40 attended. Approximately triple that number came out last year, and the event just keeps growing.
“Everything has doubled. We’re really, really excited,” O’Hare said, adding that one of her Vallejo neighbors who had never attended the event before came this year and was astonished. “She said it was just spectacular!”
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