Artistic "Cars"

In July 1979 hundreds of people gathered in San Francisco, California, to watch a carrot, a can of sardines, and a decorated bug race down a hill in McLaren Park.

The unusual event was the second Artists' Soap Box Derby, which was sponsored by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A total of 87 artists brought their "soap box" creations to the derby. Speed may or may not have been part of any artist's design, but creativity certainly was. The carrot trailed a green parachute shaped like a carrot top, the sardine can came complete with opener key, and the bug was decorated with colorful metals and plastics, bright beads and buttons, a TV antenna, and bowling trophies. There was also a two-stick orange popsicle that split in half partway down the hill; each half coasted the rest of the way by itself. One sculptor created a figure of a man lying on his stomach with his arms outstretched in front of him. The arms held the front wheel, and the driver sat on the man's back and maneuvered with a steering wheel that was mounted between the shoulders.

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