A monkey, a cheetah, a party-size Pepsi tub on wheels, two men in drag and a wooden chariot is a messy formula for a photo finish.
But at the Red Bull Chariot Race finals Saturday night, messy wasn’t a problem.
The wild animals — or Money Over Bitches of Sigma Chi Fraternity — collided with the cross-dressers known as Sexy Ladies at the finish line in front of a crowd of about 200.
The members of Sexy Ladies fell into a 2-foot-high haystack while Money Over Bitches stayed on its feet, allowing the cheetah- and monkey-costumed team members to pull their Pepsi tub to victory.
Thirteen teams competed in the chariot race, and Troy West, Keith Merkel and Jared Wise of Money Over Bitches were the last group standing at the parking lot of The Vault Nightclub, winning VIP passes to the Red Bull Flugtag on July 10 in Miami.
The Red Bull Chariot Race was part of the energy drink company’s grassroots campaign to reach college students. Red Bull has hosted the event at three other colleges besides UF and will travel to eight more schools in the next two weeks.
The competition was divided into three rounds, with two to three custom-built chariots racing two laps simultaneously on a course outlined with hay.
Aside from the Flugtag passes, two other awards were given out: the People’s Choice Award and the Archimedes Judges’ Award.
Broseidon, a team with a shopping cart decorated with waves made of plastic foam, won the People’s Choice, and Red Bull will provide drinks at the Broseidon members’ next party.
Kiss The Girl, a teaming honoring Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” won a Red Bull Bomb Dropper after receiving the creativity-based Archimedes Judges’ Award.
Kiss the Girl wrapped a plastic kiddie pool around a tricycle, and Lindsey McCoy and Natalie Keller blew bubbles as they pulled their roommate Lauren McPherson around the course.
“I’m a mermaid,” said McPherson, a UF theater junior, before the race. “The sea witch said I would become a real human if I won the race.”
