Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race |
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| Hobart Brown’s original Pentacycle on display in Ferndale, California. |
1969–1999: Pre-Baltimore
The first Kinetic Sculpture Race was held in 1969 in Ferndale, California. Local artist Hobart Brown decided to upgrade his son Justin’s tricycle, and by the time he was done, he had added a great deal of material including two more wheels. His neighbor Jack Mays thought he could make something better than Hobart’s “Pentacycle,” and challenged Hobart to a race during the upcoming town arts festival. The winner of the race was Bob Brown of nearby Eureka, who created a smoke-emitting turtle that laid eggs. The race received broad publicity when photos of a congressman riding the Pentacycle were seen nationally.
In the 1970s, that original racecourse grew and got more technically challenging, spanning three days including major segments on water, mud, and sand dunes along the Pacific Coast. With the expansion of Kinetic Sculpture Races to other locations including Baltimore, the original race is know known as the World Championship. It starts in the town of Arcata, continues through Eureka, and finishes in Ferndale, all within Humboldt County. You can read more about the history of Kinetic Sculpture Races in California and throughout the world on Wikipedia, which also has links to more sources.
Dawn Thomas has also created a massive Kinetic Kompendium documenting the history of the race, including hundreds of photos.
1999–2024: Baltimore Race
The Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race (also known as the East Coast Championship) began in 1999 when Rebecca Hoffberger, founder of the American Visionary Art Museum, heard about the World Championship on television. She wanted to bring the race to Baltimore, and worked with Hobart to do it. Since the beginning, Theresa Segreti has led AVAM’s sponsorship of the race. For the first year, there were just six entries. AVAM built the Cha Cha Bird, the most impressive sculpture that year that served as inspiration to others. Two years later in 2001, the Chicken was rebuilt as Fifi the giant pink poodle—and has been the race’s mascot ever since.
In spring 2020, Maryland and most other states declared states of emergency due to the rapidly-spreading Covid-19 pandemic, so no race was held. In 2021, the pandemic continued to prevent crowded gatherings, so teams submitted miniature sculptures for the 2021 Honey, I Shrunk the Kinetic Sculpture Race. In 2022, the full-size race finally resumed.
The Racecourse
Thanks to geography and environmental laws, part of the California race takes place on US-101 where it is a limited-access freeway. Fortunately, the sculptures in Baltimore do not travel down I-95! Instead, the paved segments of the Baltimore race take place mostly on the right-lane of multi-lane roadways, with sculptures separated from traffic by cones or in the bike lianes on Light Street and Pratt Street alongside the Inner Harbor. Where roads are too narrow, they are closed for the race. While the pavement portions of the race cover the greatest distance, they aren’t the most exciting parts of the race--those are undoubtedly the various obstacles.
Water Entries over the Years
The first year, Hobart Brown and Theresa worked out the racecourse. Racers in California had long gotten used to a miles-long crossing of Humboldt Bay, so they laid out a course across the Inner Harbor. Since all of the racers in Baltimore had never even seen the California race, they weren’t prepared for the waves on the Chesapeake Bay. Crossing even the harbor requires a robust boat design. The race served as such an impediment to legitimate vessels that the Coast Guard prohibited them from the crowded Inner Harbor waters. In subsequent years, the racecourse had a morning water entry at the Canton Waterfront Park near the Korean War Memorial, and an afternoon water entry at the Museum of Industry (BMI). There was no permanent boat ramp at the BMI water entry, so a temporary ramp was installed each year. That ramp was so steep that most sculptures had to be lowered on ropes, and the end of the ramp in the water was such a hard climb that most sculptures needed a great deal of help to exit. The second water entry was removed from the racecourse after the 2004 race.
Patterson Park Obstacles
Patterson Park has been a part of the race ever since the second year. (In 1999, a mud pit was created on Boston Street.)
Mud: Since 2000, Patterson Park has always been the site of the mud pit. Through 2006, the mud was located on the curved roadway immediately adjacent to the Casino building. However, the building was restored before the 2007 race, so the mud pit was moved down the hill.
Sand: The sand used to be on the approach to the mud at the Casino, so when the mud moved, so did the sand.
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| The Dragonfly Divas race across the ice rink in the 2002 race. Photo courtesy of Joo Chung. |
Ice: In 2002, the race was held on the earliest date ever—April 13. The Patterson Park ice rink was still open, so that year the race included an ice segment—the only ice crossing in the history of any Kinetic Sculpture Race, worldwide. However, the disadvantage of having the race so early was evident on that overcast day—it was quite chilly. Since then, the race has been held the last weekend in April or the first weekend in May, after the ice rink is closed for summer.
Volunteers
AVAM has always worked hard to recruit volunteers, because many devoted volunteers move on to create sculptures of their own! However, the volunteer corps is growing as the race becomes more well-known. Anyone interested in more information about volunteering should check out the Volunteer! page.
 photo courtesy of Ellin Beltz |
Hobart Brown, 1934–2007 Hobart Brown, the founder of Kinetic Sculpture Racing, died of pneumonia |