Beds… You jump on them as kids. You sleep on them and well, um you…
Race them of coarse.
One of the more fun things that Kentuckians race is beds. There are two phases of the competition: the style and the speed.
During the style phase, the teams assemble costumes and decorate the beds based on a theme. This years theme was “Call of the wild” which of course had plenty of jungle themed beds but several teams went with a Wild West motif, which of course means horses. The most interesting interpretation was the “Wild Thing” entry, a baseball theme from the movie “Major League.”
During the style competition, the floats err, I mean beds are paraded around the figure 8 shaped course in Broadbent Arena, part of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. Forty beds were entered in this year’s race. The award for best decorated was given to General Electric’s lion themed bed and Rubbie’s Southside Grill & Bar took the most entertaining bed with their surfing pig “Hogs gone Wild” theme.
After the parade, the decorations are removed, helmets are donned and the racing commences. The rules are simple: 4 wheels, 4 pushers, a driver and a regular sized mattress. The beds are built by hand with various types of wheels and steering (or not). The race happens in heats of 2 and the fastest time wins.
Spectators are treated to speed, crashes, orange pylons being run over and dragged around the track and even a wheel falling off. Some of the teams take the racing quite seriously, some of course are there for fun.
The winner of the race was the Alpha Energy Solutions team knocking out the long time champion Curtain Call Photo Booth. The “Cone Eater” award went to Brinly-Hardy Co.
