{"id":6655,"date":"2020-02-28T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T13:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/?p=6655"},"modified":"2023-09-01T16:15:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T21:15:06","slug":"celebrating-black-history-month-the-rise-of-spirit-buggy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/2020\/02\/celebrating-black-history-month-the-rise-of-spirit-buggy\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Black History Month – The Rise of SPIRIT Buggy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In honor of Black History Month and as part of our Buggy100 efforts, today we want to shine a spotlight one of the greatest organizations in Buggy history, celebrating their 50th<\/sup> anniversary on CMU\u2019s campus and 35th<\/sup> anniversary in Buggy \u2013 SPIRIT Racing Systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The organization known in Buggy circles as \u201cSpirit\u201d was\ninitially formed at CMU in 1970 as the \u201cBlack Student Organization.\u201d  But the organization changed its name to\nSPIRIT shortly thereafter, in an effort to better reflect its constituents at\nthe time and to not limit membership to a specific race.  According to the SPIRIT Constitution, the\nmission of SPIRIT is \u201cto serve as a haven for Black students and their allies\nwithin the Carnegie Mellon community, to serve as a two-way platform for the\nSPIRIT constituency and Carnegie Mellon community, and to champion the issues\nand awareness of the Black community and all its intersections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time 1985 rolled around, SPIRIT decided, with the\nsupport of the CMU administration, to expand their involvement in campus\nactivities, and one of those new activities that they decided to participate in\nwas Buggy.  Led by Co-Chairmen Robert\nBowie and Matt Wagner, SPIRIT Buggy (which would later be renamed to SPIRIT\nRacing Systems) set out to start a Buggy team. \nWith guidance from former Fringe member Steve Ng and a lot of watching\nand learning, Matt Wagner set out a three year plan for the organization,\ncalled \u201cParticipate, Compete, Win.\u201d  This\nwas an attempt to Participate in year 1, Compete in year 2, and Win in year\n3.  It was an ambitious plan \u2013 No team\nsince the beginning of Buggy had won within its first 3 years of competing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step one in the plan was Participation.  This seemed simple \u2013 Get a buggy, get some\nteam members, and find yourself at Raceday. \nBut with the early mornings, late nights, and dedication required from\nboth team members (pushers, mechanics, drivers) and support staff (sweepers,\nflaggers, barricaders, etc.), and the cost involved with the sport, it\u2019s not\nalways so easy.  But SPIRIT was\ndedicated, and so they reached out and obtained a buggy named Pegasus from the\nfraternity Zeta Beta Tau.  They got a few\nmechanics, found a driver, assembled strong Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s push teams, and\ngot themselves qualified for Raceday. \nAnd on Friday, April 19, 1985, SPIRIT officially completed Step 1 of the\nplan \u2013 Participate in buggy.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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SPIRIT obtained the buggy Pegasus (white, center-frame) from Zeta Beta Tau, but the buggy had some issues and in the Men’s heats, the front hatch would pop up early in the freeroll, slowing the buggy down to a crawl (from the BAA Gallery, uploaded by Carl Nott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Of course, Raceday 1985 had some ups and downs.  The inexperience of the mechanics led to some\nissues with the buggy on Raceday.  It\ndidn\u2019t help that the buggy, Pegasus, was itself a slow buggy.  But to make matters worse, on Raceday, the\nhatch of the Buggy popped up early in the freeroll of the Men\u2019s heats and acted\nas an air brake, slowing the Buggy down and resulting in a final time of\n3:02.26, good for 2nd<\/sup> to last. \nThe mechanics quickly adapted and duct taped the hatch down for the\nWomen\u2019s races, and the Women\u2019s team was able to finish 7th<\/sup>, just\nmissing out on the Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1986, SPIRIT moved on to Step 2 of the plan,\nCompete.  A normal organization will\nbuild, at most, one new buggy in a single year, and occasionally certain\norganizations may build 2.  But the\nsuccess of just participating in 1985 gave SPIRIT a lot of momentum and the\norganization found itself with many people who wanted to join the team.  They had enough interest to form 3 Men\u2019s\nteams and 3 Women\u2019s teams.  So to support\nall three, SPIRIT ended up building three<\/em>\nnew buggies for 1986.  The three buggies\nwere named Genesis, Elan, and Sting. \nSPIRIT determined that the fastest of the new buggies was Elan, so Elan\nwas assigned to both A team, with Sting rolling for the B teams and Genesis for\nthe C teams.  Overlooked as a new team,\nthe Men\u2019s A team finished with a shocking 4th<\/sup> place finish, earning\ntheir first trophy, and the Men\u2019s B team finished with the 6th<\/sup>\nfastest time of the year, though they were disqualified for failing their drop\n(braking) test.  The result fell in line\nwith Step 2 of the plan, showing that Spirit could compete.  But the Women\u2019s team went even further.  In just their 2nd<\/sup> year as a Buggy\norganization, the Spirit Women\u2019s A team pulled off one of the greatest upsets\nin Buggy history, upsetting the defending Women\u2019s champion, fraternity Pi Kappa\nAlpha (PiKA), and the Women\u2019s powerhouse Carnegie Involvement Association (CIA)\n(who won 4 of the first 7 Women\u2019s races) and winning the Women\u2019s race, in a\ntime of 2:38.94 and setting a course record in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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SPIRIT Buggy Co-Chairs Matt Wagner and Robert Bowie celebrate their trophies in 1986 (from the BAA Gallery, uploaded by Carl Nott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Women\u2019s win in 1986 spurred the team on even further,\nand now they set out for their final goal: to win the Men\u2019s races as well in\nYear 3.  SPIRIT built another new buggy,\nnamed Quantum Leap, which would compete as the Men\u2019s C team buggy in 1987.  The buggy Sting would be promoted to the A\nteam on both the Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s side. \nAs the defending champion on the Women\u2019s side, SPIRIT was no longer\noverlooked, but they needed to prove that they weren\u2019t a one-year wonder.  And they succeeded in proving it.  CIA\u2019s team improved from 1986 to 1987, but\nthey were no match for the women of SPIRIT. \nSPIRIT\u2019s team set a course record for the second year in a row, earning\ntheir second straight victory in a time of 2:37.34.  But the real proof that SPIRIT was a force to\nbe reckoned with came on the Men\u2019s side. \nBuggy predictor Compubookie predicted that SPIRIT would barely sneak in\nto the Top 5, but in accordance with Matt Wagner\u2019s 3-year plan, the push team\nand buggy came together to perfection, earning the Men\u2019s victory in a 2:11.35\nand completing the Buggy Racing Sweep.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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SPIRIT’s buggy, Sting, went on to win both the Men’s and Women’s races in 1987, fulfilling Matt Wagner’s 3-year plan to “Participate, Compete, Win”, becoming the last buggy to ever win a race using all soap box derby wheels (from the BAA Gallery, uploaded by Sam Swift).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Matt Wagner didn\u2019t spell out a 4-year plan, but if he had,\nthe next step after \u201cWin\u201d would have been \u201cCourse Record\u201d.  SPIRIT had already completed that on the\nWomen\u2019s side, but the Men\u2019s course record, set in 1986 by PiKA, was still out\nthere to be had.  SPIRIT went on a quest\nto find an edge to maintain their status as buggy frontrunner, and they\nsucceeded when they discovered Panaracers. \nWheel technology was the name of the game in Buggy, and most of the top\nteams had been living off of special Goodyear tires since the early 1980s.  But by the end of the decade, the good rubber\nwas mostly gone, and the newer teams were forced to look elsewhere for success\n(in fact, Sting would become the last the last buggy to ever win a buggy race\non all soap box derby wheels with its 1987 win).  SPIRIT decided to try a new style of tire and\nwent for a pneumatic type made by bicycle tire manufacturer Panaracer.  They strapped the Panaracers on the back of\ntheir newest buggy, Quantum Leap (which they then nicknamed \u201cAir QL\u201d), and\nhoped for the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cbest\u201d is the only adjective that can properly describe\nSPIRIT\u2019s Men\u2019s A team in 1988.  On a cold,\nsnowy day in April, the only known snow delay in the 100 year history of Buggy,\nSPIRIT\u2019s team all came together and put on one of the greatest displays of\ndominance in Buggy history.   The super fast push team broke the course\nrecord during the Prelims on Friday, and went into Saturday\u2019s Finals as the\nheavy favorite.  They did not\ndisappoint.  Quantum Leap would become\nthe last buggy to ever win a race using soap box derby wheels after the team\nran a near-perfect race, stopping the clock in a mind-boggling 2:06.20, a new\nMen\u2019s course record.  It was that day\nthat SPIRIT proved that they were a powerhouse in the world of Buggy.  In fact, the 2:06.20 course record would\nbecome the longest held record in Buggy history, standing for 20 years until\nSDC finally broke the record in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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SPIRIT Men’s A Hill 5 pusher Gary Williams pushes Quantum Leap across the finish line in victory, with a course record-setting time of 2:06.20 (from the 1988 Thistle). The record would stand for 20 years, finally being eclipsed in 2008.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As they entered the 1990s, SPIRIT put even more of an\nemphasis on creating unity for diverse students on campus with their buggy\nnames.  In 1992, they built a new buggy\nwhich they named Shaka Zulu, after one of the most influential monarchs of the\nZulu Kingdom. From there, they leaned into Swahili for the names of some of\ntheir buggies.  In 1995, they built\nHaraka (Swahili for \u201cFast\u201d), which was renamed to Kufa Haraka (Swahili for\n\u201cQuick Death\u201d) in 1997.  In 1996, they\nbuilt Zulu Machafuko (Swahili for \u201cZulu Chaos\u201d).  And in 2011, SPIRIT built their first new\nbuggy in 7 years and gave it another Swahili name, Mapambazuko (meaning\n\u201cDusk\u201d).  <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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SPIRIT’s buggies on display at the 2009 Design Competition (from the BAA Gallery, uploaded by Sam Swift), From front to back: Kufu Haraka, Zulu Machafuko, Seraph, and Quantum Leap.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By the start of the 1990s, SPIRIT had clearly established\nitself as a force to be reckoned with on the Buggy course.  But that frontrunner status also put SPIRIT\nin a spotlight within the sport that brought out the worst in some of their\ncompetitors.  One of SPIRIT\u2019s visions is\nto \u201ceducate the greater campus and Pittsburgh community on the contributions of\nBlack people and Black culture to society\u201d, but the pushback to this stated\nvision resulted in some of the negative response going beyond friendly rivalry\nand into the realm of racial prejudice. \nThe September 11, 1995 Tartan ran an article on the issue of racial\ntensions on Campus, and reported that:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

If there are ever racial tensions on this campus, it manifests itself tenfold during Spring Carnival, mainly because of the annual Sweepstakes Competition [Buggy].<\/span><\/p>\n

“The only time I am consciously aware of racism is at buggy time”, said Lynn Babyak, a junior biology major.   “The rest of the year\u2019s racial isolation is just written off as a way to preserve culture, but at buggy those lines of separation begin to clash,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many students find that the positive aspects of such events fail to outweigh the racial conflicts which they are forced to experience, hence they refuse to participate.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I was really into buggy until it got to be too much,” said [Rick Gilmore, a senior chemical engineering major].  “For whatever reasons, it was Spirit against the Greeks and vice versa.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“From Where We Stand: Race Relations at CMU”, The Tartan, September 11, 1995 (Pages L1 & L3)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

One stark example of the issue of race in Buggy came shortly\nafter SPIRIT\u2019s rise to the top.  In the\nsame year that SPIRIT would go on to set the Men\u2019s course record, 1988, the\nfraternity Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) debuted their new buggy, Rebel Yell.  The team was emblematic of the racial\nanimosity that SPIRIT faced on the buggy course.  ATO\u2019s buggy was adorned with a Confederate\nFlag painted on its top, and the team of pushers donned Confederate Flag\nbandanas to align with their buggy.  This\nwas met with outrage within the broader CMU community, and was one of a number\nof factors leading to protests on campus in September 1988 to shine a light on\nracial insensitivity on campus. \nAccording to the October 18, 1988 Tartan, \u201c[Spirit Executive Vice\nPresident Mike] Bowman claimed that ATO\u2019s buggy Rebel Yell was insensitive\ntowards blacks because of its Civil War theme,\u201d and a letter to the editor in\nthe October 25, 1988 Tartan noted that \u201cit was insensitive for the ATO\nfraternity to wear the confederate flag and fail to realize what the flag\nrepresents to the black community.\u201d However, ATO was stubborn in their\nreluctance to make any changes.  The\nOctober 18, 1988 Tartan reports that \u201caccording to ATO President Jim Camp,\nRebel Yell is so named because ATO brothers drank Rebel Yell whiskey when\nconstructing the buggy,\u201d and a letter to the editor in the April 25, 1988\nTartan argued that the confederate flag was a symbol of the fraternity\u2019s\nsouthern pride (it was founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865), not\nracism.  ATO would continue to theme its\nbuggy with confederate iconography until 1990, when ATO reluctantly changed the\npaint job and wrote in the Buggy Book that \u201cthe past few years we have been\ngiven a hard time about the Confederate flag which used to be on the Rebel\nYell.  While we still feel the flag is an\nappropriate symbol of our image on campus, others felt differently about\nit.  In an effort to basically get these\npeople off our backs, we have repainted the Rebel Yell.  We certainly hope that the new scheme is\nacceptable and we will gladly listen to the same type of constructive criticism\nthat the flag received. Yeah, right.\u201d \nHowever, even as late as 1991, ATO continued to wear Confederate Flag\nbandanas while pushing, to the outrage of the broader community.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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In 1989, ATO debuted their new buggy, Rebel Yell, and its confederate flag design. The design sparked outrage across the CMU community, but represented just one of the more outward prejudices that SPIRIT faced on the Buggy course during its reign of dominance. (Photo from the 1989 Buggy Book).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It is in the face of these adversities that SPIRIT\u2019s\ndominance stands out as even more impressive. \nAs an organization devoted to fostering positive interactions, social\ngrowth, and community within the greater Carnegie Mellon community, SPIRIT\npersevered in the Buggy community despite these adversities and soon became a\nbeacon to which other teams aspired. \nFrom 1986 to 1999, the rivalry between the members of SPIRIT and the members\nof Pi Kappa Alpha became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the\nsport.  For 14 straight years, SPIRIT and\nPiKA would combine to win every single Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s race.  During that period, SPIRIT would win 8 Men\u2019s\ntitles and 7 Women\u2019s titles, including 3 different 3-race win streaks (from\n1987-1989 and 1991-1993 on the Men\u2019s side, and 1995-1997 on the Women\u2019s side).  They set the Men\u2019s course record twice\n(during the Prelims and Finals in 1988), and the Women\u2019s course record 6 times\n(the 1986 Prelims, the 1987 Finals, the 1989 Prelims, the 1989 Finals, the 1992\nFinals, and the 1995 Finals).  And\nSPIRIT\u2019s organization proved to be exceptionally deep.  In 1995, their Men\u2019s C team set a C team\nrecord with a time of 2:13.92, which to this date has only been bested one\ntime, by SDC\u2019s C team in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most impressive feats that SPIRIT achieved during\nthat period came in 1997.  In that year, the\nSPIRIT mechanics constructed a quality new buggy in the form of Demani, which\nwon the Design Competition.  On the\nWomen\u2019s side, the SPIRIT Women\u2019s A team also earned the victory with their new\nbuggy, finishing the race in 2:37.78, a full 7 seconds ahead of PiKA A.  And to cap things off, SPIRIT\u2019s Men\u2019s A team,\npushing Haraka, earned the Men\u2019s victory in a time of 2:11.88, 2.5 seconds\nahead of the 2nd<\/sup> place team, Beta Theta Pi.  This marked the first time in the history of\nBuggy that the same team has swept the Men\u2019s races, the Women\u2019s races, and the\nDesign Competition, a feat which has only been achieved by one other\norganization (Fringe, in both 2001 and 2010). \n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Spirit accepts the first place Men’s trophy and celebrates their winning time of 2:09.60 from 1998 (from the 1998 Thistle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And that\u2019s nothing compared to the legacy that SPIRIT has created.  Quantum Leap was a seminal buggy in the\nhistory of the sport, spurring countless copycats and imitators.  SPIRIT is widely considered one of the most\nfun organizations on the course, pumping music and starting dance parties at\nthe bottom of Hill 1 every year.  They\nare also typically the only organization to repaint their buggies every year,\nrolling out fan favorite designs on a regular basis.  SPIRIT hasn\u2019t raced at the same level in\nrecent years as they had in their heyday of the 1980s and 1990s, but they\nmaintain that competitive drive, and still often find themselves finishing in\nthe Top 5 in both Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s, earning trophies year after year.  <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Always one of the most fun teams out on the course, SPIRIT’s dance parties at the bottom of Hill 1 after the Finals have become legendary and draw a huge crowd of both participants and spectators. 2017 Photo from the BAA Gallery, courtesy of Guillermo Gomez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So today, we honor SPIRIT Racing Systems.  They faced plenty of adversity over the years, but they achieved their founders\u2019 dreams and enter Raceday 2020 as the 3rd<\/sup> most decorated Buggy organization of all time, with 15 total victories (trailing just PiKA\u2019s 37 and SDC\u2019s 22).  We can\u2019t wait to see what the next 50 years have in store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of Black History Month and as part of our Buggy100 efforts, today we want to shine a spotlight one of the greatest organizations in Buggy history, celebrating their 50th anniversary on CMU\u2019s campus and 35th anniversary in Buggy \u2013 SPIRIT Racing Systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,21],"class_list":["post-6655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest-buggy-stuff","tag-100-years-of-buggy","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6655"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9119,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655\/revisions\/9119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmubuggy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}