On Saturday, Nov. 9, Tech students, faculty and alumni lined Fowler Street from McCamish Pavilion to Ferst Street to watch a parade of stunning classic cars, visionary fixed bodies, and innovative, self-powered, student-made contraptions.
The Ramblin’ Wreck Parade — originating in 1929 with the Old Ford Race from Atlanta to Athens — is the last event before the big homecoming football game and features three competition categories that showcase student engineering creativity and honor alumni.
Participants gathered in the McCamish parking lot before the parade to complete their finishing touches, rehearse dance choreography and make last-minute adjustments to their contraptions.
The Technique spoke with the married couple and Tech alumni Ben McMillan, CS ’07, and Jacquelyn Schneider, M.B.A. ’18, about their classic car, the “Stephanie Stingray,” a 1970 Chevy Camaro coincidentally painted in Tech’s signature gold. This year marked the couple’s seventh time entering the car in the parade, and they shared insights into their connection to the “Stephanie Stingray” and their love for Tech’s traditions.
“I guess [we participate for] school spirit. The car is the correct color for our school. I like cars, and I like parades; it’s a big game [and] the event is important to us. My wife went to Tech twice and is a big supporter, so we’re happy to come out and support the school [and] support the team,” McMillan said.
Another alumnus shared his rather personal motivation for participating in the parade. The Technique spoke with Bob Mash, MGT ’86, who comes from a family of Tech alumni including his dad, brother and sister. As a student, he participated in the parade as a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, who had his own classic car for the house. This year was his fifth time participating in the classic car division as he also participated under the Young Alumni Association and with his siblings under his father.
“A few years ago, I lost one of my friends who was a fraternity brother here, and he was in my wedding. I had lost touch with my [Tech] network and alumni friends, and so I told my wife I said, ‘We’re gonna come back and get involved with Tech and meet my old acquaintances, meet new ones,’” Mash said.
While the parade offers alumni an opportunity to reconnect with one another and with the Tech campus, it also gives various student organizations a chance to show off their contraptions and promote the aspirations of their clubs. While they prepared their vehicle for the showcase, the Technique spoke with GT Solar Racing Club President Grant Espy, third-year ME, about their vehicle, a student-built, solar-powered and road-legal car that participates in competitions aimed to one day engineer an environmentally friendly car.
“After this, we’re heading to the mechanical engineering tailgate to connect with older alumni from both solar racing but also the larger Georgia Tech community. We think it’s fun to take [the car] around campus [it] was entirely student-built, from putting the electrical systems together to literally spot-wielding the battery cells into the battery pack. [The competitions are about] making a vehicle that’s coming closer and closer to something that could go on the market,” Espy says.
While there was no limit to the amount of money a team could spend on their car, some teams used the parade as a way to showcase engineering on a budget. The Technique spoke with Nathan Nichols, third-year CMPE and President of Wreck Racing , about their three cars, two of which they have used to compete and are only allowed a budget of $2,000 to construct and repair.
“[We have] a 1991 BMW E-30 and we call her “Doris.” She is our driver trainer car, and we teach members how to drive stick and how to drive a race car. [Talking about parade vehicle] everything on [our competition] car, including the car itself, is within a $2,000 budget. This competition car is an Acura V6 in a Chevy truck with a Buick supercharger on it,” Nichols explained while motioning to what he noted as their “Frankenstein” cars.
Nichols added that the parade is an opportunity to show off the work that Wreck Racing does on their cars.
“It just shows what the student engineers are really capable of. In my opinion, Wreck Racing is different than other competition teams in that we have a full-size vehicle and a budget constraint, and when you know the story about the cars, seeing them rolling in the parade is really cool, especially since we’re able to keep $2,000 cars running for years and years after they’ve been retired,” Nichols said.
Wreck Racing is open to any interested student and requires no applications. Work nights are held every Tuesday and Thursday from 7-9 PM, and any student interested in joining should reach out to @wreckracing on Instagram.
As exhilarating as the parade is for participants, nothing tops the crowd’s energy as Tech alumni, students, faculty and fans lined the streets in anticipation. Crowds reveled and cheered as the line of cars began to make their way down the streets — some tossing candy out the windows, others providing entertainment as students peddled their contraptions using their bare hands. The sea of classic cars, fixed bodies and contraptions ran from McCamish Pavilion to the intersection of Ferst and Fowler. Each vehicle stopped in front of a panel of judges to be scored while a description of the work was delivered to the audience.
The judges from the parade are valued Tech faculty chosen by Ramblin’ Reck Club and vary from year to year. The Technique spoke with judges Wendy Cocke, Professor of the Practice for BME, Chemical Engineering ‘02, and Sybrina Atwaters, Director of OMED: Educational Services, Electrical Engineering, M.S., Ph. D ‘14, to understand more about their methodology, what draws their eye, and what they were looking for in a winner.
“I wanted creativity and effort. Did it meet the written response, like what [students] said they were gonna do versus what they actually made,” Cocke said.
Atwaters added that she was looking for some school spirit in the entries.
“[There were] several just very impressive classic cars, especially classic cars that moved to the Georgia Tech theme,” remarked Atwaters.
Both judges said they were impressed by a spectacular performance where students jumped out of a Trojan horse contraption dressed in Greek-themed outfits. The judges scored the contraptions based on four categories: whether it was operational, appearance, time and a written presentation — submitted prior to the parade — that provided a detailed description of the vehicle, including special effects, sponsors, work completed and anything else of interest.
This year’s parade highlighted the various student organizations on campus dedicated to pursuing their passions and working towards advancements in their respective industries. While students got to parade their skills and test their appliances in real time, the crowd cheered each classic car, contraption and work of art down the road.