The deadline is past, the applications are in...now I want to know what my chances really are ;) If you applied, please respond with a little information about your team.

I'll start - Bill, Bob and Brian (me) formed the Torsk Bandits. All three of us are former submarine sailors who are part of a larger group of submariners (also called the Bandits) who repair and restore the USS Torsk submarine in Baltimore. The Torsk was build at the end of WWII and last overhauled about 30 years ago, so there a lot to be done. Since we have to find EVERYTHING that we use on board, we classify ourselves as Master Scroungers...in fact, the Bandit's motto is "Gone Before You Can Weld it Down."

Apart from our submarine intrests, Bill and Bob have another claim to fame: They cut a Greyhound bus in half, removed the center section and re-welded it back together to make a motor-home for Bob! Once on a trip across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the winds were high and Bob was informed that they weren't allowing motor homes across. He logically stated "But I'm a bus"..."Yeah, I guess you are." When he came to the toll booth, "Toll for a bus is $15"..."But I'm a motorhome for $5"..."Yeah, I guess you are.".... ;)

For our application video, we explained how a torpedo tube works, then built a 1/7th scale model from PVC and demostrated it. Having access to the Torsk, we really wanted to demostrate how the real thing worked, but we also wanted to avoid jail time so we could still be on the show...

Brian

-- Brian Flynn (bflynn@nc.rr.com), February 19, 2001

Answers

I submitted the application for team BLADE two weeks ago. BLADE is an acronym for Balding Los Angeles Deconstruction Engineers. The three of us got together using the "Build a Team" feature. I design infrared imaging systems, and my teammates are computer engineers.

We went pretty low tech on our description of a mechanical system -- we explained how a toilet works. We had some simple props for levers and valves, but the best part was creating a working syphon from a water container and clear hose to explain how the water in the bowl knows when to flush.

-=[doug]=-

-- Doug Williams (dougw@127.0.0.1), February 19, 2001.

Go to our site for information on us and links to other potential competitor's sites. If you use a 10 to 1 ratio, there are probably about 100 "serious" entries...(I have seen about 10 teams here). But I could be WAYYYY off...

http://k_ddenney.home.sprynet.com/_private/rust_renegades.htm

-- Dan Denney - Team Captain (Rustrenegades@hotmail.com), February 19, 2001.

We're the Broadcast Junkies. I'm the Chief Engineer and Director of IT for 4 radio stations here in Alexandria, LA. Lyn Hare is the Senior Engineer at one of the TV stations here. And Frank Hare (Lyn's Son) is the Morning Operator at a local talk radio station. I was Lyn's Assistant when he had the job (had two other guys try this before I took it.)I now hold and Frank became my assistant during a project (see Transmitter Building Move on our website) I did when I took over.

We have worked on quite a few projects together at home as well as projects at work. We redid Lyn's Boat a while back. Lyn has a tendency to go overboard, so it has a few special features. We had to replace Frankenstien's (Frank's car) transmission. We're working on my 74 Chevy C-10 Deluxe, and always seem to be doing something to Lyn's 64 Ford Truck.

We had a blast putting together our potato cannon for our demo, and even more fun putting the tape together. We'll hopefully have the tape online soon. We got it to digital format (MPG) but it's 320MB right now. I have to change the setting on the machine we used at the TV station. It does look great though!

I know some are getting tired of this but:

BROADCAST JUNKIES WEBSITE http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/broadcastjunkies

-- Joey Falgout (Broadcast Junkies) (joeyinalexandria@hotmail.com), February 20, 2001.

Hey-

The Desert Rats submitted our application in early February. Brian, Tom and I are all simulation engineers (which means we design and develop the software for realtime and batch flight simulations) for the gov't. Specifically, we're NASA types at Dryden, which is on Edwards AFB, which is in the Mojave Desert, hence the name "Desert Rats". I don't like the name to be quite honest, but we couldn't come up with anything better...I digress.

Brian is a second-hand "Crash" from The NERDS if you will, in that he maintains his own vehicles and has his own shop in his garage. He's always building/repairing something. Tom is much the same and is also an avid model builder. I don't have the shop that Brian does, but I maintain my beloved 4X4 all the same. I'm also a flight instructor and scuba diver. We're into anything mechanical and like the rest of you, we get a kick out of puttin' stuff together and watchin' it work.

For our video, we built a differential out of spare stuff around Brian's garage. Hopefully we'll get the site up this week, but work's kickin our tails. We'll see.

Take care and best of luck to all who applied!

Jerry Adair - Leader, The Desert Rats

-- Jerry R. Adair (adair@iglou.com), February 21, 2001.

I love that this discussion board is so cooperation-oriented! We're The Rubble Rousers from Portland Oregon, and our team consists of my younger sister, my father and myself. I work for a design firm as well as doing contract work for theatres in town (including Portland Opera). Anna's an animal control officer for the Marion County sherriff's department, and my Dad, well, he's a 20 year veteran (now retired) of the US Navy in Damage & Control, as well as having spent time working in a nuclear power plant, as an instructor in Fire Safety, and now as a fabrictor of industrial farming equipment. Anna and I grew up under car hoods in his garage learning the hands-on way, and can handle blowtorches, mig welders, and engine pulls with the best! We too took the scrap approach in our video, and constructed a record player out of spare parts laying around Pop's garage. I can hardly wait for the announcement of who's made the cut - there are some great teams out there! Good Luck to all and hope to see you there!

-- Jakey Hicks, oldest daughter, The Rubble Rousers (jakey@grymttr.com), February 21, 2001.

we submited our apps.the day they posted the address. we call our selfs (the test tank babies) we are three close friends that work together @ a automotive cooling system,air cond. & exhaust repair shop.the company is owened by mt family. we specialize in custom & restored vehicals,although most of our work comes from local auto repair shops,however if its a custom car in the central valley chances are it has our handy work under the hood. my hobbies include building and racing motto cross with my kids, jack is my right hand man both at the shop and are crazy creations, and one hell of a scrap junky.not to mention an excellent cooling system tech.(he handles most of the custom work). shannon has only been in the business for a couple years, but has become an excellent a/c tech.his hobbies include motor sports,fast cars & loud machines. turn us loose with junk,metal,torches,welder and what ever we can get our hands on,were a team to reckon with. oh yeh we got our names from the oversized,chemicly filled testing tanks,vacume systems and service machines we used to test our completted work. did i tell you we all work for mom,since she's in the office i'd better get to work. ha ha . talk to you later, casey team: the test tank babies (other teams beware.

-- casey fouts (finishrad@aol.com), February 22, 2001.

My husband is the team captain and the name of their group is sibling rivary because it consist of 2 brother and a sister who are all degreed mechanical engineers. My husband has several patents and works in designing power lines. His brother is mechanical engineer designing stuff for the steal mills and His sister is mechanical engineer for the nucular power plant. We figured it was quite unusual to have 3 mechanical engineers from the same family with a girl too! They showed how a hydrolic pump worked. (nice and simple) good luck to you all!!!!

-- (debbiekkrause@excite.com), February 23, 2001.

Hello, we are the Harebrained B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S. and we are excited and awed by the number of applicants! We grew up near Cincinnati, Ohio going from one harebrained scheme to the next. Each of us eventually found scientific and technical careers that let us continue to play with cool tools and junkalogical stuff and get paid. Matthew, the oldest, is a certified dental lab technician who gets to tinker with all manner of metal working machinery and fun casting equipment. He is currently building a backyard hover craft to use with his children (He was inspired by the hover craft challenge this season). Michael, in the middle, is supposed to be an award winning physical sciences teacher but we think he just plays with the lab equipment all day. He is currently preparing his senior classes for “Lab Wars" and hopes to spread the word to other teachers that Junkyard Wars offers a fresh angle for teaching principles of mechanics with creativity. Timothy, the youngest, is currently somewhere in North America tweaking a huge product packaging machine. He travels a lot and says that everyday is Junkyard Wars for him because his job is to get the Rube Goldberg-like machines working at peak performance by making on site modifications. In our audition video, we met in our parent’s garage then used whatever stuff we could find to make a mock-up of one of Tim’s machines and packaged him in a big box. Good luck fellow scrap lovers! There are so many good applicants that we know next season is going to be a blast to watch.

-- Michael Beckmeyer (mdbeckmeyer@aol.com), February 24, 2001.