Red Bull Soapboxing to grace streets of LA

Downtown Los Angeles will welcome back the world-famous Red Bull Soapbox Race on July 19, 2025. Held for the first time in Los Angeles since 2017, the event will feature unique homemade vehicles winding down the streets and Los Angeles Dodger Kiké Hernández taking part in the day's events, among other celebrities to be announced later on.

Red Bull Soapboxing first took place in Belgium in 2000 and has been held in over 50 countries worldwide. The goal of the race is to not only get the fastest time, but also to impress the judges and audience with flair and design. Contestants are judged on three criteria to impress judges situated on the start line: design, pre-race performance and showmanship. This holistic review allows teams to not only go all out on their designs but in their pre-race performance and their costumes. The last Soapbox race in LA saw everything from the fresh prince, rocketships, noodlecups, and sriracha bottles zooming down the hills. Pre-race performances usually entail dancing, acting, and massive amounts of crowd hyping. Oftentimes, races end abruptly, with contestants crashing into barriers and destroying their vehicles. This hectic and unpredictable format has led to popularity among viewers, with the Red Bull soapboxing account garnering over 175,000 followers on Instagram.

Soapboxes are not allowed to have external energy or motors, but can only rely on gravity to guide them to the finish line. Each team is allowed up to four pit stop crew members to push the vehicle with the driver inside until the start line, from where the driver must navigate the vehicle on their own. All vehicles must have steering and braking capabilities. Usually, the games are held on hills where slopes can naturally accelerate the vehicles. In 2017, the Redbull Soapbox race was held in Elysian Park along Dodger Stadium. This year, the race will be held on 200 N Grand Ave by the LA Opera.

Lifelong Red Bull fanatic Jake Levin (‘26) talks of his feelings for the upcoming race.

“I’m super excited that the race is coming to LA, and I’m interested to see what kind of designs there will be. Hopefully, they will give out free Red Bull and my king zaddy Verstappen will be there,” he said.

The event will be free and open to the public, and more information can be found on their website.