Great Bed Races History
What started out as a minor race held on a less-than-ideal surface has developed into one of the Kentucky Derby Festival's most popular and colorful events. The Great Bed Races - formerly known as Bedlam in the Streets - now attracts dozen of entries and thousands of fans each spring to the event venue.Though many of the entrants spend countless hours creating their wildly decorated racing vehicles, the event is still contested with a sense of friendly rivalry and good sportsmanship.
The event, which began in 1990, was originally raced along the cobblestone surface on Fourth Avenue in downtown Louisville. It was held during the lunchtime hour and mainly attracted local business people. The Bed races were held in the streets until 1996, when the event moved to Louisville Motor Speedway. The move was made to the Speedway to accommodate the growing number of entries and increasing attendance.
It stayed at the racetrack in the city's South End through 2001 when the track closed and the event was taken indoors to Broadbent Arena at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The Bed Races called the arena home for nine years. In 2011, the beds made another move - this time closer to its roots in downtown Louisville at the new KFC Yum! Center. The event, which is free to spectators with a Pegasus Pin, now draws crowds approaching 6,000 people. The races are televised live on WAVE-TV during an hour-long broadcast.
Inspired by similar events around the country, the Great Bed Races combine the pageantry and spectacle of the Pegasus Parade with the strategy and drama of the Great Steamboat Race.
Award Categories:
- Best Time - 1st, 2nd, 3rd
- Decoration and Entertainment Awards: 1st place per
- Best Decorated (Adherence to Theme)
- Most Entertaining
- People's Choice Award (The Public is given a chance to voice their opinion. For $1 a vote, fans can place a vote for their favorite bed. Proceeds are donated to 2 local charities. Half of the proceeds go to the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation and the other half to the 501C3 Charity chosen by the winning bed team.
Contestants participate in two-bed heats, with four runners pushing the beds and one driver steering it. Entries must have four wheels touching the ground; all beds must include a mattress and steering mechanism and meet strict size specifications. Team members often are dressed in keeping with the theme of their particular entry, with no limits on creativity of costumes or outrageousness. Each team has a chance to showcase its costumes and bed entry during a pre-race parade around the racing surface. The most decorated beds sometimes race in full costume, but often don't survive intact during the entire half-lap run.
Many local companies encourage employee participation in the races, viewing it as a means to raise morale and promote a spirit of cooperation and teamwork. Teams from the Executive West team dominated the event in the 1990's with six straight titles until 1999 when a team from the UAW-Ford Kentucky Truck Plant took over the winning streak. Ford was unbeatable until 2009 when Curtain Call Photo Booth edged out the Ford Assembly Plant for first place. Curtain Call has taken the lead in recent competitions - even setting a 600 feet course record with a time of 25:16 in 2010.
