Stumped in Seattle: Who stole the giant toilet?

Police in Seattle are on the lookout for a 7-foot-high, 7-foot-long and 5-foot-wide racing toilet on wheels, built in Colorado Springs.

Seriously.

“The Crapster,” a soapbox racer shaped like a giant toilet, was built by five friends here. While they were in Seattle last weekend for the Red Bull Soapbox Race, someone stole the truck containing it from their hotel parking lot.

Driver Tom Valentine’s dreams of racing it again may have been flushed, but he’s able to find some bathroom humor in the whole situation.

“We’re laughing about it. We just wish we could see their faces when they open the back” of the truck it was in, Valentine said Friday, back in Colorado Springs.

“My guess is (they said), ‘Oh crap, it’s a giant toilet.’”

He and four friends spent 25 days this summer building The Crapster for the competition, which included 46 teams from around the country.

The toilet theme came from Valentine’s father, a re- tired NASA scientist. Although it didn’t win races at the competition — commodes are apparently subject to a lot of wind resistance — it won second place in the people’s choice competition.

Hundreds of people in Seattle now have photos of themselves posing in the giant toilet, Valentine said.

That night, the U-Haul truck they rented to carry it was stolen. Neither it nor The Crapster has been found.

It doesn’t appear the thieves were after the truck’s contents, but rather thought they’d get furniture or something else of value, Valentine said.

To him, The Crapster has value.

He hoped to race it again and planned to show it off, too. Wherever he took it in Colorado Springs, it drew attention. If it turns up in Seattle in good shape, he’ll drive back to get it.

What will it take to unclog the mystery of The Crapster?

Said Valentine: “I personally think it’s going to probably show up on some fraternity house’s front porch.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com