The Soap Box Derby returns to Louisville this June 9 after a 33-year absence. The race will take place on Zorn Avenue and the four-lane street will be closed for the entire day.
Billed as the “greatest amateur racing event in the world,” the Soap Box Derby is a youth racing program which has run nationally since 1934. Every year, kids from all over the country, build simplified cars built from kits and race them in local races.
This year’s Louisville Soap Box Derby effort was started by an area father, Chris Eaton, who has great memories of racing here when he was a kid in the 1970s. Eaton’s two boys got started derby racing in Dayton, Ohio – the birthplace of the Soap Box Derby – and continued to race after moving back to Louisville three years ago, even though the closest city was over an hour away, in Georgetown, Ky. He decided that the event needed to have a local venue again and so revived it.
“I raced in Louisville in 1970 and 1971,” says Eaton, race director of the new Louisville Derby, “ but I never got to the All-American National Championships in Akron, Ohio.”
After Eatons’ boys made it to Akron in just three years of racing, Chris Eaton’s father commented that it took his son 33 years to make it to the All-American.
“The time during Champs Week in Akron was a dream come true for my family,” added Eaton. “Now, our entire family has Derby Fever and we’d like to bring that fever to Louisville.”
The goals of the Soap Box Derby program have not changed since its inception. The race teaches youngsters some of the basic skills of workmanship, the spirit of competition and the perseverance to continue a project they began. The racecars are powered by gravity and timed as they roll down either a dedicated track or a temporary street circuit.
Eaton and the Louisville race committee are looking for former racers who competed in the Louisville Derby during the 70s and before. If you want to volunteer or just share the memories and photos of your experiences, contact the race committee through the website.
The Derby is open to boys and girls, ages 8 through 17, who purchase car kits and build them with the assistance of a parent or adult mentor. Kit prices start at $515, including the race wheels, and can be ordered through a link on the Louisville Soap Box Derby website. Eaton is seeking corporate sponsorships of cars to help kids who can’t afford the kit.
For more information visit ://www.louisvillesoapboxderby.com/ |
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