Soap Box Derby hits Broadway

On Sunday morning, Mid-Missouri Soap Box Car Derby officials waved the green flag despite Saturday’s downpour.

This year’s race, which was held in downtown Columbia on Broadway, was host to 30 racers between the ages of 8 and 17. There were 12 drivers in both the stock and super stock races, and six in the master’s division.

“The kids were nervous, watching the (weather) radar,” said race director Greg Schneider, who received calls from concerned parents starting at 5:30 a.m. Sunday. “But I think parents worried more so than then the kids.”

Soap box car racing in Columbia dates back to 1938 and Sunday’s version featured racers form all over Mid-Missouri. Drivers competed with cars borrowed from the event’s sponsor, The Downtown Optimist Club, or used their own cars. The car kits range in price from $415 to $535 and can be found on the All-American Soap Box Derby Web site at www.aasbd.com.

The races started at the intersection of Seventh Street and Broadway and finished just before a barricade of orange cones and hay bales at Providence Road.

Officials delayed the race’s 8 a.m. start for 2 hours. They were concerned about the racers’ ability to brake because of the slick conditions. All participants are required to wear an approved helmet and streets surrounding the race are blocked to protect the racers whose cars can reach speeds up to 30 mph.

“It’s a really safe sport,” Schneider said.

Soap Box racing is made up of three divisions of cars, stock, super stock, and master’s, which increase in aerodynamics and speed. The stock car is less sleek and has more angles than the other cars, which causes it to be the slowest. The next fastest car, the super stock has a more curved body and a larger cockpit. The fastest derby car is the master’s car, or the Scottie, and it has more of an inclosed driver’s space where a racer is positioned laying down feet first.

Stephen Adams, 12, won the stock division. Tommy Schranck, 16, who won Mid-Missouri’s stock division last year, won the super stock division and Christina Willard won the master’s division to qualify for this year’s AASBD Championships held in Akron, Ohio at the end of July.