Skill combines with thrill for day of racing at Columbus Soap Box Derby

Meghan Bailey, education director at the Unity Community Center in Delaware, spent May 14 at Big Run Park on Clime Road in Columbus.

She was there with second-grader Keon Jackson and middle schoolers Mason Bielke and Julia Peterson as they competed in the 77-year-old Columbus Soap Box Derby championships for the first time. They were among 28 competitors.

Throughout the day, the racers with Bailey were among those lining up for heats at the top of Derby Hill – a 1,000-foot track nestled in the back of the tree-laden park. In a few moments, they'd be accelerating down the hill with the wind in their faces, hoping to be the first to reach the finish line. Cars can reach a top speed of about 30 mph.

With the competitors were sponsors and their families, a variety of tents to keep everyone cool between races and cars being fine-tuned and transported to the top of the hill for the next race.

“For our kids, this is just something they never get to do,” Bailey said.

All three placed in their classes, with Jackson finishing sixth in the stock class and Julia and Mason fifth and seventh, respectively, in the superstock class.

The Columbus Soap Box Derby championships event is a gravity racing competition for children ages 7-19 who race in stock, superstock or masters classes.

Winners of each class are to represent central Ohio in the 84th All-American Soap Box Derby World Championships on July 23 in Akron.

The championships are structured under a double-elimination bracket, with a bracket for each division. Two competitors compete in each race as part of a two-race heat, and the winners of each race are determined by the net differential of how much one driver beats the other by thousandths of a second.

After the first race, competitors swap wheels and then they switch lanes and race again.

Whichever racer wins by the larger differential after two races is the winner of the heat.

Winners were Henning Lett of Dublin (stock), Eleni Fischer of Worthington (superstock) and Ava Gaydan of Mount Gilead (masters).

The field included past All-Americans and 13 rookies.

“The kids do this for the fun and thrill of competing,” said Bill Forquer, webmaster of the Columbus Soap Box Derby.

The theme of this year’s event was “It’s a Gravity Thing,” aiming to focus on the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills students can achieve through competition in a derby, Forquer said.

Participation translates to STEM skills, Forquer said.

The racers compete in cars that arrive in kits, needing to be assembled and maintained. Racers have to take the proper care to set up the car safely, align the wheels, consider the physics of gravity on the racing hill, weight distribution and aerodynamics, among other aspects, Forquer said.

“The kids get a really cool lesson and exposure to all of those STEM skills,” he said.

That’s one of the main reasons Mustafa Kalash, an industrial technology teacher at Pickerington High School Central, brings a group of students each year to compete. On this day, eight drivers raced, and six more students were in pit crews.

“With the soap box, it’s more about precision and fine-tuning and putting a lot of care into (the cars), as well,” Kalash said. “As well as understanding the physics of how the hill works and different strategies for driving.

“The cars are all stock essentially, so it all comes down to the tuning and the strategy of your driving.”

Aidan Sullivan, a Pickerington Central senior, drove in the masters class, which, he said, meant the car has a setup requiring the driver to lie down in the cabin.

“You have to fully get in it and lay in it like it’s a coffin,” said Sullivan, who placed fifth.

To brake, he said, masters-class drivers have to reach for the controls in the middle of the cabin and pull.

But the event is fun, he said, and the team develops attributes in teamwork, problem-solving and other STEM-type skills while competing.

“Sometimes we run into issues with the brake pads, and they kind of melt into the pavement,” Sullivan said. “And we learn the aerodynamics of how to go down the track faster, with sanding down the body.

“We can do a lot here.”

sborgna@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekSteve

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Columbus Soap Box Derby: Skill, thrill combine for day of racing