The Greater Danbury Soap Box Derby was run today. I hadn't ever seen this type of racing first hand before and since my wife was going there on assignment I packed up the boy and went along for the ride.
Racers took several practice runs down the hill. First starting near the bottom then moving further up to get the feel of the course.
To keep things even racers swap a pair of wheels before the start of the race. Drivers pair up and exchange wheels with another driver to ensure that no one has an advantage because of a set of faster wheels. Maybe this is an idea that slotters should do with proxy racing?
I was expecting them to hand each other the set of wheels, rather they went to the other racers can and put the wheels on their "partners" car... an act of faith and sportsmanship.
Racers and their parents get ready to begin competition with a bit of help from the pit crews.
The cars are loaded up and so are the drivers for a ride up the hill for the start of the race.
I was surprised to find out that a basic kit for the stock class is only about $400.00 and you can get a ready to run used set up for only around $150.00... or about the same as 1 Racer car or 2 Fly cars.
One last practice run and the race begins.
So how seriously do they take their Soap Box racing in Danbury, well this was the 37th running of the race and in that time Danbury has produced 2 world champs...not too shabby.
More information about the Greater Danbury Soap Box Derby can be seen at www.pxmall.com/sbd .
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