Soap Box Derby

This weekend, I competed* in the first annual Lookout Arts Center's Off-Road Soap Box Derby near Alger, WA. (Info here.) The whole experience was a hoot – from the dunk tanks and live music, to gravity fueled mayhem, to cliff diving and berry picking*.

My entry was easily the weakest of the 5 derby racers. Everyone else had contraptions either welded together by someone who obviously knew what they were doing, or a converted/modified vehicle of some sort. Me, I had a couple wheels and assorted parts and came up with this beauty. Brakes were a piece of 1x that rubbed up against the wheels and steering was by loose bolts on the front wheel that allowed you to wiggle it from side to side (which is much harder to do while cruising down the course than you might imagine).

By vote of the racers, the course was lengthened to include a gnarly stretch of trail that my horse wasn't build for, so it was no surprise that I didn't even complete the full first run. I did, however, almost make to the bottom, which is much more than I expected. What eventually did me in was a weak axle in the right wheel. The others, however gave us quite a show.

The whole thing was good fun with lots of creativity and enthusiasm. Hopefully next year will bring with it even more racers, more spectators, and more fun. See you there!
Sunday September 14 2008File under: misc, pics

Toggle Comments (2)comment?
on Tue 16th Sep, 2008 10:02 pm PDT Jule said:
I remember when we made go karts and raced them down 41st street hill. Only two made it to the bottom, the Legends. Shawn Bills and Scott Weatherly. Of course, Weatherly was the only one with brakes and Shawn's go kart was so rickety it wouldn't go over 5 miles an hour...
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on Thu 02nd Oct, 2008 12:16 pm PDT Wren said:
I was just sent a couple galleries from the soap box derby. There are some great photos. Like these: "I'm going to make it!" and then "Nevermind"
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