It’s been more than 80 years since kids began flying downhill in cars built from crates, soap boxes, and baby buggy wheels. Soap Box Derby cars have gotten sleeker since then, but the lessons and thrills are the same. So what does it take to compete?
40
Number of racers who participated in Dunwoody in 2014
7–18
Age range of the racers
30 mph
Speeds that drivers reach as they zoom down the 700-foot hill
4th
Place that local racer Kimberly Brown took in the 2013 national stock division
20–30
Number of hours that participants put into building their cars (these days, from kits)
On the Calendar: The winners of the Dunwoody Soap Box Derby, June 6 at First Baptist Church, go on to compete at the Akron, Ohio, world championship.
This article originally appeared in our June 2015 issue under the headline “Ridin’ Derby.”
