All-American Soap Box race fun and exciting

By Gloria Austin  
Staff Writer
    A week away from home can be fun, as two Houlton girls discovered after competing this year’s All-American Soap Box Derby race in Akron, Ohio.
    Sarah Bouchard and Olivia White spent the week at Derby Downs July 19-24. The Akron race is the pinnacle of Soap Box Derby racing.
Olivia White – Stock
    “The week was not fast, not slow, but tiring,” said White. “I had to wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning and I am not used to it.”
    With that experience behind them, the girls are looking forward to another race in September, Aimee’s Race – a Soap Box Derby rally race held in September at Derby Hill in Houlton.
    Bouchard and White’s cars have been retired from local competition, unless they move up from their respective, Super Stock and Stock level. But, they can race their cars in rallies.
    Even that will prove challenging, as points are accumulated through the number of races a driver competes in. If Bouchard were to race in the Masters, a group up from her current division, there would have to be more racers.
    “There needs to be at least six racers to do a rally race,” said Bouchard’s father Jeff. “Right now, there are two.”
    With Bangor not holding races, Bouchard and White would have to travel to New Hampshire, Connecticut, and even New York to garner points.
    “I would like to be able to do it,” Jeff said, “but just the races up here don’t give her enough points. We would have to travel to other states just to get the points.”
    White said she would like to try rally racing, but the family was still discussing it.
    While in Akron, Bouchard and White found themselves up early and busy through the day.
    “We woke up at 4:30 in the morning and went to bed at midnight,” said Bouchard. “We had to be there [Derby Downs] by 6:30 in the morning.”
Sarah Bouchard – Super Stock
    “The only morning we didn’t have a problem getting her up was race day,” laughed her father.    
    Monday through Wednesday, drivers had busy activities and worked on their cars getting them ready for the big day.
    The girls signed in opening day and participated in Trades Day. The girls had a chauffeured ride and police escort to Derby Downs. They arrived and were escorted to a line and waited to go on stage and be introduced to the other racers and those in attendance.
    “They would announce your name and everything about you that you put on your application,” White said. “Then, we signed a big board [along with the names of all racers] and you threw your stuff [souvenirs from their states] out and then you go off stage and catch other’s stuff.”
    The next day was tech day for the car and a practice run down the hill.
     “We did a lot of work Monday through Wednesday getting the car ready,” Bouchard’s father laughed.
    Day third was used just for a test run down the hill and racers were allowed free time until Saturday’s race day.
DERBY CHAMP – One of the “cool” things to do as a local Soap Box Derby champion is to go to Akron, Ohio to the All-American Soap Box Derby race. Before race day, drivers enjoy all kinds of fun festivities, including a “Trades Day,” where drivers hand out souvenirs from their home state and then get to sign the All-American Soap Box Derby champion board and get your photograph taken, as  Sarah Bouchard did.
    The Bouchard family went to a beach in Cleveland and joined another family from Bangor for the water park, while the Whites visited the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame and water park.
    “The Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame was really cool,” said White. “All the stuff there is real, like Michael Jackson’s red jacket he wore in the ‘Thriller’ video. It was in touching distance. And at the water park, they had a big bucket and you’d stand underneath it and once it got full it would dump over on you. It was humongous.”
    Then race day rolled in.
    “You were nervous, but you were also excited,” said White. “But, Marty [New England’s race director] helped out a lot. He told me the tricks of the different lanes, what to do, when to turn, when to let your car drive wherever it wants and stuff like that.”
    “Racers start halfway down the hill because they found if they start at the top, it would be too fast,” said Bouchard’s father. “Racers can get up to 40 to 50 miles per hour. So, at the halfway point, it’s slower compared to Derby Hill.”
    “We watched other cars,” said Bouchard. “I was in lane three, so I watched drivers in that lane to find out what area they would ride … hug the line, down the center or near the guard rails.”
    The unfortunate part for Bouchard was the national Soap Box race is one and done, single elimination.
    “About two-thirds of the drivers are done in one race,” Jeff added.
    But, White made more than one run down Derby Downs, as she won her first two races, but lost her third, finishing in the top 18.
    White said her strategy was, “Try and win it, and if I don’t it’s OK because at least I got to come here.”
WORKING – Olivia White visits with Sarah Bouchard and her father, Jeff, as the Bouchards work on their Soap Box Derby car atop of Derby Downs in Arkon, Ohio.
    After her first race, White waited for about an hour as all of the other stock cars had to go down the hill.     “Two kids fell asleep because they were tired,” she said.
    Her second race was won by a photo finish.
    “Marty said, ‘Olivia, do exactly what you did, but do it better. You just have to do it a little bit better,”” she said.
    Her third race, she lost by a 2,000th of a second. Her opponent ended up winning eighth place.
    “I could’ve been further up there if I would have won that one,” she said.
    But the whole derby, according to Bouchard, was a “great experience.” Even though she didn’t make it far into the standings, Bouchard and White made new friends.
    “There were a lot of people my age still racing,” Bouchard said. “I liked how everyone got to be really close by the end of the week, everyone knew each other.”
    Whited added, “You make a lot of friends down there.”
    Even though there are differences in Derby Downs and Derby Hill in Houlton, White said there was one big comparison.
    “Everyone has fun and there is a lot of sportsmanship down there, too,” she said.
    Editor’s note: During this year’s Akron race, the film “25 Hill,” produced by Corbin Bernsen, was being made.
    “They were taping with all the racers,” said Jeff. “They filmed the whole group all week working on the car, polishing the car, to the aligning and weighing of the car.”
    The film’s release date has not been announced.
    Also, if anyone has a car or a child who would like to participate in Soap Box Derby racing or if anyone has a car that they haven’t used and they would like to see someone using it, contact a committee member, the Houlton Parks and Recreation Department or Scott White at Aroostook Auto Glass.