By Theresa Garee

A child receives their kit to assemble their very own derby car and it can be the beginning of a life-long adventure.

For Danielle Maloney it was just like that when she started racing at age eight. Maloney and her father raced together for 13 years and, now, Maloney has introduced the sport to her son, Ronan.

Grandpa, Danny Hughes, stays nearby as a constant assistant to the family, but for Ronan he was hooked when he made friends.

“I like doing this because I made a new friend,” Ronan said and added, “It’s a little intense and I like intense.”

Then he teased his mother by sharing that he didn’t crash or cry when he started. Maloney smiled and confessed that she had crashed into her opponent in an opening race and cried.

Soap Box Derby racing is much like the sport of luge. The goal is to stay low, be aerodynamic, and let gravity increase your speed. Drivers who can get lower, barely seeing over the top of their car, are considered ‘better’ because being low is the goal. This calls for a bit of flexibility in the stock and super stock divisions.

Each racer will start on one half of the hill, then switch wheel with their opponent, and race down again.

Hughes said this is so that each racer has a more of an even playing field in regards to the hill. Being that sometimes one side might be more steep than the other, this assures they use the same equipment and sides of the hill so there is no dispute on fair racing conditions.

Many of the current racers are just beginning, having been introduced to the sport during the COSI Big Science Festival last May. This STEM event at Derby Hill introduced 60 racers and Director Bill Forquer said the next step was to get them started with a kit.

Building things is a draw for some of the racers like 15-year-old Conner, whose mom admits he blew up her vacuum when building a working engine out of Legos. Conner will race in the masters division because of his age and size. This car is built more like a luge where the driver lies down.

The Columbus Soap Box Derby will host its first rally race the weekend of Sept. 20. This will include three levels of racers: stock car, super stock, and masters.