Racers from as close as Goodyear Heights, Columbus and Tuscarawas County and as far as New York, Oregon and Nevada converged at Derby Downs Saturday for the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship Races.
Now in its 86th year, the annual event brought 320 racers to Akron for a week of racing and festivities that began Sunday, July 14.
On Saturday, the top nine racers in six divisions — local stock, local super stock, local masters, rally stock, rally super stock and rally masters — received awards. Of those 54 champs, nine were from Ohio, and two were from Akron.
Also on Saturday was the final race of the National SuperKids Classic. SuperKids races are for children with disabilities. They ride in a two-person car with an experienced racer.
Aria Stires didn’t have to travel far to get to the world championship. The 10-year-old lives in Goodyear Heights and attends St. Vincent de Paul Parish School. She began racing three months ago. On Saturday, Stires competed in the local stock division.
“Your heart beats really fast when you’re getting in your car, and then you go down the hill and everything just leaves,” Stires said, describing the feeling of driving in the derby.
As Stires’ sat in her car, ready to race down the hill for another heat, her mom Christina Pilolli-Stires rubbed her daughter’s back. When Stires’ blue car with red flames passed the finish line, Pilolli-Stires waited at the top to hear the results. She cried and cheered when it was announced that her daughter would advance from the top nine to the top three. Stires ended up finishing third in the local stock division, with a big smile on her face.
A family affair for many racers
The thrill of racing at Derby Downs is one Ashley August of Chicago, a former Soap Box Derby racer, knows well.
So when it was announced that her 10-year-old daughter SoSo August made it to the top nine for the local stock division, no one cheered louder than Ashley. SoSo started racing 18 months ago, and this was her first championship race, Ashley explained.
“I won a few heats when I was here,” Ashley said. “She’s doing very very well. She’s catching up to my little novelty races.”
For Ashley, being here with her daughter is “a blast from the past” — but a welcomed one.
“Just being a part of it, traveling again as a family, the nostalgia of how it was when I was a kid, the grassroots of how this all became for me, is being emulated through her, and I couldn’t be more blessed,” Ashley said. “Every day, I’m excited to do this.”
The Soap Box Derby is a family tradition for many racers. At Derby Downs Saturday, parents, friends and families donned colorful shirts and buttons bearing the names and faces of the racers they came to support. Good luck banners hung on the fences that lined the track. Several cars featured in memoriam tributes to grandparents and other loved ones.
“Derby nation’s one big family reunion,” said Scott Taylor, president and CEO of the International Soap Box Derby. This is Taylor’s first world championship since being hired to lead the nonprofit last August.
The familial vibes were on full display at the finish line during the championship heats. A group of supporters engulfed 12-year-old Delaney Nichols of Columbus when she won first place in the rally stock division. But Nichols only had eyes for her best friend, Leann Salley, who finished second.
“I just love you so much!” Delaney said as she hugged her friend.
Nichols began racing three years ago following in the footsteps of her mom, Tam Nichols, an Akron native who raced in the ’70s.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Tam said of being at Derby Downs with her daughter. “She worked really hard and had a tough week, but she saved the best for last.”
Delaney attributed her first place finish to one thing: She just had fun.
“Last year was all about winning, but this year I was like, ‘It’s fine what happens. I’ve had a great season. This is like the icing on top,’” she said.
Happy tears as the tradition continues
When 20-year-old Erin Donovan exited her car after finishing fourth in the rally masters division, it wasn’t just her last race in this year’s world championships — it was her last Soap Box Derby race ever. After 15 years of racing, Donovan has aged out.
“I’ve just been doing it forever, so it’s weird to not be doing it anymore,” said Erin, who previously won at the world championships in 2013 and 2019. She spent a moment crying bittersweet tears as she hugged her mom.
Erin is a third generation racer. Her parents met racing, but only her dad ever raced in Akron.
“He beat me,” Erin’s mom Christine Donovan said, laughing.
After the last cars passed the finish line and racers began the walk up, Morgan Van Keuren leaned against a fence, tears running down his face.
“They’re happy tears,” he said.
Van Keuren, 23 of Liberty, New York, last raced in 2021, but he’s remained heavily involved in the racing community as a member of the Barn Buddies, a motley crew of racers and their supporters from Region 9 — which encompasses New York — and beyond.
Van Keuren got the racing bug from his older brother who he watched race in the early 2000s. After bugging his dad for his own car, Van Keuren began racing in 2011 at age 11.
When asked what keeps him involved in the community, he teared up. “The friendships and family you make. Friends for the rest of your life, the memories. Just the best.”
He paused before adding, “This was my life, and it still is to some extent for one week a year.”
2024 All-American Soap Box Derby Champs:
Local Stock: Drew Brand, Omaha, Nebraska
Local Super Stock: Caleb Gilbert, Harrisonburg,Virginia
Local Masters: Hudson Danzilo, Liberty, New York
Rally Stock: Delaney Nichols, Columbus, Ohio
Rally Super Stock: Aden Stewart, Rixeyville, Virginia
Rally Masters: Alyssa Gardiner, Henderson, Nevada
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