43
Derby is bonding experience
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
MINERAL RIDGE
Family bonding is one of the major themes of the Soap Box Derby, participants said.
“It’s family oriented. We all work together as a team. It’s not an individual sport,” said Janice Castner of Hubbard, whose daughters, Julia and Melody, participated in Saturday’s Greater Youngstown Area Soap Box Derby.
“It’s not like the soccer game, where you take your daughter, drop her off, and you sit on the bleachers,” said Castner, who is the derby organization’s treasurer. “Somebody’s got to go to the top of the hill with them and set them on the ramps. Somebody’s got to be at the bottom of the hill to catch the car,” she added.
With only six of 38 drivers eliminated, Saturday’s event on Seaborn Street had to be canceled for the rest of the day in midafternoon after it was interrupted by heavy rain and tornado-warning sirens.
Racing is scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. today, with one winner in each of three classifications going to the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron on July 24.
The three divisions, Stock, Superstock and Masters are designated based on the driver’s age and height and the combined weight of the car and driver. All cars are propelled solely by gravity, and they can reach 25 to 32 mph.
“It not like any other sport, where you leave your parents, and they have to go sit on the bleachers. They’re actually helping you,” said 14-year-old Julia Caster, agreeing with her mother’s comments.
“They work on your car. My dad puts me up at the top of the hill, and my mom usually gets me at the bottom, and, at home, we work on our car together,” said Julia, who has been participating in the sport for three years.
“You all get to be together and have fun. It’s a family sport, not just for kids,” said her sister, 9-year-old Melody Castner. “My sister started, and I thought I should, too. She had a lot of fun, and she was winning a lot of races, so I thought I could, so I started,” she added.
“It’s just a good family sport. We get to meet a lot of new people, and the kids enjoy participating and meeting people,” said the girls’ father, Edward Castner, who competed in the soap-box derby in Youngstown about 40 years ago.
Regardless of the outcome of this weekend’s event, Julia and Melody already have qualified for the Akron event by winning points at other racing events, known as rallies, their mother said.
The Castner family also was represented in the competition by Justine Castner, a 13-year-old cousin of the other two girls, who is a first-time participant and a daughter of Donald and Maria Castner of Hubbard. Donald also raced in the Youngstown event about 40 years ago.
The local event, which had been on Fifth Avenue in Youngstown for 10 years, moved to Mineral Ridge this year because the new site requires fewer staff and less money to use and because the event draws participants from the tri-county area.
The 700-foot-long Mineral Ridge course is about 250 feet shorter than the Fifth Avenue course. Seaborn Street has two lanes, but Weathersfield Township plans to widen it this year by 6 feet. Fifth Avenue has six lanes.