Wayne-Holmes derby winners qualify for All American race
Patricia Faulhaber
June 18, 2012
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Brandon Bowes and his dad Roger patiently wait for the Challenger division of the annual Wayne-Holmes Soap Box Derby to finish and for the race officials to announce the first and second place winners. This is Brandons fifth year competing in the race. In past years, he s made it as far as fourth place and is hoping to win this race in order to compete in the All American Soap Box Derby in Akron later this summer.
Brandon raced his first two years in the Stock division and the last two years as well as this year in the Super Stock division. His car is all black with a custom painted flaming skull on the front. His interest in racing was sparked by his grandfather who raced when he was a kid.
Brandon was one of 46 racers competing in four divisions including Stock, Super Stock, Masters and Challengers. The first place winners from each division accept for the Challengers will advance to the All American Soap Box Derby.
My dad and I built this car three years ago and we keep fine tuning it to make it faster. We clean the axles and polish the body to reduce the wind resistance, Brandon said.
He said to prepare for the race each year, in addition to working on the car he practices racing down the hill on the weekends and gets plenty of sleep the night before the race. His mother, sister, aunts and uncles, friends and his dad all came to watch.
The race is really all about the car, dad Roger said.
You have to learn the tricks of the trade as you go along. We read a lot on the Internet during the year and figure things out as we go along, he said.
Brandon gets called for his official weigh in and gets the go ahead for falling within his weight limit for his division. He has listened to the derby director go over all of the rules. All thats left to do now is to keep hydrated and wait for his number to be called so that he can take his place in the lineup.
This is the 58th year for the race and Ive been director for the past 28 years, said Dennis Werntz, derby director.
The race has been run on Bender Drive for the past four years. Before that it was run on the Route 226 by the Triway High School.
Its important that we get new racers each year. We work with the families to get them started and continue to work them in all phases of the process including helping them get a car kit and providing mentors to help clear through to the day of the race, Werntz said.
Werntz said that a few of the winners from the Wayne-Holmes race have made it as far as second and third places in the Akron race.
Winners in the All American Soap Box Derby receive scholarships and merchandise prizes. The Challenger division was the first to race on June 16. The other three divisions alternated races throughout the day. In the end, around 8 p.m. that evening, there were three winners advancing to Akron. For the Stock division, Grant Dever came in first and will advance. Brooke Hinton came in second. In the Super Stock races, Nick Hinton came in first place and will compete in Akron and Jacob Gooch came in second. The Master division winners were Garrett Dever, first place advancing to Akron and A.J. Varnes took second place.
This years Derby Queen was Brooke Hooser from Rittman and first runner-up was Abigail Beaver from Apple Creek. The drivers elect the queen during the open house held on Thursday evening before race day.
At the end of the day, the hard work and practice that Brandon Bowes went through paid off. He placed 8th in his division this year.