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Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival -
Vinegar Hill Racers Soap Box Derby
[September 15, 2025]
Mt. Pulaski held their annual
Fall Festival over the weekend of September 12 through the 14th with
a large number of events scheduled for Saturday. Some of these
events started as early as 8:00 a.m. and the latest one went until
11:00 p.m.
One of the events that started at 8:00 was a soap box derby hosted
by Vinegar Hill Racers. This is the second year in a row Vinegar
Hill Racers has hosted this event at the Fall Festival. There were
many sponsors of this event, such as Pressure Washer Warehouse,
Graue Inc., Amsoil, Mike Maske Auction and Real Estate, Neaville
Tree, Johnson True Value, the Mount Pulaski Economic Development &
Planning Board, Lott Excavating, and Royal Juniper Ranch.
The way the races worked, there was
a ramp on the corner of N. Washington Street and W. Morgan Street.
The ramp aimed down Washington Street facing north. Two soap box
cars would be placed on the ramp, held in place by a lever
mechanism. The kids would then get in their cars and get themselves
prepared. The lever, when pulled, would release the cars, and they
would race down the road.
The organizer of the event, Ryan
Jason, shared that there was one major change to the track from last
year to this year. There were PVC pipes placed down the track to
help keep the kids from going off the street as they raced down.
These pipes were the donation of the Mount Pulaski Economic
Development and Planning Board. The PVC pipes had to be extended
after an accident occurred when a test run was taken and a soap box
car veered off the course before reaching the PVC barrier.
Around 8:00, Jason thanked everyone
for coming and explained how the derby was going to proceed. He
shared that there would be four classes. These classes would be
stock cars and super stock cars for kids aged 7-9, and then stock
cars and super stock cars for kids aged ten and older. Both types of
soap box cars have a long, thin shape to them. The main difference
is that the stock cars have flat edges and a flat top, while the
super stocks are more rounded.
Before each class, kids and their
parents would take their stock cars to be weighed. The weighing
process included putting the four wheels of the car on four scales,
with the child then sitting on the car to get their combined weight.
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The tournament brackets were
decided randomly before each class. That class would then race,
with each class taking about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.
Each racer in each class got to race at least twice.
People lined up all the way down Washington Street to see the racers
go by. There were sensors at the finish line that would tell the
people at the finish line who won and by how much. Some of the races
were extremely close, with one racer beating another by only 0.02
seconds.
There were gold carts that were
used to take the racers back up to the start of the track between
races. There were other gold carts with carts hitched to them that
would be used to pull the soap box cars back up the hill.
At the end of each class, the first, second, and third place winners
were decided. The racers in second and third place got a cash prize
of ten dollars, while the person who got first received twenty
dollars.
The results are as follows:
Stock Cars (7-9)
○ 1st place: Emma Neaville
○ 2nd place: Tayte McCarty
○ 3rd place: Emlyn Daniel
Super Stock Cars (7-9)
○ 1st place: Miles Klein
○ 2nd place: Finley McCain
○ 3rd place: Parker Bailey
Stock Cars (10 and up)
○ 1st place: Talon McCarty
○ 2nd place: Brant Larson
○ 3rd place: Carys Daniel
Super Stock Cars (10 and up)
○ 1st place: Dixie Holzwarth
○ 2nd place: Kayden Olson
○ 3rd place: Lukas Martin
Once all the races were over, Jason
spoke on the event overall this year. He stated that there were
twice as many kids this year, and they were able to get through the
races in half the time. He was happy with the system they used this
year and is looking to expand for next year. He also shared that
there are options for kids without soap box cars. He stated that
Facebook Marketplace can be a good resource to find cars. He also
said that he has an email specifically for these races, which is
vinnegarhillracers@gmail.com. Jason encouraged people to reach out
and said that they have a few cars that they own and they let kids
race in them if they cannot get cars of their own. Jason also stated
that he is willing to help people find soap box cars for their kids
if they are struggling to find one on their own.
[Matt Boutcher] |
