Southland Titles Are Up for Grabs in Long Beach Soap Box Derby Races

When 11-year-old Mark Sanders Jr. rolls off the starting line in his prefabricated racer at the Southern California Championship Soap Box Derby race this weekend in Long Beach, he hopes to carry a family tradition to the finish line.

Mark’s dad still has the yellowed newspaper clipping showing him racing in a soapbox derby when he was Mark’s age. The recent rejuvenation of the sport is allowing the younger Sanders to dream about doing something his father did. He even dreams of becoming a champion.

“Everyone tells me my chances aren’t real good,” said Mark, who just finished fifth grade at the Monroe School in Lakewood. “But I think they are. I think I can do it if I try hard enough.”

The Long Beach race is the first soapbox derby in Los Angeles and Orange counties in a decade, said John Taylor, who is promoting the Southern California championship. Not too long ago, derby racing was as declasse as bell-bottom pants, but a rekindled interest has led to a resurgence of local races, Taylor said.

Soapbox derby racing began in 1933 in Dayton, Ohio, when 12-year-old Bob Gravett won the first race in Ol’ No. 7, made from an ironing board, a clothesline, tricycle wheels, a screen door, springs and a trash can. The sport reached its zenith in the late 1960s, when U.S. automobile manufacturers spent more than $1 million annually promoting it. The companies withdrew their support because they were reluctant to pay for liability insurance, and local events dwindled, Taylor said.

Today, parents are pushing the sport back into prominence. “Parents are looking for something for their kids to do besides Little League,” said Mark’s mother, Candy.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday ore than 60 racers--about 40% of them girls--will compete in three divisions for ages 9 through 16. Winners will race in Akron, Ohio, in August at the Soap Box Derby National Championship.

The Long Beach race is “as fair as it can be,” Taylor said. “Nobody is given an edge.” Many competitors purchase stock-car kits for $215 from derby national headquarters in Ohio. Every racer is weighed and the cars outfitted with ballast to make sure each is evenly matched. Competitors roll down a quarter-mile hill for about a minute, traveling at speeds up to 40 m.p.h. Roughly 60% of the races are decided within three-tenths of a second, Taylor said.

“Any kid can win,” he said. “It comes down to how they steer the car.”

Mark Sanders Jr. constructed his fiberglass car from a kit. With help from his dad and grandfather, and thanks to his own experience building skateboard ramps, Mark finished the racer in eight hours. It took considerably less time than Mark’s dad remembers spending on his racer in the late 1950s.

“It was a lot different back then. We had to make the floorboard out of wood, make a brake assembly, build the whole thing by hand,” the father said. “It took three months.”

On Saturday, race registration will begin at 8 a.m. with the first heat for the Mayor’s Cup beginning at 10. The races are expected to last all day. On Sunday, the event will start at 9 a.m. with 1991 champion Danny Garland doing the first run down the hill. Competition will begin at 10 a.m. and last until 5 p.m.

Vendors will sell food both days at the race site, 2100 Obispo Ave., Long Beach, between 20th and Hill streets. Parking is ample and free in two adjacent lots. Spectators will be admitted free. Racers pay a $25 entry fee.

Ol’ No. 7, now insured for more than $1 million, will be on view during both days of the race.

For more information on the race or on ordering a kit, call (800) 350-1933.