[ethereal music plays] Construction gets underway for the coming 1935 All American Soap Box Derby.

This will probably turn out to be an innovation in motor car design.

But wait till you see the other efforts in the 1935 derby.

Only a few short weeks until the starters gun bangs away, and sectional winners from all over the country roar down the track.

“This is President Kennedy sending greetings to all of you participating in the 1963 All American Soap Box Derby, and craftsmanship and sportsmanship you have displayed in attaining the high level of competition.

Most commendable.

Your achievements are an inspiration to all the youth of America.

Best wishes and congratulations to each of you.” [fanfare music plays] [fanfare music continues] Welcome to the 88th first energy All-American Soapbox Derby.

I'm Dennis Vanfossen Jr, president and CEO of the International Soapbox Derby and a former world champion in 2007.

This is a story of our champions as told by our champions, As they gear up for the First Energy All-American Soapbox Derby here at Akron, Ohio.

I have a bunch of people at home who know what I do, but they don't know what it is.

So I told them, I'm down here this week.

But watch what goes on and you can understand it pretty quickly.

So that's what I try to do my best to just really get it out there as best as I can.

I basically thought soapbox derby was like pinewood derby, like that small gravity racing thing.

Back at cub scouts.

I just thought it was so like that where we just go straight.

But turns out there is like a lot more where you have the steer understanding the track.

There's physics in every single inch of the track.

And now, basically, I finally understand how to go correctly on the track and even steer properly without drifting side to side.

I feel like people don't realize, like you have to build it from scratch.

Like, yeah, you have the floorboard and the shell and the axle already, but you have to put it completely together yourself Like it needs to be perfect or it's slow.

Try to be kind.

Try to smile.

Be a good sportsman.

And it's fun.

And I always had so much fun.

It was never so much about the race, but more of just how enjoyable it is.

You can feel the wind on your face.

It's always a great time.

That's the magic of Akron, as I would like to say.

And so that brings us to today with the 88th running of the First Energy All-American Soap Box Derby.

[upbeat music plays] [upbeat music continues] Here at the Soapbox Derby.

It's so much more than just Gravity Racing.

This is leadership development in the form of Gravity Racing, as shown here at Derby Downs.

As you'll see our champions cross our finish line.

So what's the difference between our stocks, Superstock and Masters division?

Let's find out.

It's basically like rectangle but with a point.

And it goes through the wind and it has a brake that you push at the end of this journey.

And it all depends on how the wind flies off your back this much.

That's how much I like to see.

Like it's a triangle on the top.

And then it's a rectangle on the rest part.

It's a stock and it's like a sparkly dark blue with red flames on the front.

I'm in a car that it is white and it has my name on it.

So I duck inside and then I put my legs through like I've bend my body back all the way down.

And then I lift my head up so I can see a little bit.

You're only like, you're supposed to, not like, stick your whole entire head up because if you do, then, like you would have been slow, you wouldn've have been slowed down.

So it's just like stretching, you know how, like, you sit down and like they say, reach, like, it's just like doing that, but instead you just so you have to hold your, like, hold the, wheel and like, you can turn it like, so whenever you like.

If you feel like when they say racers, go, if you're like staying up, sitting up, you can actually, like, end up, like slowing down and then you're just like in third place.

But stock and super were pretty much like the same thing.

The Superstock does have like more of a rounder front.

So it's like a different like viewpoint, I guess, when you're like looking down the track.

But other than that, it was about the same for me.

More room and it was a bit more wide too.

I was more calm in Stock and like Superstock, It's more round.

So like when I'm in the car, my knees I have to like press my knees together like this because it's a little bit tighter.

Stock and Superstock are somewhat similar cars.

Superstock is just somewhat faster because it's more smooth.

I guess it's more aerodynamic.

But Masters, you're completely like laying down.

You've got like an inch of vision.

It's so different, but honestly, it's incredibly fun.

I enjoy actually the Masters probably the most so far, but yeah, the Masters, it's entirely different.

So like you're laying flat on your back, but your head is kind of like propped up.

So like you're not like laying all the way down, like my chin is like, almost touching, like my chest.

So like, it's like you're propped up, like you can see and then like your helmet in the gap, but you can see more than you think.

Like you can see out like straight in front of you.

And then like the first part of the ground that I could see, like in front of me is probably, I don't know, 20, 25ft out in front of me was like the first part of the ground, I can see, and then I can see the rest of it, but I can't see, like obviously directly in front of me.

And I can't see my wheels either.

But almost like I know relatively where they are.

Going from, like stock to super It wasn't really that big of a change because you could still see kind of like the same amount.

And then from Super to Masters, you could like see like like a sliver of like the tracks you had to like actually like focus more on like where you're going.

And if you like, look somewhere then you're going to steer that way.

So like you can't really you can basically see like the front of your car and then The like 3 to 4 hashes like that, you're finna go over and then like the rest of the track.

Yeah.

So the first thing I do is I slide my legs in just sitting down in the car regularly before I grab both the sides and try to slide forward as much as I can.

I point my toes to the nose of the car, and you get a foot brace where your or the front axle is, because that's your steering.

And if you hit that one wrong thing and you're going into a guardrail, you're going into another lane.

So you put that over it, you have the footrest.

And then for me, I have to bend my knees all the way up to the top of the car because the car is only, I would say, maybe like a foot and a half tall.

It's very difficult to get in there, but your knees all the way to the top and then your steering is right in between your legs, so you kind of have to adjust it just depending on how tall you are just to where you need it.

And I mean, once that's there, then you just slide in and then I have broad shoulders.

So I have to squeeze my shoulders in to get in and then flatten them out as much as I can before sliding in my head.

And that my, my grandfather really has to push my head down in there.

But we we get it done.

The inch of visibility honestly, it's a lot more than you think it would be.

It's sort of like you think you would have no vision at all, but you can see the racetrack and you've got your peripheral vision so you can see the sides.

And so when you're racing down, you can sort of see other people and the you can see down the racetrack and you can see the finish even with that small vision.

And it makes the car that much faster.

So the steering wheel, it's just like one triangle, sort of like that.

And you hold on to it.

And if you want to go a little to the to the either side, you sort of steer it.

And then when you want to break, obviously at the finish line, you're supposed to break pretty hard, and then you just pull it back immediately and hold on to it until someone has gotten to your car.

So in a master's car, I use a bow tie, so it's like a stick and then a bow tie on top.

But some people use a triangle, so it's the stick and then a triangle.

I use a bow tie because my were too long for the triangle.

And then when you slide on in and you sit down and you like, shimmy to the front and you lay down the steering wheel like stick part is between your legs.

So you're like around it.

And then when you get in and you close you on in, then, then your hands are on the steering wheel, which is basically almost at the top of the shell, basically.

And then when you need to break, I have handbrake.

So I pull it towards me and it's on like the bow ties, like on a hinge.

So I pull it and the brake plunger goes down through the floorboard to the ground.

But some people have foot breaks, so it'll be at the end and they just push it with their feet.

But I'm too long for that.

So I use handbrake.

“Here in lane one.

It's car 528 from Rickman, Ohio.

Meredith Brown, Brown in lane one.

And in lane three it's car 531 from Unionville, Virginia.

Savanna Huggins.

Huggins in lane three.

Meredith Brown I said earlier in the week a member of the bio Card Hall of Fame.

Favorite activity sleeping and goat whispering.

Career interests - Second shift fry cook at the Krusty Krab.

They're on track.

Savannah Huggins, meanwhile, a fan of baking and racing career interests, a personal financial advisor and running a home bakery.

Here they come down to the finish.

Brown and Huggins.

There's the finish line for them.

All right.

It is Meredith Brown taking heat 116.

And Meredith I do love a Krabby Patty.

And she won that in lane one and her 528 car.” There's two ways to qualify for the First Energy All-American Soapbox Derby.

One of them is through a rally side.

Were you accumulate points throughout the year and the other one is a traditional way, our local division where you win your race in your local hometown.

We welcome 300 champions to Derby Downs from 30 states, Canada and Japan.

This year we had two champions from Japan that traveled over 6500 miles just to compete here at Derby Downs.

So Japan Soapbox Derby had started on 2000 fast.

So then.

so then nobody knows soap derby in Japan.

So.

But just today of association is getting and getting big.

So then we we have some good sponsors and the cheers and the yeah and more our association will be big I hope so.

His name- - My name is Jinta.

Jinta Nakamura.

He comes from Japan, Kanagawa, Japan.

Everything is very very fun.

Racing and the day of the activity and the pool and everything.

From Kanagawa Japan, Jinta Nakamura Jinta, fan of baseball, soccer and karate.

A fan of snap circuits, Tetris and drawing.

And they are on track and they are all out of shape there.

Lane three moving around a whole lot at the start of that one gathered it back in.

But here come Walter, Nakamura and Blaneyas down to the finish line and there they are.

We will have those results in a moment.

Got some results in for heat number 611.

It goes to Jinta Nakamura taking that win in lane two and the 321 car.

Close one too.

Margin of victory on that one - 4 1000ths of a second.

Great racing out of those champs.

And in lane three from Saitama, Japan.

Yuumi Kon, Kon in lane three.

You got a sixth grader, a fourth grader and a fifth grader about to be across the track here.

And they are off and racing.

Hudson Manning in Lane one, a future software engineer or gamer.

Aubrey Delancey in lane two, a future storm chaser or engineer.

Were really hoping we don't need that first skill set today.

Yuumi wants to be a primary school teacher.

And here they come.

There over the tunnel.

They pass in front of the grandstands to the finish line in their first round heat in local stock and heat 616 local stock goes to Hudson, Manning, Hudson, Manning car 330, taking that win in lane number one.

My name is Jinka Nakamura from Japan.

My Name is Yuumi from Japan.

In 2026, we are celebrating the 90th anniversary of Derby Downs, an historic staple of Akron, Ohio.

We are celebrating a milestone here at Derby Downs this year, this the 90th anniversary of the opening of Derby Downs.

We opened in 1936.

The race started in Dayton, then moved to a hill just over the Akron city limits in Tallmadge, but a dedicated facility was needed.

Derby downs, built by the Works Progress Administration, the WPA project.

Sunday, August 17th, 1936 Governor Martin L Davey welcomed a crowd of nearly 100,000 to Derby Downs.

Graham McNamee was here from NBC.

They made sure he wasn't going to get hit by a car that year.

In 1935, he was hit and injured while broadcasting, finished the broadcast and then went to the hospital.

But we are happy to celebrate 90 years here on this hallowed ground of gravity racing that is Derby Downs.

[singing] Summer 1933 came something folks had never seen.

Old soap box and homemade wheels going down the hill for thrills.

Long before the internet community-wide spun were webs.

Kids ran the street with one concern.

Get home before those street lights burned.

Hey.

Then one day there came a race.

-There came a race.

-Southside Dayton it took place.

-It took place.

-Big Hill Road in Oakwood long.

- In Oakwood Long .

-They would shout and sing their songs.

-Sing their songs.

36 was Akron bound, lining up at the Derby downs.

Hi, my name is Sarah Kolesar and I'm the graphic designer and digital coordinator for the Soapbox Derby.

I raced for about nine years and I won the Akron local in the Superstock division in 2019.

I became a rally champion six times for the World Championships, and one of my proudest memories is winning the Youth Volunteer Service Award in 2019.

I've been to about 17 tracks around the country and made countless friends in the sport that I've loved and still do.

I'm not only a staff member, but this year was also the beginning of the Soapbox Derby's Youth Professional Leadership Council, or as we call it, the YPLC.

I'm honored to be a part of this innovative council that brings together current and former racers.

Basically, what we do is provide a voice for the next generation of the Soapbox Derby.

So why PLC basically is trying to get trying to let kids lead, lead and have more leadership opportunities here at the Box Derby.

So we plan the kickball games, welcome parties.

We do a lot of events operations to help out where we can basically like another race ops team.

I was 12 years old when I started my nonprofit, to help kids race.

Through my Stem outreach and stuff, at least 15, I'd say.

But yeah, I’m sure we can grow and get more kids.

What I usually tell them is, hey, you want to do something for the weekend?

Because it's during the summer especially.

It's hard.

People are busy.

People aren't doing anything.

Some people are just laying around the house.

So it's I try to get people all together and get them on a weekend or something.

Just get them into racing and then they fall in love with it, and then they don't get out of it till they're 70, so.

as I mentioned before, I am a former Youth Volunteer Service Award winner and this year we have five great ambassadors.

It certainly was a great honor for me.

And talking to this year's winners, it was certainly an honor for them too.

I would say of all the awards I have, one youth Service award is definitely the most meaningful to me, being that being able to help those youth, that this sport is just giving me so much and being able to give back in the sense of helping the younger generation of drivers, just means so much to me.

And seeing sweet Adelia, they come from such a sweet family and being able to watch her have that success last year, after being able to help her give her some driving tips and tips and tricks and being able to see that joy on her face when she won was just amazing.

One of these three is about to become a world champion.

Who will it be?

They crossed the finish line close together, standing by for official results from Brule, Nebraska.

Adela McBride.

Adela McBride in car 332 is the world champion in local stock.

How do you feel right now?

A bunch of emotions, sad and happy at the same time.

Yeah, well, when I first wanted to not sink in at all, I was just kind of like, well, this actually happened, so.

What went through your mind when you first won?

The video captured in the very overwhelming photos and all of that or a crazy little mosh pit of like a concert.

And then people are surrounding.

What was that like?

Honestly, I cannot remember.

I was just so like, I was so shocked that I even won and I was very happy, but I was also sad because I had to leave my car.

Who were you thinking of moments after and how friends and family came to embrace you and was very emotional What was going through your mind?

Like my soxbox family.

My family was right there and I was just like, I love them, you know?

-Heat 330 lane one it's car 734 of Aiden Cyr.

Cyr in Lane one, Lane two, car 745 from Cabana Island, Washington.

Raea Saylor, Saylor in lane two and in lane three, It's car 723 from rural Nebraska Adaela McBride.

McBride in Lane three.

All set to go, Cyr, Saylor and McBride and they are racing.

Aidan Cyr in lane one.

Raea Saylor in lane two.

Adaela McBride in lane three.

Adaela, no stranger to a championship heat, she won the World championship in local stock last year.

Aiden Cyr and Raea Saylor looking to get there.

Who is it going to be?

Let's find out in a moment.

And a third close finish.

Great racing out of these dock champs today.

Making friends and just, like, having fun and just.

I don't know, how do you say this?

Like.

Helping other people out kind of and stuff like that.

And you can you can do that in any sport and anything.

You don't just do that in Soap box derby.

Second place goes to lane number three, Adaela McBride.

It was almost just as nerve wracking.

I was standing by the ramps.

I'm like, I'm gonna cry.

This is so like, it's exciting to watch them and them experience all the things that I was able to experience years ago.

And so watching them, oh, it just makes me emotional.

I'm not gonna lie.

I'm sitting there like, I'm gonna cry.

This is ridiculous.

But I just love watching them.

They just the joy that they have in watching other racers compete is just it's always a great time.

That's the magic of Akron, as I would like to say.

Here at the soapbox derby.

We cultivate lifelong skills and character, including perseverance, as told by one of our champions, Jonathan Johnson.

So I lost my father to suicide when I was 13.

I have a younger brother and my mom's now a widow and a single mother and being the oldest child.

But it forced me into a spot to where I kind of had to throw my childhood away and began adulthood pretty early.

So I had to help start getting ready to to set my life up early and ensure that my mom's not, you know, grinding her bones down just to support for the family.

So maybe it wasn't always, you know, monetary support for myself, but doing way more chores than I should, helping out around the house, taking care of my little brother, helping, you know, research my future and doing all my schoolwork, making sure that my self is set up so it's easier on her.

She doesn't have to push as hard so that when the time comes like it has now, it's a little easier on her.

And then hopefully once I'm well set up with my career, then I can I can help give back to her.

So I started racing in sixth grade.

So yeah, I had been racing for for two ish years.

We're pretty close on my mom's side, so my aunts have been a really, really good help.

Aunts and uncles, my mom's sisters and then family friends.

You know, my dad was a cop, so we had a lot of the sheriff's office.

My godfather is a cop.

So we had a lot of the sheriff's office, and we were pretty heavily involved in the community.

So a lot of the community helped us get through that situation.

But it was a lot of of neighbors, our friends and us figuring things out on our own.

It was a lot of dealing with it within the three of us.

It was a it was a very rough time for myself.

I mean, obviously, I, I'm a young boy.

I needed a father figure, didn't really have one for a little while.

So it was it was a lot of mental stress trying to figure out, because I'm going through those changes and starting to to get ready to move into teenage and adulthood.

So I'm having to figure things out on my own, like I had to taught myself how to shave, how to tie a tie, stuff like that.

I had to teach it on my own.

I learned how to drive in a graveyard because that was the safest place my mom could teach me.

To put a timeline on it, my birthday is the 30th of July.

We got the information that he passed on the 14th.

So and it's especially hard because that's smack dab in the middle of Akron Week every year.

So that's a it's, you know, one of the days of the week.

Usually it's the day we drive up that car ride is you know it's a dedicated kind of thing that day is you know is a remembrance.

But then you know I turn 14, about a week and a half later and it starts two weeks after that.

So I go, you know, within a month I'll get all the, all the paperwork and all the emotions out.

And then I'm right back in school, starting high school now.

And it's like it's it's fixed.

That my transition itself wasn't too bad because a lot of my friends came up with me.

A lot of my friends knew.

So it wasn't a lot of and I had gotten to the point where I had settled down a little bit.

So I was starting to get better.

And so my mom spent a lot, a lot of time branding it into me that, you know, if I lose a race, it's okay.

It's not the end of the world.

You don't need to win every race.

You don't need to win the next one.

If you lose it, you lose it.

But you learn from it.

And going through and and she lectures me every single time we talk about it.

If I call her and I'm upset about something that happened to the track, just smile and smile and be nice.

It's just, you know, we can deal with it and you can vent out after.

I mean, you do still see quite a handful of fathers up there, but at least in my world and my vision on it between my friends in Derby.

And I'm going to point names here.

But the Break family like Amber Break and my mom, a tremendous parents and they're the ones out there every single rally now.

Yes, me and Peyton Amber’s son, we do a lot of work on the cars, but they're the ones up there at the top of the track all day long, lifting those cars, setting us down.

You know, calming us down if we're upset for losing or cheering us on when we went, oh, they're the ones.

And in my eyes, I see a lot more of that because that's what I see.

I do see a lot of moms.

And it it's great to see that because I think they should be involved as well.

I do think that that dads play a key role in it.

And in my case, it might not have been my father.

But I'll tell you one thing, Paul was tremendous.

I mean, he when I when I started Derby, I didn't even know what a wrench was like I did, but I didn't know how to use it.

I didn't know the sizes, I didn't know anything.

I look in there and I can go grab a bare floorboard out of that barn, and you could blindfold me, and I'd have it built in an hour and it can go down a hill when it rains, I guarantee it.

So I mean that that man alone taught me enough to to build any division of cars competitive.

I mean, the way that a father can teach the tool wise, but the the moms are more building the racers themselves, the moms build the character, the moms build all that.

And I think that's that's really really important as well.

Paul Bates is the kind of the head of the track in Culpeper, Virginia.

It's the Paul Bates Raceway for a reason.

Shortly after I started high school and that fall semester ish time, Paul came to me and said, hey, I want you to drive my car.

And I couldn't say no to that.

So they pulled it out.

They pulled the cover off of it.

It was sitting over on the table.

It had been since, you know, when I started racing it, it was just sitting there and I'm like, what is that?

amd he said, I want you to drive my car.

I pulled the tarp off of it.

I said, yeah, I'm racing his family's car.

I am.

And I looked at him like a grandfather.

All of my my grandparents are far enough away to where I don't see them often.

And now that you know Paul is in the picture, I can see him as a grandfather.

I called him yesterday, you know.

Hey, Paul, inspections are going well.

I got the car up here safe.

Everything's going well.

I'm doing okay.

Checking on him, too.

But he's a great.

He's a saint.

He's nothing short of a saint.

There has not been a single time that I have seen him deny to help somebody.

And I think that's part of where I got my will to work from, is I. I, as a racer, reflect his image.

So the work that he has put in is, is shown by me to I am the screen of his- I'm the fruit of his labor.

So all that, that hard work he's put in in the past couple of years before we go to Akron, he's out there in the barn working on every single one of the Culpeper cars.

All the rallies, all the local cars were me and him are both out there working on all of them.

I think overall, the biggest thing that means, you know, Derby to me is getting to go around and use the knowledge that I have gained through trial and error to help aid other friends and soon to be friends and these, these young kids that all they want to do is succeed and win and they see others win and they want to do it themselves.

So if I can go find a kid that that needs my help and go teach them everything I know and help work on that car and and watch them when, like the past couple of years, we've had a handful of local cars coming to Culpeper, not knowing a thing.

And we go in there and I help work on the car and teach them everything that I know, and then they end up on the stage their first year and that that means the world to me.

I would rather see all my cars on the stage and me lose first round, if that means that they get to be happy.

So, you know, and then the starting to transition from being a racer to being an official in certain areas, being able to do that more, being able to utilize my knowledge instead of trying to help myself.

Still, as well as helping others, I can just prioritize helping others.

And that's probably the most important part to me, it’s a great honor, to to be recognized and to be appreciated for all the work that I'm putting in because I don't do it to be recognized.

I do it for them.

So it's just it's amazing.

I have a saying that I saw years ago that it's like there's no one that would rather you succeed other than your father.

Everyone else out there, man to man, they want to do better than you, and the only person that wants to spend their life wishing that you do better than them is your own father.

Each one of our champions has a unique story on how they got started in the soapbox derby.

- I lived about two streets over from where the Soap Box Derby was originally started in Fredericksburg on Williams Street.

It was in the city of Fredericksburg and I when I was younger, I just went we went over to see the races with my family, and I got to race there for one year.

When I turned nine, I got started at my school, at my school Stem program.

down in Stow, Ohio, my teacher actually got me into it, and I was in the program for three years or 2 or 3 years.

And so I gradually got to race it.

And then I got a full ride scholarship to attend the summer camp program here.

And it was I got to go down the track.

They hold their own race.

So I got to go down the track before the Akron local the day before the Akron local.

So that kind of swooped me into racing.

And my uncle bought me my first car and we built it in my garage.

And then I slowly began wanting to get more kids into it.

So I been building up a team for the past couple of years and have my own nonprofit dedicated to get kids helping and racing.

My dad saw like a news reporting thing was like Jeff Iola on a TV somewhere, and he's like, wow, that's awesome.

But like way before they had me, he saw it.

And he's like, if we have a kid, that'd be great to do.

And then he had me.

And then seven years later he bought a stock car.

I think pressure is a privilege.

And being able to be in that, be in that space where you are pushed to be your best is just the best kind of environment to be in.

And I would say when I was first starting in stock, I definitely was a little timid.

I didn't really know what I was doing, but I was surrounded by just the best racing family, being my uncle, my dad and my grandpa, and having that support surrounding me and their encouragement and advice was really helpful and crucial to me getting to my ultimately winning the world championship.

Well, it started with my dad.

He got a really he got really sick.

And then Paul Frisco, who we call chief, he he started giving my dad little jobs as he started to feel better and convinced him to do so.

him to do soap box derby.

I was at my grandfather's house and he's doing something in the attic, and I'm going through picture boxes and I pull out a picture and I was like, who is this?

He was like, that's your aunt?

And I was like, oh, really?

Then I asked him what he was doing, what she was doing in this picture, and she was like, that's something called soapbox derby.

And I was like, what is that?

So he kind of explained it to me as best as he could for how it was back whenever she did it.

And I said, do people still do that?

And he was like, yeah.

He was like, I know people that do it.

We can check one out if you want to.

So we bought an old stock car from somebody and then completely redid it by hand in his little garage before he demolished it.

And we just sat there and then kept growing from there.

Added my cousin into it.

One year we went to the Wayne County Fair, and it was the first year my parents let me and my older sister just walk around by ourselves and our local now they had a booth and they let us sit in the cars and we were both like, where's the gas?

And we like made our parents come.

And so we went to their open hill they had and just raced barn cars.

And then for Christmas that year we ended up getting kits and we built them throughout the winter.

But it was the year of Covid, so we weren't able to race.

And then the next year we just began rallying like here and there.

We didn't really make it a big thing, and I won my local my first year, which then I came up here and my local was my first race ever.

So this was my second race ever.

And I came up here and we just did not know what we were doing.

And I ended up placing nine.

And then I feel like we've just built up our name because we came from, I guess, like nothing like we didn't know anybody, but we just like built up who we were.

And like, the All-American definitely gave us a lot of friendships and like, made connections that way too.

Like, I definitely didn't take anything seriously.

I didn't anticipate winning my local or even placing at worlds, but it was just like a have fun and see what happens.

These lessons, these values that these champions learn here at Derby Downs, go on and carry with them.

Let's hear from our champs about what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

- Career wise I would definitely say I love environmental conservation and education.

I really want to sort of we had high school field trips and these sort of things to the Rappahannock River, which I live on, and it sort of made me realize that I also want to sort of spread the awareness and engage and educate youth in our environment and sort of our local area, because it's it's so important these days, especially.

I would like to be a famous artist.

So my, my dad, both of my parents were in the military and my dad would always like just send me pictures, you know, military jets.

What's going to set me up for a good career?

Allow me to to, you know, travel and see the things that I want to see and going to make good money because cost of living is going up.

So you know, I'm like I mean, looking at aviation a little bit started looking and got down to a couple schools, started playing sports, and I found some schools that I could play sports and study at.

And now by my senior year, I should be a certified flight instructure.

I'll get a job through my college, work for my college for a couple of years, build my hours, and then my school has a partnership with a regional airline that will help me build up through the ranks.

Like when you're doing something on a car, you're trying to make it better, like for dry graces or something like that.

You're doing it.

You're doing something to make it better.

It's the same thing in soap box.

You're doing something to the car to change it.

And if it works, it does.

If it doesn't, then you fix it again.

It's just a repeated process of trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

And that's what really kind of clicked it for me before I started just realizing that I can do a lot more in the industry if I have certain specifications.

So welding and I can do exhaust systems, anything like that.

And HVAC is just another part of that because I can just, you know, do both at once if I need to do mechanics as a side part.

And it's just, it's it's just kind of a good mix.

So I hurt my back and I actually had to switch divisions in soap box Derby I had to switch from Superstock to Masters and Masters is a lot more challenging because the racers in it are usually a lot older, like 18 to 21 is usually.

And so I was like 14 or 15 years old.

So I feel like just having to do the switch because of my back kind of taught me like adversity.

And then my back is the like ultimate reason that I want to go into physical therapy just because I had to go through physical therapy for it.

And my goal is PA school.

But I'm kind of like thinking the med school route.

I'm not sure what I'm doing yet.

So I'd really like to go to med school and that's going to be really tough, like 8 to 10 years if I do that route.

So just going with the flow, being able to cheer for everybody, being part of a team, learning new things all the time.

So I would like to go to the Coast Guard.

I just want to serve my country.

I do, I really do, and I want to challenge myself.

I really like to challenge myself.

I think it's it's not something that's easy, and I'm really excited to push myself to do that.

And there's nothing really in life that excites me more than thinking about that.

So I think that's definitely a goal in my life.

When I was younger, I would say maybe 10 or 11 or maybe nine.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

And from that moment, like as soon as she beat it, I really wanted to grow up and become the doctor who would help women like her, who have that sickness, and to be able to tell them that they beat it or, you know, like to just tell their kids that, like, sorry, just to know that their mom is strong and that they beat that.

And that's really my biggest goal.

Let's find out who our next six world champions are.

And now it is time to race for World Championships.

This is the World Championship heat in Rally Stock.

Lane one car 746 from Stanwood, Washington.

Amos Miller, Miller in lane one, Lane two, car 745 from Commando Island, Washington.

Raea Saylor, Saylor in lane two and in lane three, Car 743 from Plymouth, Minnesota.

Garrett Kilby, Kilby in lane three.

This for the World Championship in Rally Stock.

They are on track and making their way down.

One of these three champs is about to become a world champ.

Will it be Amos Miller?

Will it be Raea Saylor or will it be Garrett Kilby?

There they go.

Across the finish line.

Stand by for - Results are in.

Third place goes to lane number three Garrett Kilby from Plymouth, Minnesota in Car 743.

Kilby third place.

Second place goes to lane number two.

Saylor from Commando Island, Washington.

In car 745 Saylor second place.

And that means you're 2026 First Energy All American Soapbox Derby world champion, in the Rally Stock division is car 746 from Stanwood, Washington.

Amos Miller.

-How do you feel?

-Amazing.

-How did you win?

What did you do to win that the others didn't do it.

-Get down low.

-What does this mean to you as far as this accomplishment?

-This is the best I've ever done So pretty awesome.

It's pretty good.

-How are we going to celebrate?

-A party.

Big cake maybe.

Racing for a world championship in rally Superstock.

Alicia Swinderman in lane one.

Logan Smith in lane two.

Alexa Fischer in lane three.

Here they come.

Swinderman, Smith and Fischer clear the run out area.

We've got cars coming.

Clear the run out.

Swinderman, Smith and Fischer coming through for a world Championship.

[fanfare music plays] Standing by for results between Alicia Swinderman and Logan Smith and Alexa Fischer.

And they are in.

Third place goes to lane number two Logan Smith of Woodstock, Illinois.

Smith in lane two.

Third place.

Second place goes to lane number three Alexa Fischer from Worthington, Ohio.

And that means your All American Soapbox Derby world champion is car 636 from Rittman, Ohio.

Alicia Swinderman.

-What do you think is the reason that you won?

-Because I put in hard work and I believe in myself, and I want other people to believe in themselves to.

-What do you take away from this whole experience?

- Memories and all these fun times I'm going to have racing.

- How are we going to celebrate?

- With lots of ice cream.

Rally Masters is next for the World Championship.

Lane one car 505 from Billerica, Georgia.

Alexa Garren, Garren in lane one, Lane two it's car 530 from New Sharon, Iowa.

Melvin Spoelstra, Spoelstra and Lane two.

Lane three, car 502 from Conneaut, Ohio.

Cayson Hayes, Hayes in Lane three a couple long time champs in Garren and Hayes in lanes one and three.

Melvin Spoelstra, a first timer to the All-American in lane two.

Who's going to be the world champion?

We're about to find out.

Results are in.

Third place goes to lane number one Alexa Garrin from Villa Rica, Georgia.

Garren in Car 505.

Third place.

Second place goes to lane number three Casey Hayes from Conneaut, Ohio.

Car 502 Hayes second place.

And that means you're 2026 First Energy All-American Soap Box Derby world champion in the Rally Masters Division is car 530 out of lane two from New Sharon, Iowa, Melvin Spoelstra.

-How do you feel?

-I feel great, I didn't think I was gonna make it.

-Why do you think you made it?

-Probably all the support from everybody.

-Who was the support that was behind you.

-My family and everybody from the Des Moines Soapbox.

Moving quickly.

Here is the sky.

Start to get a little dark here at Derby Downs.

Off in the distance.

Local stock next.

And on track Lily Brand in lane one, Theodore McFall in lane two Jonah Carolus in lane three.

Racing for the world Championship in local stock.

Who is it going to be?

Will it be the champ from Omaha?

The champ from Akron or the champ from Mansfield?

We said moving a little quicker than we normally would with weather threatening here, standing by for results.

Here are the results.

Third place goes to lane number three.

Jonah Carolus from Mansfield, Ohio.

Carolas third place.

Second place goes to lane number one Lily Brand.

Second place in car 340.

That means your 2026 First Energy All-American Soap box derby world champion is to 327 in lane two representing Akron, Ohio Theodore Mcfall.

-How do you feel right now?

-Amazing.

-What did you do to to win this race?

What did it take?

-My family and and friends for encouraging me.

-How are you going to celebrate?

-With a steak dinner.

Local super stock.

Up next lane one will be car 121 from Dover, New Hampshire.

Trevor Behan, Behan in lane one Lane two car 136 from Omaha, Nebraska Drew Brand, Brand in lane two and in lane three.

Car 103 Haley Hoagey, Hoagey in lane three.

Here come Trevor Behan, Drew Brand and Haley Hoagey to decide the World Championship in local Superstock.

Who's it gonna be?

That was close.

Oh my.

What a race it has been all weekend.

Here are your results.

Third place goes to lane number three.

Haley Hoagey.

Hoagey in car 103 from Sanford, Florida.

Third place.

Second place goes to lane number one.

Trevor Behan representing New Hampshire, Behan in car 121 in second place.

And that means your First Energy All-American soapbox derby world champion is car 136.

In lane number two, Drew Brand.

For the third consecutive year, Drew Brand, a world champion, this time in local Superstock.

Congratulations Drew Brand your world champion in local superstock.

-Hey,how do you feel?

-Feel great.

-What gave you the edge on this one?

-Getting down low and practicing a lot and just I mean it's crazy.

-What do you take away from this whole experience?

-Just have fun with your friends and all of that.

Just just live the moment.

-How are you going to celebrate -My family.

I'm going to take my parents and I'm grateful for it.

Those skies over run out, starting to look threatening.

So we're trying to move quick here.

We are racing for the final time at the 2026 First Energy All-American Soapbox Derby.

Jacob Hamm in lane one.

Ayva David in lane two, Dawson Crum in lane three.

Who's going to win the World Championship in local Masters?

Down past halfway.

Hamm, David and Crum.

For a world title, who's it gonna be?

This is going to be close again.

Stand by for results.

They are looking very closely at this photo.

Finish camera.

What an incredible race.

What an incredible year it's been here at Derby Downs.

Your 2026 First Energy All-American Soapbox Derby world champion Is car 22 racing out of lane three from Akron, Ohio.

Dawson Crum.

Dawson Crum wins the World championship.

Two World Championships on the weekend for Dawson Crum.

He's a legacy world champion and now Dawson Crum is a local Masters world champion.

-How do you feel?

-I feel great,feel great.

-What gave you the edge?

-It's my home track.

I think I know the line, so I think that that's what gave me the edge.

-What do you take away from this experience?

-I think it's a great bonding moment with your family, and it's just a lot of fun to be out here.

-How are you going to celebrate?

-I don't know, go swimming tonight or something.

We have been treated to an amazing week here in Akron.

The racing was fantastic.

It's always great spending time with all of the families, the volunteers, everybody who makes this event possible.

But from the bottom of my heart, I just want to say thank you to Derby Nation for having me back for another year.

And it's been a treat to be here, and I hope you go home and tell everybody how great this racing was this week.

Let's grow this thing.

Let's keep growing it.

We've got great leadership here in Dennis Vanfossen junior and his team.

All the great young leadership coming to the forefront one last time for all the volunteers, for the staff here at Derby Downs, for our ZTV crew for Allison Park off and for Loose Grass.

I'm Jason Sokol, so long from Akron and the 88th running of the First Energy All-American soapbox derbies.