Car or Driver?

I've been thinking about Soap Box Derby all day – and I've concluded that I now have some solid evidence on which to base the question . . . is it the car or the driver?

Everybody who takes a cursory look at Soap Box Derby almost immediately concludes that winning and loosing is based almost entirely on the car. We take a box on wheels, stuff a kid inside for ballast, and let them loose on a straight, ¼-mile hill. All the kid has to do is hang on for the ride. The difference is in the bearings, possibly the weight placement, the car stiffness, etc., but not in the kid . . . right? Occasionally, you will get a kid who comes out for Soap Box Derby and starts winning races right away – demonstrating the merit of this cursory viewpoint.

All of the Soap Box old-timers will tell you that it's 95% driver. Yes, the car has to be set up correctly, so that everything is lined up and nothing is working AGAINST a fast run, but once the car is dialed in, the rest of it is all driver. There are things like how straight and even they drive, but also where on the track . . . do they go down the crown early to build up speed, or do they wait and do it where the crown might be steeper? Or perhaps go down the crown, then climb back up the crown to the center, and go down the crown again. On a day when it is raining, perhaps they never go down the crown because there is more water down near the curb. Or on a sunny day, the track is likely to be faster in the sun than in the shade. Crossing the painted centerline will slow you down as your wheels bump up against the (slightly) raised paint. There are those who claim that letting the car wander where it wants to go is best – the car will take the steepest (but not necessarily shortest) path down the track. All of the fathers will tell you something different about the fast way down the track, but the fact is that none of them know. None of them have been down the track in a REAL Soap Box Derby car.  Some have had the enlightening experience of driving an oil can (adult-sized) car down the track, but those are so sloppy that you really ARE just hanging on, hoping for the best.  The fact is that only the kids REALLY know the track.

The track changes every race, depending on the weather, debris, moisture, etc. Demonstrating the 95% driver viewpoint are the many kids who do not win anything when they first enter Soap Box racing. Many kids have gone an entire year without winning a heat. Others have mediocre performance until - - - one day - - - something clicks, and they start winning.

This Sunday, the McClarans gave us a very good demonstration of the 95% driver theory. Tucker McClaran just won 8^th place in the world in her Stock car. For this race, Aubrey (her little sister) drove Tucker's championship car and Tucker drove the Madison Dutoit car borrowed from the racing association. These club cars have been built by people who know what they are doing, but they see a lot of handling and abuse, and are not necessarily dialed in like the top cars. Tucker's father spent about 15 minutes with the car before the race – basically just adjusting the weights, then Tucker got in and raced. Out of 6 Stock cars, Tucker got a very close 2^nd. She lost only to Cullen Tucker, who is nearly undefeated this season, and even then the race was close enough that it came down to a best-of-three type tiebreaker. AND the tiebreaker was determined by an extremely small differential.

My conclusion is threefold: 1) A great driver can come out on top with a mediocre car; 2) A beginning driver will not win with even the best of cars; and 3) I am sure that a bad car will still slow down even the best of drivers.

Is it 95% driver? Youbetcha.