Soap Box Safety

Last weekend we watched several Soap Box Derby accidents in Mount Vernon. Earlier this summer we witnessed another close call. Alex says he's seen several cars have braking issues at the end of the track (we don't always notice this, watching the race from the top of the hill). After this, Soap Box safety has been on our mind quite a bit.

We've heard stories of several scary events. In July 2008, Tucker McClaran was in Akron for the first time. She got too aggressive and her tire went off the side of the track, down a lip; when she tried to come back onto the track, her car spun. She would have been about 9 or 10 at the time, and the situation she was in is one that often confounds seasoned adult drivers – when your tire goes over a lip in the road, it can be difficult and dangerous when you try to bring it back up onto the pavement.

I have heard other stories of cars hitting something and spinning – 720 degrees in one case (two full revolutions). I have heard stories of brake pads catching on irregularities in the track – manhole covers, concrete seams, etc – and sending the rear end of the car into the air; in fact, I have actually heard of cars flipping over lengthwise when this happens.

This weekend, I was discussing accidents with Wes Foster, the director of the Soap Box Derby in the entire Northwest. He has been around Soap Box Derby for a long time. Wes told me the worst accident he has seen at the Salem track is when a Master's car (the lowest and fastest cars) left the track after the finish line and went down a small grassy hill into the pit area. There was an RV parked on the hill (parking is no longer allowed there during races); the RV's steps were down, and there was a boy sitting on the steps. The Soap Box car went under the RV, hitting the steps and propelling the boy into the air, and lodged itself under the RV. An adult was standing nearby and caught the boy – the Master's car was wedged under the RV and was difficult to extract. Nobody was hurt.

I asked Wes if, in all his time, and all the accidents he has witnessed, he has ever seen a kid injured. Wes says he has never seen a serious injury. The last line of defense for a car that has lost its brakes is a soft barrier at the end of the track that the kid is supposed to hit head-on. The barrier is soft enough that it generally does not even damage the car; in Salem, the barrier is a wall of tires. Wes says he has seen kids take their hands off the wheel and put their arms in front of their face just before hitting this barrier – when they do that, they generally bruise their forearms on the front of the cockpit. Other than that, he has seen no driver injuries.

The director of the Salem local track is recovering from an injury sustained a while back (last year, perhaps) when he stepped in front of a brakeless car, trying to stop it with his body.

I guess Soap Box Racing is much safer for the children than the fathers.