Leyton Blackwell thought his first soap box derby racing season was over.

Then The Call came to the Blackwell house.

“My dad (Gene) answered the phone, and he heard that I'd made the All-American Soap Box Derby,” the eight-year-old said.

When Leyton got the news that he was going to the Grand Show of soap box derby racing, the 75th annual All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, “I started jumping up and down,” the youngster said.

“We really didn't expect Leyton to qualify,” Gene Blackwell said with a chuckle at the Blackwell home. “We had just torn the car down.

“So we had to re-build it all again. We got the call on July 2. It was shipped off two days later,” en route to Akron.

Leyton said, “My mom (Cynthia) was worried about me racing. We decided I'd do one race.” Leyton chuckled. “After that I did every race.”

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Gene Blackwell thought his son wouldn't qualify because “He got started so late. The season started in September and he didn't race unitl January.”

As it is, Leyton Blackwell will join two fellow Santa Marians in Akron. One is his 12-year-old sister Ellen. Another is 15-year-old Brittany Strahan. All three gathered at the Blackwell house. They were due to depart for Akron today.

Ellen Blackwell raced at the All-American Soap Box Derby for the first time last year. Strahan, a sophomore-to-be at St. Joseph High School, will be making her fourth thrip there.

Strahan said she hasn't made it out of the first round. There's no shame in that.

“There are three racers per (heat), and only the winner of each one advances,” said Leyton Blackwell.

“So the first round eliminates about two thirds of the field,” his father said.

Ellen Blackwell will also try to make it out of the first round last time.

During her first All-American derby experience, “I was really nervous at first,” she said. “But after that it was a lot of fun.”

Strahan said there are four racing rounds in each division. Divisions are Masters (Strahan's division), Super Stocks (Ellen Blackwell's) and Stocks (Leyton Blackwell's).

All soap box derby cars must be homemade and non-motorized. Racers squeeze into their cars through narrow openings. In fact, after Strahan enter her sleek Masters Division car, she closes a compartment she enters through, slides forward, lies back and then only a slit in her racing helmet is visible.

To observers, it may seem as though drivers simply lean forward and back and then let gravity do the work. There's more to it than that.

“You have to know what to look for on the road,” said Strahan. “You look for dips in the road and low spots. You try to hit a low spot because that's where you can pick up the most speed.

“A lot of it's luck,” she acknowledged. “Some of it has to do with what lane you draw, whether or not you draw the one with the most fast spots in the road or not.”

Gene Blackwell said the All-American Derby course is 954 feet, and it's straight downhill.

Luck may have something to do with winning a race, but officials reward meticulousness when it comes to vetting a car.

Officials inspect the cars when they first get to Akron. If its specs are flawless, “You get a VIP sticker,” said Strahan. In fact, Ellen Blackwell's 2007 car had a sporty-looking VIP sticker on it at her home.

Getting a VIP sticker is important.

If a racer does, “You get to go in first,” to activities slated for youngsters during the days leading up to the derby.

“When you get a VIP sticker, you get a lanyard with a VIP label on it,” said Leyton Blackwell. “It's kind of like your badge.

If a racer doesn't see a VIP sticker on his or her car upon arrival in Akron, it means the car didn't meet specs. It could also mean hassle.

“My friend ahd an hour to completely re-build his floorboard done one year,” said Strahan.

Did he get it done?

“Yes,” she said with a hint of admiration in her voice.

Gene Blackwell said a highlight for racers was a trip to an Akron Arrows game. The Arrows are a minor league baseball team.

‘The players got to walk the field,” Gene Blackwell said. “It's a beautiful stadium.”

All three youngsters seemed to be particularly looking forward jto the button exchange.

“There have been kids from all over, Germany, New Zealand, and they have a button exchange,” in which racers swap colorful buttons which display pictures of themselves in their various cars.

“A lot of the police officers in Akron are very involved in (the derby), and one time they were detaining the kids, and the kids couldn't understand why,” Gene Blackwell said with a grin.

He chuckled. “Theny the'd tell the kids ‘You don't leave until I get a button.'”

Leyton Blackwell said with a happy grin, “I want to leave with a whole bunch of buttons.”

July 20, 2008