A long-time Hopkinsville Kiwanian and president of the Bluegrass Youth Racing Foundation, Annie Catron used Thursday afternoon at the War Memorial Building to discuss the 19th Annual Soap Box Derby with her club — a group once in charge of the mighty race and its big weekend.
Planned for May 3 at Ruff Park, its fourth year there, Catron noted their not-for-profit organization is in its third year of being the pace car and main driver for the event — which first began as an idea in 2005, then took off with races in two divisions in the summer of 2006.
From there, things have quickly grown.
All winners, she added, then get to travel to Akron, Ohio, for the International Soap Box Derby — where kids from all around the world collide for an entire week of races and related events.
Since its 2006 inception, Catron said more than 900 local and regional racers have gained the benefit of STEAM — or science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — learning, using weekly build clinics to draft, and then create, the perfect ride.
This year, alongside race directors and committees in Madisonville, Owensboro and Bowling Green, Catron said the elite “masters division” races will rotation from different locations on a yearly basis, and this season, it will be in Owensboro. While younger divisions are easier to fill, older ones, she said, are much more difficult.
A kid from Madisonville actually came down to race in the Hopkinsville “masters division” last year, while officials from the Madisonville Soap Box Derby Committee also assisted with Hopkinsville’s event.
Catron noted there is a continued push to keep, and further promote, a family-friendly atmosphere.
The event, she said, also isn’t nearly as long, nor as hot, as it has been in the past. Trophies for all divisions are out before 4-to-5 PM, and the Foundation is fully aware that the first weekend in May will always be the revered “Running of the Roses” at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
It’s a theme they played on last year, when younger children were able to decorate party hats and make stick horses — before everyone split for the hills to watch the “fastest two minutes in sports.”
Ruff Park, however, brings its own speed, and last year, she said parents for the first time got the opportunity to challenge their child in a race using the boxy “oil cans” as their vessels.
It’s worth noting, too, that in the early 2000s, the City of Murray in Calloway County sold most of its Soap Box Derby fleet to Christian County.
Catron confirmed some of it is still used to this day.
Registration is available at hopkinsville.soapboxderby.org, with a deadline of April 13. Volunteers are more than welcome.
