By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
June 11, 2004
Aspiring speedsters will have a chance to practice their road skills Saturday morning.
A practice session for the Queen City All-American Soap Box Derby is scheduled to run on the race's track of Meridian's 23rd Avenue. The race strip is between 12th Street and 8th Street.
The practice session will start at 8 a.m., and the 32-car race will be run on June 19. Racers will run practice heats in the cars in sets of two.
Younger drivers will have a chance to get acclimated to the track starting out halfway up the hill and working their way to the top on the ramp. The cars can get up to speeds of 30 miles per hour on the hill.
With the field increase to 32 drivers this year, the race has added another classification super stock. In the previous years of the derby, the only class available was stock.
The stock car group is open for drivers who weight 115 pounds or less. Drivers must be at least six years old. The super stock car group will be open to drivers weighing 115 pounds to 150 pounds. Drivers must be under 16 years old.
While all the cars will be at the practice run, Hill said all of the cars will probably not be used on Saturday.
Last year's race drew 20 drivers to Meridian to compete for a chance to qualify for the national competition in Akron, Ohio.
Kristin Smith won last year's race and the trip to Akron in front of about 700 spectators. Smith beat out Kendal Carpenter by a time differential of .119 to win an all-girls championship race.
This will be the third consecutive year of the derby after a 30-year absence of the race in Meridian.