T. Scott Boatright, Reporter
10-26-2009
SIMSBORO — Ragan Madden Park was temporarily turned into Soap Box Speedway Saturday morning.And the big winner was the village of Simsboro.
Young racing enthusiasts hit the road for Simsboro’s first in what is planned to be an annual Soap Box Derby, and the results were even better than many expected.
“What a beautiful day and what a great event,” Simsboro Mayor Willie Hendricks said. “I had never been to one of these — never seen one with the big cars like this — but it’s fascinating, and the turnout is better than I thought.
“Imagine what this will be like in a few years with a start like this.”
The cars came in every size, shape and color. There were no limitations on size, weight or materials and the cars had to be powered by gravity and contain steering and braking mechanisms.
That doesn’t mean those mechanisms were necessarily conventional. Austin May’s racer was made out of an ironing board with a larger wheel centered in back and two smaller wheels on either side of the front.
“I steer with my feet,” May said. “It’s different, but I’m hoping because it’s light, we can win. I built it with my dad and my uncle.”
The winning car on the day was another tripod racer featuring bicycle wheels and handle flanked by pieces of plywood. That car took three of the sons of Jason and Kathryn Yates to victory in different age categories.
That car was built by the boys’ grandfather, Jim Lowther, of Ruston.
“It took a good bit of time, but they all had fun so it was more than worth it,” Lowther said. “It’s made mainly out of salvaged bicycles, plywood, 2 x 4s and other scrap material I had laying around. I just used whatever I had on hand and went from there.”
The effort didn’t go unnoticed by his grandsons.
“It was the best car out here,” J.T. Yates said. “He worked a long, long time on it, but it was worth it. It won every race pretty easy.”
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