Soap box racers get on a roll

The 8-year-old boy ducked his head down, got over to the edge of the road and steered his soap box car straight through the finish line Saturday, beating his 12-year-old brother by mere hundredths of a second to qualify for the world championship.

It was Taylor Taigen’s first year competing in the All-American Soap Box Derby Race held in Spokane Valley. The 46-pound boy won the stock car division. He’ll compete with hundreds of other racers at the world championship in Akron, Ohio, this August.

His older brother, a four-year race veteran, didn’t take the defeat so well.

“His brother is pretty upset,” the boys’ grandmother, Mary Taylor, said after the race. He told her it wasn’t fair.

“But the little one is pretty determined,” she said.

The Taigen brothers were among more than 22 racers, ages 8 to 17, who participated in two divisions at the annual race competition.

The divisions are separated into two categories: stock cars, which must weigh 200 pounds with the drivers in them, and the super stock car division in which the car and driver must weigh 230 pounds.

Weight had to be added to Taylor Taigen’s car because he’s so light, said his coach and grandpa, Bob Taylor. The Shiloh Hills Elementary School student said he felt “good” about the win, but he wasn’t willing to offer any advice to his brother about how to come out on top in future races.

Taylor Taigen had to stand on his tiptoes for a photo to make sure his head was above his taxi-themed soap box car as it sat on a trailer.

In the super stock division, an Evergreen Middle School teen won after four years of trying.

The wind whipped by 14-year-old Crystal Holt’s ears as she cruised down the hill going about 30 mph on Skipworth Road in front of Bowdish Middle School for her 10th time during Saturday’s competition.

The slender, dark-haired girl kept her head down and eyes on the finish line.

“I’ve been waiting for this since the first time I raced,” Crystal said after her victory.

“I was shaking all over until they let the gate down,” she said of her last race. “Then I was focused. I started shaking again at the end of the race wondering if my times had been good enough to win the overall.”

Crystal’s mother, Margie Holt, jumped with joy when her daughter’s name was announced as the winner. “Finally,” she said.

Soap box racing is the only sport her daughter cries about losing, the mom said.

Crystal is also a softball player, and she’ll have to miss a couple of tournaments to compete in Akron.

“The players understand that racing is important to me,” Crystal said.

Race organizers referred to her as the “queen of the hill.” She was beat only once out of 10 races.

Each race between two competitors is done twice. The two cars switch wheels and lanes to make sure no one has an advantage. The soap box cars are put on a small ramp that is gated by a board. The gate drops and gravity is the only power the driver has for getting through the finish line.

All the racers seemed to have the same strategy for going the fastest: keep your head down, drive on the edge of the road and steer as straight as possible.

“It’s 80 percent driver and 20 percent car,” said Dan Eagle, the All-American Soap Box Derby Race coordinator.

“Girls do just as good as the boys,” Eagle said. “It’s not a physical contest. It’s focus.”