Girls win 5 of 6 at Soap Box Derby Finals - YAY!

[RamboLiberal]

AKRON, Ohio - Girls had their most dominant showing in the history of the All-American Soap Box Derby on Saturday, winning five of six individual titles for the first time and sweeping the three major divisions for only the second time.

The performances came during the 71st year of the grand prix of gravity-powered racing in Akron. A record 606 finalists from 160 cities and six nations competed.

Courtney Rayle, representing Washington, D.C., and one month shy of her 17th birthday, became the oldest champion in the Masters Division.

Johanna Barnowski drove to victory in the Stock Division, giving Akron its record 14th individual champion, and Haley Beitel of Tullahoma, Tenn., won the Super Stock Division.

Megan Newcomer of Danville, Ind., won the Rally Stock; Caitlin Smith of Federalsburg, Md., was the Rally Super Stock champion and Brandon Feagan, a 15-year-old racer from Richardsville, Va., was the lone boys champion, winning the Rally Masters Division.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25865975/

I love it cause when I was a kid they wouldn't allow me to be in the Soap Box Derby or play Little League Baseball because I was a girl! Way to go girls! No wonder they didn't want us there. BTW 1971 was first year girls were allowed. And it was 1974 for Little League Baseball.

[tridim]

1. I'm just shocked to hear they still have soapbox races.

That's pretty cool.

[Sanctified]

2. I made one with my son, it kind of sucks since today they have kits

where you just glue everything together, sand and paint. Not like the old days when you actually had to use tools.

[Ian David]

4. I'm going to make my daughter a car using carbon fiber composites.

No, not really.

[tridim]

6. Are homemade cars legal to race? Or do they force you to use a kit?

[RamboLiberal]

3. Not as big as it once was - but in my hometown it's still somewhat an event

in McKeesport, PA. In fact they still close Eden Park Blvd for that Saturday on the same slight downhill they've used since I can remember and I'm 55.

[Ian David]

5. Kids todays are such wooses...

Now THIS is a RACE:

[flvegan]

7. As well they should.

In direct comparison, females weigh less than males. Less weight means faster times.

[RamboLiberal]

8. The cars are ballasted so they all weigh the same

Each car must be ballasted so the total weight with the driver is 116 kg/255 lb, to within about 57g/2 oz. As a result, "all cars start with the same potential energy," says Mike Harrigan. "The car that most efficiently converts that potential to kinetic energy wins."

http://www.compositesworld.com/articles/composites-refine-soap-box-derby-racers.aspx

On a side note funny how Indy Racing suddenly had a weight rule when male drivers whined about Danica Patrick's being petite in weight.

An Indy Racing League rule change has Danica Patrick feeling as if she'll be penalized for being petite — which the popular driver said wouldn't happen in other sports.

Starting this season, the minimum weight for IRL cars will include the driver, and Patrick is the series' lightest at 100 pounds according to the 2007 media guide (which lists other female drivers Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher at 120 pounds apiece; Ed Carpenter is the heaviest at 165).

"If someone's going to take the hit it's going to be me," Patrick said Thursday. "It's disappointing the league decided to do that. In so many other sports, athletes don't get penalized for being too strong, or too tall or too fast.

"(It's) just your God-given stature is being penalized. What am I going to do, though? It's not my decision. That's the people higher up (who) made their bed, and they've got to lay in it."

"We want to make absolutely clear this is not a Danica rule," Griffin said. "You look at guys like Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti, and they're light guys."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/irl/2008-03-24-patrick-irl-rule-change_N.htm