BREWER – T.J. McCormick continued a family tradition Saturday but he really wasn’t sure which family members’ footsteps he was following.

The fourth-grader from Washington Street School in Brewer overcame the rain and a field of more experienced drivers to win the Eastern Maine Soap Box Derby stock division title. The win earned him a trip to Akron, Ohio, for the July 28th running of the 64th All-American Soap Box Derby.

Also headed to Ohio is Kari Walker of Carmel who won the event’s super stock division.

As friends and family members whooped it up around him, young McCormick, his face lined by the goggles he had been wearing, stood shivering, teeth chattering in the cold and rain at the bottom of State Street hill.

“Two people from my family have been to Akron,” the 10-year-old said. “But I’m not sure who they are.”

McCormick’s mother, Kim, came to the rescue.

“His great-grandfather, Charlie Lackedy, went to Ohio. When he got out there, his first race, he crashed. [T.J.’s] great-uncle on my husband’s side, Dick Crawford, raced here in Brewer and went to Ohio and won a boat, motor and trailer.”

T.J. McCormick may just be a natural soap box racer. This is his first year racing and he has only been practicing for a couple of weeks.

“It’s really exciting. I just did the same thing all day. I stayed low and made it,” he said.

He beat Kolbi Currier of Bradley in the championship heat. Third in stock was Andrew Crosby of Carmel, followed by Ryan Thomas of Bangor, Matthew Chamberlain of Hermon, Glenburn’s Dustin Jones, Angela Patterson of Brewer and Donald Rice, also of Brewer.

The McCormicks also learned some exciting news from Burger King, their corporate sponsor. Bernard Bernier, the district supervisor for Carrols Corporation, a company that owns several hundred of the fast food restaurants, was on hand to watch the race. The Syracuse, N.Y.-based company is going to pick up the tab for their racer’s trip to Ohio.

“This is exciting. It’s his first time racing. We’re going to continue our sponsorship as long as we can,” Bernier said.

It was, ahem, a whopper of a day for McCormick.

Walker has more experience than McCormick. It was the 12-year-old’s second year in the derby and she finished seventh last year. She plans to move up to the master’s division in 2002. But even with the luxury of a year’s experience, the seventh-grader at Caravel Middle School didn’t take the derby all that seriously.

“I practiced only once before the final inspection. I felt like if I practiced more I’d be bound and determined to win. So I did it just for fun,” she said.

Walker edged Amy Gellerson of Blue Hill for the super stock title. Zachary Growe of Hampden placed third, Travis Estes of Hermon was fourth, Stephanie Palmer of Bangor finished fifth and she was followed by Michael Armstrong of Hermon, Alayna Farley of Brewer and Eddington’s Ryan Millett who finished eighth.

Walker said the conditions made for a difficult day of racing.

“It was raining and that made a big difference. It was harder to steer and hard to get down in the car and back to the place [in the car] you wanted to be in,” she said. “But it was fun.”

Walker wasn’t the only one at the derby to have fun. Many of the 121 drivers and their parents and family members know each other from previous years’ races and, like the Bangor Auditorium at tournament time, there was a bit of old home week to the event.

The derby also provided a day for grownups to learn a little from youngsters.

There was the sight of a racer putting his arm around a competitor’s shoulders at the finish line after their race.

“Don’t worry. You’ll probably beat me in the next race,” he said.

And then there was Jacob Cross, age 9 of Brewer, who really hadn’t sorted out the competition aspect of the deal.

Cross had returned to the pit area just behind the starting ramp after his third-round race. He was looking for his father, Andrew Cross. Jacob was wearing a medal on a ribbon hanging around his neck. The medal was a sign that his derby day was done. Once eliminated from the competition drivers were given the medal as a memento. He didn’t seem all that bothered about it.

“I had a good time. I guess I did OK,” he said.

And after a pause, maybe to sort out his thoughts.

“I’m just not sure how I’m supposed to feel about beating my friends,” he said, his voice barely audible.

And there was Katie Chambers of Brewer, last year’s stock division champion. Talking with her mother near the finish line. She had moved to the super stock division for this year’s derby and after the first round she was wearing a medal.

Disappointed? Not really. And no excuses either. The car wasn’t the difference. It wasn’t because it was a new division. It wasn’t any of those things.

“It was fun,” she said.