Soapbox derby

BREWER – The soapbox derby will come to Brewer on Saturday, June 19, and registration is now in progress until April 30. More than 100 youth are expected to compete in gravity-powered racers for a chance to represent Brewer at the 67th All-American Soap Box Derby Championship at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio, on July 31.

The three place-winners in each age group and division earn college scholarships. Local sponsors are Quirk Chevrolet, Peoples Bank and Maine Air National Guard.

The Brewer race is one of 150 local races held in the United State and overseas. Participants compete in one of three divisions: stock, super stock and masters.

Drivers in both the stock and super stock divisions are 8 to 17 years old. Stock is mainly for beginners who build simplified cars from kits. Super stock racers build larger model cars made from larger kits and shells.

Masters competitors build a more sophisticated car from scratch or a kit, and are between the ages of 10 and 17. In competition, a derby car may reach speeds of 30 miles per hour, depending on the angle of the ramp or hill.

Boys and girls may enter a local soapbox derby race by building a car from a kit purchased from the All-American Soap Box Derby and passing a pre-race safety and construction inspection.

Each kit can be assembled in as little as three hours with a parent or another adult and may be purchased by calling the All-American Soap Box Derby at (330) 733-8723, or through its Web site at www.aasbd.com. The kit includes a fiberglass body shell, wooden floorboard and assorted hardware.

Eastern Maine Soap Box Derby is now in its ninth year of holding the local race for the Bangor and Brewer area, which includes Penobscot, Hancock, Piscataquis, Washington, and Somerset counties.

This year’s race will have all three divisions, with the Masters division new for Brewer.

“It is car racing at its purest level,” said Tony DeLuca, executive director for All-American Soap Box Derby. “The Soap Box Derby strives to instill important values in children through basic construction skills and a fun and spirited activity. Besides, where else can a nine-year-old drive a car down State Street in Brewer and not get pulled over?”

Those interested may register at the Brewer Auditorium, call 989-5199, or call David Vroom at 945-3982 for more information. Visit the Web site at www.mainesoapboxderby.org.

WABI tournament reporters

BANGOR – Sports reporters Wayne Harvey and Nate Long have joined Tim Throckmorton and Keith Erickson as part of WABI-TV5’s sports reporting team. Harvey and Long will provide additional coverage of high school basketball tournaments.

TV5 News Director Jim Morris said that expanded tournament coverage is a logical addition to the station’s news programs.

“Tournament basketball is more than just the biggest local story of the year in sports,” Morris said. “It’s an important part of our local heritage that happens to involve sports.”