HOULTON – Female drivers may still be the exception to the rule on the NASCAR and Formula One tours, but when it came to Saturday’s Northern Maine Soap Box Derby racing, they pretty much ruled.

Justine Sloat of Hodgdon and Alisha Ledger of Linneus literally cruised to their first super stock and stock championships, respectively, at the 10th annual Derby, the largest in Maine on a sunny and searingly hot day at Houlton’s Community Park and Derby Hill.

Both won not only all of their races, but also each one of their heats in the two-heats-per-race, double-elimination event going into the championship finals.

“I had an idea, but it felt really good when they told me,” said Sloat, who beat second-place finisher Jeffrey Holmes of Houlton by nine-thousandths of a second after she won the first heat by .020 seconds and he finally snapped her unbeaten heat streak at 11 by winning the second by .011.

The larger margin of victory in the heat times determines the winner if each racer wins a heat.

Stock runner-up Makala Folsom of Houlton managed to win the first heat of the championship final by one-tenth of a second before Ledger won the second by .155 seconds.

Both champions get expenses-paid trips to Akron, Ohio, to compete in the National Soap Box Derby finals July 30.

The 16-year-old Sloat isn’t the first female to win a Derby race, in Houlton or other regional locations in the state. Heck, she isn’t even the first female member of her family to win. Younger sister Chelsea, who finished fifth in the super stock class Saturday, won the stock title in 2002 and finished fifth at the National Soap Box Derby finals.

Ironically, the two faced off Saturday in their third race and big sis won bragging rights by sending Chelsea into the losers’ bracket.

If younger brother Matt, who went 1-2 with losses against Ledger and fourth-place finisher Doug Dickison, can follow in his big sisters’ sizeable footsteps, parents Andrew and Patti Sloat may be the heads of the Earnhardt family of Maine Derby racing.

What’s their secret?

“I try to hug the cones and let the car go. You don’t really want to force it to any side. You have to do a lot of stretches to make sure you can get really low in your car,” said Justine Sloat, who also acknowledged that her dad helps his daughters build their cars. “He’s really good at it.”

Justine Sloat and Ledger had something else in common. They both finished as runners-up last year.

“I didn’t even place [top eight] before that, so I was happy,” Ledger said. “Today when I kept winning, I was really excited, but I tried to stay focused and have fun.”

Ledger’s winning strategy involved going to the outside of the lanes to “get a lot more momentum.” She also credited another practice.

“I also try to keep my butt right in the back of the car,” she said.

Folsom, who didn’t place in her two previous Derbies, did the same thing, adding that staying low in the cockpit was another key to keeping wind resistance down. The 11-year-old was so focused, she barely realized she’d lost.

“I didn’t really know I was even in the losers’ bracket,” she said with a laugh.

The road to the title went through the Holmes family for Sloat, who beat Jeff’s cousin Logan – the 2004 stock champion – in the semifinals before edging Jeff.

Although numbers for this year’s Derby – one of the largest in the country with 84 total entrants (48 in stock) – were down from last year (104), it still remains the largest in the state.

“I guess the most difficult thing is getting the numbers back up, especially with them being down this year,” said Anita Tidd, who co-chaired the Derby committee with husband Grady a second straight year. “We don’t want the sport to fade. It’s a fun, family sport and we want it to continue. We’re working on getting more kids racing from up country like Caribou, Fort Kent, and Presque Isle.”

Grady Tidd said as big as the event is, it is also one of the best-run, for one big reason.

“The volunteer support we get is incredible and the same people come out year after year. We don’t even have to ask,” he explained.

Many, like Mary Harbison, have been involved for the duration of the race. Harbison has been posting race results on a big bracket board near the finish line for 10 years.

Just about everyone, from the Tidds to the volunteers getting cars up Derby Hill and setting them up in the blocks (former racers Luke Brabant, Ryan Aucoin, Aaron Cyr, and Levi Cyr) to the people switching wheels on cars is a veteran volunteer and/or participant.

Soap Box Derby

LOCAL

At Community Park, Houlton

10th annual Northern Maine Derby

Top finishers

Super Stock

1. Justine Sloat, 2. Jeff Holmes, 3. Logan Holmes, 4. Taylor Bailey, 5. Chelsea Sloat, 6. Franki White, 7. Derek Smith, 8. Dustin Potter

Stock

1. Alisha Ledger, 2. Makala Folsom, 3. Brooke Smith, 4. Doug Dickison, 5. Joseph Holmes, 6. Rebekah Holmes, 7. Micah McCarthy, 8. Jeramie Ledger