BANGOR – The rainwater wasn’t the only thing running down Buck Street Saturday.

From 9 a.m. until just before 8 p.m., wave after wave of Soap Box Derby cars raced the water, which at times almost seemed to be winning, down the 1,000-foot course set up for the 11th annual Eastern Maine Soap Box Derby.

Continuous rainfall, which ranged from a steady drizzle to a solid shower all day long, failed to wash out the event, which drew 65 racers on a gray, overcast day.

“Our biggest concern on a day like today is making sure the kids can stop on the wet pavement,” said Hartley Webb, Eastern Maine Soap Box Derby president. “Other than that, everything runs, rain or shine. As a matter of fact, this is the seventh year out of 11 we’ve raced in this kind of weather. We’re pretty accustomed to it.”

Apparently, Webb’s daughter Mandi is too.

Already a four-year Soap Box Derby veteran, the 12-year-old from Dedham won her third title in the last four years.

“I don’t know why I do so well, but I think rain helps me,” Mandi Webb said when asked for her secret. “Whenever it’s raining out, I always win.”

This is Webb’s third different title as well. She won stock in 2003, masters in 2004, and now super stock. Her only non-winning year was last year, when it was 90 degrees and sunny.

Webb isn’t the only racer to fare well in foul weather as Sarah Bullock, a high junior who moved to Newburgh and transferred from Islesboro to Hampden Academy last year, won the masters division.

“I actually find rain lucky because I’ve always done well in it, but I don’t know why,” said Bullock, who won a stock division crown in Camden.

The 17-year-old has seven years of Derby racing to her credit, but this year’s race was challenging because it was her first in Bangor on an unfamiliar track.

“I just tried to keep it as straight as possible and steer as little as possible,” she said. “I tried to get outside and avoid the seam in the road. The hardest part was keeping your car dry and braking at the end.”

Derby racing was the last thing on her mind when her father Jack approached her with the idea 10 years ago. Now both her brothers, both sisters, and Sarah are racers.

“My dad always wanted to do this since he was a kid but he never got a chance and he wanted me to try, but I said no at first,” she recalled. “Then my little brother Josh was all into racing, and I couldn’t let him not have any competition so I got into it too.

“Sometimes I think my dad’s more into it than I am, which is hard because I love Derby.”

Stock champion Holly Legere of Bangor finished second in the class last year, her first in racing. She said the weather made racing more difficult this year.

“It was kind of slippery on the track, so you swerved a little more and we had to take a lot of weight out of the car because the wetness added weight,” explained Legere, who also won the sportsmanship award for her class. “I only had to change my clothes once, but the hardest part was staying warm. I was freezing, but I couldn’t wear my sweatshirt because of the added weight.”

Hartley Webb said although the rain didn’t affect track safety or slow things down on the track (the top speed for Soap Box cars on the track is approximately 30 miles per hour), it did slow things down off the track as making weight became more challenging.

“The racers and the cars have to weigh within an ounce of specifications and with everything absorbing water, they were taking weight out of their car almost every time back because they’re getting wetter and wetter as the day goes on,” he explained. “Some kids here actually started removing clothing, taking socks, sneakers and shirts off, or switching wet clothes for dry.

“Sometimes just switching dry sneakers for the ones that are waterlogged shed two or three pounds.”

The only track mishap occurred when the braking cable on one girl’s car broke, preventing her from stopping at the finish and causing her to collide with cones and tires.

“I don’t think that’s ever happened,” said Webb. “She was fine, but her car was pretty beat up. We finally got it back together, but other than that we haven’t had any problems.”

All three division champions earned spots at the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio on July 22. This year’s runners-up are first-time racer Clay Forrest of Hampden (stock), 2005 stock champ Zac Bullock of Newburgh (super stock) and Michael Robinson of Warren (masters).

The top eight finishers in each class are listed below.

AT BANGOR

11th Eastern Maine Derby

Masters Division

1. Sarah Bullock (Newburgh), 2. Michael Robinson (Warren), 3. Devin Secord (Bangor), 4. Josh Bullock (Newburgh), 5. Jeremy Vroom (Bangor), 6. Angela Patterson (Brewer), 7. Darren Lewis (Milo), 8. Jessica Brawn (Woolwich)

Super Stock

1. Mandi Webb (Dedham), 2. Zac Bullock (Newburgh), 3. R.T. Higgins (Milford), 4. Jacob Randall (Eastport), 5. Sarah Stanley (Ellsworth), 6. Jonathan Stanhope (Bangor), 7. Megan Crane (Exeter), 8. Brandyn Tozier (Bangor)

Stock

1. Holly Legere (Bangor), 2. Clay Forrest (Hampden), 3. Brent Chaffee (Bucksport), 4. Chris Chaffee (Bucksport), 5. Jacob Tanner (Newburgh), 6. Logan Tozier (Bangor), 7. Rachael Graves (Brewer), 8. Mary Bullock (Newburgh)