BREWER – Outdoor soapbox derby subculture is composed of a driven, devoted sort. Those who race indoors in the winter are even more fanatical.

At Maine’s first indoor soapbox derby rally this weekend at the former Pepsi building in Brewer, drivers waited for hours to race down an old warehouse floor at a sluggish pace. They not only came from around Maine, but also from as far away as Connecticut and Ohio for just the second indoor rally in the nation. The sport’s other indoor rally was held in Rochester, N.Y., last month.

Garrett Brown and his father, Mike, drove 15 hours nonstop from Atwater, Ohio, for the Brewer event. They came because 13-year-old Garrett won in Rochester.

Yet, Brown got into the sport three years ago on a whim after someone involved in the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, told him he would win a PlayStation if he qualified for the national event. So he entered the local race and made it.

“Then he didn’t get the PlayStation. That doesn’t matter,” Mike Brown said. “We’ve had luck [at events] on the road. We thought we’d take a chance coming here.”

Saturday, Garrett Brown won his two races in Brewer on the two-track course, which was about 180 feet long, according to Ryan Welch, race director.

Welch said that the soapbox rally in Brewer even took place this weekend involved a bit of luck.

The Eastern Maine Soap Box Derby board of directors decided a month ago to try to hold an event comparable to Rochester’s, Welch said. They learned they could use the old Pepsi building in the last few weeks. Drivers around New England and the nation got word and came to the warehouse for a weekend of races despite the short notice.

While two connected rooms provided enough space for the track, a separate room offered a place for drivers to perch their cars on sawhorses, relax in lawn chairs between races, or, as some were doing, watching the Daytona 500 on portable TVs.

What distinguished the indoor rally from the outdoor races was the speed involved. On steep outdoor hills the cars get up to speeds of 40 mph. Down a short wooden ramp in Brewer, the cars managed just 5 to 7 mph.

Still, the indoor rally drew dozens of youths age 16 and under.

In the wintertime, most drivers put their cars away. But those who gathered at the old Pepsi building this weekend were chasing points to qualify for the All-American championship in July or practicing for the outdoor season, when the state championships allow drivers another way to qualify for the All-American derby. They can either win the state championship or accrue the most points in their division in their state.

To the young drivers, it’s the points, not the speed, that matters in the end.

“It’s quite a bit faster outside. Here, you just want to go straight,” said Katie Chambers of Brewer, one of the rally’s most decorated racers, who placed ninth at the All-American Soap Box Derby two years ago.

“For myself, it’s just really fun. I’m just getting ready” for the qualifying race in July.

The hope of making a trip to Akron for the 65th running of the All-American Soap Box Derby seemed to inspire almost everyone.

For some who have made it before, the step up to a new division that is required after winning a local championship meant starting from scratch. They had to build a new car and find the right formula for making it go faster.

“I may go back down to stock,” said Krystal Baker of Brewer, a Maine stock champion in 1998 and a super stock champion in 2000 who hasn’t yet found her rhythm in the masters’ division.

This weekend, the range in experience and sponsorship ran the gamut among the dozens of drivers who competed.

There were even some who planned to use their soap box derby experience as a stepping stone to greater things.

Jenny Rodway of Columbus, Ohio, said her family has a friend who designs bobsleds who told her it’s a sport she should consider. Rodway, who is tied for second in the nation in the stock division, said moving on to the Olympic sport would be a natural progression.

“We’ll wait till she ends soap box racing, when she’s 17. Then, if she’s serious, we’ll send her to bobsled school,” said Jim Rodway, who drove his daughter 13 hours to race in Brewer.

Rodway has the kind of competitive nature needed, as evidenced by the stickers on her car that have slogans like, “I win, you lose,” and “Momentum is everything.”

“The skull-and-crossbones are for every time I win,” she said of the little black-and-white stickers.