Become a Racer at Soap Box Derby Camp
Inside every kid is a speed racer, and a camp at Akron’s famous Derby Downs can provide a thrilling raceway experience. Kids ages 8 to 13 can attend the Soap Box Derby STEM summer day camp from June 5 to 9 to zoom down the historic track, which is home to the Soap Box Derby world championships.
The hands-on camp is as educational as it is fun — kids join experienced instructors from local high schools for science, technology, engineering and math activities, and the program is partnered with The University of Akron’s College of Engineering.
The main event is using kits under trained and experienced staffers’ supervision to build life-size derby cars, which don’t have engines or motors and use gravity to accelerate. Rain or shine, campers are split into groups that allow them to make new friends and share the passion of building race cars, learning the science of making them faster and more efficient, all while keeping them in touch with their inner artists by painting the cars. Kids learn about the parts of the car, so you might hear how your child helped to route a steering cable assembly to the Soap Box car’s front axle, put together a brake assembly and attached it to the car — or channeled their inner Dale Earnhardt racing on the track. Like a pit crew, they learn from working with others, including some who have raced before.
“They do work on teamwork and how a team would function in building a Soap Box Derby car,” says Emma Stine, the marketing manager for Soap Box Derby. “They usually are derby regulars who have been in summer camp and participated in the derby.”
Other activities include going to the Soap Box Derby museum and designing, building and racing a mini Soap Box Derby car they can take home. But the highlight is kids get to regularly race down the derby track, and parents are welcome to come and cheer on their mini Danica Patricks or Jeff Gordons.
“They ride the track every day — not all summer camps do that,” says Stine.
100 George Washington Blvd., Akron, soapboxderby.org SD