SOAP BOX DERBY RACERS VOW TO WIN NEXT YEAR.Byline: Ryan Ryan may refer to: Places
American jazz musician and composer who had a great influence on the style of Louis Armstrong. His Creole Jazz Band was the first Black group to make jazz recordings. Staff Writer A pair of brother and sister soap box racers from Van Nuys vowed to do better next year after failing to win the 65th annual All-American Soap Box Derby The Soap Box Derby also called coaster car race[1] is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run nationally since 1934. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. in Akron, Ohio Akron is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County.GR6 The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south, approximately 60 miles (96 km) west of , on Saturday. But both Toni Bertolino, 12, and Anthony Bertolino III, 11, said they enjoyed the chance to race in the country's oldest and most prestigious national soap box derby. ``I think this whole trip was a success,'' said the children's father, Anthony Bertolino II. ``At the beginning of the year, our goal was to get one kid to Akron, Ohio, to race in the nationals. It turns out we got both kids.'' A third Valley youth, 14-year-old Eric Fenzke of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , also competed in the derby, but like Anthony, he was eliminated from the competition after losing in the first heat. ``I hoped I would do better,'' the youngster Anthony said in a phone interview. ``But I'm not mad.'' Toni, however, did one better than the boys and won her first heat before losing in the second. ``I swerved a little bit,'' she said, explaining why she thinks she may have lost the second heat. For the Bertolino family, the victory was a first. Their father said both he and his father had competed in the national soap box derby in their youth but never won their first heat. Just being there was an impressive feat for Toni, considering this was her rookie rookie a novice; often an athlete playing his first season as a member of a professional sports team. [Sports: Misc.] See : Inexperience year soap box racing, he said. Saturday's 400 participants all got there by winning regional competitions. ``But I was pleased to be there,'' Toni said. ``I didn't think I was going to win the local and go to Ohio.'' The children's grandfather, Anthony Bertolino Sr., blamed his grandchildren's showing largely on the soap box car wheels. He said the derby officials hand out the wheels, but that some wheels are faster than others and that can be the difference between the winner and loser (jargon) loser - An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or person. Someone who habitually loses. (Even winners can lose occasionally). Someone who knows not and knows not that he knows not. in tight derby races. Other competitions use double-elimination heats and have racers swap wheels in order to negate ne·gate tr.v. ne·gat·ed, ne·gat·ing, ne·gates 1. To make ineffective or invalid; nullify. 2. To rule out; deny. See Synonyms at deny. 3. the problem of wheel bias, he said. ``It's a wheel race. If you get the good wheels, you win. If you don't, you lose,'' he said. ``But we'll be back next year, and maybe we'll be lucky.'' Eric Fenzke's mother, Roni Fenzke, agreed that the wheels can make the difference in a soap box derby. Unfortunately for her son, because of derby rules, this will be the last year he can compete. ``He had a great time,'' she said. ``He didn't even want to talk to me. He said he's on vacation.'' |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion