05-19-2024 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 32
A clipping from the July 7, 1966 edition of The Aegis. Larry Hawkins won the Derby in Bel Air. ARCHIVE PHOTO
you’re just sort of sitting up, steering the car
and looking around,” said Harkins, now 70
and living in Street. As the heats became more
competitive, racers hunched down to make
themselves more aerodynamic.
Back when he competed, Harkins said it was
a boys-only sport. He spent 200 hours building
his own wooden car and was awarded a $500
savings bond — plus a chance to compete in
the national derby held in Akron, Ohio, The
Aegis reported.
Harkins was eliminated in his first heat in
Ohio, a race that The Aegis reported brought
together 250 boys from across the country and
abroad. But he still remembers a police escort
welcoming him and his parents to town, after
which “two cheerleaders come up and kiss you
on the cheek.”
He’s held onto the trophy given to him in
Bel Air, and last year served as the honorary
starter for the first race of the day.
“The nostalgia of it takes you back to more
of a small town America, a place where all of
your neighbors and community get together to
do stuff on a weekend day and you all kinda
know each other,” Biondi, 41, said. “It’s a way
for an older generation to really start plugging
in with a newer generation. … To me it’s way
more than Soap Box.”
Ten cars sponsored by local businesses,
organizations and individuals raced down
Main Street in late October for last year’s derby.
Har-co Credit Union emerged as the winner,
taking home a plaque and a trophy for the
32
| Summer 2024 | harfordmagazine.com
Larry Harkins, left, winner of the 1966 Bel Air Soap Box Derby, is congratulated by Bel Air Mayor Kevin
Bianca on Oct. 22, 2023. PHOTO BY BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR
driver. Guzewich said the top speed was 18
miles per hour.
The wheels and kits to assemble the official
Soap Box Derby cars, the shells of which
Guzewich said are now made of fiberglass,
cost $1,000 per car. They can be steered only
minimally — there’s a butterfly-shaped steering
wheel that can be turned ever so slightly — and
have brakes but no engines.
“These are not your grandmother’s, your
grandpa’s cars anymore,” he said.
In June, 20 cars will face off on the gentle
slope of Main Street from Office Street to Lee
Street, competing two at a time in a doubleelimination bracket, with an additional
consolation bracket. Kids must be ages 9 to
14 to participate, Guzewich said, and the total
weight of the car and the driver can’t exceed
200 pounds.
“The more you practice, the better you
are,” said Tricia Miller, who owns Crabby
Axe Throwing in Bel Air and bought a car to
participate in last year’s derby.
A Crabby Axe Throwing coach’s two 9-year-
