05-19-2024 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 33
Avery Hebert drives the Bel Air Lions Club car in one of the races in the soap box-style derby on Main Street in October. PHOTO BY BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR
“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.”
— Amy Biondi, Bel Air Lions Club
old nephews took turns racing in October,
said Miller, who lives in Forest Hill. Their car
— wrapped with the Crabby Axe Throwing
logo and the kids’ drawings, and paired with
a helmet that has a toy axe sticking daringly
out of the top — won a trophy for being the
“coolest car” in town.
“We had a blast,” said Miller, 51, whose
business is sponsoring this year’s Winners
Circle.
Last year, she said the young drivers practiced
going down hills in the car leading up to the
derby and built it with help from Miller’s own
adult sons. They’ll practice again this year,
though Miller said the coach’s nephews will
likely split up their duties so that one is the
driver and the other acts as the pit crew.
Bryan Sutton, the owner of Deer Creek
Exteriors, the title sponsor of this year’s and
last year’s derby, spent a few days assembling
and readying his car last year with help from
his son, Wyatt, and an employee.
Wyatt, now 15, was too tall to fit in the car,
Sutton said. Instead, his Taekwondo instructor’s
son raced, and will again this year.
“We wanted to win, but it was just a good
time,” said Sutton, 50, noting with a laugh
that his car placed in the bottom the first time
around. “It’s a nice afternoon. It’s something
different. … It brings everybody together.”
Meyer, whose restaurant is this year’s Finish
Line Sponsor, also had to find someone other
than his children — who are too young to
participate — to race his car in the derby. A
kid in his Bel Air neighborhood named James
stepped up.
“At the bus stop one morning I just said,
‘Who wants to ride in the car?’” Meyer recalled.
“The next couple weeks, they’d all take turns
sitting in it to see if they fit.”
He compared sitting in the car to sitting in a
kayak, and didn’t know yet in April who would
be driving his car this time around.
“I need to find someone little that can kind
of disappear” inside the car, he said.
Meyer, who is the president of the Bel Air
Downtown Alliance board of directors, said he
joined the Bel Air Lions Club to help promote
the derby.
Last year’s road closure for the derby
extended beyond where the race took place,
leaving some businesses with no activity in
front of them, he said.
This year, organizers anticipate a bigger
turnout. We Rock the Spectrum Kid’s Gym
will be on site with a bus full of activities to
keep young children busy, Biondi said, and a
Harford County company called STEAM Quest
Kits will offer science and math activities. There
will also be Taekwondo demonstrations and a
chance for attendees to leave their mark on a
large community painting project by Bel Air
High School.
“We’re always looking for ways to create new
events that will bring folks to the town,” said
Hopkins, who remembers watching the derby
races of the 60s and would like to see the new
races become an annual tradition.
“I want my children and grandchildren, and
hopefully great-grandchildren, to see how much
fun I had as a kid.”
As for the newest crop of young derby racers,
Harkins’ advice is simple: “Keep your head
down and go straight. That’s about it.”s
harfordmagazine.com | Summer 2024 |
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