From Mercury News
Posted: 06/21/2011 03:40:44 PM PDT
Updated: 06/22/2011 09:27:01 AM PDT
Scrunched into her narrow fiberglass race car, her eyes just visible through her goggles and helmet, 14-year-old Veronica Harris of Campbell is ready to race the wind -- or with the wind.
So is her 8-year-old sister, Jessica, in a slightly smaller car.
The Harris sisters are part of the new face of gravity-fueled soap box derby racing, as more girls flock to the "All-American" sport that dates to 1934. Girls weren't allowed to enter the races until 1972, but they've been making up for lost time.
In the Silicon Valley Soap Box Derby -- and increasingly across the country -- 70 to 75 percent of the racers are girls. They love the speed, they love meeting so many young people from other places and they love going head-to-head with boys in races.
The boys are pretty keen on girls racing, too.
"Are you kidding?" Veronica asked. "The boys adore having all these girls doing something they like to do."
Both Veronica and Jessica have qualified to compete for the title of world champion at the 74th All-American Soap Box Derby on July 23 in Akron, Ohio.
Jessica just started racing in the soap box rally circuit in February, but she already has amassed half a shelf of trophies on a large bookcase that is dominated by dozens of trophies won by her older sister.
"I like the wind in your face and the confidence you get from the parents helping," said Jessica, who is dubbed "the speed demon" of the family by her mom.
Is a world championship in hr future.... read more
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