North Wayne Soap Box Derby Welcomes Racer from Below the Pike

This is the 12th year of the North Wayne Protective Association's Annual Soap Box Derby, held every Father's Day on Chestnut Lane in North Wayne.

Every year, neighborhood kids race their soapbox cars, which they (or their parents) have painstakingly built from a kit and painted, down the street. They are allowed three runs; their best time is taken. And first-, second- and third-place winners are awarded with trophies. There is also an award for the "nicest" or best-decorated car, said Eric Janson, who helped restart this tradition 12 years ago.

When he grew up on the corner of Eagle Road and Chestnut Lane, the derby was held every Fourth of July. But sometime during the 1970s it died out, he said. So, now living around the corner, Janson brought it back to life in 2002.

This year, for the first time, a South Wayne resident is joining in on the fun. Bennett Twitmyer, 10, used birthday money to buy a soapbox car kit and was invited by Janson to participate. Twitmyer told Radnor Patch that he saw media coverage of last year's event and was intent on trying it himself.

Before the race, he said his objective was to just get down the track. "I'd love to win though," Twitmyer said.

But this year, the winners were:

• 1st: Brendan Herrin
• 2nd: Wells Larson
• 3rd: John Janson
• Nicest car: Nathan McCreary