Two Remington farm girls rev up for Saturday’s Culpeper Soap Box Derby
By Peter Brewington
Thanks a lot, dad.
Nicky Whiteside said one of the scariest moments in her soap box racing career came when a member of her pit crew – who she knows very well – “lined me up crooked” in the starting ramp.
“I hit a a couple of cones,” said Whiteside, whose first Culpeper Soap Box Derby experience has become a laughingly memorable family fable thanks in part to the efforts of Whiteside's dad Ronnie, then a rookie pit crew boss.
Like many area families, Whiteside and dad got bitten by the soapbox bug that first year in 2003, and have returned every year since. Now 15, the Remington resident graduated to the super stock class last year and is back again Saturday seeking fun and glory in Culpeper's traditional clash of gravity-powered vehicles.
Meanwhile, three other Fauquier County residents will get their first soapy taste of life on Culpeper's paved streets Saturday.
One of them, Sydney Floyd, eight, of Remington, is thrilled about making her debut driving her engine-less vehicle over 30 miles-an-hour down the 650-foot course.
“She’s very ready,” said her dad Jamie.
Sydney won a church lottery to get into the derby, allowing her to pilot a car owned by Mountain View Community Church and Triple Image, an embroidery and scree-printing business in Culpeper.
Along with use of nice car worth between $550 came guidance from a local soap box derby expert names Fontaine Halsey.
Halsey is regarded as kind of a Michelangelo of soap box car constructors, and has helped the Floyds individualize the car for Sydney. “He can create a dynamite car. He’s like the Hendrick Racing Team of soap box derby,” said Jamie Floyd.
But don’t think Sydney Floyd is some cute little girl who could care less about motor sports.
Sydney has been actively involved in the car's mechanical recalibration. “It's been a real education for my little girl,” Floyd said.
“She can flat-out drive,” continued her father. “She’s been riding four-wheelers, three-wheelers ever since she was old enough to reach the pedals.”
Sydney “didn't lose a race,” sad her dad at a recent soapbox derby practice session.
Two girls from Remington
It’s interesting that Remington has two entries in the derby and both are girls...
See the Friday print issue of the Fauquier Times-Democrat Weekend Edition for the complete story.