MOUNT VERNON — Before this weekend, 10-year-old Graham Oliver had never raced in a soap box derby.

By Sunday afternoon, the Burlington fifth-grader had earned himself a place in the finals of the Washington Alder Soap Box Derby, facing returning champ Ariel Gear for the super stock division title.

After the first of at least two final heats, Graham was ready to start the second race, knowing that to extend the racing, he had to beat Ariel by a thousandth of a second.

Before the second heat, starter Jim Lippert roared over the crowd’s chatter: “Lane 1 are you ready?”

“Yes!” Graham replied.

“Lane 2 are you ready?” Lippert asked.

“Yeah!” shouted Ariel from her car.

After a 3, 2, 1 countdown, Lippert pushed forward the bar that released the gravity driven soap box cars.

The two cars zipped down the 900-foot track on the Second Street viaduct, traveling close to 30 mph.

The finish was close, and the crowd hushed to hear the results over the speakers.

“A difference of .106,” the race announcer’s voice rang out. “Ariel takes first.”

For someone who had only competed in about six heats, earning second place appeared to feel pretty good to Graham. The boy grinned and explained his strategy.

“Just luck,” Graham said. “It was the first time for me.”

It was a little more than luck. Like a lot of the 27 competitors at the derby this weekend, Graham listened to his parents’ advice about the race course.
Graham’s father, Ken Oliver, who had entered a drawing and won his son the chance to race a soap box car, said that he read the track like he once read a golf course putting green. He passed on what he saw to Graham.

“I just told him to take a sharp turn in lane No. 1 to utilize the full hill affect and in lane 2, to just hug the center cones all the way down,” Oliver said.
Figuring out where the course is steepest is an important part of a winning soap box strategy.

Winner Ariel, 14, of Mount Vernon, said that consistency and teamwork helped her win the race.

“It’s like a partnership between me and my dad,” said Ariel of her second first-place win at the Alder derby. “He tells me what to run and I run it.”
Ariel wasn’t the only one in the Gear family to go home with a first-place trophy. Her sister Paige Gear, 12, took first place in the stock division.
“Good job Paige, I’m so proud of you,” Ariel told her sister as she hugged her. 

The sisters, who had already qualified by winning enough points at rally races, will head to Ohio in July for the All-American Soap Box Derby World Championships.

Sunday was Paige’s third time competing at the Alder derby. Last year she took second place.

“I think that I worked really hard. I finally did it,” Paige said. “I think the Mount Vernon track is one of the hardest. It’s a street track and it kind of whips you around.”

Paige’s friend and competition for first place, Sky Murphy, said he’ll enjoy taking home second-place. The 10-year-old Mount Vernon boy also competed last year against Paige.

“I’m happy for them, and I’m excited I got a trophy,” Sky said.