America's Counter Kid Culture

A shot from last year's race... This year's pics are on their way from our own in-house photobrat. This amazing photo courtesy: Kevin High Photography

Yesterday morning found me and one of our 4 girls watching our Small Town USA soapbox derby, an event that completely blew me away at not only the number of kids and parent teams involved but their investments into the sport. I had thought soapbox cars and races were a thing of the past with the rise of video games, computers, cable television and related technological diversions for kids.

Not so! And what a wonderful realization that was. What I had expected to be an hour or so visit turned out to be nearly a full day watching the events, including heading home to eat and bringing back the rest of the kids to watch. I had penciled in some work for myself researching and outlining the benefits of www.consonus.com for my parents' new business model.

Instead, I'm thrilled to report, 7 yr old L who originally went with me in the morning just to visit with her friend (whose brother was racing & who ended the day with a trophy of his own!) ended her day pricing soapbox car kits for daddy on the computer and drawing pictures of what that car will look like when she gets it. Yes, daddy and daughter are going to see how they can get in on the fun for next year. And when fun becomes fierce, in the way of competition - they may even have a chance to travel to Ohio to race against the top kids in the sport.