{"id":23174,"date":"2025-04-25T15:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T19:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/?p=23174"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:45:17","slug":"abingdon-soap-box-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/blog\/abingdon-soap-box-derby\/","title":{"rendered":"Abingdon Soap Box Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Abingdon Soap Box Derby 2025
<\/a><\/h2>\n\n

August 30, 2025
12:00 PM \u2013 4:00 PM
Main Street, from Partington Place to Pecan Street<\/p>\n\n

The Abingdon Soap Box Derby Challenge invites a wide range of participants, including local businesses, individuals, and educational groups, to showcase their creativity, engineering skills, and community spirit by building and racing their own soap box cars.<\/p>\n\n

Event Highlights<\/h5>\n\n

The derby will feature three race categories:
\u2022 Big Wheel Race: Open to ages 3-7, free registration required.
\u2022 Youth Division: Ages 8-15
\u2022 Grand Prix: Ages 16+ with a valid driver’s license<\/p>\n\n

The competition will focus on creativity, speed, and finish line celebrations. Special awards include “Most Creative Design,” “Best Finish Line Celebration,” and “Fastest Car.” The First Place Overall Team will receive a trophy and a $500 Food City gift card, with additional category recognitions.<\/p>\n\n

Entry Fees (Includes teams of 4)<\/h5>\n\n

\u2022 Big Wheel Race: Free (registration required)
\u2022 Youth Division (8-15): Free (registration required)
\u2022 Grand Prix (16+ with valid driver’s license): Free (registration required)<\/p>\n\n

Safety Requirements and Rules<\/h5>\n\n

The Safety Inspector has sole discretion for vehicle approval and may disqualify any unsafe vehicle at any time.<\/p>\n\n

Car Design Rules<\/h5>\n\n

\u2022 Minimum of three wheels in contact with the track
\u2022 Powered solely by gravity (no propulsion, kinetics, or wind)
\u2022 Functional brakes (no use of feet\/hands, no intentional hay
bale collisions)
\u2022 No cost limit for cars
\u2022 Must be sturdy enough for practice and race runs
\u2022 Must have reasonable steering demonstrated during
inspection
\u2022 No trailers; one continuous structure
\u2022 Max width: 7 feet, max height: 7 feet
\u2022 Max weight: 400 lbs (excluding driver)
\u2022 Dashboard must be padded (e.g., foam pool noodle)
\u2022 No unsecured objects inside the vehicle
\u2022 No unsealed batteries (lead-acid discouraged but allowed if
sealed and secured)
\u2022 No parts extending past wheels if over 42\u201d off the ground
\u2022 No head-down driver positioning<\/p>\n\n

Safety Rules<\/h5>\n\n

\u2022 Full-face helmet OR helmet with separate goggles, secured
by a strap
\u2022 Required safety gear: knee pads, elbow pads, gloves
\u2022 All team members must sign a liability waiver
\u2022 No alcohol consumption before or during the event (team
disqualification if suspected)
\u2022 Each team must have its own safety gear; sharing is not
permitted<\/p>\n\n

Race Rules<\/h5>\n\n

\u2022 Teams consist of up to 4 people
\u2022 One driver per car; one practice run and one timed run
\u2022 No pyrotechnics or fire allowed<\/p>\n\n

General Rules<\/h5>\n\n

\u2022 Drivers must be 16+ with a valid license or 18+
\u2022 Build team members may be of any age
\u2022 Teams must keep the area clean
\u2022 Winners judged on \u201cCreativity & Design\u201d, \u201cFinish Line
Celebration Performance\u201d and “Fastest Time”
\u2022 Disrespecting event volunteers will result in disqualification without refund<\/p>\n\n

Event Schedule (Draft)<\/h5>\n\n


Saturday (August 30, 2025):
\u2022 10:00 am \u2013 Registration, Pre Race Inspections, and Trial Run
\u2022 12:00 PM \u2013 1:00 PM: Youth Division
\u2022 1:00 PM \u2013 3:30 PM: Grand Prix
\u2022 Winner Announcements to follow
\u2022 Throughout the day: vendors and food trucks at Sinking Spring Parking Lot<\/p>\n\n

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Derby Registration<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abingdon Soap Box Derby 2025 August 30, 202512:00 PM \u2013 4:00 PMMain Street, from Partington Place to Pecan Street The Abingdon Soap Box Derby Challenge invites a wide range of participants, including local businesses, individuals, and educational groups, to showcase their creativity, engineering skills, and community spirit by building and racing their own soap box […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-and-itineraries","category-events-and-festivals"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitabingdonvirginia.com\/stagingprop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}