THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607110176
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 71 lines
KEVIN BELL CIRCLES the driveway giving instructions to his son Jason.
``Put the wheel on,'' Kevin Bell says on a gloomy but hot Monday afternoon. ``Now put your cotter pin in.''
All the wheels are in place, the cotter pins securing the tires to the axles.
Then, with his dad's assistance, Jason slips on the white shell with all the decals.
Done. Or at least for the moment. Jason still must install his steering and brake materials for his soap box derby car.
The final order of business will be taking the car down Little Creek Amphibious Base for the Virginia Beach Soap Box Derby Saturday morning.
``I never really raced or done anything like this before,'' says Jason, who won his car during a raffle at Pembroke Mall. ``I get a $100 savings bond and a trip to Akron, Ohio, if I win this.''
Akron is the home of the 59th All American Soap Box Derby Race, which takes place next month. The first task for Jason though is being able to handle the 953-foot-7-inch hill at the Amphibious base. He has never competed in a derby; never driven a soap box car; nor has he ever seen a derby in person.
``It's a hill with one purpose in mind,'' Kevin Bell says. ``It was built for the soap box derby.''
Saturday's race will be the first derby in Hampton Roads since 1988.
An annual race used to be held at Mount Trashmore but because of a lack of interest, the derby was discontinued in 1985.
Roger Morneault, who raced as a child, organized this year's event and is hoping to restart a tradition. Right now, he's off to a slow start.
Only a dozen participants, children between the ages of 9-16, have registered.
Kevin Bell, a radiologic technologist at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, never participated in a race but remembers the excitement of the event.
As a child, Kevin Bell and his dad assisted in the making of his brother's car. When Bell saw a TV commercial for the race last month, he registered his son for the raffle.
``It's probably one of the best things you can do with a child,'' Kevin Bell says, ``giving them a sense of accomplishment. When I was a child, I never forgot that.''
And when the Bell family was contacted last week of Jason's winning a $350 kit, Kevin Bell was ready to relive a part of his childhood.
``It was nice to give my oldest boy the opportunity to compete in this,'' says Kevin Bell, whose son Ryan will not be able to compete this year. ``If he had not won this kit, there's no way he would have been able to compete this year.''
While dad gives the instructions, Jason screws and installs the pieces. However, the car is not the only thing Jason has had to make adjustments to for the race.
Drivers and the cars have a weigh-in limit of 200 pounds. The car's weight is supposed to be 70 pounds while the child can weigh-in at 125. Solid metals or painted lead weights can be added to the car to make up the remaining five pounds.
When Jason was contacted about his winning the kit, he weighed 133.
He has since lost eight pounds by not eating red meat and reducing his fat intake. But this diet will only last until race day.
``I miss pizza,'' says Jason, a rising ninth-grader at Granby High. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Jason Bell works to put his soap box derby car together for the big
event on Saturday. The race will be the first derby in Hampton Roads
since 1988.
Jason secures a wheel on his car. He built the racer from a $350 kit
that he won. by CNB