Lorne Doerkson, sales manager and partner at Cariboo GM, is inviting everyone in the community out to the first ever Williams Lake Soap Box Derby.
“The course is going to go from the top of the hill by Cariboo GM on Fourth Avenue,” Doerkson said, adding the event will be held June 22 at 6 p.m. “There’s going to be some great head’s up racing.”
The event is being held as a fundraiser for Kids Running for Kids, who are raising money for BC Children’s Hospital, and plan to deliver that money after running, relay-style for the distance it takes to get from Williams Lake to Vancouver this summer.
There will also be a barbecue at the derby, with all of the proceeds going to KRFK.
Adults and kids are invited to build their own soap boxes to enter in the races.
“People can enter however they want, as teams or individuals,” Doerkson said, noting sign up will be done the night of the races. “We’ll probably have three classes and we’ll make the classes based on combined weight between the car and driver.”
Building a soap box is simple enough, he said, and noted kits are available in town or online.
“There’s lots available in town to build these,” he said. “The deal with the soap boxes is it has to have brakes, and the driver will have to have a helmet on.”
Doerkson said there should be some interesting cars entered in the races; however, the cars can be as simple as some wheels attached to a piece of plywood.
“There are some units that sound like they’re going to be a bit fancier,” he said. “The car club is building one and it’s going to be something else. Leo Nieuwland from our shop has got an aluminum hood on his and it sounds like it’s headed for the spray booth soon.
“But, if people aren’t able to make their own we’ll have a couple carts for them here. They can come down and sign up and race. We just want to have some fun. With the Laker’s Car Club coming down with all their hot rods it should be really good and it’s a bit unique.
“This is to celebrate hot rods and summer.”