Local sisters compete at Soap Box Derby races
January 08, 2026
Eric Williams
These days when people hear the word “derby” mentioned in sports, they might think about the home run derby in baseball, a demolition derby with cars deliberately crashing into each other, or even a match between neighboring England soccer clubs which is called a derby. But there’s another classic one that some have forgotten about; the Soap Box Derby.
An official sanctioned event dating back to 1934, the Soap Box Derby is a gravity car race (the cars aren’t powered but simply coast downhill) for ages 7-13 (Stock division), 14-18 (Super Stock) and 18-20 (Masters). Its name originally derived from the use of wooden soap crates in the construction of the racers.
Soap Box Derby races continue to this day, with races held all around the country and the world championship annually held in Akron, Ohio.
Two sisters have been racing for years with the goal of becoming world champions. Adele and Maelyn Canale live in East Otto and are in eighth and sixth grade at Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School. They participate in derby races to qualify for the world championship.
“So there’s two kinds of ways you can get into worlds,” Adele Canale explained. “The first one is by winning your local race. For us, it would be in Jamestown. If you get first place in your local race, then you can go. The second way is by doing rallies. You can go around to different races around the country. Every time you do a rally, depending on what place you get and how long you last you earn points. You have to have 600 points to go to the world championship.”
Maelyn Canale
Both girls have competed locally at Jamestown, and also list Boston, Mass. as one of their favorite places to race. Regular races usually have 20-24 racers competing, with over 300 hundred racers at the world championship. Each tournament has races split into heats, consisting of two to three racers going downhill against each other at a time.
“You start on a ramp, and there’s a metal stand that holds your car in place,” Adele Canale said. “And when they start the race, they drop the stands for both cars at the same exact time. You have to win your heat without going into the other person’s lane. After two heats, the person with the fastest collective time moves on. Tournaments are double elimination, so if you lose a race you go into a challenger’s bracket and keep racing.”
“It’s really hard to stay straight, because you go so fast that if you even just move the steering wheel like a tiny bit, even way less than an inch, the car can turn. And when you turn, it causes you to slow down a lot.”
For the sisters, the whole family helps as their pit crew.
“It’s actually a family thing,” mother Brooke Canale said. “So their dad will take the girls up the hill and set the cars on the ramps. You have to have an adult set them on the ramps because they’re in the car. And then I’m at the bottom of the hill, and when they race down, I’m the one that swaps wheels with the other car. If you’re going against one other person, we race twice, and swap wheels and lanes after the first race. So the wheels that you go down on stay in that lane, and you swap the cars so that no one has an advantage with the wheels.”
Races are highly regulated, with every car inspected before racing. “You and your car together have to weigh 200 pounds (for the Stock division),” Maelyn Canale said.
Both girls have qualified for the world championship in the past, with Adele Canale accumulating enough rally points, while Maelyn Canale won the Jamestown race.
“It was exciting to win,” Maelyn Canale said. “You get a trophy, a gift card and money to use towards worlds.”
“I really like racing and it’s fun traveling to places,” Adele Canale said. “You get to see and do a lot of different things.”
“And eat deep-fried Oreos at the concession stands!” Maelynn Canale added with a smile.
The sisters plan to race again this year with the goal of returning to the world championship in July.
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