A plan to build a Soap Box Derby track in east DeKalb County has hit the skids.
A pet project of county CEO Burrell Ellis, the proposal to spend $1 million of park bond money for the nearly 900-foot track has met resistance with the County Commission. The track, to be paved through a granite outcropping off Rock Chapel Road north of Lithonia, would be the first permanent Soap Box facility in metro Atlanta.
“Conceptually, I think it’s a very unique opportunity for DeKalb,” said Commissioner Lee May, who called for the delay as part of the board’s budget committee. “We just can’t spend $1 million on concepts. We need something more concrete.”
Ellis, who raced the motor-less cars as a kid growing up outside Washington, said it was petty politics to demand how an investment for kids to race cars down a hill will benefit the county. The project has been under way for three years, he said.
Still, he pledged to get a formal business plan to commissioners in the next two weeks in a bid to get construction started this spring.
“This will be an opportunity for economic development, to bring people to our hotels and restaurants,” Ellis said. “But it is primarily for the kids, to give them an opportunity for an activity that lets them learn and have fun.”
Between 25 and 60 kids race in two derby races held each year in Dunwoody and Marietta on temporary tracks set up in parking lots. A second race was held this year in Dunwoody, which gave children with special needs a chance to race with an adult’s help. Soap Box races have been held nationwide dating back to 1934.
Early projections from DeKalb County’s Parks Department estimates the track would bring in about $125,000 a year, mostly from rental fees from derby groups. That figure could swell, though, if the county wins the right to host the national tournaments, as local derby aficionados anticipate.
Already, the county has paid $585,000 for the 11-acre site, which sits next to the Bransby Outdoor YMCA, and $130,000 for track design. The county used money from the 2001 parks bond for both bills, the same money that would cover the construction costs.
Commissioner Elaine Boyer has objected to using more of those limited funds for the derby track, which was not explicitly listed in the original bond vote. She would rather find money elsewhere in order to finish a 6.7-acre addition to Henderson Park, which is in her district.
“I can’t finish the master plan that we have on Henderson Park,” Boyer said. “So to introduce a new sport, it’s going to be very hard to convince constituents why.”
Al Garren learned about derby racing from his grandfather and father. A former racer who now works restoring classic cars, Garren travels all over the country so that his daughter Ambree, 18, and his fiancee’s 14-year-old daughter, Savannah Simms, can keep up the tradition.
“We’re basically selling people on an idea now” said Garren, who is active with the Marietta derby, the closest to his Bremen home. “Having a permanent track would give us the ability to promote the derby all over Georgia and the Southeast.”
Soapbox cars were originally homemade racers children and families made from soap crates during the Great Depression. Now, the cars are built from $500 kits that retain wooden floorboards but have slick plastic shells that, along with different weighting techniques, help them reach up to 35 mph in engine-less races.
Marietta has held a derby race for nine years, with yearly contests run on a parking lot behind Marietta High School. Dunwoody launched its own derby in 2008, hosting two races each year in the parking lot of First Baptist Church Atlanta.
Mike Rabern, head of the Dunwoody/Northeast Georgia Soap Box Derby, said his group could hold at least one race every month at a permanent track. Beyond that, the site could be rented out for other gravity races, such as skateboarding or street luging, and used for hands-on science and math lessons from area schools.
“We propose copious amounts of educational use,” said Rabern, adding his group could help with scheduling and marketing of a track. “I want a realistic business plan, too, but I also like the idea of using the track to teach physics.”
Once a DeKalb business plan is formalized, May still expects the board to move the project along. The track could use the Browns Mill Aquatic Center as a business model, he said. The county raised rates there last year to make sure user fees covered the cost of maintaining the water park.
DeKalb also could look at some of its other more unique recreation offerings, such as the disc golf course at Redan Park, for a model of niche activities that can be a big draw.
“This is another wonderful opportunity for kids to learn and grow in an activity they might not otherwise be exposed to,” Ellis said. “That’s what life is about.”
About the Author
