On Friday, November 6, 2015 at 3:53:20 PM UTC-5, Electric Comet wrote:
On Fri, 6 Nov 2015 12:29:02 -0800 (PST)
DerbyDad03 wrote:

They eventually outlawed all but the most basic modifications and
outlawed homemade parts. It is now only the driver and the tuning of
the car that determines the outcome. Both of those factors are huge,
but not near as much fun as building your own axle mounts, steering
systems, etc.

i always thought that any racing sport should have an unlimited class
competition


In essence, the All American Soap Box Derby does have an "unlimited class".

It's known as the Ultimate Speed Program. It was instituted for those
teams that wanted to continue to build homemade cars, but it's not for
the faint of heart. I know one team that spent over $100K testing and
building a car. The team was led by a guy who owns a company that makes
bob sleds for a number of Olympic teams, so he had the facilities, the
engineers and the labor to build a winning car.

Do a Google image search for "soap box ultimate speed" for some
cool images of Ultimate Speed cars.

There's a picture about 4 rows down of a driver lying flat on her back.
She is wearing prism glasses so that she can look through a small window
at the front of the car. Once the hatch is closed, the car is completely
smooth along the top.

We modified a Masters division car for my daughter to drive in the Ultimate
race. The only team we beat was a team that took a Thule car top ski
carrier and added some wheels. (2nd row down on the image search, the last
last I looked) We didn't expect to do very well, but it got us one more
year of building and racing, so it was worth it.