THE JERM wins the EAST COAST CHALLENGE!!!!! 

Hazelton, PA;  Sunday October 11, 2009 was the date for the East Coast Challenge of Underground Soapbox Racing to be held in the Hazelton, PA area.

 

15 underground soap box racers from 4 regional groups came from as far away as Oconomowac, Wisconsin to compete for the East Coast bragging rights of who was the Fastest Soap Box Racer in the East.

 

There were 6 racers from the New Jersey Underground Soapbox Federation (NJUSBF),

7 from the Maryland Illegal Soapbox Federation & Incline Trials Society (MISFITS),

1 from the Montgomery County Underground Soapbox Federation (MCUSBF),

and 1 from the Wisconsin Underground Soapbox Society (WUSS). 

In the predawn hours, they gathered at the secret meeting spot.  This is where they held the card draw for starting position.  Then the caravan headed over to Jim Thorpe, PA where they unloaded and made an early morning 3.2 mile shake down run on North Street, turning left onto Front Street and then going right onto River Street.

 

As they re-grouped and began to load up go to the next hill for the first of 3 planned elimination races, they were joined by Officer Friendly of the Jim Thorpe Police Department.  Officer Friendly was not happy with the group being in his town.  He kindly asked them to leave his jurisdiction and not come back.  This was something they planned on doing anyway.

 

So the group loaded up and headed over to Hunter Street in Nesquehoning, PA for Elimination Run Number 1.

 

The cars lined up 3 wide in the order of the morning’s card draw.   

 

The front row consisted of  The Jerm from MISFITS on the left, MrMopar from MCUSBF on the right and BPat from the NJUSBF in the center, driving a loaner car from the MISFITS.  BPat’s own car had suffered a failure prior to the event and was unable to be fixed in time for the start of the event.  The MISFITS had brought along a spare car and offered it to BPat for him to run in the Challenge. 

 

Row 2 was made up of NYAdam NJUSBF on the left, Jola’s Roller from the MISFITS in the center and Drscope from the MISFITS on the right.

 

Row 3 was all NJUSBF with NJErin on the left, UO69 in the center and DERF on the right.

 

Row 4 was Iceman Brice MISFITS, Jolly Roger MISFITS and RogsDodges WUSS.

 

Row 5 was Nasty Neal MISFITS, Rexy Mingo MISFITS and Lawnmower Larry NJUSBF.

 

On the call of  “Three, Two, One, release the brakes” BPat on a borrowed car from the MISFITS rolled out into an early lead.  NYAdam followed the double yellow center line and rolled up alongside The Jerm.

 

For a few seconds, the Jerm got boxed in and NYAdam rolled past BPat for the lead.  The Jerm was able to go to the right, just squeezing between BPat to his front and MrMopar on his right.  He rolled past BPat and fell in behind NYAdam.

 

Jola’s Roller went left over the double yellow center line to pass BPat and fell into a commanding third place.

 

Meanwhile, up front NYAdam and the Jerm were pulling away from the field.  The Jerm was able to draft NYAdam and then sling shot past on his right for the lead.  NYAdam fell in behind the Jerm to try to catch the draft.

 

As the road started to bend to the left, the Jerm went wide and NYAdam took the short line and pulled up along side.  Now NYAdam and the Jerm were neck and neck.

 

Farther back, Derf had made his way through traffic and rolled past Jola’s Roller for Third.

 

The speeds were really starting to pick up now and UO69 was able to get past Jola’s Roller for Fourth and set off after Derf.  They were now more then 2 ½ miles into the run and UO69 wasted no time catching Derf.  As he passed Derf on the Left and the two hit, but were able to maintain control.

 

Drscope and RogsDodges flew past Jola’s Roller and began to close in on UO69 and Derf.  As they jockeyed for position, Drscope  went wide and RogsDodges was able to get past on the right.  As they neared the finish, Drscope was able to pull to the right and regain his position on RogsDodges.

 

Just behind this pack of 4 cars, Jola’s Roller and NJErin were having a real battle.  NJErin was using every bit of roadway and then some while Jola’s Roller tried desperately to hold off the other female driver.

 

Behind these two, Nasty Neal was running all alone.  He was glad to be free of the demons which have plagued him during his last few races.  A few seconds behind Nasty Neal, Lawnmower Larry was doing his best to try to catch up.

 

A little farther back, Jolly Roger and Rexy Mingo were in a close run together.  They were followed a few seconds latter by BPat and MrMopar.

 

Bringing up the rear, was Ice Man Brice who had been injured in a severe crash during the previous week’s race.

 

Up front, it was the Jerm First across the finish line!  Followed by NYAdam.

 

Next came the close group of  UO69, Derf, Drscope and RogsDodges.  A few feet behind, Jola’s Roller just beat NJErin to the line by a few inches.

 

Then came Nasty Neal all alone, followed by Lawnmower Larry.

 

Jolly Roger and Rexy Mingo were next, still battling for position. Rexy Mingo was just able to edge out Jolly Roger at the finish.

 

Then came BPat on the loaner car and MrMopar, side by side with BPat just beating out MrMopar at the finish.

 

Ice Man Brice was last across the finish line earning himself the Skunk trophy and happy to still be in one piece.

At the finish, the group was met by a police officer from the Nesquehoning, PA Police department who was trying to figure out why all these cars were parked at the bottom of the hill.  He was contemplating calling a tow truck to have UO’s 2 day old truck towed because he thought it was blocking a drive way, when the 15 racers bombed across the finish line and into the parking area taking him completely by surpise.

 

I guarantee, he had NEVER dealt with anything like this before in his entire law enforcement career.  When he heard the group had recently left Jim Thorpe, he called officer Friendly and in just a few minutes, there were two Police officers on the scene.  One who was confused and didn’t quite know what to do and another who was very angry the gang hadn’t gone far enough away when he told them to.

 

Not able to tell the group what they were doing wrong, the officers took and recorded everyone’s ID.  I guess it’s difficult for them to stop someone from riding a gravity powered soapbox car on the same roads they allow Amish Buggies and bicycles to travel on.  And as The Jerm so eloquently pointed out, they had only recorded speeds of 51mph and therefore had not even broken the speed limit of 55.

 

So after much head scratching and standing around looking authoritatively confused, the police officers returned the ID’s and allowed the group to load up and move on.

 

So the group now headed over to Weatherly, PA for the second and third planned Elimination Runs of the day.  When they arrived in Weatherly, the local Weatherly police force was waiting.  And the nice officer informed them if they took any of the cars off the trailers, they would be towed away.  He wasn’t going to have this type of fun in HIS town.

 

At that time, the EAST COAST CHALLENGE was officially over.   Following the guidelines and provisions worked out weeks in advance, The JERM from the Maryland Illegal Soapbox Federation & Incline Trials Society was pronounced the WINNER.

 

RogsDodges from WUSS, presented The Jerm with the magnificent trophy which he had built for the event.  Not to be out done, the NJUSBF awarded Ice Man Brice the Skunk Trophy for his last place finish.