CANFIELD — Laura Smutny, 16, of Canfield, is the 2020 national points champion in the All-American Soap Box Derby super stock division.

Laura, the daughter of Dale and Chrissy Smutny, scored an impressive 1,000 points to give her the national title.

“She is the first person to reach a point total of 1,000 points in a season. It is a goal which she has aimed to surpass for next season,” her dad said.

With the 2019-20 season wrapped up, Laura was looking at the next season. Concerns over coronavirus, however, last week forced organizers to cancel the 83rd FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby, which was set for July 25 to cap a week of festivities in Akron.

Laura said when the government began shutting things down in March due to COVID-19, she already had the 1,000 points built up. She was well on her way to 1,300 points had the racing continued, which likely would have kept her on top.

Laura became fascinated in Soap Box in 2015, when her brother Matthew was in seventh grade at Austintown Middle School. Matthew was in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program, which got involved with Soap Box cars.

After watching her brother race and seeing what was involved, Laura made the decision to get behind the wheel, and she had the support of her parents.

“Like most parents, we all try to get our kids involved in sports and activities which suit them the best and ones which they find their niche,” Dale said. “Some kids excel in the norms like football, baseball, soccer, track for boys; or soccer, softball, track for girls. Laura, who is currently a sophomore band member, actually found an interest in Soap Box Derby from the STEM program in seventh grade. Since then she has raced on her own and has excelled at it.”

NEW CAR

Dale said a new car was purchased and was even loaned to Austintown Middle School for the STEM program. In Soap Box Derby, there are three divisions — the stock class for the younger set just starting out, the super stock division for young drivers up to age 18 and the masters division for ages up to 20.

In 2015 and 2016, Laura competed in the STEM races. She learned a lot about the technical side to setting up a car. It involved a lot of math and science when trying to figure out where to put weights and how to get maximum performance. In super stock, the car and driver must weigh in at 240 pounds.

After two years of running one race a year in the STEM middle school program, Laura was ready to move up to the All-American circuit. Her first season was 2017-18, which ran from June local races and ended on Memorial Day weekend the following year. There are races every month throughout the season. The season ends with the world championships in Akron each year.

ONE OF THE BEST

In 2018, Laura ran in the world championships and placed third in super stock. That placement brought her a $1,000 scholarship.

“This year, although it was impacted through COVID-19, she was / is considered one of the best racers in the country,” Dale said.

When the COVID-19 situation saw the country essentially close, Soap Box Derby races were canceled. Last month, the final placements were recorded, which placed Laura at the top of the list with 1,000 points.

According to Dale, the All-American Soap Box Derby had just changed the points system. Drivers would get points for racing, but more points for winning races. While Laura didn’t have an enormous number of races, she did have a lot of wins whenever she did go out. She took first place in her division at a championship race in August where champions from Ohio and West Virginia are invited to represent their cities.

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com