Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Emmalynn Esmail, 11, of Howland, and Parker Lame, 14, of Canfield, check out the 2022 Portage Masters winning car that Morgan Brammer, 15, of Poland, drove. Showing how to get into the car is adviser Dennis Tomory. Lame will compete in the Masters Division at the Soap Box Derby World Championship Saturday in Akron.

On Saturday, three local youth will compete for world titles in three categories of Soap Box Derby racing at Derby Downs in Akron.

One of them is Parker Lame, 14, of Canfield, who won the world championship in the Super Stock division last year, becoming the first derby champion from this area in the race’s 85-year history. Parker, son of Don and Rebecca Lame of Canfield, will compete in the Masters Division for the first time.

The other two seeking the world title are Morgan Brammer, 15, daughter of James and Ricki Brammer of Poland, who will compete in the Super Stock Division, and Emmalynn Esmail, 11, daughter of Amber Esmail of Howland, who will compete in the Stock Division.

Emmalynn, or just Emma as she likes to be called, is in her first year in the Stock Division. In this division, the cars aren’t as technical or as fast as the Masters Class, but still require work by a youth and adult. Assisting her with her first-year endeavor is adviser Terry Terrigno of Canfield, who assists with the Austintown Middle School STEM program.

“In the AMS STEM class, we’ve had up to six teams and cars competing in the STEM Gravity Challenge in Akron,” Terrigno said.

The challenge is where area schools can compete in Soap Box Derby by building cars and teams through the schools.

Terrigno also serves as a Soap Box Derby adviser for youth like Emma, who want to get into the competition. Along with a friend of Amber Esmail, Edwin Wyatt, a car was located and work began.

The car was actually an older one stored in a barn for almost a dozen years. The car was pulled out, tuned up and fitted with a new shell as Emma worked alongside Terrigno and Wyatt to learn the ropes.

Emma made it to the Portage County Region 6 race and ended up as the 2024 Portage Stock Champion.

“When I raced in Portage, it was scary,” Emma said. “I didn’t brake and ended up hitting the cones (at the end of the track). At that moment I wanted to quit, but my mom convinced me to keep going, so I did.”

Parker began his Soap Box Derby career last year in the Super Stock Division. He won the Portage Local Race and went to Akron and brought home the World Super Stock Championship. That car was confiscated by the Soap Box Derby and placed in its museum in Akron, along with champions from as far back as 1934.

“This year I want to put a second car in that barn,” Parker said. “It would be a Masters car.”

If he pulls it off, he will have two world title cars that were both won in the first year competing in that respective division. In the Masters, the cars are much faster and can achieve speeds close to 35 mph, according to adviser Dennis Tomory.

Parker said the hardest part of putting a masters car together is getting the triangulation just right. He said the car chassis has to be tweaked to get the fastest run possible.

Terrigno said there is a pivot point on the frame and each side of the rear end needs to line up evenly with that point. If it is not, the car will not track straight and cause the car to be slower and harder to control.

Masters cars also are a different setup than the other two classes. In both Stock and Super Stock classes, the driver sits and bends forward to create less wind drag. In the Masters class, the driver lies down and has a field of vision that is only inches. The car is highly aerodynamic.

Parker, a student at Austintown Fitch, said he wants to continue racing until he ages out at 18. If he wins the World Title this year, he can come back in any of the classes next year.

Taking Parker’s place in the Super Stock Division this year is Morgan Brammer. Like Parker, she is not new to the winner’s circle. In 2019, she won the Stock Division at Akron and the Masters Division in 2022. This year, she is trying for a third title.

Tomory said all three local champions’ cars have been boxed up and shipped to Akron, where they will remain until racing begins. The cars had to be inspected to ensure they meet the qualifications and then are quarantined until race day.

The cars can be released for a race around midweek called the Three-Lane Challenge. In this race, the car frames and bodies are brought to the track and outfitted with a calibrated set of wheels that are only for that lane. Morgan’s Masters car in 2022 came in sixth in the world in that event.

Tomory has kept up on all the changes in the sport, after his youth in Soap Box Derby.

“In 1969, I was runner up in the race in Youngstown,” he said. “Back then there was only one champion. Today there are three in three separate classes.”

He said it was 1971 when girls began racing in Soap Box Derby and today there is a good mix of boys and girls vying for the championship.

All three Portage champions will be racing with other champions from around the world on Saturday in Akron. Last year, more than 320 boys and girls from across the United States, Canada and Japan participated in the competition at the Derby Downs track in Akron.

Have an interesting story? Contact J.T. Whitehouse by email at jtwhitehouse@vindy.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.