2017 FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby World Champion participants were honored by the City of Lyons. Participants include Alexis
Head, Shawna Hutcheson, Cassidy Martin, Tucker Copeland, Anna Kate Martin, Taylor Hutcheson, Aidyn Driggers and Cayson Hayes.
Soap Box Celebrities BY BARNEY BONFIELD,
When Michael Williamson took
over the position of race director
for the Southeast Georgia Soap
Box Derby, one of his goals was to
make the organization competitive
on the national level. He started by
increasing participation in the yearly
race, then he added the Super Stock
Division in 2013 and local rally races
when they moved the track from
North Victory Drive in Lyons to Partin
Park for the 2016 race. That year
Southeast Georgia won it’s first world
championship in Akron, Ohio–home
of the legendary All-American Soap
Box Derby–when Shawna Hutcheson
finished first in the Super Kids Race.
But what happened during race
week at the 80th running of the
All-American Soap Box Derby in July
2017 will go down in history as the
year in which the Southeast Georgia
Soap Box Derby arrived on the national
scene. First Cassidy Martin won
a Dairy Queen Rally Stock Challenge
in her Bubblegum Bandit cart. Then
Cayson Hayes and Aidyn Driggers,
representing Southeast Georgia, each
won a World Championship (Hayes in
the Local Stock division and Driggers
in the Rally Stock division). Tucker
Copeland finished eighth while Taylor
Hutcheson and Alexis Head each
won a race. This marks a milestone
for the organization because prior to
2016, the Southeast Georgia Stock
Champion would travel to Akron
each year only to be eliminated in the
first round. In 2017, even the race
director–Williamson himself–finished
second in the Parents Race.
At this year’s event, Southeast
Georgia was the only race organization
to win more than two divisions.
Hayes, who is from Summerville,
South Carolina, has been racing at
Partin Park for the past two years
because it is the closest track to his
hometown. Hayes was the Southeast
Georgia Soap Box Derby Stock winner
in 2017 barely beating Martin of
Toombs County. Driggers is from Tarrytown.
Copeland, from Lyons, was
the Southeast Georgia Stock winner
in 2016.
Earlier in the race week, Hayes
also won an Eaton Local Challenge
Stock championship meaning Southeast
Georgia quadrupled it’s first place
trophy tally with four in 2017.
In November, the City of Lyons
honored the winners with an awards
ceremony at Partin Park. TCM
102 Toombs County Magazine
TOOMBSNOW1.COM
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