JACKSON BOY READY TO RACE OFF TO NATIONAL SOAP BOX DERBY

JACKSON, Mo. -- Evan Henry, 10, of Jackson will represent Southeast Missouri in the 2001 All-American Soap Box Derby July 23 through 29 in Akron, Ohio.

"I'm really excited," Evan said. "I'm really looking forward to spending the week in Akron and then racing."

Evan beat out 41 other competitors to win the St. Francis Medical Center's second annual Soap Box Derby May 19. His average time was 37.26 seconds, 0.06 of a second ahead of the second-place finisher.

"We raced twice, and the scores were combined for an average," Evan said. "So if you lost in your heat that didn't matter. What mattered was the time. We were all really close."

Evan wouldn't be going to Akron if it weren't for his friend Nathan Davis. Nathan decided that he wanted to enter the derby after seeing a Disney movie, "Miracle on Lane 2," about a paralyzed boy who entered a derby because he wanted to "be somebody" like his athletic brother.

"The movie really made me want to do it," Nathan said. "Then I found out that I could have a partner, so I went and found Evan at his soccer game and asked if he wanted to do it with me."

Once Nathan decided he wanted to enter, he sent away for a kit to make the car, which came complete with instructions, which Nathan said were very bad ones. "My dad started laughing because they were so hard," he said.

Sponsored by Clas Computers and Capital Insurance Associates, the car was built in one day with the help of Nathan's father.

The car could be up to 200 pounds -- the heavier the car, the more speed it could pick up rolling downhill. The boys built the car with extra weights inside to push the car closer to the limit. "We don't weigh very much," Evan said.

They both raced in the car, each driving two times. Nathan finished 10th with an average time of 38.25 seconds -- less than a second off Evan's time.

Last year the derby couldn't send their champion to the national level because the deadline had passed, and their track wasn't long enough to qualify. Brenda Shive, Evan's mother, said that this year the officials extended the track by 80 feet to be long enough to qualify.

Evan said he is excited about the week of activities leading up to the race July 28. From July 23 to July 27, he will participate in a variety of activities with other derby champions from around the United States and five other countries. The activities will include on-field recognition at a baseball game of the minor-league Akron Aeros, a police escort into town, horseback riding and camp-oriented games. The winner will receive a $5,500 scholarship.

"I'm sure it will be different than the race here," Evan said. "But I'm really looking forward to it."

Although Nathan admitted to being a bit jealous that Evan won, he said it worked out fine.

"I'm going to a camp that week too where I get to do a lot of the same things as him," Nathan said. "Then that weekend, I get to go to Akron too and watch him race."