ALL AMERICAN SOAP BOX DERBY FROM AKRON, OHIO!!

   The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1934. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, relying completely upon gravity to move.

History

   In the wake of the first car races, local kid auto races took place in the US at a very early stage. In 1914 the motion picture Kid Auto Races at Venice starring Charlie Chaplin was shown in the cinemas.  The first All-American race was held in Dayton on August 19, 1934, after an idea by Myron Scott, a photographer for the Dayton Daily News. The following year, the race was moved to Akron because of its central location
and hilly terrain. In 1936, Akron civic leaders recognized the need for a permanent track site for the youth racing classic and, through the efforts of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Derby Downs became a reality.
   An accident in 1935 captured the public's interest, and boosted the event's profile. A car went off the track and struck NBC's top commentator and sportscaster Graham McNamee while he was broadcasting live on the air. Despite a concussion and other injuries (which would necessitate a two-week hospital stay), McNamee described the collision to his listeners and finished his broadcast.

   Using standardized wheels with precision ball bearings, modern gravity-powered racers start at a ramp on top of a hill, attaining speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. Rally races and qualifying races in cities around the world use advanced timing systems that measure the time difference between the competing cars to the thousandth of a second to determine the winner of a heat. Each heat of a race lasts less than 30 seconds. Most races are double elimination races where a racer that loses a heat can work their way through the Challenger's Bracket in an attempt to win the overall race. The annual World Championship race in Akron, however, is a single elimination race which uses overhead photography, triggered by a timing system, to determine the winner of each heat. Approximately 500 racers compete in 2 or 3 car heats to determine a World Champion in each of six divisions.

   During its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, when Chevrolet was a sponsor and famous TV and movie stars made guest appearances, as many as 70,000 people would gather in August to eat snow cones and cheer hundreds of youthful racer/builders (boys only in early years) ages 11–15 who were the champions of local races around the nation and from several foreign countries. In 1947, actor James Stewart was appearing in the Broadway play Harvey; in order to attend the event, he cancelled a weekend's worth of performances and refunds were issued to ticketholders. At its peak, the Derby was one of the top 5 sporting events in terms of attendance.

   Today there are broader categories that extend the age range to younger racers and permit adults to assist in construction. This is especially helpful for younger children who cannot use power tools, as well as to provide an outlet for adults.
   Starting in 1993, the All-American Soap Box derby began the Rally World Championship. The Rally derby, works on a grand prix style of race where each district, 10 in all, send back a number of champions based on number of racers and races in each district.

Ultimate Speed Challenge

   The Ultimate Speed Challenge is an All American Soap Box Derby sanctioned racing format that was developed in 2004 to preserve the tradition of innovation, creativity, and craftsmanship in the design of a gravity powered racing vehicle while generating intrigue, excitement, and engaging the audience at the annual All-American Soap Box Derby competition. The goal of the event is to attract creative entries designed to reach speeds never before attainable on the historic Akron hill. The competition will consist of three timed runs (one run in each lane), down Akron’s 989’ hill. The car and team that achieve the fastest single run will be declared the winner. The timed runs are completed during the All American Soap Box Derby race week.

   In 2004, during the inaugural run of the Ultimate Speed Challenge, the fastest time was achieved by a car designed and built by the Pearson family, driven by Alicia Kimball, and utilizing high performance pneumatic tires. The time achieved on the 989' track was 27.190 seconds. Jerry Pearson returned to defend the title with driver Nicki Henry in the 2005 Ultimate Speed Challenge beating the 2004 record time and breaking the 27.00 second barrier with a 26.953 seconds elapsed time. John Wargo, from  

  California, put together the 2006 Ultimate Speed Challenge winning team with driver Jenny Rodway. Jenny set a new track record of 26.934 seconds. In 2009, Derek Fitzgerald’s Zero-Error Racing team, with driver Jamie Berndt set a new track record time of 26.924 seconds. In 2010, Mark Overmyer’s Clean Sheet Racing team with wheel experts Duane Delaney and Mark Estes, and driver Jim Overmyer set the track record at 26.861 seconds in the opening heat of the opening round. Several minutes later, driver Sheri Lazowski, also of Team Clean Sheet, lowered the record to 26.844 seconds.

Scandals

   In 1973, 14 year old Jimmy Gronen of Boulder, CO was stripped of his title two days after winning the national race. Suspicions were running high even before the finals, and Gronen was actually booed by many spectators.
   The unusual dimensions of Gronen's margins of victory and heat times tipped off derby officials to illegal circumstances surrounding Gronen's racer. Subsequent X-ray examination of his car revealed an electromagnet in the nose. When activated at the starting line, the electromagnet would pull the car forward by attracting it to the steel paddle used to start the race. Gronen would activate the electromagnet by leaning his helmet against the backrest of his seat, which activated its power source. This became

very evident as Gronen's heat times progressively slowed down as the race wore on, because the electromagnet lost strength each time it was activated. Usually, heat times get faster each time a racer completes a heat. Videotape of the race also showed a suspiciously sudden lead for Gronen just a few feet after each heat began. The margin of victory for a race heat will normally be no more than 1 to 3 feet. Gronen's early heat victories were in the 20 to 30 feet range. (Aluminum insulator plates were added to the starting ramps in 1974 to render an electromagnetic system useless.)
   Midway through the 1973 race, Derby officials also replaced Gronen's wheels after chemicals were found to be applied to the wheels' rubber. The chemicals caused the tire rubber to swell, which reduced the rolling resistance of the tire.

   In the final heat, Gronen finished narrowly ahead of Bret Yarborough. Within two days, Yarborough was declared the 1973 champion.
   Gronen's uncle and legal guardian at the time, wealthy engineer Robert Lange, was indicted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and paid a $2,000 settlement. Lange's son, Bob Lange Jr. (and Jimmy Gronen's cousin) had won the previous 1972 Derby using a car considered to be indistinguishable from the vehicle used by Gronen. Boulder, Colorado was also banned from any future participation in the All-American Soap Box Derby.

TOP 10 INDUSTRIES THAT THRIVE ON HOLIDAYS!

   Attach a notion of “specialness” to something, and people will find a way to throw money at it. This is a principal true of every consumer product with an advertising campaign (“If [such and such a celebrity] drinks it, then it must be pretty special”). But what’s bigger than anything any advertising agency could possibly dream up? A commercial holiday, “commercial” being a term used to discern from any possible religious significance. A commercial holiday is like an all-purpose ad campaign, wherein consumers are expected to buy and subscribe to a variety of pertinent rituals in order to fit in properly. Didn’t get Mom a card for Mother’s Day? Expect borderline excommunication. These beliefs are embedded deep in the fabric of our culture, to where tradition becomes more powerful than any fact or biblical preaching. There’s a lot of money to be made at the exact point where “personal” becomes strictly business; here are ten businesses and industries that are keenly aware of this fact.

10.  Infomercials

    Infomercials do a great service: they provide a last-minute option for procrastinating shoppers who can’t think of or hand-make anything thoughtful in time, and need something “gift-like”, stat. Many Christmases could end in tragic, empty-armed disappointment if it weren’t for the bombardment of suggestions that come on the tube after about 3 A.M. Christmas, birthday and graduation gifts can henceforth, and effortlessly, be any assortment of a Snuggy, ShakeWeight or underwater electric razor. Best gifts are the ones that lack gender-specificity; just get 8 of those and Christmas shopping is done. (Warning: people you actually care about won’t appreciate the obvious lack of thought that goes into any one of these gifts, but by all means indulge a coworker).

9.  Professional Photography Studios

   Every family is required to put out a Christmas card every year, or else the neighbors will be baited. A Christmas card captures just how “perfect” a family is, or at least the image of, whereafter they can go back to being terrible and volatile, on the way back from Sears. Only truly gifted artists could make such a fallacy an apparent truth, which is why they get paid the big bucks, and why families are so tickled by the notion of spreading this masterful concoction to everyone in their address book.

8.  Fireworks

   Not legal everywhere, these self-contained spectacles are the toast of every Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and patriotic other occasion. After all, nothing spells U.S.A. like Chinese imports. Every fair concludes with them, the mighty “Grand Finale,” and every drunken Summer night spent away from work deserves, and belligerently demands, their presence. Explosions in the sky never disappoint, feeding that animalistic desire for consequence-free fire and destruction, which is why border-runs are so frequent and unstoppable.

7.  Airlines

   The one industry that rarely shuts an eye, hence the red-eye, is the airline industry. More than any other means of travel, it is the most efficient and practical way to travel great distances in a timely, scheduled manner (in spite of how much waiting and security checkpoints must be endured). Every holiday season, seats get booked to maximum capacity, to where the cheapest seat last minute is usually in the thousands (even as sites like Expedia and Travelocity do their best to alleviate this fact). Seeing family and friends is a component of virtually every holiday or festive occasion, and to do so, transportation is a vital, if mundane, consideration in every case. A business built around the essential motions and functions of life will always do unspeakably well for itself, just ask the healthcare or fast food industry.

6.  Video Games

   Every holiday season, without fail, stores like Game Stop, Electronics Boutique and Best Buy sell out of every major console, especially right after the latest and greatest one has been released just in time for such a time of the year. Right around November, appeasing mothers cram into malls to snatch up that fancy “game-box” junior’s been talking about, just so the kid can rip it open Christmas morning without a scintilla of surprise or doubt. Wii’s, XBox 360′s, and PS3′s have sold out religiously in mostly every Christmas past, but as no kid seems to be without one these days, it seems right about time Wii 2, Xbox 720, and PS4 make their parking lot-congesting debuts.

5.  Restaurants

   The number one go-to or last resort gift is a visit, or gift card, to some classy-looking restaurant, but usually just the Olive Garden or T.G.I. Fridays. It’s a preferable escape from slaving over a hot stove, a dad-favorite on Mother’s Day, and an ideal date all at about twenty or thirty bucks a plate. It’s just the price that says “I’m not entirely cheap, but I’m not very original either.” Restaurants do very well on special occasions, seasonally that is, and given that there’s always some kind of commercial holiday every few weeks or so, it’s not a bad investment in any case. The food doesn’t have to be great, but dim lights and faint, vaguely romantic music overhead spells Valentine’s Day hot spot.

4.  Hollywood

   Tim Allen alone has lined his pockets with a lion’s share of Christmas tinsel, appearing in three progressively terrible Santa Claus movies, as well as a terribly over-acted Christmas with the Cranks (based on a novel?!). Every holiday seems to require a sludge pile of opportunistic films that ride a cheap gimmick with a plot centering around a holiday, and an unceasingly unfunny series of disasters (Four Christmases, Surviving Christmas, Deck the Halls, Fred Claus…you get it).
   Christmas is the obvious cash-in, but even lesser holidays are finding distasteful exploitation: Valentine’s Day (the movie of the same name), Halloween (every 3D slasher movie that comes out conveniently on Halloween weekend, not to mention the movie of the same name and every time it is rebooted), Easter (Hop), etc. That’s not to say there’s no such thing as a good holiday movie (It’s a Wonderful Life, Nightmare Before Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Christmas Story, etc.), but Hollywood rarely seems concerned with generating memorable instant classics so much as greasing its own sprockets with transient rubbish and easy money.

3.  Candy

   How many times do we binge on marshmallow Peeps and swear to never touch them again, that is until they hit the shelves again in the shape of a Christmas tree or pumpkin rather than a bunny? And when we swear out candy for good, we can never resist that 80% off sale in the center aisle of the local pharmacy. Between candy corn, Peeps, boxes of chocolate, and various other fun-sized sugar-and-carnauba wax-covered sweets, our love for cloistering substances and suckered obligation to incorporate them into our every celebration means only big money for the Willy Wonkas of the world.

2.  Greeting Cards

   What a great enterprise: paying someone else to preconceive the ideal sentiment for any given occasion. What better way to tell someone you care about them than to pay four dollars to let someone say just how so. Somehow they’ve worked their way into every holiday/birthday/ form of congratulations and are somehow considered a “thoughtful” gesture. What would be thoughtful would be to type a personal letter, or get a BLANK card and write in something heartfelt and original. Nevertheless, a trip to the drug store counts just the same.

1.  Liquor Stores and Bars

   What’s a holiday without the booze. In fact there are holidays devoted exclusively to the substance (St. Paddy’s Day, with or without green beer), but all usually end in drunken foolishness. While kids look forward to cake, pie, and trick-or-treating, adults look forward to the swift elevation of their B.A.C. levels. Liquor stores and bars thrive more than anyone else on universally-designated “special” days, more so than the unsynchronized birthday or situational cause for celebration. When these big days approach, extra efforts are made to ensure a cornucopia surplus of cases and handles, or else dire consequences be wrought (in the form of bleeding cash registers).

THE NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL FROM LONDON, ENGLAND!

   The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which since 1964 has taken place on the streets of Notting Hill, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , London, UK each August, over two days (the August bank holiday Monday and the day beforehand).   It is led by members of the West Indian community, particularly the Trinidadian and      Tobagonian British population or 'Trinis', many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it the second largest street festival in the world after the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival held in that country.   

History    The roots of the Notting Hill Carnival come from two separate but connected strands. The Carnival began in January 1959 in St Pancras Town Hall as a response to the depressing state of race relations at the time; the UK's first widespread racial attacks (the Notting Hill race riots) had occurred the previous year. This carnival organised by Claudia Jones (a "Trini") who is widely recognised as 'the Mother of the Notting Hill Carnival', was a huge success, despite being held indoors. The other important strand was the "hippie" London Free School inspired festival that became the first organised outside event in August 1966. The prime mover was Rhaune Laslett, who was not aware of the indoor events when she first raised the idea. This was a more diverse Notting Hill event to promote cultural unity. A street party for neighbourhood children turned into a carnival procession when Russell Henderson's steel band (who had played at the earlier Claudia Jones events) went on a walkabout. The carnival's traditional starting point has been Emslie Horniman's Pleasance in nearby Ladbroke Grove. By 1976, the event had become definitely Caribbean in flavour, with around 150,000 people attending. However, in that year and several subsequent years, the carnival was marred by riots, in which predominantly Caribbean youths fought with police — a target due to the continuous harassment the population felt they were under.      During this period, there was considerable coverage of the disorder in the press, which some felt took an unfairly negative and one-sided view of the carnival. For a while it looked as if the event would be banned. Prince Charles was one of the few establishment figures who supported the event.    In recent years, the event has been much freer from serious trouble and is generally viewed very positively by the authorities as a dynamic celebration of London's multi-cultural diversity, though dominated by the Caribbean culture in the best traditions of Rio. However, there has been controversy over the public safety aspects of holding such a well-attended event in narrow streets in a small area of London.    Concerns about the size of the event resulted in London's former Mayor, Ken Livingstone, setting up a Carnival Review Group to look into "formulating   guidelines to safeguard the future of the Carnival".   An interim report by the review resulted in a change to the route in 2002. When the full report was published in 2004, it recommended that Hyde Park be used as a "savannah"; though this move has attracted some concern that the Hyde Park event may overshadow the original street carnival.    In 2003, the Notting Hill Carnival was run by a limited company, the Notting Hill Carnival Trust Ltd. A report by the London Development Agency on the 2002 Carnival estimated that the event contributes around £93 million to the London and UK economy.    In 2005, entrants from the Notting Hill Carnival participated in the Bridgwater, Somerset, carnival - Europe's largest lighted carnival and part of the West Country Carnival circuit. Attendance Figures 2010 - 1,000,000 2009 - 720,000 2008 - 850,000 2007 - 850,000 (250,000 Sunday | 600,000 Monday) 2006- 1,000,000 (500,000 Sunday | 500,000 Monday) organizers / 800,000 (300,000 Sun | 500,000 Mon) authorities 2005 - 750,000 2004 - 750,000 2003 - 600,000 2002 - 1,400,000 2001 - 1,250,000 2000 - 1,500,000 1999 - 1,400,000 1998 - 1,150,000 1997 - 1,300,000 1996 - 1,000,000 Public Order    Since the carnival did not have local authority permission, initial police involvement was aimed at preventing it taking place at all, which resulted in regular confrontation and riots. A change of policy came after a confrontation in 1987, which saw a change to allowing the Carnival to take place with police taking a more conciliatory approach. During the 2000 Carnival, two men were murdered and future policing, whilst conciliatory, has led to police deployment in large numbers - upwards of 11,000. Some of the crime associated has been displaced to the periphery. In 2007, two teenagers were shot just outside the Carnival area. The Review in 2000 by participants (but not local residents) resisted calls from the Mayor of London to resite the event in Hyde Park but led to the parades taking a circular rather than linear route.    The 2008 Carnival was marred by rioting right at the very end of the weekend, involving large numbers of youths and injuries to police. Some media outlets captured footage of the violence -  approximately 500 youths were arrested. The carnival has come under criticism for its cost to the London taxpayer as the cost for policing the event totalled over £6,000,000, however, it is argued that this should be put into context as the carnival is estimated to bring in approximately £93,000,000 into the local economy. Five murders have taken place since 1987: 30 August 1987 - Michael Augustine Galvin, 23, stallholder - stabbed. 26 August 1991 - Dr. Nicholas John Hanscomb, 38, bled to death after being stabbed in the thigh. 28 August 2000 - Greg Fitzgerald Watson, 21, stabbed to death after an argument over food. 28 August 2000 - Abdul Munam Bhatti, 28, beaten to death in a racially motivated attack by a group of 40-50 youths. 30 August 2004 - Lee Christopher Surbaran, 27, shot by a gang using a machine pistol for "showing disrespect".

AUGUST HOLIDAYS!!

  This month has some funny, exciting, and wacky holidays to celebrate all month long. In fact, there is at least one holiday to observe each day during the month of August (with the exception of the 2^nd). Here are some suggestions for celebrating each day in August.

August 1: World Wide Web Day - Celebrate this holiday by spending your day exploring the World Wide Web.

August 2: Make Your Own Holiday - This one's obvious...

August 3: Watermelon Day - Try different recipes using watermelon. Eat watermelon at every meal. Don't just eat it - drink it!

August 4: National Chocolate Chip Day - You can't go wrong with chocolate chips. If you don't have time to bake cookies, they aren't bad alone!

August 5: International Beer Day - This should be a fun day for some of you.

August 6: National Fresh Breath (Halitosis) Day - Offer everyone you meet a stick of gum.

August 7: Lighthouse Day - I'm not really sure how one can celebrate Lighthouse Day.

August 8: Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day - Do that.

August 9: Veep Day - All I know is it has something to do with the Presidency...

August 10: S'mores Day - Is your mouth watering yet?

August 11: President's Joke Day (2010) - Crack a Presidential joke (in private if it may be offensive!).

August 12: Sewing Machine Day - Buy a sewing machine and learn how to use it. Use your newfound talent to make yourself a new wardrobe.

August 13: International Left Hander's Day - Honor all left handers by doing everything with your left hand today. Lefties, switch it up by using your right.

August 14: National Garage Sale Day  - Hit all the local sales bright and early (before all the good stuff is gone).

August 15: National Relaxation Day - Hey, I knew you'd like this one!

August 16: Joe Miller's Joke Day - Crack some jokes.

August 17: Meaning of "Is" Day - What does "is" mean to you?

August 18: Bad Poetry Day - Hey, not all poetry has to be good. Write your very worst poem today.

August 19: "Black Cow" Root Beer Float Day - Not any old root beer float will do; it has to be "Black Cow".

August 20: Virtual World's Day - All reality aside, get lost in the virtual world for the day.

August 21: National Homeless Animals Day (2010) - There are tens of thousands of homeless animals in the world. What can you do to help?

August 22: Be an Angel Day - Or at least pretend.

August 23: Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and Its Abolition - Ahem--I said its abolition, not its existence.

August 24: National Waffle Day - Frozen waffles count.

August 25: Kiss and Make Up Day - In a tiff? Kiss and make up (at least for the day).

August 26: National Dog Day - What can you do on National Dog Day? Give your dog a bone.

August 27: Global Forgiveness Day - Have no worries. Forgive the globe....

August 28: Race Your Mouse around the Icons Day - Oh, boy! This one sounds like fun. And I can't forget; today is also 'Crackers over the Keyboard Day'.

August 29: National Sarcoidosis Day - Don't even ask what sarcoidosis is....

August 30: National Toasted Marshmallow Day - No, they can't be raw. You have to eat them toasted.

August 31: Love Litigating Lawyers Day - You gotta love 'em. You gotta.

AUGUST FOOD HOLIDAYS TO REMEMBER!!

   August is the hottest month in the U.S.,  that means some really hot and happening food holidays too.

National Sandwich Month

We all love them so now lets learn about them. The term sandwich is occasionally used (informally) in reference to open-faced sandwiches; these normally consist of a single slice of bread topped with meat, salad vegetables, and various condiments. These differ from a normal sandwich in that they have a single slice of bread instead of two, with toppings instead of a filling. The open-faced sandwich also has a .....

National Peach Month

Are you ready to add some peaches to your menu this month? A medium peach (75 grams), has about 30 calories, seven grams of carbohydrates (six grams of sugar and one gram of fibre), one gram of protein, 140 miligrams of potassium, and 8% of the Dietary Reference Intake for vitamin C.

National Catfish Month

Catfish is eaten in a variety of ways; in Europe it is often cooked in similar ways to carp, but in the United States it is typically crumbed with cornmeal and fried. In Indonesia catfish are usually served grilled in street stalls called warung and eaten with vegetables. Catfish is high in Vitamin D. Farm-raised catfish contains low levels of omega-3 fatty acids and a much higher proportion of omega-6 fatty acids.

Goat Cheese Month 

Goat cheese has been made for thousands of years, and was probably one of the earliest made dairy products. Goat milk is often used by those who are young, are ill, or have a low tolerance to cows' milk. Goat milk is more similar to human milk than that of the cow, although there is large variation among breeds in both animals.

Eat Dessert first month

In Western culture dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. But during the month of August dessert lovers everywhere are given the go ahead to eat our desserts first and not feel bad about doing it. That's right August celebrates the sweet tooth.

National Watermelon Month

National Brownies At Brunch Month

National Water Quality Month

Movable Days

• National Mustard Day is the first Saturday.

• National Apple Week Is The Second week.

Daily Observances

• August 1 - National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

• August 2 - National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

• August 3 - National Watermelon Day

• August 4 - National Chocolate Chip Day

• August 4 - National Champagne Day

• August 5 -

• August 6 - National Root Beer Float Day

• August 7 - National Raspberries & Cream Day

• August 8 - National Frozen Custard Day

• August 9 - National Rice Pudding Day

• August 10 - National S'Mores Day

• August 11 - National Raspberry Bombe Day

• August 12 - National Toasted Almond Bar Day

• August 13 - National Filet Mignon Day

• August 14 - National Creamsicle Day

• August 15 - National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

• August 16 - National Rum Day

• August 17 - National Vanilla Custard Day

• August 17 - Cup Cake Day

• August 18 - National Ice Cream Pie Day

• August 19 - National Soft Ice Cream Day

• August 20 - National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

• August 20 - National Lemonade Day

• August 21 - National Spumoni Day

• August 22 - National Pecan Torte Day

• August 23 - National Spongecake Day

• August 24 - National Waffle Day

• August 24 - National Peach Pie Day

• August 25 - National Banana Split Day

• August 25 - National Waffle Day

• August 26 - National Cherry Popsicle Day

• August 27 - National Pots du Creme Day

• August 28 - National Cherry Turnover Day

• August 29 - National Whisky Sour Day

• August 29 - More Herbs Less Salt day (Eat Healthy Day!)

• August 29 - National Lemon Juice Day

• August 30 - National Marshmallow Toasting Day

• August 31 - National Trail Mix Day

• August 31 - Eat outside day