LOCAL WINNER FEELS LIKE A CHAMP

JACKSON, Mo. -- Evan Henry of Jackson may have been eliminated in the first heat at the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, over the weekend, but the 10-year-old said he still feels like a winner.

"Everybody was so nice," Evan said on his return. "The whole city was great. They really go all out."

Evan won the St. Francis Medical Center's second annual Soap Box Derby May 19 to earn the right to go to the All-American Soap Box Derby World Championships in Akron last week.

Upon arriving in Akron, Evan and the other 388 competitors in the stock, super stock and masters divisions were escorted into the city by police and given a parade in their honor. All through the week, Evan camped at Camp Christopher in nearby Bath Township with the rest of the competitors, while his mother, Brenda Shive, stayed in Akron with the rest of the families.

"They really rolled out the red carpet for us," Shive said. "Nobody loses there."

Every participant got to ride in a new Ford Explorer or Mercury Mountaineer at the parade Monday night. Evan said he was introduced to the crowd by Dennis Haskins, best known for his role as Principal Belding on "Saved by the Bell."

Longer, steeper hill

Evan lost in the first heat of his race in the stock division on Saturday, but he said the race was really fun for him. "The hill was much better than in Cape," he said. "It was a lot steeper and longer and much more fun."

But, Evan said, there was one bad thing. "The kid in lane two, next to me, I felt him tap my wheel going down the hill," he said. "I guess the judges didn't see it, but it slowed me down."

Another highlight for Evan was getting to meet Justin Yoder, who starred in the Disney movie "Miracle on Lane 2," which inspired Evan's friend Nathan Davis to get involved in the derby.

"A lot of kids there knew who he was," Evan said. "I guess that movie inspired other kids, too."

Nathan, whose father built the car Evan drove, got to come to Akron on Friday night to see Evan race the next day. Shive said several family members also came, and Nathan's father, Randy Davis, went along for the week as the car's "technician."

Shive said that the judges were very picky about the ways the cars were put together at the national level.

"Next year, we know what to tell people to do and not to do," she said.

Shive said that the Soap Box Derby is the second-oldest racing event in America, behind the Indianapolis 500.

"It's a real big deal there," she said, "Some families were new like us, but some families had been doing this for years."

Evan said after competing in Akron, he is ineligible to compete in the stock division next year. In order to be eligible again, he said, he would have to compete in the super stock division, which wasn't offered at the local level this year.

"I hope that enough people get interested that we could have that next year," he said, "I'd do it again."