Stay low in your car and head straight for the finish line.

That's the advice of Hunter Shuette, last year's stock division winner of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club's annual Soap Box Derby.

The ninth annual derby will take place Saturday on North Sprigg Street in front of Blanchard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau. Cars will line up at 8 a.m. with an opening ceremony scheduled for 9 a.m. and races to follow.

First-time racers Shuette, 11, and Austin Martin, 12, of Cape Girardeau, both finished first in their division last year. Neither boy is eligible to race in Saturday's competition since they won last year.

This year's race will feature 26 boys and girls competing in the stock division and super stock division races. The number is slightly down from last year, said Tracey Glenn, coordinator of the event.

Each race consists of two heats, with the better total time advancing. The bracket is double-elimination. The finals are expected to take place in midafternoon.

A great deal of work goes in before the competition begins, Glenn said. Drivers and their pit crews must attend an assembly clinic to be eligible to compete in the race. Pit crews assist on race day by moving cars, loading and unloading cars in the starting ramp.

The two winners from the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club's annual local qualifier can qualify for the All-American Soap Box Derby this summer in Akron, Ohio.

The local derby is a primary fund-raiser for the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club, which uses the money for community service projects. The global mission of Rotary International is to abolish polio.

This year's derby will feature Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison and fire chief Rick Ennis facing off in a race at noon. The men will race in adult-size cars donated from Soap Box Derby assistant regional director Charlie Dayton, of St. Louis.

Southeast Missouri Hospital is also a sponsor for the event.

For more information, call Glenn at 270-8332 or Jeff Jernigan at 979-5294.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246