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Steamboat Springs — Ian Weibel maintained a head-down racing position to win the Yampa Valley Soap Box Derby on May 23, earning a place at the All-American Soap Box Derby championship in Ohio at the end of July.

The Steamboat Springs 11-year-old's car, "Green Lightning," sped down a 1,000-foot course on Crandall Avenue in Hayden during the ninth annual Yampa Valley event, which had a field of 12 racers ages 10 to 17 braving Memorial Day weekend rain. Lilli Turton, of Hayden, came in second, and Connor Kunst, of Steamboat, took third place.

Blair Weibel said her son - with help from his race mentor and father - spent about a week constructing his super-stock-grade car, which started as a mail-order kit. The winning craft was "largely kid-built, but parent-directed, because there's no way a kid can build an entire soap-box car," she said.

Ian painted "Green Lightning" himself, decorating the car's green body with a yellow racing stripe down the middle and lighting embellishments on the sides.

John Mertz, who has organized the race for the past five years, said this year's group of competitors spent the day before the race training and testing their vehicles. Mertz had the racers move up the Crandall Avenue hill 25 yards at a time until they are at the top of the course, testing their brakes and steering capabilities along the way.

"They're up and down that hill about 15 times on that trial day, trying to get used to the length of the road and the nuisances," Mertz said.

Racers in the super-stock category must meet a 230-pound weight limit with the weight of their vehicle included. At the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, - where Ian and his father will spend an all-expenses-paid week leading up to a July 25 competition - attendees also compete in a stock category for younger racers and a master's category for racers as old as 18.

Ian thinks his edge in the May 23 event came from a few different factors, Blair Weibel said.

"He thinks that his winning strategy was driving straight. And he was smaller than the other drivers, so he could really tuck into his car," she said. Ian was inspired to enter the race after watching a friend compete in 2008, she said.

A rainy day didn't do much to foil the derby, though organizers had to extend the braking area at the end of the course by about 30 feet, Mertz said. The event was set up to include 64 total runs but ended up having a few more because of a couple of close-call time differentials, he said.

Of the 12 cars competing this year, 11 were on loan from a collection of used super-stock cars the Yampa Valley Soap Box Derby has collected from across the state, Mertz said. In order to use the loaner cars, interested competitors were required to write essays about what it would mean to them to win the Hayden race.

This year's race was sponsored by Frank Roitsch and the Hayden Lions Club, American Legion Post 89 in Hayden, Steamboat Springs Rotary Club and Rockin' J Cattle, Mertz said. To learn more about the Yampa Valley Soap Box Derby, go to www.yvsbd.org.