GOING TO AKRON
Soap Box Derby winners heading to Ohio
CONSHOHOCKEN >> They flew in the face of gravity against 40 other drivers to seize dual championships at the 68th Annual Conshohocken Soap Box Derby on July 4.
And now Elizabeth Maxwell and Matthew Tomczak are headed for the 82nd running of the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, July 14 through 20.
A world championship in the Buckeye state would thrill his relatives — all racing enthusiasts from way back — in Akron even more than his daughter, noted Mike Maxwell, Elizabeth’s father.
“My father, Robert Maxwell, is from Akron, and we still have family there. This year we’ll be seeing everyone when we leave for Akron on Saturday, so it’s really a bigger event for our family than for Elizabeth that she won,” said Maxwell, a Conshohocken native now living with his family in Erdenheim. “Her winning was a huge impact on me because she finally set herself in the direction to achieve a goal she’d been looking forward to for the last eight years.”
Elizabeth, 15 and a sophomore at Springfield Township High School, went into the 2019 competition with her black-and-white, police-car-themed Super Stock car sponsored by the Conshohocken Police Department as a veteran Soap Box Derby racer, having fin
ished third three times in the Stock division and second once.
“She came in second by .001 seconds,” noted her dad, who never doubted Elizabeth’s tenacity would ultimately land her in the top position at the bottom of that infamous Fayette Street hill.
Dad himself never got the chance to compete in the Derby, he recalled.
“I was always playing baseball or something that time of year,” Maxwell said. “When she finally became of age it was one of those things she wanted to do to have fun, but halfway through her first year she decided she wanted to be competitive. And over the years she got better and better as a driver. Fun for her,” he added, “would be getting in the car and racing and if she loses it’s no big deal, just move on for the rest of the day. Once she decided that she could actually compete with the other kids she finished third place and the next year, second, and it was like, ‘hey I can win this thing.’ ‘’
Having graduated in size from Stock to Super Stock, Elizabeth is now debating whether or not she will move on to the Masters Division next year.
“We’ll talk about it through the fall,” Maxwell said.
Joining the Maxwell family at the awards ceremony on July 9 at the Great American Pub — where winners receive trophies and cash prizes and their families receive $500 spending money “thanks to our sponsors, Conicelli, John Kennedy Ford and Janeway Towing,” noted Derby director Mark Marine — will by Elizabeth’s fellow winner, 9-year-old Matthew Tomczak, a student at Gwynedd Square Elementary, who nailed the Stock division in his camouflage-themed vehicle sponsored by Schank Printing in Conshohocken.
“This is Matt’s second year racing in Conshohocken. He took second place in Stock last year,” noted his dad, Jeff Tomczak, Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator for Upper Gwynedd Township
Although it was Matthew’s Fayette Street debut in 2018, he was hardly a stranger to soap box rallies at the time, his dad had pointed out as he watched his son take a trial run last summer.
“We went to a couple of rallies, one at Penn State and one in Culpeper, Va. I wanted to get him out there, get him used to the car, have fun and relax. Here they race at 25 mph, but some places they run faster, like in Virginia, where they get up to 40 mph. Hopefully, having raced a little faster will give him an advantage here.”
The advantage came a year later when Matthew won the Super Stock Division, continuing a family tradition.
“My sister is married to Bo Donovan, so racing has always been a family tradition,” noted Tomczak, who lives in Lansdale. “Growing up, I raced, my cousins, sisters, and my sister-in-law’s family has always raced. It definitely runs in the family.”
As many know, Bo Donovan is a former Derby champ, as are his daughter Erin and son Liam.
“Back when I raced they called it the Junior and Senior division,” Tomczak recalled. “They were handbuilt cars then, before the kits. The Stock and Super Stock came about after I was done racing.”
Matthew is “ramped up” for the week of activities in Akron, his dad said.
“We leave ion Saturday and he can’t wait.”