Soap Box racers cross the finish line in McHenry June 21.

Side by side, the racers crouch in their sleek charges, nose down on the ramps ready to go. From 3rd Street past Green Street in McHenry, spectators behind bales of hay line Waukegan Road as the tension builds. Then, a lever is thrown releasing the cars. Down the hill they fly, racers casting furtive side-ways glances that tell – it’s a dead heat.

Reaching speeds close to 30 mph, the finish line flashes by and a red light announces whether the winner was in Track No. 1 or Track No. 2.

The 12th Annual Kiwanis Soap Box Derby, Saturday, June 21, gave racers, ages 8 to 13, a chance at racing glory. For the winner out of a field of 31, victory meant a chance to race in the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship July 20-26. But, win or lose, all the racers had a chance to taste the thrill of competition with the wind in their faces and the support of family and friends at their backs.

For Makayla Huff, this was her first time racing in the McHenry Soap Box Derby. When asked about her strategy for the race, she said, with a smile, “Just bend down and go.”

In the first set of heats, Huff and her opponent, Katie Beyer, ran two of the closest races. Beyer took the first and Huff the second. Between the races, the cars were lifted onto five-gallon, plastic buckets and the wheels from the one were switched with the wheels from the other. Beyer narrowly edged out Huff to advance to the next level.

After the race, Huff’s uncle, Denny Norton, owner of Ringwood-based Performance Unlimited and a co-sponsor of the event, asked her if she was having fun. Her response made her answer clear, “I get to do this two more years.”

In the end, a following a short storm delay for the last race, Justin Bender, of Car No. 36, was the winner of the McHenry Soap Box Derby.