Culture & History

St. Louis soap box car rookies harness gravity and guts in pursuit of glory

St. Louis Public Radio | By Tristen Rouse

Published June 12, 2023 at 3:20 PM CDT

Two boys sit in soap box derby cars atop a pair of ramps. — Jamon Greenwood Jr., 10, left, and Tremell Kellys, 11, prepare to race each other in the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby on Sunday in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.

As Jamon Greenwood Jr., 10, struggled to wrench a bolt through the base of his soap box car, it never occurred to him that he might have a chance of winning a trophy at the St. Louis Jaycee's Soap Box Derby.

The race began its legacy as a beloved St. Louis tradition in the 1950s. And since 1999, racers have barreled down Macklind Avenue in the Hill neighborhood, letting gravity and guts decide the winner of the tournament. First-place winners in each division — stock cars and super stock cars — are eligible to compete at the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby World Championships next month in Akron, Ohio.

Greenwood and his friend Tremell Kellys, 11, were both first-time racers Sunday. They'd never seen a soap box stock car until a few weeks earlier, let alone built one or steered it through the Hill. But on Friday night, they stayed up late, watching an instructional YouTube video and getting help from family to build, paint and decorate their cars at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation in East St. Louis.

"We didn't really know what to expect," said Amonyca Greenwood, Jamon's mother and program director at the foundation, which received soap car kits for the boys and two other racers through sponsor donations. "But the outcome was the kids ended up passionate about racing the cars."

At the end of the day, Kellys had placed fifth in the stock car division, and Greenwood had nabbed third, taking home a trophy as proof of his newfound passion. Both boys said they're excited for the chance to race again next year, hoping to turn the weekend experiment into a new tradition.

In a blue and white painted room filled with weights and boxes, four people work on two soap box cars. In the foreground, two of them - a boy sitting on a bench and a man lying on the floor, use a socket wrench on one. In the background, another boy and man, stand and look at the tools on the ground around their box car's cover. — Jamon Greenwood Jr., 10, and his uncle David Williams, at center, and Tremell Kellys, 11, and his dad, Travon Kellys, build a pair of soap box derby cars on Friday at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. The cars were donated to the foundation, an organization dedicated to serving youth in East St. Louis.

Two boys, both wearing blue Adidas shirts, stand in a room filled with plastic wrapped boxes. In front of them lies a thick wooden board, carved to come to a soft point. Behind them on the walls are photographs of Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee. — Jamon Greenwood Jr., left, and Tremell Kellys take a break from working on Greenwood’s soap box car on Friday at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. The cars took the group of first-time racers four hours to assemble. “It was kind of hard,” Kellys said on building the cars. “It was easy painting — until [the paint] started falling off.”

A top down view of an in-construction soap box car base. The wood is covered in small tools and wires that connect the front axel to something out of frame. On each side of the soap box car base is a person, whose heads are not visible, but whose hands are working on the wires connected to the car. — Tremell Kellys, right, and his father, Travon Kellys, tighten wires that steer Tremell’s soap box car on Friday at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. The wires connect the front axel to the car’s steering pivot, which drivers can use to narrowly turn the front wheels.

A boy carries a soap box car cover out of a brightly lit hallway and into a dimly lit hallway. — Javon Greenwood Jr. carries the cover of his soap box car to an art room on Friday at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. Using classroom paint, he and Tremell Kellys planned to paint their cars and decorate them with stickers and decals.

Two boys wheel fully-assembled and painted soap box cars down a hallway. — From left, Jamon Greenwood Jr., Travon Kellys and Tremell Kellys wheel the boys’ soap box cars out from where they were being stored in Shaw Visual and Performing Arts Elementary School on Sunday in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. The cars, having passed inspection and a weigh-in on Saturday, were stored in the school until Sunday morning’s race.

A group of people, wearing a mix of rain gear, racing helmets and NAPA Autoparts hats, stand in a semicircle. Most of them are looking toward a person holding a fillable bracket. Behind them are two rows of soap box stock cars. — Clockwise from left, Amonyca Greenwood, Ariah Smith, Jamon Greenwood Jr., Travon Kellys, Tremell Kellys and Ashtin Williams check with a racing official, far right, to learn the boys’ current standings in the bracket in the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby on Sunday in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.

Tristen Rouse

St. Louis Public Radio

From right, Tremell Kellys, Jamon Greenwood Jr. and DeaNylah Enlow, 11, take shelter during a rain delay on Sunday at the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby. Kellys would finish fifth overall in the stock car division. “I definitely want to do it next year,” Kellys said. “But I want to race in the super stock [division] also.”

A boy sits atop a soap box stock car, of which the black paint is coming off. Only the boy's leg and bottom half of his torso is visible in the frame. — Jamon Greenwood Jr. sits atop his soap box derby car on Sunday at the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby. As the rain peppered the racers and cars, the paint on Greenwood’s car began to wash off, staining his clothes and hands every time he got in and out of the car to race.

Four adults record phone videos of two children racing down a hill in soap box cars. — From left, Ariah Smith, Jamon Greenwood Sr., Jeri Enlow and Amonyca Greenwood cheer and record videos as Tremell Kellys, far left, races down the hill during on of his races in the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby on Sunday in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. “We’re all cheerleading coaches,” Amonyca Greenwood said of the group that came out to support Kellys and the other racers supported by the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. “And we all just try to support one another, no matter what it is.”

A boy in a blue NAPA Autoparts hat walks past a "One Way" road sign, tied to which is a series of colorful flags. — Jamon Greenwood Jr. walks back up the hill after one of his races on Sunday in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis. Greenwood said that his favorite part of each race was the initial launch from the ramp. “When they pull the thing, you go down [the ramp] and you go fast,” he said.

A boy in a bike riding helmet and dirty white t-shirt holds a sucker in his mouth while he rolls a soap box derby car. Behind him are other people, standing and milling about. — Jamon Greenwood Jr. wheels his car to the ramps on Sunday at the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby. As the day went on and it became clear that Jamon had a shot to win first, he became more passionate and more serious about each race.

Two boys race down a hill in soap box cars. The boy in the background is in a hand-painted black and white car. The boy in the foreground is in a white car with stickers spelling out "Jace Mason Mansion." — Jamon Greenwood Jr., right, races Jace Mason, 8, on Sunday at the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby. This race would determine who would have a chance to race for first place. Greenwood lost, giving him the third-place trophy. Mason would go on to win first in the stock car division.

A boy walks out of a white tent, holding a trophy, tool bag and boxed lawn dart game. To his left, other children clap. — Jamon Greenwood Jr. picks up his third-place trophy and prize from the winners’ tent on Sunday at the St. Louis Jaycees Soap Box Derby. “I feel good about trying something new and getting third place for something I never did before,” Greenwood said, adding that he was looking forward to coming back and competing next year.