By Wade Coggeshall
INDIANAPOLIS — David Fulton had sports to bond with his two youngest sons over. His oldest son, however, wasn’t the sports type.
One day he read a newspaper notice on a soap box derby clinic and took his son to it. That was in 1978. Fulton has been involved in the Indianapolis Soap Box Derby Association ever since.
“I feel you need to give back, if you’re going to be involved in something,” said Fulton, who has also coached baseball and basketball in the Chapel Hill and Westlake areas. “I like to keep my hands in what my kids were doing. With both parents often working, it’s so difficult to get people to do the work in kids’ sports. We don’t turn anyone away.”
Currently, Fulton is chairman of the derby’s clinic. Scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 13 at Krannert Park, 605 S. High School Road, the event shows boys and girls ages 8 to 17 the world of soap box derby. The Indy Soap Box Derby Association will also have a display at the World of Wheels that same weekend at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Fulton says soap box derby, as with anything, “gets very competitive. I think everyone wants to win.”
It also attracts people of varying backgrounds.
“Our group of people is a diverse group of kids,” Fulton said. “It represents all of Indianapolis.”
Aside from the familial communion the activity promotes, participants also matriculate a lot of science and technology.
“It really is educational,” said Fulton, who wrote a book about soap box racing in 1992 called Winning Ingredients. “You can learn so much from soap box derby. I know people in soap box derby and they tell me that’s where they learned all their technical knowledge.”
Fulton, a retired aircraft mechanic, didn’t expect his son to win the first time they participated in soap box derby. But after lots of study and practice (and consulting the previous year’s winner), the younger Fulton did indeed come in first. In 1980 Fulton’s middle son won the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio — the national championship. He’s the only person from Indianapolis to ever win it. His trophy still sits in Fulton’s basement.
“At the time, I think it was almost as tall as he was,” Fulton said.
For more information on the soap box derby clinic, visit the website at www.indianapolissoapboxderby.org.
wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com
