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Nazareth Adult Soapbox Racing Association brings ‘racing Back to Nazareth’

By SAVANNAH BROWN

On Saturday, June 3, the Nazareth Adult Soapbox Racing Association brought “racing back to Nazareth” after an 11-year hiatus during a day-long event along W. Prospect Street, which was blocked off for the race.

The NASBRA derby was originally founded by Matt Rinker and ran successfully from 2008 through 2012. However, the event became too large to run safely given the small volunteer crew, which is why the derby had not been held in over a decade.

This year, two of the preexisting crew members worked hard to bring back the race for a fun-filled family community event that also raised funds for The Lehigh Conference of Churches with the help of the numerous event sponsors such as The Lehigh Conference of Churches, Martin Guitar, Area 1320, SERVPRO, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, MS Techz, Mehlbaum Sound, RMG Insurance,

DeSales University, Ultimate Auto Detailing & Window Tint, Wolf Insurance, Cortnee’s Cars, Ressler’s Market, Pocono Raceway, and Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors.

To pass inspection on the day of the race, drivers had to adhere to some strict regulations. For example, all participants had to be 18 or over, helmets were mandatory, only the driver was allowed in the car during the race, cars had to be powered by the strength of their push start and the gravity of the hill only, so they could not have stored power or external energy sources, car maximum dimensions were 6 feet wide by 12 feet long, no head-first style cars, rollerblade, skateboard, and luge wheels were prohibited, four wheels had to be touching the ground at all times with no retractable wheels allowed, cars were required to have two wheels in the front and two wheels in the back, and cars could not have any “James Bond stuff” like smoke screens, spikes, oil slicks, or explosives.

Participants began arriving around 7 a.m. to set up and from 8 to 9 a.m. racers checked in and had their cars inspected. Practice runs went from 9 to 11 a.m., and the double elimination races started promptly at noon while announcers Keith Remaly and Jane Babian advised spectators to stay out of the street during each heat.

Car fan favorites for being most creative included Shawn Shupe’s shopping cart dubbed “Grocery Grabber,” JR Williams’ coffin “Eternal Rest,” Chris

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