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15 year old Ryan
Harrigan races Soap Box Derby cars and is the National Points leader
in the Masters Division in the National Derby Rally
Series! He won his first event in 1998 and is now the proud
owner of approximately 90 trophies! He plans to continue soap
box racing for another year before graduating to autocross
(lower-speed sports car racing) and, he hopes, eventually to
graduate formula one and race in the Indianapolis 500!
Harrigan raced in 4 events and finished 1st in two, and
2nd in the other two! He will try one more time to be National
Champ in the other SBD series called National Derby Rally
Series. Ryan was first in National Masters Division points last
year but at the last minute they changed the rules on measuring
the inside of the car. He did not have access to the new
template and chose not to race in the National Event, however
Ryan had free access to the 2nd place NDR Masters Division car
that was raced in Saginaw. (New templates are in the making and
will soon be available to be purchased.)
Ryan's red car and the "Weissgerber Purple"(click
for Pictures) car
were built in same basement with the same materials one year apart.
The Weissgerber (purple) car tests slightly better in the Glen
L. Martin wind tunnel but Ryan has beaten this car more than he
has lost to it. (usually by less than .010 of a second).
Ryan is now in high school and playing for the JV football team.
He started on special teams- Center and Defensive end positions
though the team had 53 players. He also was on the USA
Skeleton/Bobsled (click for Pictures) team last summer. They start looking for
Skeleton sliders at 14 and Bobsled pushers at 18. Ryan was
selected to come to Lake Placid to a Skeleton driving school on
the 1 mile (25 million dollar) bobsled/skeleton/Luge track. He
was the youngest selected to stay in Lake Placid N.Y.. For now,
Ryan and his father Mike, have decided to wait a year or two to
start the Olympic training! (busy guy!)
Bobsled Skeleton Website is-
http://www.usabobsledand skeleton.org/index3.htm
Enjoy reading the article below that features Ryan
Harrigan and be sure to read all about the National Derby
Rallies, Inc. , it's a great organization!
Happy
Birthday to Ryan who officially turned 15 on February 8th! He
was NDR points leader last year ! Congratulations Ryan!
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| Ryan
drives looking out a small slit between the helmet and
drivers access hatch! |
Ryan's
sleek, futuristic fiberglass car -not exactly the
old style cardboard box with wheels that they used
to
be! |
It
took Ryan, his father Michael, and soap box racing
legend George Weissgerber, six months to build his
current masters series car! |
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| Ryan's
car weighs 250 pounds, measures 85 inches long and 55
inches at its widest point, and has traveled faster than
40 mph! |
"All
American Soap Box Derby"- The Soap Box Derby is a
youth racing program which has run nationally since
1934. World Championship finals are held each August at
Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. |
Photo
of Ryan receiving his 1st place trophy at the Soap
Box Derby event in York Pa. He did not lose a beat all
day! He had the oldest Scottie Masters car there too!
8/25/02 |
Ryan and Sean
were on a racing radio show December
26th. The show took place at the Washington
D.C. New Car Show at the D.C. Convention center. The show can also be broadcast on the internet after
the show is archived. Just click on the following link! http://www.inthepitsradio.com/intprr_home.html
The Fall SBD season
is over for Ryan and his friends, the SBD season runs from
August to July! Events start again in May- BUT, you can become a
national sponsor of the All American Soap Box Derby! There are
sponsorship programs that help with the money to cover the cost
of the 62nd Washington D.C. All American Soap Box Derby on
Capital Hill in July. Product sponsors (small samples) for the
50 kids that will enter the Washington D.C. event or you can even
sponsor Ryan and his brother Sean in SBD events! Sean is 8 and
has a goal to acquire more trophies than his brother! He has a
good start- he drove in 5 events this fall and has 3 trophies!
(click HERE to see photos of Sean in his
derby car! ) Please contact their father, Mike Harrigan for more information!
mpharrigan@hotmail.com
Pass this article on to friends who may be interested in
Ryan's story ! It's so good to see the good side of teens in
print for a change. I know there are a lot of them out there,
and Ryan is a prime example ! It would be great to reward this
young man for staying on the right track (no pun intended!) and
having a lot of ambition !
In March the Greater Washington D.C. Area All American
Soap Box Derby will have its annual spring meeting.
The 2003 event (June 22) will be the 62nd DC Soap Box
Derby. The three race division winners will go on to Akron to
spend the week with 450 other champs from 140 US cities
and 8 nations.
The web site is-http://www.dcsoapboxderby.org
UPDATE- 6/4/2003 article published in today's
Washington Times about the place the fastest SBD cars are built!
http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20030603-103150-5689r.htm
UPDATE-
Ryan's story was listed on the High Performance Composites
World website! Composites
Refine Soap Box Derby Racers
(http://www.compositesworld.com/ct/issues/2003/June/137)
Training for the Soap Box
Derby and the Luge can get quite expensive, and every little bit of money
that people donate adds up, so
if you can help Ryan and Sean to attain their goals, please do! Write to their father Mike, for information!-
(mpharrigan@hotmail.com)
Best of luck to Ryan, and his brother Sean!.......
webmaster, Daytona Now !
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