Brother & Sister Go Head-To-Head In Soap Box Derby

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Soap Box Derby has lured kids to Akron, Ohio every summer since 1934. The next race takes place Saturday, July 16. The Western Pennsylvania Regional Trials in Ambridge recently produced a "first." Nine-year old John Bryson of Hopewell and his eight-year-old sister, Alabama, were among 21 kids competing.

It's been a long time since a pair of siblings finished first and second. But a brother and sister? Never, until now.

John beat Alabama in a photo finish.

"It was very exciting. just to have both of them racing and coming down through the championship bracket," local race director Gregg Galbreath recalls.

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Their coach is their grandfather, Ned Ceccarelli.

"I was asked who are you rooting for, and I said Bryson," he says. "One or he other one's going to win, you know."

The cars have no engines. It all comes down to technique.

"Put your butt back and your head forward, and you gotta get your head as low as you can on the front," John says.

"You gotta go down like this," his sister adds. "And you gotta go with the wind. And you gotta go down the hill, and you gotta make sure you don't hit the cones."