Speeding away

Despite a crash that nearly crippled his car, Jaiten Holmstom says he won’t give up soapbox racing.

The nine-year-old drove in the 10th annual George Jeffrey Children Foundation at Waverly Park. The two-day event, which started Saturday, had 40 racers participating.

The decade old event has since been taken over by Superior North EMS paramedics who volunteered to handle the groundwork. All the funds raised goes towards equipment for children at the George Jeffrey's.

Jaiten, who raced last year, was flying down the hill when he lost control of his soapbox.

Although he tried to keep the car straight, he ended up taking out a traffic cone at the finish line and crashing into the sidewalk.

Emerging unscathed, Jaiten said he was scared and a little nervous to race again but was resolved to get behind the wheel.

“Racing is fun and I like participating with all the friends that I know,” he said. “When I was coming down and on the sidewalk I forgot about the brakes. I was a little bit wobbly around the end. I still want to race.”

He said next time he will be ready to apply the brakes.

That was advice Jaiten passed on to his eight-year-old brother, Tristan who was driving for the first time this year.

Tristan said he thought his older brother wouldn’t want to race anymore after that crash but was happy to hear otherwise.

“I’ve always wanted to watch him play,” he said.

Mary Anne Commuzzi, executive director of George Jeffrey Children's Foundation, said they've seen more crashes this year compared to other years.

“We’ve had a couple of bang ups but everyone has been fine,” she said. “We have EMS as marshals, we got a great contingency here for safety and we have emphasized with all the drivers that first and foremost safety is first then have fun. We’ve had a few bent wheels but we will work on those cars and get them back into the logistics.”

Commuzzi suspected that they will have surpassed last year’s goal of $25,000 by the end of the weekend.

She added that having high schools involved and advertising the races before they begins helped to make the event grow.
The event wraps up on Sunday around 5 p.m.