Truck detour could crash Main Drag Derby plans

ELLWOOD CITY Placement of the truck detour for a bridge replacement project to begin this spring has threatened the Soap Box Derby-style tournament planned for later this year.

Earla Marshall of the Kitchen Cabinet, which is organizing the racing event, told the borough council on Monday that the inaugural 2014 tournament will have to be canceled if a venue is not determined and approved by council at next Mondays monthly meeting.

But borough council members said after Mondays council committee meeting that a site will be approved in time for plans to still go off.

Marshall said the delay in determining a location for the tournament has already deprived Kitchen Cabinet members of the opportunity of holding assemblies in Ellwood City Area schools to promote the event. With the PSSA tests coming up next month, district officials will not permit the organizers to hold an assembly.

We cannot formally put out information on the derby until a location is determined, Marshall told council Monday.

The Kitchen Cabinet is calling the event, scheduled for Sept. 27, the Main Drag Derby because it is not an official Soap Box Derby tournament. But Kitchen Cabinet members are consulting with organizers of the regional Soap Box Derby qualifier in Ambridge, Marshall said.

Ellwood City had played host to an official Soap Box Derby qualifier for nearly 40 years until the late 1960s, when the race was discontinued.

In January, Kitchen Cabinet members had proposed two locations along Line Avenue in the boroughs North Side, and Fourth Street near the Lawrence Avenue business district. But its possible that neither site will be acceptable.

Because of the ramps and grandstands necessary to hold the derby, any street used in the tournament would have to be closed for nearly 24 hours, until about 4 p.m. on race day.

That would preclude using the Fourth Street location for a derby this year, with replacement of the Second Street Bridge scheduled to begin this spring. A portion of Fourth Street including the area earmarked for the derby has been designated to serve as truck detour for the Second Street Bridge project, said council President Brad Ovial.

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Truck detour could crash Main Drag Derby plans