Young drivers of their colourful automobiles race down Mount Clemens hill for enjoyable, charity

Mount Clemens — Dozens of colourful automobiles zoomed down Crocker Boulevard at speeds of as much as 20 mph, and the drivers who had been unable to brake in time crashed into bales of hay, laughing all the best way.

The sloped boulevard within the metropolis’s downtown was lined with onlookers Saturday through the thirty third annual Mount Clemens Grand Prix soapbox derby.

The automobiles, which might weigh not more than 215 lbs. together with the drivers, are powered by gravity.

They had been adorned with stickers, or had been airbrushed or hand-painted with motifs that included homages to Wonder Woman, Spongebob Squarepants and rock band Uncle Kracker.

Mike Kuessner mentioned he and his 10-year-old granddaughter Adriana Kuessner constructed their automobile, “Bikini Bottom,” with its Spongebob Squarepants theme, in his Harrison Township storage.

“I’ve been doing this since I was five,” Adriana Kuessner mentioned. “I won second place two years ago.”

The occasion has raised greater than $400,000 for native charities, scholarships and organizations because it started in 1992, sponsors say.

Mike Kuessner mentioned it took a couple of month and $500 to construct the automobile. He mentioned the expertise of bonding along with his granddaughter whereas assembling the automobile was priceless.

“You look at a lot of these cars and they’re professionally done,” he mentioned. “But we made this one ourselves. It’s more fun that way. It was going to be ‘The Eliminator’ but we changed it to ‘Bikini Bottom.'”

Event Chairman Jim Ketchum, previous president of the Mount Clemens Lions Club, which sponsored the occasion with the Goodfellows, mentioned most entrants buy used automobiles from the group and customise them.

“People put stickers on them, or paint them,” he mentioned. “They really put a lot of work into it.”

John Cline, who mentioned Saturday was his twenty seventh 12 months volunteering for the derby, was in command of weighing the automobiles. One lady needed to take away her shoe to make weight.

“We have three divisions, and we’ll end up with maybe 25-30 winners,” Cline mentioned. “But every kid gets a trophy here. A $2 trophy can make a kid feel like a million bucks. … It builds confidence.”

Macomb County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Brandon Wiley was available with a radar gun. He joked to a woman who was pushing her automobile, “Watch out, I’m handing out tickets.”

Wiley mentioned the quickest velocity he’d recorded was 20 mph.

Carol Reed, 82, drove from her house in Macomb Township to look at the race. Her son-in-law was a volunteer for the Salvation Army and Lions Club.

“I’ve never been to any of these, but it’s pretty exciting,” she mentioned. “Some of the parents seem a little overwrought, and that’s no fun for the kids. But this is a really nice family event. We need more things like this in this country, with people getting together.”

ghunter@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2134

@GeorgeHunter_DN