The 39th annual Orange Crate Derby, organized by the Chula Vista Sunrise Rotary Club, took place Aug. 17 – 18 on Rancho Del Rey Parkway in Chula Vista.
The 59 racers who participated, raced their homemade gravity-powered karts down a hill in hopes of getting the first place trophy for one of the four age groups.
“We had a great turnout,” Orange Crate Derby chairman and Chula Vista Sunrise Rotary club member Rowena Bell said. “Family and friends [were] there watching and community members came out to watch as well.”
Bell said she also noticed that some of the participants this year were second generation Orange Cart Derby racers.
“It’s a great family team-building kind of experience,” Bell said. “There is lots of family involvement … families will bring signs to cheer the kids on.”
Children could choose to build their own kart and get help from experts at one of the ‘build a car’ clinics, or buy an old kart and customize it with paint and a new name, according to the website. All karts in the race were built according to certain rules and specifications, such as safety sides and wooden steering wheels.
Safety is a top concern for the committee, which plans to continue to add more safety factors to races in the future, Bell said.
Orange Crate Derby racing first started in Chula Vista in 1968 on H Street, according to the derby website. Then in 1979, inspired by the Orange Crate Derby in Irvine, Kirk and Pat Dolan expanded the race to Bonitafest as a way to offer an activity for children.
They also created the first instruction manual for building an Orange Crate Car, rules and regulations guideline and the starting light pole and electronic link to starting ramps, which are still in operation today.
Some of the original founders will be invited to next year’s Orange Crate Derby for the 40th anniversary, although the committee is still researching who exactly will come, Bell said.
