Twelve year old Preston Neely (pictured above) racing with his brother Kurtis, as his co-driver, placed fourth in the annual Kanawha Valley Soap Box Derby Special Division race on June 5th at Little Creek Park in South Charleston.
The 16 special division racers are paired up with an experienced co-driver for the "Thrill of the Hill" a 980-feet course where
cars exceed 35 miles per hour on gravity feed. Ten racers will compete in the Super Kids Classic at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio on Friday, July 2rd.
Preston was sponsored by Neely's Farm. He has raced in four special division races and has placed second two times and fourth this year.
He has met racers from all over the U.S. and Canada according to his parents, Ronald and Christina Neely, of Chloe, he enjoys the event and loves to race down the hill and win trophies. In Akron, Preston will attempt to place in the top six finalists that will
race in the All American Soap Box Derby Race on July 23rd. The event is sometimes televised on ESPN.
Fourteen year old, Kurtis Neely (see above) was among 30 racers participating in the 74th Kanawha Valley Soap Box Derby All American Race on June 11th, also at Little Creek Park.
Three types of cars are associated with the Soap Box Derby: stock, super stock and masters. Kurtis raced in his 230 lb. hugger orange super stock car and was sponsored, in loving memory of Marmet Police #217 John Price and ST Pipeline of Clendenin. He was undefeated in the 12 car division, advancing as the overall winner of the super stock division, qualifying him to race at Derby
Downs for the national title. He will go to Akron for a week during July to prepare for the race.
It was his fourth All American race. In 2008, he was 8th and 2009 he
placed 7th and 2010 he was local Stock Car champ and placed between 10th-18th during the National All American Soap Box Derby Race.
Kurtis has also met and raced against youths from Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, South Carolina, Ohio and Virginia during the past four years. He enjoys racing, and hopes to begin the next season, starting in August in his Masters Car. He hopes to appear on ESPN.
The Neely boys grandparents are Gail and Donna Neely of Upper Nicut
and Doug and Joan Stull of Grantsville. | 
