TireRack.com has stepped up to partner with "25 Hill," the movie written, produced and directed by Corbin Bernsen in an effort revive interest in the All-American Soap Box Derby.
Tire Rack will be promoting the movie and support its cause locally and nationally through its connection with automotive enthusiasts. In addition, the online retailer shows up in the movie as sponsor of the soap box racer driven by the main character Trey Caldwell’s nemesis, Kate Slater.
The movie recently made its world premiere in Akron, home of the All-American Soap Box Derby, and is currently only available on DVD through local Akron stores. It will be made available on a wider release later this year. Proceeds from DVD sales are being donated to the derby program.
The 74th annual All-American finals will be run this weekend – July 23 – at Derby Downs in Akron.
“The Soap Box Derby has been called the ‘Greatest Amateur Racing Event in the World’ and the ‘Gravity Grand Prix.’ However they are known, soap box derbies have been popular at the local and national level among all generations of Americans since 1933,” said Matt Edmonds, Tire Rack vice president. “We love the concept and message of the movie and believe it is important to help support and save a beloved tradition of one of the best demonstrations of American ingenuity.”
After losing key national and local sponsors in recent years, the Soap Box Derby program had fallen on hard times. Bernsen decided he could do something to save the program after reading a USA Today article about the financial difficulties of the All-American Soap Box Derby.
“This fantastic tradition has been with us for 75 years and is on the brink of extinction; we can’t let that happen,” said Bernsen. “The fact is, we are too young of a country to abandon the few traditions we have left and we must preserve our past. The All-American Soap Box Derby takes us back to a time, yes, perhaps ‘better days,’ where we still honored simple notions that we now take for granted.”
For information about Tire Rack’s role in “25 Hill,” log onto tirerack.com, and for more information about the All-American Soap Box Derby, visit aasbd.org.
