Delaney Nichols
At age 9, Delaney Nichols got behind the wheel for the first time. Situated at the top of the driveway, she adjusted her seat and released the break, letting the car roll bit by bit.
A few months later, she was crammed into a 3-foot-long wooden car, high on a soapbox hill, ready to begin her racing career.
Most parents wouldn’t allow their elementary-aged children to get in the driver’s seat, but Nichols’ mom, Tamara, started racing at Nichols’ age. Her aunt and cousins have raced as well.
“My mom, she was known for her driving, and she’s the one who taught me how to drive super well,” Nichols says.
She may have been genetically disposed to racing, but her competitive drive was all her own. Nichols says she gets intense during family game nights, even when up against her older cousins.
Delaney Nichols
Nichols began soapbox racing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all her options were outdoor activities. Racing is the perfect sport for social distancing: it is just you, the wooden car and a big hill.
“I didn’t even really care if I won or anything,” Nichols says. “I just did it for fun, and I lost all of them terribly.”
Slowly, she learned how to be attuned to her car: squeezing her body lower into the chassis so only her eyes peeked out of the wooden box, evaluating each racing hill to determine her weight distribution and keeping her car straight as a pin to drive as fast as possible.
Just like in weight lifting, all of Nichols’ reps grew her into a winning racer.
She raced almost every weekend for a year, driving around the country from one racing hill to the next, and it paid off. Nichols qualified for the International Soap Box Derby World Championships in the Rally Stock division in Akron, Ohio. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing from there.
“A lot of people seemed to ice me out and just not talk to me for a lot of that time (that) I won and that really did get my spirits down,” Nichols says. “I was actually going to quit right before Worlds because of how bad it got because I just was like, ‘I can’t do this.’”
For a time, it felt like her racing friends were her closest friends. With races every weekend, Nichols missed out on the typical middle school experiences such as football games and weekend hangouts. So, when the competition between the racers got too heated, Nichols felt alone. She had to own up to her wins but not make them part of her personality.
“I really had to learn to just be humble because you can’t be cocky in this sport,” Nichols says. “If you’re overconfident, then it could all crumble.”
This mindset paid off once Nichols arrived at Worlds. In the preliminary races, Nichols failed again and again, which was uncharacteristic of her.
She pushed out the noise, and found herself in the final round. Beside her on the track were her two best friends, and when many other racers had ignored her, they stayed close, both on and off the track. As their cars crossed the finish line, Nichols says she couldn’t tell who won.
Delaney Nichols
“I heard my name being called as first, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy,’” Nichols says. “It’s like a dream come true.
“I wanted to quit racing, and I wanted to just go to the football games and hang out with my friends,” Nichols says. “My dad kept encouraging me to go to these races, and all of that paid off because I won.”
What do you do after you reach the pinnacle of your sport? Well, Nichols is focusing on academics. Weekend after weekend on the road has taken its toll, and she wants to do well in school so she can study psychology in college.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of mental health struggles the past few years, and I really just want to help other people and maybe even understand myself a little bit more,” Nichols says.
But racing will always be in her blood.
Maggie Fipps is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
