Taylor Wins Back-To-Back Speed Race At Soap Box Derby

Just .028 seconds.

That's how close she was to the world record.

But Anne Taylor is still pleased with the race results.

Taylor's time of 26.613 seconds captured first place at the Ultimate Speed Challenge Race at the 2014 All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio today. She won the Ultimate Speed Challenge for the second straight year.

Her dad, Bill Taylor of Neligh, said she is an excellent driver and performed exceptionally well today. The weather simply did not cooperate.

"Earlier in the day, the wind was blowing down the track and she had a good shot at the record," he said. "By the time she got to the starting ramps, the wind had switched to blowing up the hill. But it was still a great win and a great race. She kept it on the center line and never wavered the entire time down the lane."

Taylor claimed the victory after running six heats down the three-lane track at Derby Downs. 

And she significantly improved her 2013 winning time of 26.929 seconds. Taylor races for CSSN racing team with Jerry Pearson, Duane Delany, and Mark Estes as crew chiefs. This is her tenth year of racing. Taylor's soap box derby racing career began in 2004, and she began competing in the All-American Soap Box Derby in 2006.

Taylor will also compete in the Xooter Wheel Rally event tomorrow, in which the top three racers qualify for the finals on Saturday. Live streaming of the 77th Annual All-American Soap Box Derby can be viewed here.

A Neligh-Oakdale graduate, Taylor is currently a senior nursing student at Creighton University. She is the daughter of Bill and Donna Taylor of Neligh.

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