Remembering Carol Anne

This year’s Soap Box Derby was special in more ways than one.

Not only did Culpeper host the world’s largest derby with 154 drivers speeding down Blue Ridge Avenue, but the drivers, pit crews and spectators also honored the memory of Carol Anne Brown — the long time soap box driver from Spotsylvania who passed away at 18 years of age earlier this year.

“Carol Anne meant the world to us,” Race Director Frankie Gilmore said. “She was intelligent, witty, charming, just beautiful and knew what was going on.”

Many of the drivers and pit crews wore silver buttons on their shirts and green and pink bracelets on their wrists emblazoned with Carol Anne’s favorite saying, “Nothing but eyes.”

“You want to get low enough when you race so that you’re only showing your eyes,” Carol Anne’s mother Michelle said. “Carol Anne always helped out with driving clinics and helped kid build cars. She just didn’t have any trouble communicating with children or adults.”

During her five year career as a soap box driver, Carol Anne won the derby’s sportsmanship award twice. So this year’s committee fittingly decided to rename the award the Carol Anne Brown Sportsmanship award and her brother Sean was voted the winner by the other drivers.

“A lot of it was because she took the time to go up to kids she didn’t even know and help them,” Michelle Brown said. “She was just kind to everyone and she was just very helpful.”

Carol Anne wasn’t the only member of the Brown family involved in soap box racing. In fact, the entire family keeps the third Saturday in June marked on their calendar.

“This is such a family event,” Michelle Brown said. “The kids get to meet other kids they don’t know and for some of them it’s the first time they get to feel the thrill of competition.”

Pride and emotion was painted all over Michelle’s face as Sean — a five-year veteran driver — advanced to the second round of the Super Stock Division bracket with a win in his second trip down the hill Saturday.

“I feel pretty good because I know I have Carol Anne on my side,” Sean said. “I’m pretty much racing for her and I really want to win.”

Carol Anne’s younger sister Erin also braved the sun and the rain to be at Saturday’s race. After competing as a driver for five years herself, Erin decided to trade in her car and helmet for a megaphone as she spent most of the day in the pits helping to organize the throngs of cars waiting to be launched down the hill.

“The derby has been really important to my family,” Erin said. “Last year, Carol Anne did what I’m doing. She lined up the cars and made everything run so smooth. We’re really out here doing this for the community and for her.”

As if three drivers and a camera-wielding mom weren’t enough, the Browns also have a family member on the derby’s original committee. Carol Anne’s father Todd — who also spent Saturday in the pits helping drivers get ready — has been on the soap box committee from the very beginning and has seen how the race has grown over the years.

“This is the best man,” Todd said. “To see us start with 35 cars and rocket to the top so quick is amazing. A lot of power and compassion from Frankie (Gilmore), the Troilos and the committee has made this possible.”

With such a tight-knit, supportive family around her, it’s no wonder Carol Anne Brown was such a special person and no wonder why she is missed by so many people.