Push of a button

With the single push of a button, a quick burst of energy escaped the competitors. A little more than a second later, the race came to an end.

At the finish line, Aaron Edwards’ wooden car, which was less than a foot in length, arrived first to achieve victory in the Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation Job Expo car race. Like most of Edwards’ races during the event, the nose of his car broke off the toy-size vehicle.

“I wasn’t for sure who was going to win,” he said. “I thought it might be her because my car broke five times.”

Edwards, a Central High senior, was hand dryer racing Brooke Browning, another Central High senior. In fact, the top four vehicles in the competition were from Central High.

Two vehicles stood with their noses at the starting line. Spectators leaned forward in the seats, ready to spring either in triumph or in congratulations.

In the first qualifying round, Edwards had one of the fastest times of those students who won their first race.
But it was the last race that mattered most. When he faced off against Browning, a silence fell over the crowd.

Edwards won by 0.12 of a second. For his success, he received $1,000. He said he was going to use some of the money to work on his real car and put some away for college. Browning, who took second place, got $600.

Other winners included Clint Russell of Central High for third place, Kenny Taylor of Empire and Red River Technology Center for People’s Choice, Winston Walters of Walters for the Turtle Award, Carley Norton for second in entrepreneurship and Dakotah Brown for first in entrepreneurship. David Neace, teacher at Central High, said he was happy his students did so well in the competition.

“It was awesome,” Neace said. “We used it as a physics project. The students had a good time. They thought of their own designs.”

Edwards said he was thankful for multiple chances to race his car, although it broke nearly every time and for the glue holding out during each race.
This was the beginning of program and of a running joke during the event.

When his car arrived at the finish line during his first race, the nose broke immediately. While some might have given up, Edwards took the time before the end of the qualifying round to drive to the store to pick up some much-needed glue.

“When it broke during the qualifying round, I was unhappy about it,” he said. “I thought, it can’t be over before the race has even really begun.”

Once he got back to the Simmons Center with super-strong glue in hand, he applied some to the nose of his racing machine.

“The hand dryer in the bathroom was how we dried it,” Edwards said.

In the second race, the car still won its race, but the nose of the car broke again. With another application of glue, the car, named “Blade,” returned for another round.

In almost all the races in which Edwards’ entry competed, the nose and the car ended the race separated. Regardless of how much glue was put on the nose of the vehicle, the car kept winning, however.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License