Spencerport Rotary sponsors boy who becomes Soap Box Derby champion while battling leukemia
by Grace Griffee
As Adam Turner stands next to his four-foot trophy and soap box derby car, he is the picture of health and happiness. The Greece Olympia High School freshman placed fifth in the world in the Rally Master’s Division at this year’s All-American Soap Box Derby Championship in Akron, OH. He’s also a high honor roll student with distinction, Freshman Class president, bowled the high game in the Section V Championship this year, and plays six musical instruments.
One would never know that Adam accomplished all of this while battling leukemia for three and a half years. He’d much rather talk about the Soap Box Derby.
Adam was seven when his great uncle, Dick Turner, a Rotarian, told his dad, Jim Turner, about the Soap Box Derby and Spencerport Rotary Club’s sponsorship. Adam was interested so they met up with Mark Scuderi, president of the Greater Rochester Soap Box Derby and regional director of the NYS All-American Soap Box Derby, along with Milt Danko, chairman of the Spencerport Rotary Soap Box Derby, and a team from the Brockport Kiwanis Club.
“That was one cold and snowy night, but we built the cars,” said Scuderi. “At the time, kids had to be eight to race, so Adam wasn’t even old enough.” Now, boys and girls ages 7-17 can participate in the Derby.
Racers are required to help put their cars together and both adults and kids pitch in wherever they’re needed. “The Derby is not about rolling down a hill. It’s about building self-confidence,” said Scuderi.
When Adam didn’t feel well, his father was still there to help the other racers. “It’s all about the families and caring about kids,” said Turner. “You don’t need to have a kid to be involved.”
That camaraderie and caring attitude helped to get Adam through the toughest time in his young life. He began racing at age eight, then in May 2010 he was diagnosed with leukemia. “I couldn’t race that year because I was in the hospital and missed a lot of school,” said Adam. He credits his teachers for being lenient and giving him extra time to complete his assignments so he wouldn’t fall behind.
“Every one of the adults involved in the Derby would have traded places with Adam,” said Scuderi. At the annual banquet that year, he wanted nothing more than to have him there to accept the Sportsmanship Award – the most important award he gives out all year. Adam surprised everyone and walked in to accept his award. “There were about 200 people in the room and not one dry eye,” said Scuderi.
Responsible for reviving the Soap Box Derby in Rochester after a 20-year hiatus, Scuderi said he believes it is his calling and seeing how it has affected Adam’s life confirms his belief. At the age of 10, Scuderi also had a near death experience where he was dragged from the bottom of a swimming pool. Not long after that he was encouraged to look into Soap Box Derby racing. Raised without a father, Scuderi and his mother didn’t have the money, so he sought a sponsor and found one in Harry Miller, a famous lock inventor.
Miller took the young Scuderi under his wing and not only sponsored his car, but helped him build it and became a father figure. When Scuderi became a father himself, he told his children about the Derby and his middle child, Julie, expressed an interest in racing. After a race in Grand Island, NY, he received 400 calls from people who wanted him to bring the Soap Box Derby back to Rochester.
The Greater Rochester Soap Box Derby now holds six races over four weekends throughout the year, has become the first city to race indoors and holds more races than anywhere in the world, according to Scuderi. The season culminates with the All-American Soap Box Derby Championship in Akron, Ohio.
Adam has competed in Akron three times, but almost didn’t race this year. “I didn’t feel well and my body hurt, but I had accumulated enough points and some good friends were racing, so I wanted to go,” he said.
The Championship, which takes place at the end of July, is a week of festivities and races. The 19 Rochester families who went bring local items, like 13 WHAM T-shirts of the Week, to throw out to the crowd during the opening parade. And kids from around the world exchange buttons and phone numbers. Several days of races take place, including the Masters, which features traditional, more sophisticated cars and is the division in which Adam competed.
“I don’t really like Masters because it’s very tight in the car and I can’t see well,” said Adam, who prefers to race in the rain. Despite his dislike of that division, he crossed the finish line in car #515, coming in fifth in the world.
Less than two months later, Adam completed his last chemotherapy treatment and will finish his medication at the end of the month. “The Soap Box Derby made it easier to get through the treatments,” he said. “It helped being busy and being around my friends.”
Adam hopes to earn a bowling scholarship when he graduates high school and then go to college to become a math or band teacher.
9/22/13
