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Scenes of Celebration: The Soapbox Derby Trophy Ceremony

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What, exactly, do winners take home at the Soapbox Derby? As per tradition, the prize is a trophy that another artist designed for them — an award suited for downright weird but always beautiful categories. In 2022, more than 250 artists and fabricators collaborated on art-on-wheels to compete for titles like “Most San Francisco” and “Most Graceful Wipeout” and a slate of artist-designed trophies. The cars took various forms, including recognizable food items, animals, everyday objects, and tributes to our local landscape. The trophies, meanwhile, took gloriously unrecognizable forms. Put simply, these are not your average trophies.

See them below, and learn about the Trophy Artists and many of the Car Artists whose generosity brought the Soapbox Derby back after a 44-year hiatus. A comprehensive recap will arrive in Summer 2022, in a documentary that is free to stream.


Fastest Looking

 

Most Amorphous

 

Most Illusory

 

Most Flamboyant

 

Best of the Worst

 

Best Pun

 

Best Copilot

 

Most Endearing

 

Best Engineered

 

“Miss Congeniality”

 

Most San Francisco

 

The Best Out of the Box Car Reinvention of the Wheel

 

Most Decadent

 

Most Delicious

 

Softest

 

Slowest

 

Most Joyful

 

Most Bodily

 

Funkiest

 

2nd Fastest

 

Most Colorful

 

Most Spiritual

 

Most Graceful Wipeout

 

Most Outrageous

 

Most Impractical

 

Noisiest

 

Car That Looks the Worst After Crashing Before Halfway Down the Track

 

Least Serious

 

Least Assembled

 

Most Macabre

 

Clunkiest

 

Most Natural

 

Kid’s Choice Award

 

Most Circular

 

Most Alive

 

1st Fastest

 

Participation Trophy

 

Gratitude to All 2022 Participants + Partners

Trophy Artists

Jessalyn Aaland
Jasko Begovic
Jeff Canham
Ilana Crispi
Cruise
Andy Diaz Hope
James Finnegan
Caitlyn Galloway
John Gnorski
Matt Goldberg
Aaron Gonzalez
Mike Henderson
Cliff Hengst
Liz Hernández
Walter Hood
Melody Kozma-Kennedy
Amy Lange
Chip Lord
Cathy Lu
Mission High School
The North Face
Leah Rosenberg
The San Francisco School
Muzae Sesay
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon
Sun Night Editions
Paige Valentine
Mel Vera Cruz
Benjamin Vilmain
Ryan Whelan
Jenifer K. Wofford
Wanxin Zhang

Car Artists + Teams

Aerostation (San Francisco Art Institute MFA students)
David Andre + The Robot Wolves
Michael Arcega + San Francisco State students
Avila Rose Signs (Lauren Rose D’Amato + Isaac Vazquez Avila)
Binta Ayofemi
Mark Baugh-Sasaki + Masako Miyazaki
Bella Donna Artiste (Addendum24 + LE BohemianMuse)
Terry Berlier’s “Resisting Monuments at the End of the World” class (Stanford students)
Book & Wheel (Kate Connell + Oscar Melara)
Jason “Jay” Broemmel
John Casey
Catherine Theilen Burke + San Francisco Unified School District students
Max Chen
Windy Chien
Kevin Convertito
Lisa Rybovich Crallé + Clarke Selman
Cruise
Ron Covell
Reniel Del Rosario
Joey Enos
Aaron Gach
Girls Garage
Bradley Gottesman
Oscar Grande
Taro Hattori + California College of the Arts students
Shawn HibmaCronan
Oliver Hawk Holden + Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll
Nathan Homchick + Sonny Smith
David Huebner
Liz Hui
joan5000 (Kate Rhoades + Carrie Hott)
The LAST Car (Stephen Gulau, Lukas Kuczynski, Ava Morton + tamara suarez porras)
Macro Waves
Justin Marshall, Agana + Vogue TDK
Christopher Martin
Alina Martinez
Masako Miki + Trevor Sherard
Mission Science Workshop
Nasim Moghadam
Alex Morris + Noah Pilchen
Keith Mueller + City College of San Francisco Engineering Club
Muni Toons (Janet Delaney, Sam Haynor + Crystal Vielula)
The North Face
Rock Paper Scissors Collective (led by Kristi Holohan + Lionel McNeely)
SCRAP
Shaw Weiss (Richard Shaw, Martha Shaw + Gregor Weiss)
Shawborg (Whitney Shaw-Brandborg, Torin Brandborg + Alice Shaw)
Jonathan Spring
Stink Studios
Team Pineapple (Robert van de Walle)
Tight Quarters (Jeffrey Larrimore + Michelle Nguyen)
Urban Ed Academy
Hans von Clemm
Katherine Ward
Lindsey White + San Francisco Art Institute Photography students
The Wide Awakes (represented by Hank Willis Thomas, Helen Banach + Smilee Barnacle)
Chris Wood + John O’Connell High School students

Judges + Emcees

The Judging Panel
La Doña, musician and activist
Dorcas Moulton, racer in the 1975 Soapbox Derby (creator of the “bread car”)
Per Sia, drag queen and educator
Amanda Pope, filmmaker and educator (director of the 1975 Soapbox Derby documentary)

Event Emcees
Kumasi Aaron, morning anchor for ABC7 News Bay Area
Pendarvis Harshaw, host of Rightnowish on KQED-FM; columnist for KQED Arts

Performers + Musicians

Chulita Vinyl Club
Science Band!
TNT Traysikel karaoke

Sponsors + Partners

The Lead Sponsor for SFMOMA’s Soapbox Derby at McLaren Park 2022 is The North Face.

The North Face Logo.

 

Additional Sponsors include Bank of America and Cruise.

Bank of America logo. Cruise logo.

 

Film Production generously provided by Stink Studios.


 

Media Sponsors include Cumulus Media, KGO, KNBR, KSAN, NBC Bay Area, and Telemundo 48.

 

SFMOMA’s partners in hosting the derby are San Francisco Recreation & Parks and SF Parks Alliance.