ANDERSON — For Brooks Townsend, it has all been downhill, in a manner of speaking.
Townsend is best known in Anderson for his success and involvement in the Soap Box Derby. In fact, he recently was inducted into that sport’s Hall of Fame.
And the hill that is used in Anderson for the Soap Box Derby bears the family name.
But now Townsend has a new downhill pursuit with an even greater global reach.
He is designing a bobsled that just might be used in the next Winter Olympics. Some of the same talents that helped him design championship Soap Box Derby cars are being put to use in this current pursuit.
“I graduated from GM Tech,” Townsend said. “I was a senior engineer at Guide Lamp. I have been involved with Soap Box Derby for 55 years.”
Although much of the design strategy for making fast cars doesn’t directly translate to bobsleds, some of it indeed helps.
“It helped me with my thought process in designing the sleds,” he said. “Most of my ideas didn’t work. I want to the sled to make nearly as many trips down the course as I have with the Derby cars.”
His design partner in this project is friend Ollie Brower, who lives in Utah.
“We’re all retired,” Townsend said. “We have submitted hundreds of e-mails back and forth. We build the molds here and ship them to Germany.”
“The impact that Brooks has made on the design is very large,” Brower said. “The design team had many obstacles to overcome and Brooks was an integral part of determining these factors. Brooks did design some parts of the sled by himsefl which we feel are very important to its speed.”
The team is also taking on big money in pursuit of having the fastest U.S. sled.
“Steve Holcomb is driving for (former NASCAR driver) Todd Bodine,” Townsend said. “We’re holding our own. At least I can say I did my best. If we can beat the Bodine team that would be very gratifying.”
Todd Hays is the team’s driver, and it should never be underestimated the impact he can have on the result.
“The driver impacts the speed of the sled significantly,” Brower said. “The drive and the push are the two most critical aspects of winning.”
The sled has to weigh at least 375 lbs. empty, and the total weight with the athletes can’t be more than 860 lbs. That means each member of the 2-man team can weight no more than 242 lbs. counting helmet and gear.
The next step for the team came Monday when the first part of the National Team Trials began in Lake Placid, N.Y. The trials run through Oct. 15. Part 2 comes four days later in Park City, Utah.
The schedule remains hectic and nearly non-stop leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympic opening ceremonies on Feb. 12, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The two-man competition there will be held Feb. 20-21.
Anderson’s downhill king could yet play a role in that competition.
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A whole new kind of hill
Soap Box Derby legend Brooks Townsend designing bobsleds
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