Teams

FITZ'S

Garage Headquarters: University City, MO

Driver: Elgen Newton

Mechanics: To be announced

Nuts and Bolts:

If anything can match soapbox racing for all-American nostalgia, it's a root beer stand. A homemade car, speeding down a hill…Smooth, foamy root beer in a frosty glass mug… Ahhh, those were the days. In St. Louis, however, those days aren't over, as the "Fitz's" team combines both of the sentimental favorites in one hugely appealing entry.

Originally a drive-in, Fitz's Root Beer was established in 1947, just in time for the post-war boom years (and the heyday of youth soapbox racing). St. Louis area residents would cruise over in their big, whitewalled, Detroit-made autos for burgers, fries, and – especially – secret-recipe root beer. The restaurant closed when the owner retired in 1970, but the original root beer recipe was resurrected for bottling and eventually became available on tap again in 1993, when Fitz's American Grill & Bottling Works opened in the Delmar Loop. Fittingly, the Fitz's car that team driver Elgen Newton will steer at Forest Park is styled to look like a 1950's hot rod (albeit one with its own root beer keg aboard). But Newton, a Fitz's staff member, is making sure that the entry has a cutting-edge chassis underneath its mid-century shell – the root beer advocate is also a veteran motocross racer who always likes to barrel ahead of his competitors.