Soap box racers today, engineers tomorrow in Coweta County

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — 14-year-old Hunter Webb couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel.

“It was very fast and fun,” he said.

The Coweta County teen was part of the first class of the Downhill Dreams Academy.

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Engineers at the Yamaha plant in Newnan introduced students to STEM, and together they built soap box derby-style race cars.

On Monday they did some test runs.

“Man! When they saw them they were like, wow,” Yamaha fabricator Lazarus Booker said.

“I’d say they get going 15 to 20 miles an hour,” Yamaha Vice President Bob Brown said.

The nonprofit Coweta County Foundation teamed up with Yamaha to provide scholarships to kids from underserved communities. The goal is to help them follow their dreams.

“The kids from this year’s scholarships come from Boys & Girls Clubs here in Coweta, and they get to work hands-on with the engineers,” Foundation CEO Kristin Webb said.

Webb says he may have discovered his calling.

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“It was like engineering 101. So I’m planning on going into engineering,” Webb said.

The cars will be in action Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. at the Coweta Grand Prix on the square in downtown Newnan.

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