With grit, family support, and smart engineering, Gabi is making her dream come true—racing independently in the local Bowling Green, Kentucky Soap Box Derby and inspiring her community.
Written by Adam Ferguson for Gray News, June 26, 2025
An 8-year-old girl is proving that no obstacle is too big when there’s a dream to race. Born with a physical disability that left her with legs that didn’t develop below the knee, 8-year-old Gabi Bilbrey dreamed of racing her own vehicle in the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club Soap Box Derby.
In 2024, Gabi had her first taste of competition when she was allowed to ride as a second in the 2-manned vehicle competition. “I’ve done it last year and I felt I did pretty good,” Gabi said. “I’d like to maybe do it on my own. Last year, somebody drove it for me, so I didn’t drive it.”
Gabi was determined not to be a passenger again in 2025, and so her family and Kiwanian, David Holland, worked for weeks to build a soap box car that would allow her to race.
“The brake is different and it’s not like a switch,” Gabi said. “We used to have one of the ones where I pull, but I just wasn’t strong enough to brake.”
Traditionally, soap box derby cars have a foot pedal brake system, but an entirely different style of brakes had to be used in order to allow Gabi to safely stop the vehicle at the finish line.
“It has a pneumatic cylinder that activates the brake as opposed to a handbrake like we tried before,” explained Gabi’s father, Travis Bilbrey. The pneumatic brakes allowed Gabi to live out her dream while still racing a competition-legal vehicle.
“It’s a great thing because it puts Gabi on the same level playing field as other kids her age, so we can compete at the same activities and at the same level that they do,” Travis Bilbrey said. “It’s really great to see her take the initiative to want to do things on her own and have that drive to overcome those obstacles.”