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QUINCY, ILL. -- 73 brave kids raced down 18th street in Quincy Saturday to help families struggling with childhood cancer.

The 8th annual Soap Box Derby brought in a record number of entries.

Those racers worked hard to get ready for the big day.

"Training and practicing going down hills," first time racer, Ben Miller said. "When I signed up, somebody pushed me and I was practicing my steering and my braking."

In he and his fellow racer's opinion, the hard work was worth it when their wheels hit the pavement.

"You go down the hill, it's really fun. It isn't that scary at all," Noah Krause, a season Soap Box Derby racer, said.

"It feels pretty good because the wind is blowing in your face and it's just really fun," Ben said.

For those who helped with the race, the best part was something else all together.

"It's pretty fun seeing them get all excited and emotional about the races," Jacob Paul said. Paul is one of the football players who helped pull away the cars when they made it down the hill.

The Breakfast Optimist Club puts on the Soap Box Derby races to raise money for families that are dealing with childhood cancer. Currently the club is helping four families with the costs or traveling back and forth to St. Louis for treatment.

"Some of these treatments take as long as two years and insurance will cover a lot of things, but it won't cover gas, food lodging, anything like that. If they need a car repair ... insurance doesn't cover those things," Ray Wilson, the director of the event said.

Kaelyn Hess won "Rookie of the Year" and winner of the stock car division, and Cainin Roff won the superstock car division.