“It’s great that they got this going again,” said Martin, now 95 years old and still living in the North Lyon Street home he built in 1950. “It’s nice to get the kids involved.”

Martin stood near the start line the entire morning, watching kids pile in their boxcars and zip down Ellicott.

He recalled racing in 1938, 1939 and in 1940, when he was 13 and won, earning a trip to the national competition in Akron, Ohio.

“I was eliminated in the first heat,” he said. “They had some fast cars.”

His car later was donated to the Holland Land Office Museum, where it was on display for years before David Martin retrieved it and stored it in his home, appropriately enough at the bottom of the hill on Ellicott Avenue.

Saturday’s event drew about 100 people and proved to be a popular idea from BID, which distributed 28 kits to families.

A total of 26 children ended up racing, none with a more vocal cheering section than Levi Bennett of Warsaw, whose sisters and brother and cousin erupted in a chorus of “Let’s go Levi!” every time Levi was ready to race.

Levi, 9, had a stone look of determination on his face as he made the semifinals in a whirlwind three races in a row.

His competition in the finals was Brett Doward, 10, whose grandfather, Tom Kemp, is a racer at Genesee Speedway and other Western New York tracks and helped Brett build his boxcar.

Retired county manager Jay Gsell and retired police detective Rich Schauf took hold of Levi’s car and pushed it to the top of the steep ramp.

Levi ignored the cheering and focused straight ahead.

Brett was just as determined and when the starter called for the race to begin, both flew off the ramp and headed straight down the street.

After conferring, race officials made a decision: Levi and Brett would race again.

This time, Brett’s car, -28 just like his grandfather’s cars, proved a bit faster and he was declared champion.

Levi walked over and the two shook hands.

The rest of the racers took losing in stride.

“I should have tightened the wheel,” Keegan Calmes, 12, said after a front wheel sheared off as soon as his car hit the pavement. “That’s OK.”

He and his dad, Justin, built the car together.

Isaiah Munroe helped his sons, Maxwell, 7, and Masyn, 7, work on their derby cars. “This is awesome,” he said. “I got a lot of go-kart parts around and we had a lot of fun.”

Brett’s name will be added to a plaque in the BID office, one that is dedicated to the Suozzi family of Batavia.