Soapbox Racing by J. Blue Spicer

Ever since Vivian saw the video of her brother Stewart's first soapbox race, she wanted to get involved. At first, Stewart was hesitant. Vivian was two years younger, but it was not necessarily her age that discouraged her participation—it was that Vivian liked to start a lot of things but never finish them. She had tried ballet, softball, swimming, and chess club and gave up months, sometimes even weeks, into the activity. However, Stewart let her help keep his soapbox racer in good shape by showing her how to do simple repairs and eventually, how to build her own.
As the weeks went by, Vivian only grew more interested. Stewart came home after school one day to a commotion in the garage. Fearing what Vivian was doing to his racer, he burst into the garage to see the skeleton of a new racer. Vivian was building her own soapbox car from scratch! Stewart offered to help, but Vivian insisted she do it herself. Stewart chuckled and let her go about her own business, knowing Vivian’s effort would be wasted. Dad had helped Stewart build his, and it still needed improvements.
The next soapbox race notice came in the mail, and Stewart was excited, until Vivian stated that she wanted to race as well. No one had seen Vivian's racer, which she kept hidden under a mountain of blankets and tarps in the corner of the garage. Since she began building her own racer, Stewart had refused her help to fix his own car. When their parents gave Vivian permission to race, she was giddy and Stewart was upset. He told her she was going to be embarrassed because her car would not be any good. She shrugged it off, and offered to help Stewart fix up his race, but again, he refused.
Stewart's mom had helped him take his car to the race while Dad stayed behind to help Vivian load her car for the race. As Stewart wheeled his racer to the starting line, he saw a fantastic car coming from the makeshift pits. He did a double take when he realized that it was Vivian's car. It looked amazing, with its wheels polished and bright just as Vivian had done for Stewart's racer. The next time he saw its gleam was when it passed him halfway down the hill and took first prize.