John Peter (JP) Fedele, former race director of the Madison, Wisconsin Soap Box Derby and active volunteer for the FirstEnergy All-American Soap Box Derby since 1982, died in Madison on October 19 at 72 years old.
Fedele was inducted into the 2023 Soap Box Derby Hall of Fame.
He became race director in Madison in 1981, and served as director or assistant director until 2016. During many of those years, he also volunteered with the Racine race and, he coordinated sending the Madison local champs and their winning cars to compete in Australia. He served as a member of the All-American Soap Box Derby’s A-Team from 1986 through 2023, assisting in many technical activities such as inspecting and weighing race cars, testing cars’ brake systems and working in the run-out area and returning cars to Topside.