ALTAMONT — The Capital District Soap Box Derby wants to call the Altamont fairgrounds its home, but it needs to raise $19,000 to do that.

Ginger Miller, the director of the Soap Box Derby, said the hill that the organization had used for the past decade, on Madison Avenue in Albany, could not be used this year, and the race was moved to State Street.

Miller feels that the Albany site was not as safe as it could be, because of potholes and general rough terrain.

The organization also faced tighter safety restrictions imposed by Mayor Kathy Sheehan, including paying to have neighboring streets shut off to traffic and providing police.

Miller was struggling to find corporate sponsors to pay for moving the race when a surprise came her way.

Thomas Haberbush, a Schenectady man who had contacted Miller a year ago, asking about volunteering with the Capital District Soap Box Derby, died on May 29, at age 83. In his obituary, he asked people to donate money to the organization, rather than send flowers.

Haberbush had competed in soap box derbies as a child and raced in the All-American Soap Box Derby world championships in Ohio.

The All-American Soap Box Derby was founded in 1934.

Miller said the Capital Region race typically has between 40 to 50 participants, between ages 7 and 20, three of whom go on to the championships in Ohio.

The organization has recently expanded to include what it calls Super Kids in the race.

“Super Kids are our special needs children,” said Miller. “It’s really the only sport in the world that completely disabled children can compete it.”

There are special derby cars built to hold two people that are driven by champion drivers.

With the contributions received from Haberbush’s request, Miller was able to hold the race in Albany in June, and some of the money will be used to send the three racers to Ohio next week.

But, said Miller, more donations are needed.

There is a hill near Gate 4 at the Altamont fairgrounds that is 500 feet long. It would be a perfect location for the derby race, said Miller, because it is “way in the back” and would not interfere with traffic or parking.

A standard derby-racing hill must be 1,000 feet long, so in order to move to Altamont, the organization needs to hire someone to build the hill up.

“It would be completely smooth pavement, making it really safe,” said Miller.

She received price quotes and said the minimum amount required is $19,000.

She, along with Haberbush’s two daughters, has applied for two different grants that, if received, would amount to $17,000.

“I think there is so much more interest in the derby in the Guilderland and Altamont area than in Albany,” said Miller. “We weren’t even getting many spectators in Albany anymore.”

There would be other benefits to having Capital District Soap Box Derby headquarters at the Altamont fairgrounds, too.

“It would be a place we could call our own and we would never have to ask permission to use it,” said Miller. “We could hold what we call rallies at the fair and during the Wine and Apple Fest, so essentially we could have more than one race per year.”

Miller hopes that, if the grants come through and enough donations are received, the hill at the fairgrounds will be finished in time to hold the race in June 2016.