Every day 5,800 people contract HIV. Another 5,700 die from AIDS.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity has brought back a philanthropic concept from the 1970s to raise funds this week for prevention of the disease and AIDS education.

Kart racing has been absent from the fraternity’s philanthropy for almost 30 years, but tomorrow the dormant tradition will continue on the streets of Klickitat Lane. At 3:30 p.m., 10 wooden derby karts filled with participating sorority members will zoom down the street to win first place in the SPE Karts philanthropy derby.

Members of the fraternity rediscovered the idea of using a soapbox kart race to raise money after talking to fraternity alumni who remember it fondly.

“We have certainly brought the event back with style,” said junior David Schmidt, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon who is participating in the event. The fraternity included a car show in Red Square to the events for this week, which featured more than $12 million worth of automobiles, as well as an American Gladiator event held yesterday evening.

About 40 rare and expensive cars, including two Porcsche Carrera GT’s and a Mercedes CLK DTM AMG, were displayed on the bricks on Red Square. Last weekend, sororities decorated homemade derby karts and displayed them alongside the cars vehicles.

Despite a chance of rain, an estimated 1,000 people filtered through the exhibition on Sunday.

Corey Krzan, the philanthropy chair, helped to organize the event.

“It started in October when a group of five to six people met weekly,” he said. Two goals for the event were to be successful and timeless.

Junior Irene Pagpaguitan, a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, has been participating in the event all week.

“They’ve never done this before,” she said of the event. “I don’t know any other house that has done this. It’s such a creative idea, and it’s not just playing games and doing relays; it’s different.”

Seattle company Mirrorworks Detail teamed up with the fraternity to help organize exhibitors and gain access to display automobiles in Red Square. The business also enabled free entry to the show due to a generous donation, wrote Jonathan Cats, lead organizer of the event, in a letter sent out to exhibitors. However, further donations were strongly encouraged. Other funds were drawn from entry fees paid by sororities to take part in the competition.

Students, faculty and visitors to the UW voted on their favorite automobiles and derby karts during the event, and the winner will be announced after Thursday’s kart race. A large trophy will be presented to the winning sorority.

Schmidt said he considers the philanthropy “a huge success” because both members from the Greek community and the general public were involved.

“We are excited to make this an annual tradition from now on,” Schmidt said.

[Reach reporter Chantal Anderson at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]