Going

                  Downhill

                               Fast:

 

This vintage Soap Box Derby banner shows Old No. 7, one of the original racers. It was built by

Robert Gravett of Dayton, Ohio.  It did not win, but was featured on the Derby logo for the next 35 years!

 

 

The All American Soap Box Derby

 

On July 22, 2006, amateur racers from all over the United States will converge on Akron, Ohio for the 69th running of the All American Soap Box Derby.  The Soap Box Derby was the brainchild of Myron E. Scott, a photographer for a Dayton, Ohio newspaper.  After encountering some boys racing downhill in coasters built from discarded buggy wheels, wooden crates and whatever else they could scrounge in the local alleys, Scott suggested to the boys that they should assemble on the following weekend to race and he would take photographs for the newspaper and offer a trophy for the winner.  Nineteen boys showed up with their homemade race cars, and a tradition was born. 

Scott copyrighted the idea, and went on to establish, with the sponsorship of the newspaper, the Soap Box Derby as a venue where youngsters could race their homemade race cars to compete for an increasingly large purse. 

In 1934, that first organized race was held in Dayton.  The next year, it was moved to Akron, which had better hills for the coasters.  Derby Downs was built in Akron, as a project of the Works Progress Administration, and has been home to every Soap Box Derby since 1935. 

The news of the Soap Box Derby spread like wildfire.  By 1936, Norman Newman from Pretoria, South Africa, became the first foreign competitor.  The Derby gained more sponsors, like Chevrolet and BF Goodrich and was even broadcast on the radio.  Politicians and movie stars alike flocked to the Soap Box Derby.  Jimmy Stewart was a regular attendee, as was Ronald Reagan, and Dinah Shore.

 

 A City Champion Jacket 

 

 

 

 

No other race requires that the driver must build his or her own vehicle, and the rules governing the construction, cash outlay and design of the vehicle were strictly enforced.

 

 

Trophy from the 1955 San Diego Race

 

This button has some collector value; it was in 1972 that Chevrolet ceased sponsorship of the Soap Box Derby. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                    

The thrill of the hunt; a colorful collection of Soap Box Derby memorabilia from the 1950s.