Motion Pictures The Soap Box Derby in 1963

Here is a few more from the All American in Akron. Each local winner would go to Akron for a week and stay at camp Why-No-Ah. We had one race in Massachuetts and I want to say 30 to 40 cars for the Senior division. The All American was something like 150 cars. During the week you would go to Derby Downs and prep for the race. Things like tech inspection, weigh in, trial runs, etc.

Btw, My dad sprayed my car for me (in Enamel). The Orange came from him mixing a bunch of colors together to come up with enough paint. Another of my uncles (also from Akron) did the lettering for me. Note that in these pictures the car has the lettering of the local soap box derby. It was in the rule book that you had to leave the middle of the car blank so that they could letter it if you won.

 

Harris County opened a brand-new derby track in Hockley, TX last year.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/falkenberg/6935529.html

 

The soap box derby wasn't in my area as a kid but I built more than enough home-made cars to learn alot.
Bowling Green ended up building a track a few years ago. When my wife's little brother was about 10 or so, we built and raced a soap box car. The amount of money that can get sunk into one adds up quick (especially paint and graphics), the amount of time it takes mounted up even quicker.
Anyway, we built this car and had it looking great. Her little bro. makes his first run and gets beat by an inch or so. He comes walking up the hill to where our family was hanging out/cheering him on and says "If we get beat one more time, we get to go home!"
Damn kid.

 

We didn't have in our area either. I think it's really neat though. I looked it up for my boy, damn, how am I going to wait until he turns 8? The wife wasn't too thrilled about the cost of the kit either! Haha!

 

I raced in 67 & 68 in the Phoenix Soap Box Derby, Won my 1st heat and lost my second to the Derby winner by a nose! I also was awarded best constructed. I remember we could spend no more than $50 in materials. Great memories of those days.

 

Information on the track in Hockley, Texas is at www.ghsbd.org
Race schedule and track photos are posted on the site. Track was built to have the same characteristics as the track in Akron.

 

That's awesome, makes me want to build one!!!!

 

Good idea, I could build another one too! Oh wait, I'd have to enter the Old Fart Derby.

 

Here's a picture of my Father-in-law winning the 1935 (2nd) Soap Box Derby

 

I brought the wife and kids a to a race in Greenwich, CT two years ago. It was fantastic. They raced right down Greenwich Ave. Turns out one of my kids had a friend who's Dad was one of the sponsors. A LOT goes into the planning of those events. At the bottom were a lot of grown up exotics from Miller Motor Cars (Bentleys and Aston Martins and the like) and a real world record holding Lakes Speedster! for the kids and us parents to gawk at. It was a treat.
We were away for part of last summer. I hope they do it again this time around.

 

Now that is cool! Any more pics of the car?

 

Yes, but I will have to hunt for them. The car is in Akron and we saw it it a few years ago. I have pictures of my wife sitting in it. I have 4 brothers-in-law and a mother-in-law and none of them have ever seen it !!

 

As stated in the rule book, all winners of the All-American finals become property of the All-American so they have all the winning cars. I think they used to keep the 2 & 3 cars for a year (because of the cheating scandal in the late 60s/early 70s where the kid had a big magnet in the nose of the car (the ramp releases where steel).

 

Yeah I heard about the magnet. Pretty shitty. They finally found what was up when they x rayed the car. Found a bank of 9v batteries, wire inside the body wood, triggered by a micro switch behind the helmet brace.

Someone was video taping the races, showed the officials that the particular car was always coming out further ahead off the start than any other car even in the other classes.

Officials knew something was up, car owner would not admit cheating, argued about taking the car to x ray, officials won the debate because all cars are the property of Soap Box Derby and have the right to do whatever.

 

I raced Soapbox in the mid 60"s too. My brother and I both made cars from salvaged wood we dragged home. It was the first year they allowed a front mounted brake in the cars. I had the only car in the race with the front brake, and it works a whole lot better than the old cable operated rear brakes. I was going to be disqualified for the brake untill i showed the officials the rule book that showed the "new" brake style. I was stopping about 30 feet shorter than all the other cars too. I lost to the guy that was the eventual runner up and I had him beat till mid track where the manhole covers were, as i bounced ans swerved over the bumpy covers he caught me, no one could win in that left lane! I called my car The Chrome Coffin, after the 'Lil Coffin show car and painted that on the side, then I got "sponsered" by the local ambulance company, they paid for the wheels and axles, so on the side of my car it said " Smiths Ambulance Chrome Coffin"

 

Thanks for bringing back some Great Memories ! I was in the Derby for all of the 5 years that was allowed, in the early 60's. I ran a post on another site I belong to, and got zero responses, so this is Cool. The derby was an on the job training pogram in teaching me how to use hand, and some power tools. My dad was in the derby in 1938, and passed down his wisdom to me. However, he would "NOT" build my cars for me, as many of the other Dad's did for there kids, and would only help and advise me. I was Very Lucky, in that our race hill was located at Aerojet General in Sacramento County, and was an exact duplicate of the hill in Akron Ohio. Everything came to an end, when a girl ran her car into the parking lot, and under a truck, and the lawsuits closed the hill down.

Wayne