 History of Bristol's Soap Box
Derby
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| History of Bristol's Soap Box
Derby
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The Beginning years:
The All-American Soap Box Derby was originally
sponsored by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Corporation
and competitions around the country leading up to the national
Derby were sponsored, as they are still, by local groups in the
early 1930s. Competition was for youngster ages 11-15 and most of
the cars used in the competition were built from
wooden soap boxes - thus the name.
Through the years the rules have been updated as well as the
different categories youngsters could compete in.
The first race was held in 1934 in Dayton, Ohio, but was moved to
Akron the next year where the annual national competition, an
approximate one-fifth mile or 300 meters down hill race, is held
today.
The kids - now the girls as well as the boys, in different age
groups and situations, design and build their own motor less race
cars based on specifications called upon by the Soap Box Derby
organization. Also called the ``World's Gravity Grand
Prix,'' the on-going changes as time goes on produces an annual
updated booklet for participants to follow. However, the program
maintains it's basic format.
Through the years, many individuals and organizations have
volunteered their time to make Soap Box Derby a success for the
kids of Bristol.
The first mention of the program locally appeared in The Bristol
Press files in 1936 when Morris LaMothe was the winner of the
Soap Box Derby on Park Hill Road. The event was part of Fourth of
July events in the vicinity of Rockwell Park and Muzzy Field,
sponsored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Bristol. Louis
Kozikowski was second and Albert
Riccio was third.
By 1939 in the fourth annual local program, preliminary to
World War II after which the program was put on hold in
Bristol, Bristol's Soap Box Derby drew more than 3,000 spectators
to the races, held on Blakeslee St. on July 4th. The 1940 event
and the town's Fourth of July festivities were postpone because
of rain, but were scheduled for the following day.
World War II put the local program on hold, but following the
war, Soap Box Derby was revived in Bristol, thanks to volunteers
like Jim Kane, who directed the activity into the 1950s. The
Bristol Press wrote about the 1946 event, again head by Kane, a
sergeant in the Bristol Police Department. the program would be
part of the ``Welcome Celebration'' for
Bristol's soldiers.
The following year, the Press and Kane announced that the 1947
winner would be sent to Akron, Ohio, as what was billed as the
second annual soap Derby here.
In 1953, Bristol's program made a name for itself when it was
announced that the city of Bristol would have ``the eyes of the
Soap Box Derby world'' because it was going to stage the first of
150 competitions around the globe, doing so on a Main Street
course.
Watch for the
conclusion in a few weeks:
