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Show Derby Is Greatest Amateur Race Event dise. Even the losers walk away with their share of gifts. The car winning the national finals becomes be-comes the property of the Ail-American Ail-American Soap Box Derby, Inc. , This racer is exhibited in many places to be studied and envied by boys the country over. Freddie Derks, the Springfield Township high school junior who won the Derby last year, put in 12 months of painstaking work on the racer with which he triumphed over 147 other contestants. Charles Muhl, Jr., of Cleveland, was faster, winning his first round heat in 27.03 seconds. Freddie won the race on consistency, 27.26 in the first round, the next three in identical times of 27.22 and the final in 27.16 seconds an unwavering un-wavering course in every heat. Members of the cheering crowd watching those Soap Box cars race under the flag-bedecked bridge of the finish line become lifetime fans. BY I. K. HEGEL THE greatest amateur racing event in the world, the 13th annual All-American Soap Box Derby, will be held nt Derby Downs in Akron, O., on Aug. 13. Entrants will race in two classes: Class A, school boys, age 13-15 inclusive; Class B, school boys, age 11-12 inclusive. Official rule books recently issued state that the racers rac-ers must be boy-built, a contestant using either power or hand tools in constructing his car and any method he chooses in painting. The cost is limited, all parts and materials, wood, nails, paint and hardware totaling $6. The combined com-bined weight of the car and the driver must not exceed 250 pounds and all drivers are weighed in at the topsicie, the term for the summit sum-mit of Derby Downs hill. Each car is closely examined and any. racer disqualified which might endanger the driver, other drivers or spectators. Drivers may also be disqualified if they have not built their own cars or if they show poor sportsmanship at the track. Boys have built racing cars ever since wheels were invented centuries cen-turies ago. It is believed the first Soap Box Derby was held way back in 1908. At that time several boys raced their homemade cars down Burkhardt Hill in Dayton, 0., and it was the success of this race that led eventually to the Internationa Soap Box Derby ; which Robert Turner of Muncie, Ind., won in 1D34. 1 . . . jOTHING can rival the Derby for pomp and pageantry. Pa-! Pa-! rades with giant rubber balloons, lively bands, visiting celebrities like the motion picture star Jim- my Stewart, and his bride who, last year, spent part of their hon-i hon-i eymoon at Akron in order not to miss the Derby. All this gives the Rubber City a holiday air. The contestants themselves add to the color. An Alaskan champion arrives, replete with fur parka, in spite of the August heat. At his side, a champ from Texas who wears a 10-gallon hat and boots. The boys come from 127 American cities, from Canada, from Alaska, from Panama, Pana-ma, from Mexico and even from Europe. A '49 visitor from Germany Ger-many was a round-eyed enthusiastic enthusi-astic boy who could not believe so much glittering excitement could be packed into a single day. Preceding the Derby, the boys enjoy dinners, picnics, excursions, presentation of gifts and plaques and, at last, the race itself at Derby Downs. All races are run on a system of elimination by heats. The cars start by gravity from a starting line and the car whose nose is over the finish line first is the winner. Thousands of spectators jam the grandstand and the bleachers which are never used except for this one annual event. Then comes the chills and the thrills. The chills occur when there is a spill for an occasional accident still takes place in spite of all the safety precautions. Thrills tingle when the racer with a familiar number is wheeled to the starting line. Often a story lies back of the number and the helmeted determined-faced boy at the wheel. JAST year Jimmy Singer was a prospective Soap Box contender who worked long hours constructing construct-ing his racer. Yet he was not too busy to carry a paper route for his pal, Jerry. It was while carrying this paper route for Jerry that Jimmy's bike skidded on some pebbles and Jimmy1 broke his leg and was hospitalized. Permission was given Jerry to run Jimmy's racer. Then came the momentous question: would Jerry fit in Jimmy's Jim-my's soap-box for the Derby cars are tailor-made for the builders. (Tom Fisher, champ of 1940, built his racer by sitting on his cellar floor and having his brother, Fred, draw a rough plan of his proposed soap box around him.) In this case Jerry did fit into Jimmy's racer. He did not win the Derby for Jimmy yet the drama dra-ma was there for all those who knew the story of the two chums. Derby prizes are generous. They include a four-year scholarship to a university, trips and merchan- |