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United States of America
All-American Soap Box Derby
Bronze Token 37mm x 36mm (12.66 grams)
ALL-AMERICAN SOAP BOX DERBY TELEGRAPH CHAMPION, Men with flags within square.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1933. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, relying completely upon gravity to move.
In the wake of the first car races, local youth auto races took place in the US at a very early stage. In 1914 the motion picture Kid Auto Races at Venice starring Charlie Chaplin was shown in the cinemas.
In 1933 Myron Scott, a photographer for Dayton, Ohio, newspaper Dayton Daily News, saw Robert A. Gravett and friends racing down a hill in Dayton Ohio and put together an impromptu race for 19 boys. There was so much interest that Scott arranged a bigger race, with prize money for August 19. “An amazing crowd of 362 kids showed up with homemade cars built of orange crates, sheet tin, wagon and baby-buggy wheels….”
The following year, the first All-American race was held on August 19, 1934. The national winner was Robert Turner of Muncie, Indiana, who made his car from the wood of a saloon bar.
In 1935, the race was moved from Dayton to Akron because of its central location and hilly terrain. An accident in 1935 captured the public’s interest, and boosted the event’s profile. A car went off the track and struck NBC’s top commentator and sportscaster Graham McNamee while he was broadcasting live on the air. Despite a concussion and other injuries (which resulted in a two-week hospital stay), McNamee described the collision to his listeners and finished his broadcast.
In 1936, Akron civic leaders recognized the need for a permanent track site for the youth racing classic, and through the efforts of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Derby Downs became a reality.
In 1946, the town of Mission, British Columbia, acquired the rights to the Western Canada Soapbox Derby Championships and the Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce, previously named the Mission City & District Board of Trade, organized the event annually until 1973.
During the All American Soapbox Derby’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s–when Chevrolet was a sponsor and famous TV and movie stars made guest appearances–as many as 70,000 people gathered in August to eat snow cones and cheer hundreds of youthful racer/builders (boys only in early years) ages 11–15 who were the champions of local races around the nation and from several foreign countries.
In 1947, actor James Stewart was appearing in the Broadway play Harvey. In order to attend the event, he cancelled a weekend’s worth of performances and refunds were issued to ticketholders.
At its peak, the Derby was one of the top five sporting events in terms of attendance. John DeLorean ended the 35-year Chevrolet sponsorship in 1972, claiming that the Derby was outdated and too expensive to hold.
Starting in 1993, the All-American Soap Box derby began the Rally World Championship. The Rally derby is a grand prix style of race in which each district, ten in all, sends back a number of champions based on number of racers and races in each district.
Today there are broader categories that extend the age range to younger racers and permit adults to assist in construction. This is especially helpful for younger children who cannot use power tools, as well as to provide an outlet for adults.
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