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MARCH 19 AND 20, 2016
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A 65-YEAR LOOK-BACK
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COURTESY
Shown here is the finish line on 12th Avenue for Emporia’s Soap Box Derby on July 20, 1950.
By Ken Ohm
Special to The Gazette
— Editor’s note: This article,
written by author Ken Ohm, is
a first-person look at Emporia’s
Soap Box Derby, which was held
in the 1950s.
The two summers of 1950 and
1951 were very hot and muggy
but some 34 young men filled
their days working toward their
goal of racing home-built cars
down 12th Avenue. The rules
allowed boys between the ages
of 10 and 16 to race but most
of the participants were in the
13 to 14 age groups. The first
Soap Box Derby competition in
Emporia was held in 1950 and I
was a part of it.
I heard of the competition in
the late spring and convinced
my dad that I would work hard
for the rest of that first summer
to build a car that would make
him proud. The rules strictly forbid help from any other person
and Dad declared from the start,
“This is your project, Kenny. I
cannot help you.” As a carpenter, though, he had some tools
that I was able to use, so I set up
my construction site in our little
garage at our rented home on
Lakeview Street.
It soon became apparent that
I needed a greater supply of
building materials than I found
in the garage. I finally convinced
Dad that most of the kids were
securing a sponsor to help them
acquire the necessary supplies
along with the standard wheels,
axles, steering kit, and racing
helmet obtained from Hereford
Motors. These items were supplied by the National Soap Box
Derby organization and purchased for about $5. This was
even more of a reason to get a
sponsor so, after considerable
discussion, Dad and I drove to
the Nicholson Lumber Company
site located across the street and
south of the junior high school.
To my surprise, we were
met by Mr. Nicholson himself.
He was very friendly but, at
the same time, deadly serious
about my race car project. He
mentioned several times that he
expected me to win the Emporia
Derby and represent Emporia
well in Akron, Ohio for the national championships. That startled me a bit, but as he led Dad
and me out into the lumber yard,
he spoke of giving me whatever
I needed to build a winning race
car, and my confidence lifted.
We stopped near a pile of culled
lumber and found two, 2x12s
about six feet long to serve as
the floor of the car. They were
twisted rather badly but Mr.
Nicholson said I would be able
to make them work using a hand
plane. Little did I know that job
would take several weeks of that
early summer.
We took the boards home and
later, after finally securing the
car base, we traveled back to the
lumber yard for a sheet of masonite to cut and form the body
of the car. In the meantime, I had
heard that most sponsors were
painting their names or logos on
the sides of the race cars. I asked
Mr. Nicholson if he would like
to do that. After a little delay,
he said he would have a couple
of signs painted and we could
attach them to the sides of the
car. I did not argue with him but
knew a little about the air resistance and felt that a couple of
boards added to the sides of the
car might slow me down.
COURTESY PHOTO
We had limited communication among the drivers, but
several of us did determine that Lynn Kindred is pictured here in a Soap Box Derby car in 1950.
perfectly balanced wheels would
be instrumental to a speedy trip
down the track. I remember
using an old sock to spin the
wheels, like shining shoes, until
the wheels reached a good speed,
finally coasting to a stop. If the
wheel stopped at the same place
each time, we concluded that it
was off-balance and needed some
type of adjustment. Someone
came up with the idea of separating a thumbtack head from
its point and, with a small piece
of Scotch tape, attach it to the
wheel to improve the balance.
Some cars had a number of tacks
in different locations along the
radius of the metal wheels.
Painting was another concern
as the rumor spread that black
would be the fastest. That point
COURTESY
was argued until, finally, we simply picked whatever color was A look at the “parade down 12th Avenue” for Emporia’s Soap Box Derby on July 20, 1950. There were
handy. I painted my car light 34 entries in that year’s derby.
blue. I do not recall the color of
the eventual winning car, except
Emporia’s Soap
it was not black.
Box Derby had an
The first annual derby was
official helmet,
held on Thursday, July 20, 1950,
pictured here.
after practice runs on Tuesday,
July 18. On race day, The Emporia Gazette provided free T-Shirts
to each of the drivers. The 34 entries attracted a crowd estimated
between 4,000 and 5,000. The
racing track ran down the 12th
Avenue grade for two blocks between Washington and Lawrence
Streets. Snow fence was erected
by city crews on both sides of
the track. The orderly crowd and
traffic were directed by city police and the National Guard.
The chief of officials was Mur-
Good Evening
Please see Soap Box, Page 3
COURTESY
VOL. 124, NO. 223
We need a reunion race to happen soon.