NEW SOAP BOX DERBY REVIVES A BYGONE ERA

In July 1947 on the 10th anniversary of the All American Soap Box Derby in Cape Girardeau, William Shivelbine led the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band in a pre-race parade from the Broadway entrance of Fairground Park -- now called Capaha Park -- to the top of Perry Avenue, renamed Derby Hill.

Thirty-one boys, including three from Chester, Ill., were entered in the race to win a trip to the national finals in Akron, Ohio.

The entrants that year included 14-year-old Johnnie Bertrand, one of 10 children, who earned his spending money by setting pins at the bowling alley. Carl Gross, father of the current Jackson High School football coach, was a Soap Box Derby racer that year. Many were Boy Scouts, liked hunting and fishing and baseball and had paper routes.

The 1946 champion, "Ducky" Geringer, drove his racer down Derby Hill to officially open the 1947 races. Ducky's car hit a wet spot during a trial run at Akron in 1946 and skidded, tearing up two wheels. One was a 13-minute wheel, so called because when twirled it would continuing revolving for 13 minutes before stopping.

In his heat, Ducky was nipped by a racer from Cleveland who eventually finished second in the finals.

John Hill Jr. raced in the first Soap Box Derby competition held in Cape Girardeau in 1937. That year, racers zoomed down Henderson Street at Southeast Missouri State University. Rueseler's Chevrolet was the sponsor that year.

"It was wild," Hill recalls. "There were a bunch of boys ... and they had a heck of a crowd. We were something."

Hill was too old to race the next year so another boy drove the car for him. After that, Hill put a motor on the unlicensed car and drove it to and from Franklin School.

"Back in those days you could drive a car," he said. "It didn't make any difference."

Dorothy House's father, William "Bill" Maier, sponsored the Cape Girardeau races for a number of years. He operated Maier's Auto and Home Supply in Cape Girardeau at locations on Middle Street, Broadway and Main Street.

She recalls as a girl riding up and down the Perry Avenue hill in the truck that transported the winners back for the next heat. The hill was always lined with spectators, she said. "That was a big event before the days of TV."

The competition in Cape Girardeau was discontinued in the mid-1950s.

Jackson had a Soap Box Derby of its own for a few years. Bryce March, who is the chairman of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club's construction and safety committee, competed in the 1939 and 1940 races. The races in Jackson were held at what is known as Mill Hill, which is the section of Main Street west of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse. Brennecke Chevrolet was the sponsor.

When March was a boy, lots of kids were building racers -- not necessarily to enter the Soap Box Derby but to ride around their neighborhood streets. Orange crates were the preferred construction material.

Back then, Soap Box Derby cars could have different designs as long as they met weight requirements, and racers were supposed to use scrap parts. Today's cars are made from kits and pretty much all look the same.

The car could take weeks to build back then. With today's kits, a car can be built in as little as four hours.

The old racers had weight limits of 250 pounds including driver. Today's cars are limited to 200 pounds.

No girls were in the races back then, and no one is sure if they were allowed to enter. A number of girls are entered in this year's competition.

March taught industrial arts at high schools at Grand Tower, Ill., Wolf Lake, Ill., and Webster Groves, Mo., before coming to Southeast Missouri State University, where he was the chairman of the Department of Industrial Technology for 19 years prior to retiring. He says the Soap Box Derby was a good experience for him back then and will be for those involved now.

"It teaches them to start something and carry it to the finish -- even if it's just four hours," March said.

March's wife, Dorothy, covered the Soap Box Derby as a reporter for the Cape Girardeau News.

"The biggest problem was keeping people off the track," she said.

In fact, her husband lost one of his heats because he had to slam on his brakes to avoid a spectator who'd come onto the street.

That year he won a $1 pocket watch for having the best brakes.