Soapbox Derby
Have you ever seen the paved hill in McCulloch Park and wondered what it was? For several decades that was the site of the soapbox derby races. Prior to using the hill inside the park, the races were held on Broadway Hill (now Doctor M.L.K., Jr. Boulevard) along the eastern side of the park.
But let’s start at the beginning: Soapbox derby racing got its start in Dayton, Ohio in 1933. The following year Muncie held its first race on Broadway Hill on Sunday August 12, 1934, at 1:30 p.m. On Saturday the cars were featured in a downtown parade which started at the courthouse and ended at the Delaware Chevrolet Company where they were stored in the salesrooms overnight. Led by motorcycle police, the parade featured the Collins Boys Band, brand new full-sized autos carrying the race officials, and then 104 derby cars.
Die cast display metal model of Bob Turner’s winning 1934 car, Minnetrista Heritage Collection.
The event was co-sponsored by The Muncie Star and Delaware Chevrolet. Reporter for The Muncie Star, Bob Barnet, wrote that Broadway Hill had been selected for its “natural advantages” (meaning steepness and long downhill run) but also because it provided shade and space for spectators. The course started near E. Park Avenue and was about 600 feet in length ending at the bottom of the hill near Manor Avenue. A ramp was constructed to give the racers a quicker start. The race was divided into four divisions with thirty-six starting heats each consisting of four cars. Heat winners then competed for the overall championship. The last heat finished at 5:50 p.m. after a total of 43 runs in front of an estimated crowd of 15,000 spectators.
The most exciting aspect of this first race in Muncie was that it was won by local boy Robert “Bob” Turner. Sponsored by Evers Laundry, he defeated Paul Humphrey in the final run by two and half car lengths, with a time of 30 and 2/5 seconds. Eleven years old at the time, his victory gave him the opportunity to compete in the All American Soapbox Derby championships the following weekend in Dayton, all expenses paid.
Postcard image of Derby Hill in McCulloch Park, Minnetrista Heritage Collection, PC 166, date unknown.
At Dayton, Turner won the national championship in front of a crowd of 45,000 people. This course was 3/8 of a mile long and Turner finished the last run in 58.4 seconds, not the fastest time of the day but the fastest of the final and winning heat. Although he won numerous prizes for both victories, the grand prize in Dayton was a full college scholarship to any school of his choice in the nation.
Thus began an eighty year history of soapbox derby racing in Muncie. In May 1959 the Muncie Park Board approved the construction of a track in McCulloch Park at a cost of $5,000. Other intended uses for the track were focused on winter sports: sledding, skiing, and tobogganing. The track was to be 27 feet wide with three nine-foot wide lanes and 1,000 feet in length. With the help of volunteers the course was completed in time for the races that July.
Several locals have been All-American champions:
· 1950, Dick Dougan, 3rd place
· 1953, Freddie Mohler, 1st place
· 1958, James Miley, 1st place
· 1968, Branch Lew, 1st place
Muncie hosted the national championships in 2002 and the National Derby Rallies’ National Championships in 2007, which differs from the soapbox derby in that competitors trade wheels and lanes to create a more equal race. Since that time, local interest in soapbox derby racing has waned and the track in McCulloch Park sits mostly unused except in times of snowfall amounts appropriate for sledding. Nowadays, regional soapbox derby racers compete in nearby Anderson, Indianapolis, Valparaiso, and of course, Akron, Ohio.
Recent Heritage Collection acquisition: 1993 photo and car #36, raced by Jamie Kirby and sponsored by the Academy of Model Aeronautics.
