Soap Box Derby
Written by Bill Bowman, General Motors Media Archive
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Born and living in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada with my parents and brother and sister, I was very excited in 1947 when the city was chosen, along with Mission City, British Columbia, in western Canada, to be the only two cities in Canada to represent Canada in the Chevrolet Motor Division sponsored All American Soap Box Derby. My father, several uncles and cousins were all employed at McKinnon Industries, a division of General Motors of Canada.
I was one year too young to enter the first year but entered in 1948, along with my brother Don, who had participated in the first event. The derby was sponsored by Chevrolet Motor Division, The St. Catharines Standard (the local newspaper) and Crews Chevrolet (the local Chevrolet dealership). Sandy Crews, the son of the dealership owner, was our sponsor. That year, the derby site was moved to the St. Catharines airport, where a permanent ramp was built. We built identical cars and we were both eliminated in the first round.
In 1949, I constructed a new car and won four rounds before I was eliminated. Overall, I finished fifth out of approximately 100 entries. Because we moved to Detroit I missed the 1950 race, but entered the 1951 race with a new car. This race was sponsored by Chevrolet, The Detroit News, and my dealership was Hanley Dawson Chevrolet (located at Seven Mile) and James Couzens (in northwest Detroit). My dealership sponsor was Bob Cook, a salesman who I bought my first new car from, a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, four years later. The 1951 race was held in Rouge Park in Detroit and sorry to say I was eliminated in the first round thus ending my dreams of ever going to Akron, Ohio to compete in the Chevrolet All-American Soap Box Derby finals.
Participating in the Soap Box Derby kick started my hobby of auto racing for the next 40 years. Thank you Chevrolet!
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