Tuesday, May 01, 2018

Boy posing in soap box derby racer or go-cart, surrounded by other boys, during the 1908 New York to Paris Race. I can't believe I've never seen this, or even heard of it, before

8 comments:

  1. Guy has a flask...ready for a toast!

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    1. That little tyke better be celebrating with root beer!

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    2. Anonymous4:54 AM

      Purely for medicinal purposes.

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  2. If you're interested in some slightly more modern soap box derby info, you may want to check out Hemmings Classic Car's article on the All-American Soap Box Derby, starting in 1934. The article appeared in the Feb 2018 issue, but I found it on their site:
    https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2018/02/Soap-Box-Derby/3751474.html
    If nothing else, it's worth the read purely for the kid covered in graphite to make himself go faster (image 2). He won the derby in 1946, so it must have worked!
    I like the fact that nowadays, 10000 people still head to Akron, Ohio, to see both boys and girls hurtling down hills powered by nothing more than gravity and hope.

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    1. Thanks! But I've posted about soap box derbys a bit. I'm still going to look, but, c'mon. Seriously, I'm a blogger on things with wheels! Haven't you seen my sporadic posts on SBD gravity racers? https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Soapbox

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    2. Of course! I scrolled through your soapbox label before commenting in an effort to see if you've posted specifically about the graphite kid, because I thought that was the highlight of the article. I saw you had a lot of the Red Bull stuff, but not a whole bunch of the Depression- and war-era stuff.
      Besides, the more you post, the more content there is for me and everyone else to devour!

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  3. Sure hope that's pre-prohibition!
    Kids knew how to make do with nothing!

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  4. Looks like a tribute to the 1908 Thomas Flyer New York to Paris victory.

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