{"id":170,"date":"2025-08-17T12:33:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amgwert.com\/?p=170"},"modified":"2025-08-17T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T21:43:15","slug":"the-all-american-soap-box-derby-championship-corvette-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amgwert.com\/?p=170","title":{"rendered":"The All American Soap Box Derby Championship Corvette Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By John D. Amgwert<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In August 1953 these slides were taken by a currently unknown person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In June 2025 I happened to stumble upon these slides randomly while searching for anything related to the Soap Box Derby on eBay. I was absolutely in shock when I saw the picture of the first slide being listed for sale! And for a measly list price of $7.99 plus shipping! Are you kidding me!? Most people may not understand why such a randomly listed 72-year-old slide would send a person into shock, but this is quite literally the photo I\u2019d been on a quest to locate for the better part of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew exactly what I was looking at despite the somewhat vague listing title: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“1950s All American Soapbox Derby Akron Ohio Dinah Shore Red Boarder Slide BE-D<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specific event:
16th<\/sup> All American Soap Box Derby Championship in Akron, OH<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specific date:
August 9th<\/sup>, 1953<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story goes, Corvette Senior Experimental Engineer and three-time winner of the Indy 500 Mauri Rose drove the Waldorf Motorama Show Corvette in the pre-race parade down Derby Hill. This belief stems from a Chevrolet Engineering letter dated July 30th<\/sup>, 1953, sent to M. S. \u201cRosey\u201d Rosenberger from W. R. \u201cWalt\u201d Mackenzie of the Engineering Department. The letter reads as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mr. M. S. Rosenberger<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

W. R. Mackenzie<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 30th, 1953<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

cc: Mr. W. O. Power
Mr. J. D. Bell
Mr. R. W. Thomas<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. W. O. Power has asked for the services of Mauri Rose to drive a Corvette car down the Derby Hill on August 9th<\/sup> (Sunday), as part of the pre-race parade.  The car to be used is the #1 Corvette (the one shown at the Waldorf), and inasmuch as it is an exhibit car, it will be under the care of R. W. Thomas, of the Technical Data Group.<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All expenses will be paid by the Advertising Department.<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will you kindly advise as soon as possible whether this has your approval and whether Mr. Rose will participate, so that the necessary reservations can be made?<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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W. R. Mackenzie,
Engineering Department.<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My reason for trying to locate any photo taken of a Corvette featured at this event was to try and prove, was it in fact the Waldorf Motorama Show Corvette? Or was it a production model Corvette? In recent years there has been some debate as to which car was present. Knowing that the Motorama show cars are considerably different in appearance from a production model (see my previously written article<\/a>), I figured any photo of the car would settle this debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seller of this slide also had several others from the same event listed and I just had to buy them all. Each one cost $7.99, but I did get a deal on shipping. The historical significance and documentation they provide for anyone interested in old Corvette history in my mind was priceless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a little background, the All-American Soap Box Derby was sponsored by Chevrolet and typically featured cars from their lineup for promotional purposes. It was also founded by Myron Scott who just so happens to be the person responsible for naming Chevrolet\u2019s new 1953 sports car the \u201cCorvette\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being this was a very large championship event, one so large that the champion was typically featured on the covers of newspapers all over the country, you\u2019d think a photograph of the brand new highly talked about sports car would be easy to find, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed like every time I came close to what I thought would lead me to what I was looking for I\u2019d come up short. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After spending months searching through many old newspapers, online photo archives, and buying several old vintage magazines covering this event, I was about to give up on this quest. Most of the pictures I was able to find of the 1953 All-American Soap Box Derby Championship were of the winner Freddy Mohler, Dinah Shore, George Montgomery, Don Ameche, Andy Divine, Capt. Video, and Wilbur Shaw, all of whom were in attendance that day, but sadly none of the Corvette that was featured on the event poster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cropped closeup:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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References: newspapers.com
Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH) \u2013 August 7th<\/sup>, 1953 \u2013 Page 27<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are several photos which I stumbled upon on the Summit Memory Archives website: Search Results – Summit Memory<\/a>, but again none of the Corvette featured at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also found a video from the event that was uploaded to YouTube that can be found here<\/a>, but again does not include any footage of the Corvette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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