Evening star., 1939-06-25
Trials in Soap Box
Derby 10 Be Held
Friday Afternoon
Police Details to Be
Assigned to Courses
On Two Hills
BY ROBERT A. ERWIN.

SSA~ASASA
Boys who want to see how their
Soap Box Derby racers perform un-
der real racing conditions will have
the opportunity next Friday after
noon when trial runs are held under
police supervision on two Washing
ton hills.
There are $50 boys entered in the
second annual Washington area
Derby sponsored by The Star and
the American Legion. A majority
Of them have finished, or nearly fin
ished, building coaster cars, and now
their desire is to take hold of the
wheel and go zooming downhill in
an actual race.
The test courses will be New
Hampshire avenue NE, in front of
the Eastern Star Home, where the
Capitals first Derby was held last
year, and Massachusetts avenue
NV. from Nebraska avenue Ward
Circle) to Macomb street.
Police details will be assigned to
each course by Maj. Ernest w.
Brown, superintendent of police and
member of the General Committee
on Arrangements for the Derby.
The runs will be conducted between
the hours of and 4 pm, during
which the streets will be closed to
traffic. Boys who want to try their
racers will have to get them to and
from the hill they select.
Pre-Inspection Starts Wednesday.
Neither testing place will be the
site of this years Derby, it was an
nounced by Director o. c. Holleran
last night. The place for the 1899
event, to be held on Saturday, July
8, will be disclosed in next Sundays
Star.
At the same time, Mr.. Holleran
announced the annual pre-inspec-
tion Of Derby racers will be held
on four days this week-Wednes-
day, Thursday, Friday and Satur-
day-at the Salesrooms of Chevro-
ct dealers in Washington, Alexan-
dria and Clarendon, Va, and Hy-
attsville and Silver Spring, Md.
Pre-inspection is>not to be con-
fused with the regular compulsory
checkup of finished racers on Thurs
day and Friday of next week, the
two days preceding the Derby. It
Is optional with boys who wish to
take their cars to the dealer with
whom they registered for a pre-
liminary check to find defects, if
any, and any parts or features of
construction that violate the official
1889 rules.
This will leave plenty of time
for necessary changes" Mr.. Holler-
an said. ut is up to the boy to
get his car to and from the deal
er's place. Boys who will not have
finished their racers by time for
pre-inspection need not feel they
are taking chance as long as they
stick to the rule book and build
by it.
Safety Pledge Cited.
"As for the test runs, they are
one of the safety features of the pre-
Derby campaign. We would like to
have additional trials in other Sec
tlons, but it will not be possible this
year. and we believe these two hills
New Hampshire and Massachu-
sets avenues-offer perfect safety
to the boys under police supervision
more so than some places that
were considered"
The director cited again for Der
by candidates the safety pledge they
signed when they entered. It reads:
Il promise not to run my Derby
racer on the streets or sidewalks In
such manner as to endanger my
own safety or the safety of others.
With two weeks to go before the
Derby, all boys competing were
urged by Mr. Holleran to speed their
construction work and be fully pre-
pared for the compulsory inspection
MAKE finish up and check up
VOllr watchwordS for the neYt IN