Evening star., 1948-08-16
0hioRacerW Wins
Derby;D.C.Boy
$4,000 at Akron See
Finish; Nebroskun
Beats District Entront
By Wallace {. Clayton
Stor Steff Correspondent


AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 16.-A 13-
yar-old boy from nearby Warren,
Ohio, is being acclaimed as the
FIRST citizen" of Akron today.
He is Donald F. strub, the new
Soap Box Derby
champion. Don's winning speed of
2709 seconds over the 975-foot
course in the national champion
ship yesterday brought this rub
ber capital its second All-American
crown in the last four meets.
Akron, host city to the Derby dur
ing the AA years of its history, last
had a national champion in 1941.
No races were held during the war.
Washington's entrant in the race,
Jack Broyles, is, of 1888 Madison
street NV, won his first heat but
lost the second by half a length.
In his initial try, Jack and Joseph
G. Walter, IA, of Aurora, ILL.,, were
almost exactly even as they came
down the first 400 feet Of the course.
Then Joseph edged ahead momen-
tarily, with Jack dropping back
abreast of Larry Hounsell, 10, of
Duluth, Mlnn.
But as the three cars hit the
"straightaway" in front of the main
stands, Jack moved ahead again.
His car continued to outdistance
his competitors. The Washington
champion whipped across the finish
line nearly two lengths in front of
the Aurora driver, and 27.82 seconds
away from the top of the course.
Earl Webb. jr., Is, of Nebraska
City. Nebr., eliminated Jack in the
next round. Earl's car drew ahead
early in the race, and stayed in
'front.' all the way. The Washington
champion was never far behind, but
could not muster the speed to draw
up. AS Jack neared the finish line.
his car sWerved, and for a moment
appeared to be headed into the
retaining wall. But he quickly re-
gained control and finished about
half a length behind the winner.
Observers said, however, the two
cars probably would have finished
IN the same order had Jack not
slipped out of his lane.
Third car in the heat was driven
by Robert Laser, Is, of Bristol, Conn.
No Excuse Offered.
Jack had no excuse to offer for
his defeat.
"A better car beat me-" was his
only comment.
The Webb boy was defeated in
the next elimination round by Don
Strub. Don,. the obvious favorite
OF a partisan crowd of $4,000, quail
fled for the finals just week ago
yesterday, when he defeated 297
entries in the Akron local race.
He was runnerup in the Akron
City race last year, and also raced
here in 1946.
In winning the national cham
pionship, Don barely nosed out
Gary D. Turley, IA, of Charleston,
w. Va: third driver in the final
race was William Brown, IS, of San
Francisco, Calf.
Fourth, firth and sixth places were
won by Richard Martter, Is, of Los
Angeles; w. Douglas Gsell, IA, OF
Mount Holly. N. j., and Durward
Collins, IS, of Indianapolis, in that
order.
Four Minor Accidents.
The Los Angeles contestant also
registered the fastest time of the
day, 26.93, although he attained this
speed in the quarter-final round
the Martter youth was defeated ir
the semiflnal round when he ran 8
fraction of a second slower.
There we're four minor accidents
during the racing, which was held
under sunny skies, but only one
occurred before the cars had crossed
the finish line. In that one, car
driven by Philip Rogers, IA, oi
Dover, N. H., swerved into one
driven by Ted Mellus, IA, of Salt
Lake City, Utah.
The speed of the Utah champion
was retarded, and he crossed the
finish line in second place. He was
given a chance to run in another
heat, but again came in second.
The Mellus boy was wearing as a
good luck piece" rair of goggles
given him by "AB" Jenkins, famed
racing driver and former Mayor of
Salt Lake City.
Banquet is Held.
After the race, a loudspeaker tr
front of Derby headquarters blared
the news that akron has another
champion" and crowd of towns.
people gathered in front of the site
to watch Don arrive, riding ator
the back seat of an open car.
At the banquet of champions helo
last night. Jack Broyles and the
other race drivers heard film stal
Jimmy Stewart tell them, sports.
manship is winning modestly, and
losing courageously."
Myron Scott, the newspaper pho.
tographer whose picture Of grour
of soap box racers" led to the first
Derby, also was guest.
Others included Bill Veeck, presi.
dent of the Cleveland Indians, of the
American League; Gov. Thomas
Herbert Of Ohio and Wilbur Shaw
Indianapolis Speedway executive
who tagged down the cars at the
finish of yesterdays race.
Jask was leaving the Akron-Can.
ton airport today for the return TRIP
to Washington.
Congressional Library
PIons Oreoon Exhibit