See anyone you know in this 1949 photo of the Chattanooga Soap Box Derby? Although it was taken 71 years ago, you might find a family member in this sea of faces.
Spanning nine decades and billed as the greatest amateur race in the world, the Soap Box Derby got its start during the Great Depression in Ohio and quickly swept America – including Chattanooga – during the first half of the 20th century.
According to SoapBoxDerby.org: “The idea of the Soap Box Derby grew out of a photographic assignment of Dayton, Ohio, newsman Myron Scott. He came across a group of boys racing their homemade cars in the summer of 1933, and was so impressed with the event that he acquired a copyright to Soap Box Derby and went in search of a corporate sponsor to establish a national program.”
Today’s “Remember when, Chattanooga?” photo dates from 1949, when the Chattanooga News Free Press sponsored a Soap Box Derby race here. The activity had been paused for WWII, and this was a revival.
The soapbox derby car pictured here, according to newspaper archives, is driven by Y.L. Coker Jr., who won the 1949 Chattanooga Soap Box Derby’s 12-15 age division.