Orlando’s Soap Box
Entry To Race in Akron Today
(Special to The Sunday
Sentinel-Star] AKRON, Ohio—The lone entry in the All-American Soap Box
Derby from the State of Florida, Ralph Schnur of Orlando, will be at the
wheel in Racer 91 this Sun-day afternoon when he coasts down Derby Downs
in the world’s greatest amateur racing classic. Ralph is from the
farthest point south in the United States.
This 15.year-old Orlando champion arrived in Akron at 1:30 A.M.
Accompanied by his father Florenze Schnur. Upon arriving the judges
called for the inspection of his car. He was called and questioned
regarding the weight of racer. The young speedster reported that when
his car was shipped to Akron the weight tags showed that his car weighed
114 pounds. When derby officials weighed the racer here it tipped the
scales at 126 pounds.
The inspection committee apparently thot that Ralph had added weight to
the car after win-ning The Chevrolet-Sentinel-Star’s Central Florida
crown. After questioning Ralph, the committee approved the racer and
notified the younger Floridian that his car was ready to roll down Derby
Downs.
Saturday afternoon Ralph rolled down the derby course with other
champions in a trial run. The pairings for today’s heats were drawn
immediately following the trials.

 After
looking over the 130 cars which will be driven Sunday, Ralph admitted
that many of the cars were better than his, and he said some of them
will not be as fast as they look and that his car will be in the
running. He is determined to give his opponents some stiff opposition
today. He says his chief ambition at present is to take the All-American
championship back to Orlando.
The seventh annual All-American Derby is scheduled to start at 1 o’clock
Sunday afternoon with a parade of champions. The first race will begin
an hour later.
Information received yesterday from Ralph Schnur, 15, winner of
Orlando’s Soap Box Derby and now in Akron to compete this afternoon in
the national finals indicated that the youth is having the “time of his
life.”
Schnur wrote that when he arrived in Akron a police escort met
his train and bore him to his private hotel room “right thru all the red
lights and as fast as we could go.” He said that his hotel room number
was 711, about as lucky a number as he could find.
A special attendant looks after
his sleek racer.