Soap Box Derby Victory Grinning ‘Ear to Ear’ Looks to Akron Now
“By golly, I ain’t mad at no-body,” 15-year-old Ralph Schnur of 1050 37th Street, Angebilt Addition, said yesterday after his bright red racing car had sped to victory in the finals of the first annual Soap Box Derby.
His face split in an ear-to-ear grin, the youngster clutched his silver trophy in his arms and smiled an “Akron, here I come” smile for the camera.
As friends helped carry his car, helmet, trophy and a Gladstone bag, another award, to a waiting car, he revealed that he had never been farther away from Orlando than Daytona Beach.
EVERYBODY HAPPY
Akron, Ohio, its thousands of people, bustling trolley cars, trucks and tire factories will be like a foreign land to this youngster, the son of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Schnur. Mr. Schnur is branch manager for the Galion Iron Works and Manufacturing Company, 1109 Virginia Drive.
It was a toss-up as to who was. happier: Ralph, his father, or C. H. Ray, sales manager for the Orlando Coca-Cola Bottling Works, who sponsored Ralph’s car.
“I was more nervous than any one,” said Mr. Schnur.
“I beg your pardon!” disputed Ray, who was nervously handing out free Coca-Colas to all comers with invitations to “have one on the house.”
After the excitement had died away, Ralph was in a reflective mood.
FIRST BEAT NERVOUSNESS
“You know,” he said, “I wasn’t nervous at all after the first heat- I was really scared tho, when ‘ drew Henry Chiusano and that little underslung job of his in the first attempt. After I beat him, I wasn’t nervous any more. I just had a feeling it was ‘all over.1′
“Yes, and show him that arm, Ralph,” Ray^blurted out.
The happy winner displayed a left hand with the wrist very badly swollen.
“I fell down yesterday at Grand Avenue and sprained it pretty badly. I had to drive with one hand, but I beat ’em, didn’t I Mr. Ray.”The enormous trophy in his arms was plenty of confirmation; Ralph “had beaten ’em.” And’ doing it wasn’t a very easy job either. 

CLASS B DIVISION


Ralph won the first heat against young Jimmy Porter of 1301 Delaney, who won the Class B division. In that heat, Ralph had the No. 1 lane, a lucky course that produced 10 straight winners in the first round heats of the Class A division race.
But the second heat was something else. Ralph was forced to take No. 3 lane, which had “jinxed” most of the entries who were unfortunate enough to draw it. But keen-eyed Ralph had noticed one thing—a factor that probably resulted in his beating the Porter boy’s entry.
A dip in the No. 3 lane at the corner of Concord and Thornton was a serious obstacle for entries in Lane 3. It wasn’t much of a dip, but sufficient to cost the un-wary a little of that precious momentum.


WON STRAIGHT HEATS


When Ralph hit that dip, he pulled over to the center, riding the painted line that separated him from Lane 2. That deviation from his coursed allowed him to avoid trouble and he won in straight heats. After Akron what? “If I can be lucky enough to win that $2000 scholarship, I don’t know what I’ll study at college,” he confessed.
If he does win, he’ll have plenty of time to decide. Ralph is in the 11th grade at St. James Academy, Orlando parochial school.