View of the Soap Box Derby race track on Germantown Street hill, July 1936…

By 1936, the All-American Soap Box Derby Race had moved north, to Akron, Ohio, and Dayton returned to hosting the Dayton Daily News Soap Box Derby. Daytonians knew they were on to something good as the sport was continuing to spread every year.  As a matter of fact, the popularity of the event had even swept across oceans, with contests being held in Puerto Rico and South Africa, just to name a few.  Meanwhile, back home, on a Sunday afternoon in July of that year, 170 boys competed, racing their home-made cars down the 900-foot course on Germantown Street hill.  An estimated crowd of 15,000 spectators gathered along the track to watch as 13 year-old Eugene Yount sped past the crowd at nearly 30 miles per hour, finishing the course in just 31 seconds.  This aerial image, taken by photographer William Preston Mayfield, shows nearly the entire course along Germantown Street hill, with the starting line in the lower left foreground. This photograph is from the William Preston Mayfield/Marvin Christian Collection at Dayton History.

To see other historical images from our collection, search our Digital Photo Archive.