Pedal to the floor, John DeLorean couldn’t get out of Akron fast enough. The brash, flashy executive wanted nothing more to do with the All-American Soap Box Derby.
In 1972, DeLorean, vice president and general manager of Chevrolet, slammed the door on the company’s sponsorship of the derby, ending a 35-year partnership with the gravity-powered race. “Practically from the day I got to Chevrolet I was determined to discontinue the derby,” DeLorean explained to the Beacon Journal. “… My reasons were twofold. First, I didn’t think it fit in today’s contemporary America. It wasn’t something young guys of today wanted to be doing.
“It was part of the past. And then there was its tremendous cost, which was about $1 million … and very few people had a chance to participate in it.”
If DeLorean were a movie villain, Akron audiences would have hissed.
Although his automotive successes included launching the Pontiac GTO, Pontiac Firebird and Chevrolet Vega, DeLorean just didn’t get the appeal of the derby.
“DeLorean missed the point completely,” George W. Brittain, former executive vice president of the Akron Area Chamber of Commerce, recalled years later. “He was not interested in youth. He was interested in other things.”
American as can be
The derby was as American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pies and Chevrolet. What was so difficult to understand?
Cheering crowds of up to 75,000 packed the sun-drenched stands at Akron’s Derby Downs every summer as hundreds of children from across the nation raced their home-built cars on the giant hill. The Soap Box Derby parade was always a joyful, colorful procession featuring thousands of marchers, musicians, flag wavers and dignitaries.
No doubt about it, a major attraction of the All-American was the participation of big-name celebrities. More than 15,000 people routinely jammed South Main Street to greet entertainers as they arrived in open Chevrolet convertibles to the Mayflower Hotel.
Some celebrities were obligated to attend the derby through contracts they had signed with Chevrolet. The famous visitors received free use of a Chevy for a year after appearing in Akron.
Among the Hollywood stars who attended the derby were Jimmy Stewart, Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson, Glenn Ford, George Montgomery, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Singers included Dinah Shore, Paul Anka, Andy Williams, Pat Boone, Frankie Avalon and Snooky Larson.
Akron residents welcomed the TV casts of Bonanza (Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts), Bewitched (Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Agnes Moorehead), F Troop (Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch and Ken Berry), Route 66 (Martin Milner and George Maharis) and Laugh-In (Paul Lynde, JoAnne Worley, Judy Carne).
Other notables
Others notable guests were Art Carney of The Honeymooners, Fess Parker of Daniel Boone, Adam West of Batman, Christopher George of Rat Patrol and Patty Duke of The Patty Duke Show.
John DeLorean attended the derby only once — in 1969, the year that the Detroit native took over the helm of Chevrolet after working at General Motors since the mid-1950s. He seemed more interested in staying in his hotel room than venturing out to Derby Downs.
“He was not cooperative at all,” Brittain recalled. “All the other executives at Chevrolet were top drawer. We could work with them. But DeLorean wasn’t interested in community things ...”
In September 1972, DeLorean cut Chevy’s sponsorship of the derby. Instead, the $1 million would be presented to elementary and high schools across the nation.
“Instead of giving it to 12,000 kids running down a hill, suddenly there were 7 or 8 million participating,” he said.
DeLorean had Robert D. Lund, general sales manager, break the disappointing news to Akron Mayor John Ballard and other city leaders.
“With today’s changing lifestyles, young people in America have different needs, attitudes and interests,” Lund said. “To keep pace with the changes, we must develop creative new programs that are responsive to modern attitudes.”
Parting gift
As a parting gift, Chevrolet pledged to donate $30,000 for the 1973 race.
The Akron Chamber of Commerce and Akron Jaycees kept the Soap Box Derby afloat until other sponsorship could be arranged. When Chevy withdrew its support, the race dwindled from 252 participating cities to 138 in a single year.
DeLorean dared to return to Akron in 1973, speaking to a luncheon at Portage Country Club as president of the National Alliance of Businessmen. In an interview with Beacon Journal business editor Joseph Kuebler, DeLorean had no regrets about his derby decision.
In fact, he didn’t expect the All-American to be around much longer.
“I felt for years it had no place in contemporary America,” he reiterated. “This is probably the kiss of death in my opinion. That’s one man’s opinion. I am not speaking for General Motors.”
The executive left GM to form his own business, the DeLorean Motor Car Co., which is probably best known for producing the DMC-12 gull-winged sports car that doubled as a time machine for Michael J. Fox in the 1985 movie Back to the Future.
Otherwise, the venture failed. Apparently, it had no place in contemporary America.
FBI agents arrested DeLorean in a 1982 federal sting operation, alleging that he conspired to sell $24 million in cocaine.
He was acquitted in a 1984 trial after his defense team successfully argued that DeLorean had been entrapped. Despite being cleared, his reputation was ruined.
“He came in here like a thunderstorm and left like a thunderstorm,” Brittain told the Beacon Journal in the early 1980s. “I still feel very strongly that had it not been for DeLorean, we would have had an excellent chance for continued support from Chevrolet. He killed it.”
DeLorean was 80 years old in 2005 when he suffered a fatal stroke.
In addition to his family, he was survived by the All-American Soap Box Derby, which is still going strong 45 years after its imminent demise.
Mark J. Price can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.