News

Derby Receives Memorabilia Donation From The Holmboe Family

Derby President & CEO Joe Mazur accepting
the donation from Kristi Holmboe Ross
and Kevin Holmboe

The daughter and son of 1947 All-American Soap Box Derby World Champion Kenneth Holmboe recently stopped by the Derby Headquarters office to donate two trophies, a champ jacket and some photos from their father’s collection.

Holmboe won the 10th All-American Soap Box Derby in 1947, as a 14-year-old representing Charleston, W.Va. He later put his racecar-building skills to use in a lifelong career as an engineer.  With a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University, Ken served in engineering posts for Westinghouse, Raytheon and as a consultant. Ken, who lived in Portsmouth, R. I., died in May 2016 at age 83. 

Kevin Holmboe contacted the Derby back in June about the items. He and his sister, Kristi Holmboe Ross, made the trip to Akron to drop off the items and get a tour of Derby Downs and the Hall of Fame and Museum. To their surprise their father’s car is one of the more than 100 champ cars on display in the museum. “We didn’t know what happened to the car,” said Kristi and Kevin. “We remember as children that we got our photo taken with the car when our older brother qualified for the All-American but we didn’t know what happened to it. The highlight of our visit was to see the car hanging in the museum.”