Seventy-three years ago, an event occurred in Helena that prompted Helena Daily Independent sports writer Al Gaskill to put out an interesting challenge to the community.

";Whatever you do or whoever you are, don't fail to see this event," proclaimed Gaskill. ";It's absolutely free and one of the most soul inspiring sights it has ever been the privilege of this department to recommend to the people of this city."

It was the summer of 1936, and the nation was still in the throes of the Great Depression. A steak dinner cost 35 cents, and most folks couldn't afford it.

Entertainment was far different back then. Television wasn't prominent for another 20 years in the future, and things like computers were still the imagination of science fiction dreamers.

So just exactly what was this event -- which attracted approximately one-fifth of the city's population -- that Gaskill was so excited about?

Montana's inaugural Soap Box Derby.

The All-American Soap Box Derby was sponsored by 116 newspapers around the country, and originated in 1934.

The race took place on Montana Avenue, beginning at the intersection of Broadway, and ending at Ninth Avenue. The contestants were catapulted from a ramp that, from an old photograph, looked about 6 feet high and 20 feet long.

The winner received an all-expenses paid trip to Nationals, in Akron, Ohio.

The Helena race, which was co-sponsored by Anderson Motors and the Daily Independent, consisted of 30 boys, ranging in ages from 8-16 years. There were 10 opening heats contested, with three cars in each race. The winners advanced to the semi-finals of six heats, two per race.

This pared the field down to six finalists, in two classes. Eugene Mills won the Class A race in 37 seconds, finishing ahead of Donald Parks and ";Buzz" Palmquist. The Class B race was garnered by Clarence Chriske, also in 37 seconds, with Milt Coty and Andy Rummel in hot pursuit.

Next came the All-City championship, pitting the two class winners against each other.

";Eugene Mills, 15, drove his little orange racer to a city championship in Helena's first annual Soap Box Derby yesterday afternoon before 3,000 enthusiastic spectators who...witnessed what was generally conceded to be one of the finest events ever staged for the boys of the city," wrote Gaskill on the front page of the paper.

";Mills, of 810 N. Ewing, drove his speedy car perfectly and hung up a fine mark of 36 seconds in the final event, with Clarence Chriske, whose speedy little 'Black Streak' gave Mills a real battle over the 400-yard course. But 'Old 33' had the stuff in the pinches and won by nearly a length in the stirring finish that had the crowd roaring encouragement."

Lora Holt, Montana Governor Elmer Holt's daughter, awarded the trophies.

Only one ";crack-up" occurred, when Darcy Van Dyke smashed his racer near the finish line when a dog broke loose from the crowd ran in front of his car. Each race was paced by highway patrolman Hugh Potter, who rode his motorcycle in front of the contestants with ";siren blaring."

Gaskill described the cars as a collection of great variety, with some being ";gaily painted and dolled up in great swank," while others took the simplest form of a vehicle.

One boy devised his brakes by coupling two axe handles together. Another fellow had a board swing from hinges on the bottom of the vehicle, which scraped along the ground for stoppage.

The sports writer described the different kinds of tires used, including some made of wood, and ";several reminiscent of the those on that baby buggy that disappeared this spring."

";The winner's car was neither simple or elaborate," Gaskill wrote. ";But it was well designed, excellently balanced and expertly driven. The copper creation of young Milt Coty was a beautiful job, while the speedy little streak of Clarence Chriske was an early favorite."

";We were getting our house roofed with copper roofing, and I used the extra material from the job to build my car," recalled Milt Coty, 86, who was a sixth grade student at Central School at the time. ";The copper sheeting was felt-backed, and it laid over the plaster lathe wood frame, which I soaked in water to make it bend."

Coty said that all the cars had to be built by the boys, although they could get advice from adults. His sponsor was Lane Baker Photography. His tires came from Knapp and Lyle's Service Station. They were 3-inch balloon tires, compared to the skinny ½-inch rubber tires the Soap Box had for sale.

";I built the wheels myself, but I should've bought those Soap Box wheels, I could've won it if I had those skinny tires," he opined.

The article stated how ";little Andy Rummel" deliberately steered away from his opponent and saved him from crashing, receiving the Sportsmanship Award from the judges.

The paper listed the remainder of the contestants that year as Robert Stevens, Jack Waterman, Stanley Murray, Albert White, Edward Greene, Oscar Carlson, Ivan Fowler, Russell Houghton, Richard Cutting, Ronald Cutting, Ralph Swarzbach, Wilmer Benson, Eddy D'Arcy, Ace Harvey, Jack Crutcher, Dulin Smith, Robert Medley and Henry Lydick.

The next year, Rummel captured the 1937 city championship, setting a new record. The 15-year old piloted his Helena Blue Bird down the course in a blistering 33.8 seconds. Chris Chriske, 12, again finished second.

";I think I got a movie camera for second place," recalled Chriske, now 84, who was a seventh-grader at Jefferson in '37. ";I built my car out of 2X4s, and I had pneumatic tires with inner tubes. Andy had regular Soap Box tires, but I didn't have the money for them."

The race was directed by the Independent's William C. Campbell, with Lt. Governor Hugh Adair presenting the trophies.

Rummel, who was born with polio and walked with a pronounced limp, was driven to Akron by Clem Anderson. He received a front-page column in Akron's Beacon-Journal, with the story headline: ";Paralysis Fails to Halt Montana Soap Box Champ; Derby's 'Gamest Sport' Arrives Unheralded."

";Andy's victory in that western town was a triumph over the greatest odds. Win or lose, he typifies the spirit that has made the races in 120 different cities, and the international finals in Akron, the greatest competitive event for boys in the country," read the Beacon-Journal.

Both Mills and Rummel placed third in their respective heats at Nationals, in 1936-37, each being eliminated in the first round.

Mrs. Mary Rummel, Andy's widow, said that her late husband described how he and Mr. Anderson attended a big league baseball game in Chicago on the way home. She also related how Andy later spent three years in-and-out of a Billings hospital, as a polio specialist unsuccessfully attempted to correct his leg.

Milt Coty and Clarence Chriske both went on to serve in World War II. Coty spent three years in the South Pacific with the 77th Naval Seabees. He returned home and made a career with the Montana National Guard, retiring in 1980 as a Chief Warrant Officer 4.

Chriske, as part of the Army Air Corps, was a waist gunner for 50 missions on a B24 bomber, flying out of England and Italy. They supplied the French Underground, flying at night. With their planes painted black and receiving coded messages from flashlights on the ground, they dropped French spies, Allied paratroopers, clothing and food supplies, and rifles and ammunition.

Chriske returned to Helena at war's end, where he was employed for most of his life as a house painter.

Andy Rummel passed away in 2002. Two of his sons n Pat and Jerry n also raced in the Soap Box Derby. And when Jerry qualified for Nationals in 1972 in Great Falls, he joined his dad as Montana's first father-son state Soap Box Derby champions.

Curt Synness: 449-2150 or curt52s@bresnan.net