68th AASBD Hall of Fame Awards

Shirley Foster has led Akron community efforts to host Soap Box Derby champions, their families, local race officials and other Derby visitors for more than 30 years.

She has personally coordinated parents' registration and made certain that each visiting Derby family received a welcome package of Akron mementoes. For years, Shirley has worked behind the scenes to ensure that welcoming ceremonies, hospitality events, the heat-and-lane drawing and awards ceremonies all result in lasting, warm memories for Soap Box Derby visitors.

Paul Arnsmeyer has been involved in the Soap Box Derby program on the local, regional and national levels dating back to when he raced in the Kansas City local for five years beginning in 1957. He became a local volunteer there in the sixties and served as Kansas City race director from 1973 until 1980. Paul helped organize the All-American Soap Box Derby's regional structure and served as a regional director from 1981 until 2000, the last 10 years as chairman of the regional directors group. Paul also has served as a trustee of International Soap Box Derby, Inc. since 2001, and is a race day judge.

Roy Hartz has had a lifelong association with the Soap Box Derby in a variety of roles. He built a race car as a youth in the fifties, but never competed in an official Derby race. Later, he played for several years as a member of the Garfield High School band to welcome participating champions to Akron during downtown ceremonies. As an insurance agent in the mid-seventies, Roy began the sometimes complex task of securing insurance underwriting for local and national Soap Box Derby activities. That business association led to his becoming a member of the board of trustees in 1978, of which he served as chairman from 1999 through 2004. Roy also has been a member of the national control board since 1981, and was chairman of that group for 18 years beginning in 1984.

PAST HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

1997 Myron E. Scott; Bain E. "Shorty" Fulton; Jim Schlemmer; Jimmy Stewart; Wilbur Shaw

1998 John S. Knight; Mason Bell; George W. Brittain; Jim Ott; Howard Flood

1999 Marie Wright; Ralph Barnes; Ralph Iula; Loris C. Troyer; Frank A. 'Whitey" Wahl

2000 Bruce Bucholzer; Bob Gravett; Ron Baker

2001 Don Lenox; Don Meech; Tom Kilroy; Ray Schieb

2002 Bill Ford; Jack Morran; Bob Turner

2003 Jim Underwood; Bob Troyer; Bill Kuntz

2004 Don Adams; David J. Holly; Ira C. Sapozink; Ronald Reagan