Where would America’s Sports Car be without Myron Scott?
We might not be calling it the Corvette today if Scott – a member of Chevrolet’s advertising team back in the 1950s when the car was being developed – had not been thumbing through a dictionary, looking in the “C’s” when he came upon the word “corvette,” defined as a speedy pursuit ship in the British Navy, smaller than a destroyer.
What a perfect way to describe Chevy’s new sports car that would eventually debut in 1953, he thought.
Now, Scott, who was born in Camden, Ohio in 1907 and passed away in 1998, is being recognized for his lifetime achievements by the Preble County Historical Society Hall of Honor this weekend.
Besides coming up with the Corvette name, Scott also earned fame for creating the All-American Soap Box Derby in 1933. The event was sponsored by Chevrolet from 1935 to 1972 and was quite a spectacle, drawing 50,000 spectators and 413 participants for the 1934 finals.
Before he joined Chevrolet, he had been chief photographer and art director for 22 years at the Dayton Daily News in Ohio. While working on a Sunday picture page, he came across a photo of some boys racing homemade cars down a street in Oakwood. Inspired by their innovative fun with the gravity-powered cars, he organized the first Soap Box Derby in 1933 in Dayton.
Taking about the early days of the soap box derby, Scott said, “It was fun at the start. The boys used orange crates, any kind of box, in fact; they covered the box with cloth to imitate the fabric-covered wings on airplanes. The wheels came off baby buggies and push carts. There were wood rims and steel rims. Some of them used pneumatic tires. All we asked was for a kid to build it himself. He could get advice from experts, but the work had to be his.”
Scott eventually retired from Chevrolet and moved back to Centerville and Kettering in Ohio for the rest of his life.
Now, he’s been selected by the Preble County Historical Society as one of its inductees to the Hall of Honor, established 12 years ago to honor high-achieving native men and women. This year’s class will be honored Saturday, Sept. 24 at 2:30 p.m. at the outdoor amphitheater at 7693 Swartsel Road, Eaton, Ohio.
It’s part of the annual Fall Gathering Festival and Historical Days, slated the same day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and featuring wagon hay rides through different time periods from the Viking Era to the modern era, tours of their Historic Farm and 1860 Farm House, music, food vendors, entertainment, crafts, games, and other family-oriented events.
Source:
registerherald.com
Related:
The Corvette Makes Its First Public Appearance Sixty-Nine Years Ago at the GM Motorama in New York City
Corvette: A Lightly Armed, Fast Ship Ranging in Size Between a Destroyer and a Gunboat
[VIDEO] This Corvette Is NOT a Highly Maneuverable Ship
-
![[PODCAST] CORVETTE TODAY #210 - Celebrating 50 Years of the NCRS](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/uploads/2024/04/042224_1-218x150.jpg "[PODCAST] CORVETTE TODAY #210 – Celebrating 50 Years of the NCRS")
![[PODCAST] Corvette News and Headlines with CorvetteBlogger on the Corvette Today Podcast](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/uploads/2024/04/041524_9-218x150.jpg "[PODCAST] Corvette News and Headlines with CorvetteBlogger on the Corvette Today Podcast")
I would love to know what his next sentence was after” it was fun at the start” my guess it was ” but then adults got involved”
@Bill
My guess would be “but then the adults with the most money got involved.”
It was like that with real Corvettes. I restored a 1963 Split Window myself in 1975 at the age of 23. Of course, I had to contract a lot of work out. But I put my heart and soul and all the money I had into that car. A friend of mine would haul it to Corvette shows for me. And the car did very well in competition at WSCC Corvette shows in 1976. But then a guy I knew/know who was not crazy about me decided to get in that game. He owned his own business. So he also bought a Split Window. And he put unlimited amounts of money into his car. And he bought an enclosed trailer and a new Chevrolet pickup to pull his car everywhere. Suddenly, I had much less chance of competing. And this guy’s friends thought that looked like fun so they bought Corvettes also to show at the same shows. By the time that happened, I had just about no chance of competing with them. So all of the fun of doing that was gone. So at the end of the 1977 season, I sold my Split Window and just ordered a new ’78 Corvette.
I would hate to think how much money those guys sank into their cars trying to outdo each other. And just like the Soap Box Derby, it was fun in the beginning until the adults with lots of money got involved.
I don’t see it mentioned anywhere in the article about Myron Scott but his prize for being the person who named Chevrolet’s new sports car was a suit of clothes! My dad sold insurance during the ’50s. And he wore a suit each day he worked. I believe a suit of clothes was more highly coveted then than it is now.
And I would imagine General Motors had one of the finest tailors available to create their suit.
Comments are closed.