Twelve-year-old Harold “Bo” Conrad won the 1963 Duluth race where Hartley Nature Center is today and went on to win the All-American Soap Box Derby Race in Akron, Ohio, where there were 75,000 people watching.
Harold “Bo” Conrad grew up and started a jug band in the late 60s. They were called the Bo Conrad Spit Band (named after the spit that drips out the other end of a kazoo when it’s played). Here’s a clip of one of their old recordings:
I know all this because my dad was in that band. We grew up listening to their record.
I’m old enough to remember going up to Hartley Field and watching those races. What a great slice of Duluth history. Thanks for posting this!
Here’s the link to the article I wrote that this video accompanies!
The race that meant more near Duluth’s Hartley Nature Center
1) Now this is what we’re talking about.
2) “No other city in the world is ready and willing to stand itself on its ear for a bunch of boys it likes than Akron.”
3) Harold “Bo” Conrad? Where’s your car, “Bo” Bandit?
Loved this.
FYI
Harold “Bo” Conrad grew up and started a jug band in the late 60s. They were called the Bo Conrad Spit Band (named after the spit that drips out the other end of a kazoo when it’s played). Here’s a clip of one of their old recordings:
I know all this because my dad was in that band. We grew up listening to their record.
Good job, Bo Bandit. Now you need to make a spit band.
Cousin Bo, we all were, and still are, soooooo very proud of you.