WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPORT

THE BEST OF BOYHOOD

For most of their 9 years of life, Peter Thompson and Steve Long, who live in suburbs south of Los Angeles, have listened with unabashed yearning when adults talked of camping out. This year the grown-ups took them along. Led by Peter's uncle, the boys rode horseback into ethereally beautiful country around Big McGee Lake, southeast of Yosemite, a land of sunlit mountain meadows, busy beaver ponds and noisy, fish-filled streams. Best of all, their classic adventure gave Steve's father, Photographer George Long, an opportunity to snap these classic studies of the best of boyhood.

PETER'S FIRST FINE CATCH IS CALMLY EXHIBITED

FIRST RIDE FINDS BOYS WARY OF WILDERNESS AND LONG DISTANCE TO THE GROUND, BUT HORSES COULD FIND THE TRAIL BLINDFOLDED

HOW TO BREAK AN EGG IS DEMONSTRATED BY STEVE IN HIS FIRST ATTEMPT TO COOK.

A CLEAN FACE is Steve's aim after a great day fishing mountain stream between Big McGee and Little McGee.

SEASONED CAMPERS AT LAST, PETER AND STEVE ENJOY CAMPFIRE WARMTH WITH UNCLE BILL

TOT HOT RODDERS USE GAS & GRAVITY

It was a summer of kids gleefully on the go as children across the nation sought top speeds from vehicles ranging from boy-built Soapbox Derby cars (above) using gravity as the power plant to gasoline-engine, chain-driven cars (below), which were beginning to cause official concern as they zipped around new tracks at speeds approaching 70 mph. The Soapbox season reached its peak at Akron, where 60,000 saw 170 winners of regional competitions vie for top prizes totaling $15,000 in college scholarships in the Chevrolet-sponsored 22nd Soapbox championships. On the same day 6-to-12-year-olds were getting fatherly advice at Allentown, Pa. on how to pull through Leadfoot Bend, where the proper body sway could save a race for the smart driver of a lethal one-cylinder, 2½-hp, rear-drive racing machine.

HELMETED HEADS BENT LOW, YOUNG SOAPBOX DAREDEVILS FREEWHEEL BY AS SPECTATORS LINE THE SPEEDWAY LANES

LEARNING YOUNG ARE THESE SPEEDING 6-TO-12-YEAR-OLDS, WHOSE CARS ARE LIMITED TO SPEED OF 35 MPH IN COMPETITION

PHOTOGRAPHER JUNEBUG CLARK IS SNAPPED BY HIS FATHER, AND IN TURN SNAPS HIGH-RIDING WINNER, BARNEY TOWNSEND

CRAMPED QUARTERS ON A TIGHT TURN CALL FOR GROWN-UP RACING SKILL

ELEVEN PHOTOS