Baby Racing Is One of Our Greatest Sports

Baby racing, aka Diaper Derbies, are a time-honored tradition and happen all over the country—the third annual Lollipop Derby took place last week. Above is a snapshot from the 2012 Aquafor Diaper Derby at the Hilton New York. Notice that while the left baby looks completely ready for competition, the right baby appears readily terrified.

But the best photos of these wonderful events are those from the early days when baby racing was just in its infancy.

Further back, babies of yore only donned diapers while being bred for battle. These archived photos from the 1940s and ‘50s feature babies surrounded by giant bottles, looking just as petrified as the toddlers of today.

Dressing small human beings in adorable bows and shrunken clothes and having them crawl across a race track to win a prize is possibly one of our greatest achievements.