Pinewood Derby

January 28, 2012

Dylan, at 7 years old participated in Cub Scouts at a nearby church.  He was a Tiger Scout, the youngest group of Boy Scouts..  We signed him up for scouts to get him involved in the community, make new friends and to have fun.  In Denver where he joined scouts, he was very bored and missed his friends from Raleigh, NC.  His Den Mother was Heather.  She and her husband were young newlyweds who wanted to help out with the youth program, and continue the tradition of his family with involvement in Scouts.  She gave up time each  week to do activities & meetings with the 3 boys in the Tiger Den.

One of the funnest things for scouts and Dads is Pinewood Derby, at the end of January.  Each year, every boy has a chance to turn a plain block of wood into a racecar and race it down a track, propelled by gravity.  There are all kinds of tricks & professional kits, but we did it our own way.  The hardest thing for Dad was to step back and let Dylan be in charge, but I think he did pretty good this time.  Dad helped Dylan sketch a design on a blank rectangle, then Dad used the band saw to make the cuts, and the belt sander to get the shape how Dylan wanted it.  Dylan painted it with several colors, and we made a metal towel rack fixture into a big engine on the front, like a muscle car.  We glued on some magnets to give it weight, which is important for the race, and attached the wheels that came with the kit.

On the day of the big race, Dylan was a little nervous, but mostly excited.  He raced in several heats against the other cub scouts.  It turned out that Dylan's fancy engine probably slowed it down a little.  Whatever the reason, his car didn't win, but he did come home with a prize - most original car!  We were proud of him for being proud of his hard work and effort.  He did work very hard on it with Dad.  I was worried he would be really sad but he took it all in and said that next time he knows more about how to build his car.  We kept the car.  This is actually the second time they built a derby car together.  the first time was in NC for a family ward derby competition which had no rules or boundaries.  The fastest car won.  Maybe next time, Dad and Dylan will have to do some more research.