Yep, it's Pinewood Derby time again, which means that houses all over the land are covered in a layer of pine sawdust and graphite, with sons and parents all excited about racing their cars against the other Scouts in the Pack for a shiny trophy, bragging rights, and maybe even a trip to the Regional races. It has been described as the "Superbowl of Cub Scouts", and there's a lot of truth to that - folks take their PWD very seriously!
This year is bittersweet for me for two reasons:
1. It's my last Pinewood Derby. TheBoy is moving to Boy Scouts next month, which means that I will be moving to Boy Scouts next month as well. We have a new Cubmaster lined up; he'll be watching me closely today to get a sense of what happens.
2. TheBoy has decided not to enter a car in today's race. For reasons known only to him, he didn't feel like building a car this year. I offered assistance, some ideas, etc. but he just didn't want to do it. He's going to be at the Derby all day (Mrs. G. is working, and the State frowns on leaving children home alone, go figure), so it's not like he's getting out of the event.
Either way, there will be some great racing, some happy kids, and some tired grown-ups...
That is all.
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6 comments:
How many Derbies has your son raced in? Maybe he's feeling a little bit too grown up for it now, what with his impending promotion and all.
I suspect he'll have a good time today anyway, and it's clear you will too.
Enjoy the 'last' trip... and pass along the tips and tricks to your relief!
Ahh! The polished wheels and balanced weights, the cars built in machine shops and wood working man caves. Cars that never felt the touch of a Cub Scout, built by dads with dreams of victory.
Nothing brought out the competitiveness like Pinewood Derby!
A town near me, which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, has a high quality Pinewood Derby racing community.
Its wintertime, farm dads aren't so busy, and welll......
They actually have an OPEN category, a Father/Son category, (where at least half the work has to be done by the son), and a son only category. Lots of families have 3 cars, one for each.
The OPEN category means the only restriction is the weight and the body must start as a kit, and no device can be used to power the car. (The first year a rocket powered car won, they outlawed rockets, the next year a friction driven car won, they outlawed that and ended with the NO POWERED rule combined with with the weight rule, which hadn't been in effect in the OPEN category.)
The cars usually arrive in custom boxes built like they could protect the Presidents Football from thermonuclear attack. The boxes themselves look like works of art. Exotic woods, or tooled stainless or aluminum.
Then the cars come out, and some of them, if photographed against the right backdrop, look like they could race at Monaco, Indy, or Daytona.
Its awesome, and one year, the winner of the 'son only' category beat everyone in a raceoff. His car was obviously a son only project, and no one could figure it out. He was way light too, but for some reason the sum was much more than the parts, and he beat all the OPEN cars. He's a legend, and the record is still his. He has a young son, not quite Cub age yet, and it remains to be seen what happens now!
Enjoy this time. A number of years ago my son and I packed all his scouting memories in a box - everything from his derby cars to his sash with 25 merit badges. It was a great journey from Tiger to Eagle - and I was blessed to travel along. You'll enjoy it, I promise. Campouts, High Adventure trips, make sure to go to a Jamboree. I have enjoyed seeing this little kid grow into the man he is today. Honestly, I find I envy you just a bit!
I spent the day on Saturday doing first Pinewood Derby, and then Powderpuff Derby. My son's car didn't win any trophies for appearance or speed, but he had fun doing 95% of the work himself. He's a little sad it'll be his last year, as he's moving on to a Scout troop in March.
My daughter's car - which looked like a partially-unwrapped king-sized Hershey bar with wheels, did much better - she took second in the siblings races, and then also took second in the Powderpuff, barely edged out by an obviously dad-build car. She also got a Judge's Favorite trophy. I did the wheels and axles on both cars, but the kids did the rest.
Not sure if my daughter will do Powderpuff again, but we'll see.
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