Race On: Pinewood Derby

It's that time of year again for Boy Scouts across the nation...Pinewood Derby.

For the uninitiated, it's an opportunity to build up a wooden race car and compete against your fellow scouts. Competitions can range from the oh so friendly to down right vindictive. As this is our second year participating, we've only read about those stories.

Last year, Dyl and I built up a Lamborghini Murcielago (it's basically a shaped wedge) and in doing so, we learned a lot.

This year, we've really taken the art of shaping the cars to a new level. Dyl wanted a classic car, so we went with the 1967 Shelby GT 500, a la Eleanor. Luke wanted a Batmobile, so that's what we built, slightly modified. We race on Sunday, so hopefully we do well. It was a lot of fun spending time with the boys doing this. Not too many headaches, and plenty of memories.

I'll follow up with results later.

Follow Up:So we had the races on Sunday and it was on the verge of chaos, but that's not unusual. The Scouts is a great outlet for the kids, in addition to being a superb channel for introducing kids to camping, nature, and self sufficiency (at least thinking about it).

There was a total of six heats: Tiger Cubs, Wolf Cubs, Bear Cubs, Webelos I and II, and Me Too's. The Me Too's are sisters and younger siblings of scouts; think of it as a way to include other family members.

Looking at the cars, the best ones (not counting my sons) were the kits. While quite nice, they lacked that handcrafted imperfection that hints at a handiwork and builds pride and character. In fact, the fastest car there was a homegrown camouflage truck with weights on the bed (more on him later).

With the heats set, it comes down to racing a three-lane incline that flattens out in the second half, probably about twenty-five feet long or so. One of the most interesting facets of this race is the timing mechanism. While I suspected a high dollar multiple timing system with lap and such (typical of track meets and high end race events), this timer that I could make out consisted of a PC, monitor, connections to the track, and a VCR? Yes, that's right. Home brew software took a busted VCR and converted it into a multi lane timing system...accurate to the thousandth of a second. With blue/red/white indicator for place. If that ain't the Scout way...

Dyl's GT500 had a good and consistent showing. His car was a bit big and just not well enough on the low volume/high mass ration. He did improve over last year however, finishing second in his heat.

Lukers's Batmobile was one of the fastest cars at the event. His car's best time was about a 3.7 or so (the camo truck I mentioned earlier ran a 3.51). I was impressed with the little car and Lukers had a great time sitting, cheering and yelling.

Life can be great at times, and this Sunday race was no exception.

Shazam!