Our first Pinewood Derby!

Saturday was our first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby! The weekend before, C and DH made the car. I was afraid that they would never get started. But they did and painted the car in stages, several nights of the week leading up to the big race.



The Tigers are Den 2 and here is their fleet of fast cars! (C's is the one on the very left. Don't you love the one with the turtle for a driver?)





After a false start b/c of technical difficulties and a racer's name not in the rotation, we were off and racing! C is learning to be a good sportsman, to cheer on team mates and to not gloat when he wins or break down when he loses. What a way to put hair on a little boy's chest! Here is my son (right) with a boy in his Den who lives around the corner. They ride the same bus and M* has a crush on this boy. She even asked me to if she could take his pic while we were at the Derby. He gladly posed with his race car for her. See, CubScouts even learn to be gentlemen. in the background you can see the 2 tracks we had. One was wood, while the other was metal. Each Den was able to race on both tracks. They were pretty high tech...the finish line was hooked up to computers to calculate which car had crossed the finish line first. (In a friend's troop, they did it by site and had a video cam at the finish line in case they needed to replay a race. haha.)




In the middle of the even, Dens and siblings participated in a paper airplane contest. C* earned a second place ribbon. Ironically enough, the boy in our den who placed last with the cars, won the paper airplane contest. I told him that he needs to forget cars and concentrate on airplanes! Here is E* right after he threw his plane down the school hallway!




C* is standing in front of some of the posted ratings. He ended up coming in 2nd place in his den and 8th overall. Pretty good for a first time derby racer! He car averaged 148.7 MPH! Wow...I don't want to think how fast he'll be when he gets a read car!




Here is our Den of Tigers, posing with their cars and awards. Each participant recived a sharp looking trophy. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place racers in each Den received a trophy. There were also first, second and third trophies overall in the Pack. There was a set of ribbons for the paper airplane contest in each Den too. Everyone walked home a winner!




Now...is it time to start planning for next year? haha!