Pinewood Derby Districts!

The first thing that happened is I spotted the family who cheated last year. They were working on their car and getting it all set to turn in. Graphiting the axles, etc. So they take their car over and for some reason I hit the record button. Oh, go ahead and see for yourself. You can't hear anything but you can see the man in the sweater vest (the dad) and the two officials inspecting the car. Notice what the officials do and their body language. Kenneth and Nicholas are checking in Kenneth's car for the Dad's race (in the background).

You saw that ,right? They gave the car back to them to work on some more. Something about the axles. The dad then went back out to their car and brought in more supplies. I suppose they were axles. They took the car apart and replaced the axles. We finally left that room and moved into the "race room".

Here are all the cars for the Weeblos I race. The car all the way in the back on the right is the cheaters' car. He must have passed the initial inspection finally. Nicholas's car is the third from the bottom on the right with all the little holes in it. They flip the cars upside down so they don't injure the axles or harm the car in any way before the race. It is interesting to look at the cars from the bottom because you can tell where they put the weights and what weights they use. So then the racing begins! Nicholas's car (green one) wins every race except two towards the end. The track had a fast lane (the one on the right) and it truly came down to which lane you were in at the end to determine the winner. We were lucky and got the faster lane on the last race and .....
Oh yeah, Kenneth came in third in the Dad's race!

He got a trophy and everything!!

Okay, back to Nicholas.......


Yup! He won FIRST PLACE!

They pulled the winners' cars apart and inspected them to make sure they weren't cheating. The cheaters came in 4th and they were anxious to see if anyone was disqualified. No one was and one inspector told Nicholas he could have polished his axles just a bit more, ha ha. But everything checked out just fine.

Here are the boys with their trophies:

Pinewood Derby

Here is his car this year. He named it "Stinger" for the hornet stickers he put on it.

Here he is with his car.

Here he is after he got his pin for winning against his den (which only consists of him and one other child.)

So after the den race he then races against his whole pack (the top two who win in their den move to the pack race). In past years, Nicholas has won or come in second in his den and then not done well in the pack race. He has NEVER placed first second or third in the pack races.

This is a picture of him about half way through the pack races and he is winning each race his car is in. He is starting to realize that he could win the whole thing this year. No other cars are coming close!
Nicholas won!! He won for his den and in the whole pack. He won the biggest trophy he has ever received too.

And here he is with his biggest trophy ever!

Yay! Nicholas!!! We are now off to District Finals where the top two kids from each den in each pack go to race against each other. In past years Nicholas's car has been about middle of the group. Last year he came in 5th and he received a certificate. The winner of the group was disqualified and there was a big mess with that. This year I think we could have a chance to get higher in the standings. We can't wait.

Raingutter Regatta

For those of you who don't know us personally we end up being very very busy this time of year. So busy that half the time we don't know where we are going or what is next. So keep up with us here on the blog and check often so you don't miss a thing!



Raingutter Regatta!!! This is a final cub scout event for my son's cub scout pack. It is also the time that they move up a level in scouting.

Here he is with his sailboat he will be racing:


The Raingutter Regatta race!!

This is a picture of him getting his new neckerchief. He is a Webelos now.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "this is our life and we are loving it"!! Next episode is the pool party!!

Silent Auction Item

My son's cub scout pack is having a silent auction to benefit Friends of Scouting at our annual dinner. I am donating a handmade fleece throw with our pack numbers embroidered on it. It is a great blanket for all kinds of things including snuggling up with it while camping, putting it on your bed, hanging out on the couch. Best of all the boys can put their patches on it. The patches that they earn throughout the year don't go on their uniforms and some boys haven't bought the red vest that they can be sewn on. This way they can put their patches on this blanket and keep it for a keepsake of their time in cub scouts.

If you see it and want one I sell them too. Email me or leave me a comment with your email and I will get in contact with you. I can do them for Boy Scouts in tan and green and for Girl Scouts too.

Derby Update

My son took fourth in the district today for the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He was very proud of himself and he is already talking about his car for next year. AND so is my husband. We had a bit of an upset today at the Derby.

Last year we sat next to the family who won for the age group. I sat chit chatting with the mom who seemed very nice. She gave a few hints about wheel polishing with a paper bag and that she would sit while watching tv and polish wheels at night. I said that the men were more into this than some of the kids and she agreed. What I didn't know what that she was holding a secret from all of us. The boy had used that same car as the year before. They asked her at one time while I was sitting there if it was the same car and she said no it was a different one. What I didn't know what that they pulled her son aside and asked him to and said, "scout's honor is this the same car that you used last year? " The boy's face changed like he had been caught and he looked at his mom and then turned to the judge and said, "it is a different car." Come to find out it was the same car as the year before.

So this year, I spied her right away recognizing her from last year and knowing that she was a big contender. Her son sat right next to her and her husband rotated around the room. They had another son competing in another age group this year. They both (both boys) had an identical car this year but different weight placement from last year. I noticed the car right away and guessed it was theirs and from the face of the son (who we were competing against) when he won his first heat it was definitely his. What I also noticed right away was that he was running on three wheels, which is illegal in our district. The car was FAST! Nicholas's car never ran against him in the beginning heats but we could tell from the electronic finish line that we were a close competitor this year. Of course, my husband had to mention something to the judges that the car was running on three wheels and they immediately took the car out for inspection. They later brought the car back into the race and it continued with the rest of the cars. It was much faster than the other cars racing, seeming to have an unfair advantage. My husband kept questioning the car to the officials and at the end of the race when this car took first place and Nicholas had come in fifth, the officials decided to take the car apart and inspect the axles and the wheels from the inside. They had used aftermarket axles that they had grooved and they coned a wheel so that they were not only running on three wheels but one other wheel wasn't touching the track with all its tread. They had three places where they were cheating according to the rules of the district. They disqualified the car from the race. Hmmm....

Come to find out the district has been trying to get this family on cheating for a couple years now and finally they were able to do it. The race director thanked my husband for being bold enough to question the car and he said that another boy had said something too about it. We felt good about that.

But every happy ending has a dark cloud in there somewhere right? Well this story is no different. The part that we didn't like was that the boy who's car was disqualified was in hysterics because he didn't win. He was upset and visibly so. The biggest part that bothered me was that his parents who built the car for him cheated and because of that the boy couldn't participate in a fun wholesome activity. The boy was disqualified because his parents chose to cheat and risk getting caught. How can a parent risk that for their son? I would much rather lose the race (like we did) and console my son for losing but having an honest car. It is aweful to win a race and then upon post race inspection get disqualified for his parents cheating. That to me is just not good role models.

I sure hope that in this event today two things come out of it. One his parents never do that again. I doubt that will happen but I sure hope so. And two, my husband and I remember this and continue to be well aware that our actions must always be honorable and honest for our children to learn from. This, I know, will happen!

I have to say Nicholas learned a lot from this experience. He saw the boy and he saw the father, who I might mention was very angry at my husband for outing him and his son, so much my husband thought the father might meet him in the parking lot. Nicholas learned that cheaters never win and do get caught. Nicholas learned that the honorable thing to do is follow the rules. And Nicholas learned that winning isn't everything. He was a gracious loser like usual. He was proud that his car had come so close to winning as it usually doesn't when he goes to districts. Plus he had fun competing against two of his friends!

Pinewood Derby

This morning was the 2008 running of the Pinewood Derby for Nicholas's cub scout pack. My husband helped set up the track last night and they had the trials. This is a time to run your car and get it broken in a little. There is a big science to this whole racing thing. It has something to do with the weight in the back of the car, graphite, and axles. I try to stay out of it but the boys in our family have a good time with it and I put up with the tools on the kitchen table for the two weeks prior to the race.

Nicholas prides himself on the paint job. It is always shiny and neat. This year he went with the style car that won the district races last year. Nicholas has gone to districts for the past two years and while doing well in our pack he never does well in the district races. Once you get to districts it becomes a real competition and no one tells their secrets. Basically how do you get a block of wood to go down a track as fast as you can using the standard wheels and axles given to you in the kit. It can only be 5 ounces too. The cylindars you see in the pyramid pattern are the weights.

Nicholas won his den races. 6 races total and then they average your speed to see who wins. There are only three boys in our den so competition wasn't too hard. We had to run three dummy cars also in our races to finish out the lanes. Half the time the dummy cars beat us. In the picture Nicholas' car is third from the right. He is racing against the red hot rod next to him on his right and the "money car" on the end on the right. The three to the left are the dummy cars.

Then the winner from each den race to find a winner from the pack. Nicholas came in second for the pack which is the best he has ever done.

Nicholas loves the pinewood derby and while his car does look really good and it does well in the races the design and the painting is all him. He isn't allowed to use power tools on his own so he can't do some of the woodwork but he sands and paints and puts the stickers on and the weights in and polishes the axles on his own.

Last night I was up late sewing patches on his uniform. The uniform he is wearing in the picture up there was the same uniform his father wore when he was a cub scout. He wanted to wear it today so I cut the patches that he hadn't earned yet and I sewed the ones on that he did earn. I left some historical patches on it like the one on his right shirt pocket which has the 1976 date on it and I didn't replace the Council patch on his left arm. Several years back our council changed their name. I left the old name patch on there. He was very proud of the uniform today.