Pinewood Derby

[LoserMomma]

For the kids or for the dads?

I'm getting ready to take my son to his...poor kid has to do his own car....he's gonna lose again, but what the heck. He had fun!

 

[tcufrog]

It got so bad in my son's YMCA Father/Child program that they instituted a race just for the dads. The dads were happy and the kids' cars started looking like they had helped with them again.

My son helps with his car. He always wins a trophy but my dh is a mechanical engineer so I think he has a major advantage even though he does more work than a lot of kids do on their cars. I keep hoping he will lose one year because I think he's getting too cocky.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We always laughed about the cars that were "untouched by a child's hands"! Rent the movie "Down & Derby". It's a really bad comedy, but it's funny because it hits so close to home!

 

[SMD]

There are some local bars around here that hold derbies. You can to buy the kit a few days before and they get really serious about inspecting the cars.

It's funny, may parents would insist on "proof reading" (rewriting) all of my elementary school assignments, even when I protested, but it never would have occurred to them to cheat in sports or other competition. I think my mother preferred when I came in dead last in tournaments, because then we could go home instead of hanging around for the next round.

 

[okeydokey]

Years ago, a kid in my son's troop bought a car off eBay and showed up to race it.

 

[sapdaddy2]

When i was the chairman of the cub scout pack we had more cars that were obviously made by the parents than the scouts. We held a open race for the parents/siblings and the competition was fierce. For the cubs we had the awards for first, second third as well as awards for best design and scouts favorite. I had one scout who was a fantastic artist and could care less about the speed of his car which always came in near last but he was more interested in best design and/or scout favorite which he always won. One year his car looked like the scene from the Star Wars film where Darth Vader and Obie Wan battle on the planet of lava. It was stunning.

 

[Nevergrow'nup]

One year, we had to go buy another kit.......
My DH came in from the garage where they were working on the car, hanging his heard. "I did too much". ......
Another Mechanical Engineer. ......

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Honestly, it's not about the shape. It's about how slick you can get the axles, how free you can make the wheels roll, and where you place the weights. DD's car looked like a brick flying sideways, but it was fast

After the race, I figured out a trick to get a slight head-start. Was bummed we didn't do PD the next year

 

[holycow]

You need graphite on the wheels along with what Gumbo said.

My poor son came in last until I got the graphite and then it picked up speed.

Have fun!

We had to have a talk about this is when being a poor sport can come into play.
He's 8. We needed the talk!

 

[cybrkitn]

DS11 moved up from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts in March of last year. He had his last pinewood derby a month before hand. Over the years you could tell just by looking at some of the cars that the fathers did most of the work. Thankfully, DH was not one of them and DS sanded and painted his own car. The only adult supervision that he had was an adult who cut out the pattern DS had drawn on the block of wood. DH was there for DS overseeing it but let him do it himself.

DS's old pack did have a race each year for the fathers. I guess it made them feel like kids again.

Btw, I second watching the movie "Down & Derby". We enjoyed watching it.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

My son did his 1st pinewood derby this year. I helped super glue the weights on bc he's only 7 lol but he did the rest and out clubmaster cut all the cars out . He had a blast doing it, but his car came in 1st in his age group and then 3rd overall out of all the age groups lol....I told him that was going to be some big shoes to fill next year lol

 

[LoserMomma]

Well my son got 4th...he was beat out by the Pilot's kid, the Engineer's kid and the Mechanic's kid....I figured he did a great job.

We figured out the graphite thing a few years ago, but we don't polish the axles (which is illegal) and we put the weights where thy will fit rather than the perfect spot, but he did pretty well. All we do is use the saw and the Dremel if he need it. (and we get the axles straight together)

 

[Warren325]

You need graphite on the wheels along with what Gumbo said.

My poor son came in last until I got the graphite and then it picked up speed.

Have fun!

We had to have a talk about this is when being a poor sport can come into play.
He's 8. We needed the talk!

Hahaha Nice!

 

[undertheradar]

I like the troops that don't let the cars go home. The car is assembled and raced same day. No chance for the Dad's/Mom's to "assist" with the assembly. Much more fun for the kids!

 

[zoemurr]

When i was the chairman of the cub scout pack we had more cars that were obviously made by the parents than the scouts. We held a open race for the parents/siblings and the competition was fierce. For the cubs we had the awards for first, second third as well as awards for best design and scouts favorite. I had one scout who was a fantastic artist and could care less about the speed of his car which always came in near last but he was more interested in best design and/or scout favorite which he always won. One year his car looked like the scene from the Star Wars film where Darth Vader and Obie Wan battle on the planet of lava. It was stunning.

My son only worried about "most creative" as well and won 3 years in a row. The last one he made Angry Birds out of sculpey clay and looped a large rubber band around one of them. Then he had a wooden target at the other end, and painted the base green. It was really cool. Another year he made a bunk bed with wheels and kids sleeping. DH did help him a bit with the cutting and weight, but we aren't creative enough to think those things up.

Where I live most of the dads are engineers. (Kodak, Xerox, and Harris are based here.) I knew someone that moved to another state for a few years and she said her sons won no problem. Her husband was the only engineer there.