Seeing this ad for the movie brings back a lot of memories. While my son was not in the Cub Scouts, he and I were in the Y Indian Guides and each year they had pinewood derby races. When he was in Kindergarten we entered the race. I was convinced to pretty much let him design the car and build it himself. We got the kit, and he decided how he wanted it to look. I carved a little on the front with my pocket knife as he instructed me and when I got it right he said okay now I want to paint it. He took some water colors and painted it blue and together we put a number on it. I attached the wheels and made aplace for some extra weight should it need to be added because we never weighed it before race day. When we did it was light so I put penneys in the hole I had drilled and taped them in place. We lived in the Clear Lake area of Houston so our competition was the Fathers and Sons from NASA. Their cars were slick and smooth with 8 coats of paint and laquer, with special weights and graphite greased wheels. Most of the other kids, as well as their dads were laughing at my sons car. Well guess what? His car won his division going away. They then took each of the divisions (by grade Pre-K through 4th) and raced them for the Grand Champion. His car won that race as well, and not by just a little but by a lot. After the competition I had NASA Engineers asking my what was my secret. I just said, don't ask me ask him, pointing to my son, he built it. I never did share my two secrets with them.
