re: Just dominated on the pinewood derby track

All I remember about the pinewood derby is that they would give you a block of wood that you were supposed to shape into a car....but when the race happened, the winning cars had no apparent wood in them at all. It really has become a bit of a joke. (We won one year...melted metal and drilled into the car. Ran on 3 wheels...sanded down everything...graphite powder from hell.) It really has little to do with the scout anymore.....win at all cost society I suppose.

My old man was some what if a mad scientist. My car looked like a dildo on wheels. Drilled a hole on the back filled with mercury. The mercury would shift to the front on the ramp. It would win by 5 feet every race. When we went to the next round they disqualified because it was liquid metal.

Jody was dominating your wife's drawers while you were playing with your little cars.

It's usually Dad's anyway who are involved with buiding them. It's all in the placement of the weights.

When I was in cub scouts I participated in the derby. Pops was a multi-craft maintenance man in a plant and had access to machining, polishing, etc. He helped me carve down the block of wood into a nice streamlined shape and then my mother, who is quite artistic, took the car and painted it up real nice. I had an old race car model kit that I had never put together so she used a bunch of sponsor stickers that were in the kit. Pops used buckshot for weight and had it fixed where the buckshot would move from back to front when placed on the ramp, I won a couple of races but never won the overall derby. I did however win, the best-looking car several years in a row with different cars.

This was in the early to mid-70s and I remember one of the stickers causing a bit of a stir. It was a sticker for Hooker Headers, apparently, some of the old bitties around the den thought it was something pornographic in nature LOL.
I enjoyed the process and pops made sure that I was involved in the building and gave me various chores to perform while building the cars.

This thread brought back a lot of fond memories from my childhood. Thanks OP!

quote:

---

It really has little to do with the scout anymore.....win at all cost society I suppose.

---

My son's den from about 8 years ago was super intense. The dads were always extremely competitive among themselves. It was not a whole lot of fun because of that intensity.

It was a small den, but there were two engineer dads and a couple of others who were way over the top into the racing. One guy even had a very top of the line track in his home.

Every year we would compete and a bunch of them would go to Bass Pro for the regionals and win. They did the whole bit with rail riding, weight distribution, polishing axles, 3 wheels touching.

My son and I would always build a car together as I thought it should be done, with him doing a significant amount of work on it, and we would always finish in the middle of the pack and never advance.

The last year of cub scouts, I went to the dark side. One of the engineer dads shared a bit of info with me about rail riding that significantly helped. Then the dad with the home track invited us out to his house for some fine tuning of the car. Apparently this guy used to build cars and race them on some kind of internet circuit that had nothing to do with scouts.

That year our den won 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th at Bass Pro. We placed very highly, but narrowly missed going to state. My son was very happy, but that win had little to do with him. I always felt a little dirty after that derby season.

I wish the pinewood derby was more about the kids and less about the dads, but unfortunately that's just not how it is any more.

quote:

---

I wish the pinewood derby was more about the kids and less about the dads, but unfortunately that's just not how it is any more.

---

There’s always been that element. You can buy into it or not. When I was a kids, I won a medal for best looking car or something like that. It was painted like the General Lee with the Stars and Bars on the hood and everything. Won a medal that I pinned to my uniform. Probably a hate crime now I guess.

Save yourself the trouble....for $49.95, the cup can be yours! (And your kid can open the box or something...) pre made car

Pitiful...but it's big business these days....

quote:

---

General Lee with the Stars and Bars on the hood and everythin

---

Wrong flag and wrong location

quote:

---

it's all about the graphite

---

I always looked like I bathed in it.