Pinewood Derby 2008

Alex was chosen as one of 2 Wolf Scouts from his den to participate in the Swan Creek District Pinewood Derby. It was held in the shell of the old Southwyck Mall in South Toledo. They were actually great - donating the space and setting up judges' tables and chairs for the audience. First, Alex had to get in line to have his car inspected. Each car had to conform to certain size requirements, both in physical dimensions and in weight. The also were prohibited from certain modifications (like liquid lubricants).
The Scouts then took turn racing each other three at a time on mutliple tracks. Becky showed up in her uniform to support her Pack, but was quickly spotted and recruited to be a race judge for one of the tracks. Alex was thrilled by the round-robin style of the derby. Since this was our first one, he was concerned that it would be done in a single or double elimination tournament style. As it was, he did not have one of the fastest cars, but still got to race it multiple times.
He actually came in third in all of the races except his final one, in which he got very excited to come in second. While this put him near the bottom of the standings, he took it in stride. Coming from a small pack, we also enjoyed seeing all of the Scouts and leaders in uniform participating in the same event. Becky got him and all of the Cub Scouts in his pack a participation ribbon. He was a good sport and conducted himself very well throughout the day. I took the boys home (Aaron had had enough by that point) and Becky stayed to help judge the Bear Scouts' heats.
Alex has already started mentally designing next year's car. It was important to him this year that he designed a car that looked cool, but next year he wants to design it for speed.