Pinewood Derby

Saturday was Derek’s first Pinewood Derby.  He was so excited (although I think I might have been the most excited).  It was also Glenn’s first Pinewood Derby as far as he can remember.  Derek designed the car and got some help from Glenn and Grandpa Ludwig in making it.  Evan suggested the name “The Flaming Dagger” and Derek went with it.  We put the finishing touches on it Saturday morning and headed off to the race.

Derek is super competitive, so I had the chat with him Friday night about winning and losing and being a good sport.  I gave him a few scenarios that involved him losing until he finally told me it was making him upset just thinking about it and asked me stop.  So much for convincing him that winning isn’t important!

The chat must have worked because we noticed when Derek was asked to say the opening prayer, he prayed that everyone would be successful rather than praying for his car to win!  Whew!

The Pinewood Derby is much more high tech than when I was growing up.  There was an electronic track that logged the times of the cars and a big screen set up displaying the standings.

The scouts all sat along the track and the energy level was high.  There was a lot of excitement when those first cars whizzed past!

One of the scout leaders took some pictures of Derek’s reaction when his car won a race.  I think it is a fun progression.

The best part is Evan’s reaction to the win.  Those boys do love each other!

Some of the heats were extremely close!

Derek ended up coming in third place overall, and he was thrilled!  It was fun to watch Derek and his friends cheering for one another and having fun.  Take a look at the total satisfaction on his cute face!  And he didn’t even win!  He was proud of himself anyway (though I’m sure the trophy and ribbon helped).  Another rite of passage successfully completed!