Pinewood Derby!

Post date: Jan 6, 2018 3:56:14 AM

Workshops

Check your email for addresses! The workshops are great for new scouts that need hints on making a great car, or anyone that just needs to come and use some tools. We highly recommend attending one if this is your first derby! Also ... if you have not yet received your pinewood derby kit, we will have a few at the workshops.

Race Day

Racing activities will be at the Family Life Center at St. Philip's United Methodist Church, our chartering organization. St. Philip's is located at 16321 Great Oaks Dr at Racine Trl across from the Brushy Creek Community Center.

Race Day starts at 8 a.m. with weigh-in. We need to have everyone there at 8 am so we can get all scouts ready by 9 am, when the flag ceremony will kick off the event. Your son must be present and in his class A uniform to race!

KEY RULES (the frequently missed, but very important, rules):

* Build a new car this year. No running old cars.

* No fancy store kits. Official cub scout kits only.

* No fancy wheel modifications. If you're unsure, see the rules. If your wheels look fancy to your crotchety, retro commish (me), they may be disqualified.

* Build a tough car- boys are rough and there's a lot of races to run.

* Scout must be present during his races to be in the race.

* No adjustable parts. These *WILL* fall off every year.

* Build your car to meet the specs in the rules document

* Boys are required to wear their Class A uniforms.

Thanks to all of you who pitched in last year to make it a great race day. This is a big event and takes a lot of people pitching in on the day of the race. Please make your plans to help with tasks like starting the races or recording the winners.

Please also come to setup night the Friday evening before the race at 7 pm. We need a good bit of help to make it happen. Please bring a battery powered drill with screw driver heads & with machine screw (allen wrench) style heads.

The hidden benefit of coming to setup night: we'll put out the official scales around at the end and you can take a quick check on the weight of your car right before we go home.

Remember to practice leave no trace principles. Please keep all construction, remodeling, and repair outside the church building on the porch (or bring your own carpet shampoo equipment). The cleanup process on Saturday must return the FLC building back to condition for church services to be held the very next day.

Awards

Each year, in addition to trophies for the winners, we also hand out certificates to the boys who've done a good job with car design or construction. To give your son something to consider, we're providing some sample categories before the race.

Here are the perennial categories :

Best Cub Scout Theme:

Most Patriotic:

Best Workmanship (not for dads ;-):

Here are some of the optional categories we've handed out in recent years. Total number of certificates will be around 10.

Most out of this world:

Most bird-like:

Best Block of Wood:

Most Like Star Wars Car:

Most Creative:

Most Futuristic:

Most Artistic:

Best Vehicle *NOT* a car:

Best Wedge Shape:

Strangest Shape:

Funniest:

Best use of Weight:

Most fuel efficient"

BACK DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND -- Open Category for Siblings!

When we finish racing on one track, that track will be set aside for siblings to run their own races. So have them build a car as well! As long as the car fits on the track, it can race. We won't be monitoring weights for those cars. Additional car kits can be purchased at the Frank Fickett Center Scout Shop. http://www.bsacac.org/about/fickettcenter

We also have a loopty-loop for a track that will be set up and used once a free lane opens up. Count on your car getting wrecked on this thing!

Happy Racing!