Pinewood Derby

Anyone who has ever been involved in scouting knows that one of the highlights of the year is the Pinewood Derby. I don't know who it's more exciting for: the boys, the families/siblings, or the fathers! The combined wards did a great job putting on a wonderful derby this year. I couldn't believe the turnout- there were 16 scouts competing, but there were many others who came just for the fun of it all. I loved seeing all the kids lined up along the racetrack- they were so excited they could hardly stand it.

The Saturday before the derby, Jeff and Jacob spent time cutting the car, sanding the wheels and axles, painting, etc. They got most of the work done, but for some reason we were still up late the night before finishing the last details. To add more weight to the car, Jeff drilled a hole in the back, then used his blowtorch to melt lead (fishing weights) and poured it into the drilled hole while I held the car-only slightly panicking. :)

The biggest issue we encountered was our spray paint. For some reason, the metallic silver spray paint that Jacob had chosen would NOT dry! It was originally painted on Saturday, but it was still sticky on Monday night. Despite my vote to sand it, and repaint, Jeff wanted to give it more time. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon- just a few hours before the derby. I was in panic mode knowing this car was NOT going to dry! Jacob was at school, so I had to sand off all that sticky, wet paint and hurry and repaint the car. I then used my blowdryer to finish the drying process, added a clear glossy coat, and added some stripes using my craft vinyl. It wasn't quite the silver bullet Jacob had imagined, but it turned out looking nice and Jacob liked it.

When Jeff got home from work, he helped Jacob put the wheels on, I finished my cake for the auction and we were off! Next year, I'm going to make sure that car is done days ahead!
Luckily we were there about 25 minutes early, because there ended up being a slight problem with our wheels- apparently they were a little too far apart. So to add more stress to the night- Jeff had to quickly run home and reset the wheels. He made it back just in the nick of time, but it still ended up being a great evening.

The blue one is Jacob's car, the one in 2nd place ended up taking 3rd overall.

We were just hoping that Jacob's car wouldn't come in last place, but it quickly became apparent that Jacob's car was fast... really fast! It won every single race it ran, and not just barely- it was way ahead. In fact, in its first race, it shot completely off the end of the track.

They had a pretty good setup with the computers and everything, so we were able to see that in every race, Jacob's car ran a 3.06, 3.07 or 3.08 time.

Finally it came down to the 'championship' run with the top three cars. On the final run, Jacob's car came down in a 3.07, but there had been some mistake with another car so they removed the times and said they would re-run the final race. Unfortunately, something happened on that re-run of the last race. Jacob's car looked like it stuck for a second at the top, then came down in second place with a 3.14. The scoring was done was by averaging all the times of each car, and that 3.14 really hurt Jacob's overall time, giving him an average time of 3.0910 even though every race was a 3.06-3.08 until that last race of the 3.14.

Jacob didn't know any different- he was completely thrilled to have ended up in 2nd place out of a group of 16 boys! It was Jeff that was a little bummed about the whole thing, only because it appeared something had gone wrong on the last race and they wouldn't do anything about it. It was only a moment though, and he certainly didn't say anything to Jacob. We were also excited for Rowan (& Ewan of course) Black who ended up with a very well earned 1st place finish!

I was just thrilled we had a car to race! Especially with the stress I had trying to get that silly car painted just hours before the derby! I thought the whole night was perfect, and that 2nd place trophy was just the icing on the cake.

Speaking of cakes- the cake auction was a success too. We came home with Kristie Black's delicious chocolate cake with white buttercream marshmallow frosting. Many of the cakes went for upwards of $50, and the grand prize for highest bid cake went to Val Jensen for her 6-layer chocolate sunflower cake- that baby went for $150!

Jeff & Jacob, Ewan & Rowan, Dustin & Kyler

(Good work fathers...um boys!)

These three will have the chance later on in April to compete in the big area Pinewood Derby competition.

I definitely did my share of work and wanted in on the goods too!

(and remind me never to stand face-on to the camera in a striped shirt...wow)

Rowan and Jacob