Derby Driving

Now that Jonah and Micah are 8, they are in cub scouts. At the end of January, it was the annual pinewood derby contest. Each boy was given a block of wood and 4 tires at the beginning of the month, and they had to come up with the design of the car they wanted to create. Jonah wanted to make a truck, and Micah wanted a race car. Josh helped them cut out the shape that they wanted and then he showed them how to sand their vehicles.

 After they were sanded smooth, Josh took them to the store to pick what color of paint they wanted. Jonah picked a light blue color, and Micah picked bright orange. Josh helped them paint their vehicles, and put several coats of spray paint on them. Then I helped the boys with the detailing. Jonah wanted windows on his truck, and he wanted his bedliner red and yellow. Micah wanted windows on his race car and he wanted flames painted on the front. Then Josh attached the wheels and the derby car and truck were ready to roll! Jonah and Micah were so happy with the final product!

We arrived at the scout meeting on a Friday night, and the boys' cars were weighed. Both Jonah and Micah's cars were on the lighter side: they are supposed to weigh 5 ounces or less, and they each weighed around 3.5 ounces. Josh thought we shouldn't add any more weights to the cars, so we left them as is.

There were scouts from two troops in attendance, and the boys all took turns racing against each other. There were about 15 boys, and the races lasted 2 1/2 hours. It was the longest pinewood derby I've ever been to. Jonah and Micah's cars weren't the fastest, and they only won a few races each. Towards the end of the meeting, I added a few pins to Jonah's and a quarter to Micah's, and they each won a couple of races after that. I was so proud of them, because even though they were losing far more than they were winning throughout the competition, they were happy for others who won and they didn't become visibly upset.

It was fun to watch them race against each other, too! The racecar and truck were pretty evenly made, and they each won different races against each other!

The boys had a fun night and even though they didn't come home with the first-place trophy, they were happy with their cars and they had a good time racing with their friends.