The Pinewood Derby | First Taste Of The Track

My little buddy Gavin had his first taste of the checkered flag last month when he won the Cub Scouts Atlanta Area Council Yellow River Tiger District Pinewood Derby.  His car is an all black number, sporting white racing stripes and the number 103.  It is a sleek wedge design, making the clunkers we ran when I was a kid look like corncobs on caster wheels.  The kids also compete district wide now, as opposed to when I was nine years old.  Yes, the wheel had been invented by then, and we only competed within the pack.  

The Pinewood Derby is a great way for a kid to build something and get a taste of entering it into organized competition.  The Scout is given a block of wood made of pine, 4 wheels and four nails.  The finished car must use all nine pieces and not weigh more than 150 ounces.  After that, he is on his own with his imagination.  When I was a kid, a guy in my den built his to look like The Munster Koach.

The concept originated in Manhattan Beach, California in the 1950’s.  Pack 280 Cubmaster Don Murphy’s son was too young to compete in the Soap Box Derby races.  So, Murphy came up with the idea of racing miniature wood cars.  They had the same gravity powered concept as the Soap Box Derby cars, but were much smaller, easier to build and more economically feasible.  The idea spread rapidly, and within a year the Boy Scouts had adopted the Derby for use in all Cub Scout Packs.

The track generally has two to six lanes and slopes to the ground.  The race is run in heats, giving every car the chance to run in each lane.  The first place winners from the packs advance to the district competition, and the district winners race against each other across the entire council.

So, congratulations, Gav Man!!  Keep that sleek black racer out in front, slinging rubber and moving dust!  Keep Cruisin’!  –J.