Thread: Pinewood Derby Time Again!...

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Beautiful cars!. The detail work is phenominal.

Back when my son was a Cub Scout (he's 32 now) we built his first Pinewood car to look like something from the Bonneville salt flats. I was working in a body shop at the time, so after we shaped and sanded the body, I took it to work and painted it. I spent my spare time for a couple of days sealing, priming, sanding, and finally painting it. Like yours, it looked like it had been dipped in glass. He won "best appearing car" and won the pack eliminations. Two weeks later we went to the district championships where he took 4th in eliminations and runner-up for "best appearing car".

The following year we built his car to look like an Indy racecar. We won the eliminations at the pack meet, but then we were disqualified because they said "the dad did too much of the work on the car". My son was devastated; he actually had done more work on this second car than he did the year before. I was told by another parent, sometime later, that it was all political. Apparently, my son's car was disqualified because the Packmaster wanted the runner-up to win. His dad was some kind of a manager at the local Chrysler dealership and the Packmaster was hoping for a donation...

The really sad part was, after that, my son refused to participate in any scout functions and refused to go back to his den meetings. Many years before, I had been a Cub Scout myself and later a Boy Scout and loved it. Later, I became an adult scouter and worked with a team from the District Committee training new Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters, so I fully understand the value of the scouting program. Too bad our local Packmaster turned out to be a jerk...

Sorry to hear that. It's sad when politics get involved to the point where it affects the kids. We are lucky and have a great pack and awesome adult leadership!

Dave Brisco

Ken,

Just wondering how your Grandson did at the Pinewood race... Got any photos to share?...

Dave Brisco