Derby Talk

Pack 242 had our Pinewood Derby this weekend (March 2, 2013) as part of our spring campout at Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum in far north Phoenix.

Miracles were performed. Reputations were made. Excellent food was shared. Coyotes serenaded us. Strange things were seen. There were cool cars. There were fast cars. There were cool and fast cars. There were a bunch of really great cars built by Cub Scouts, siblings, parents, and adults.

And in the Pack championship race, an inexplicable twist of fate sent the defending champion's car* spinning off the track and the main trophy passing on to a eager new Tiger Cub. (the only time such a thing happened all day)

And as part of the race prep, we took photos of every single car for informational & documentary purposes in a "photo box" we created for that purpose (total investment: about 50 cents). We've assembled & posted those photos at:
http://www.richardcmoeur.com/242pwd2013.html" target="_blank

Take a look and let me know what you think.

*my son's car, of course...

CONGRATULATIONS to Duncan and the Moeur Racing Team. You all did very well. Great pictures. My favorite was the block of wood. That scout has to have a great sense of humor.
Are you entering your cars in the midamericaderby?

Great looking bunch of cars! I really like that your pack documents each one. It seems like each year we see some cool unusual cars in our Pack and can't quite remember how they looked the next year when we build our new one. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the positive comments.

Once we got the photo process going, it didn't take long (maybe 10 min) to photo all the cars in 4 quadrants. We'll plan on doing this for the Four Peaks District Derby as well.

And a testament to the value of workshops:
I was a bit disappointed at the turnout for some of the workshops we held. But here's how the folks who did show up fared:
1st, 2nd, & 3rd, Pack
1st, Tigers
1st, 2nd, & 3rd, Wolf
1st & 2nd, Bear
1st, 2nd, & 3rd, Open (Stock)
1st, Open (Plummet)

That was a great idea. A nice keepsake for all the participants.

Paul

I think the pictures are a great idea. Our pack's PWD is basically about the race, there are no design awards. Now that we have been doing it for a few years we will suggest at least a few design awards to get trophies for next year and maybe even using your idea of taking pictures of all cars and possibly importing them into a participation certificate that we can give to everyone.

The Earth has made another trip around the glowing spherical nuclear furnace, and another Pack 242 Pinewood Derby has come and gone. Great fun for all, even though my son (for the first time!) didn't make it to the finals - but the car that nosed him out went on to win it all. And the boys that showed up at the workshops took most of the prizes (as one might expect).

I was hoping to have these up sooner, but a complete computer failure slowed things up a bit.

And so, I present to you the Pack 242 Pinewood Derby cars for 2014:
http://www.richardcmoeur.com/242pwd2014.html

And if you're on Facebook, more photos are available on the Pack's Page at:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 2093002250

--
Richard C. Moeur
Pack 242 PWD Chair
Co-Chair, Four Peaks District PWD