Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 -- oops...

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TDean
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Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 -- oops...

Post by TDean »

Dang, I missed this one (I went to last year's race and my kids had great fun -- even with the cheesy cardboard/velcro track and lack or organization). I understand this year you were to pick up your car kit, decorate it right away and start racing that day (last year you picked up one of their free wedge kits 2 weeks in advance).

Did anyone go to this year's race? I saw Richard mention it in his post in another topic. How did it compare to last years? Anyone have thrilling tales of victory or agonizing defeat?
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Re: Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 -- oops...

Post by gpraceman »

I'm not sure what happened to Richard, but here is what he sent me by email:
Richard wrote:The race at walmart went ok I guess, you're right it wasn't very organized. None of the employees seemed to know what they where doing. We entered two cars, an orange one for my son and a blue one for Daughter since she has never raced before. There were no brackets so it was kind of confusing. My kids cars were obviously very fast compared with everyone else. Then at the end the guy in charge said allright lets see who is the fastest, the kids with the orange car and the blue car go up to the starting gate. He had no idea the were brother and sister. Well to make a long story short, My Doughter edged out my son by a quarter of an inch, so they got first and second. My son will never live that race down, it's been a week and she still reminds him about it.
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Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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TDean
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Re: Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 (and '02 flashback)

Post by TDean »

Hey Richard (by way of gpraceman) --

Congrats to your daughter :D and son :oops: -- my daughter raced for the first time last year -- and she also came in first (though my son might have beaten her, but his car flew off the cardboard track on his first race and was not allowed to re-run -- one race and out!).

You said your kid's cars were faster than the others -- did you bring cars from home, or use one of the race-day handout kits? If you used the race day kits, what did you do to make them speedy?

Will you race at Wal-Mart again next year? (assuming they have one...)
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Re: Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 -- oops...

Post by tlz_allen »

Hi everyone!

I'm just picking this up as a full-time coordinator for the first time this year (I assisted last year), and itr seems that if the Wal-Mart events is soooo disorganized, then maybe there is an opportunity here to make a little headway.

For example, if they really want to have the event, but you've seen that it is very disorganizde, then why not have the local church/cub scout troop step up and offer to run it. They'd get their event with their name plastered all over it, and your group would get a bit of free advertising and maybe draw a few/lot more people to your own event.

Just a thought...
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Re: Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 -- oops...

Post by TurtlePowered »

I don't think they had any around here but if they advertised as poorly as the previously I could have just missed it. The previous year was basicly a joke as the put the track pieces together backward so your car could (and my daughters did!) jump the track if you hit a section right. My son did come in second but I think my daughter had the faster car.
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Re: Wal-Mart Day at the Races '03 -- oops...

Post by ExtremePWD »

We tried to keep an ear open this year but missed the event if it happened in our area. We ran the first year. Disorganized is an understatement. The duo running the race made up the format as they went. Since it was supposed to be a single elimination I made sure my three kids were all in different heats. (There were only about 10 entries).
Each one finished first in their heat. The organizers then took the 3 first place winners from the heats and ran them against each other for first place overall. OK so far. Then they took the second place car from each heat and ran them to determine the second place overall car. Then came the race of the third place cars to determine third place overall. I briefly tried to explain to them the flaw in their thinking but they did not comprehend what I was trying to say. Oh well. The kids had fun and the two that did not officially get a top three finish each won one of the non-race categories so they all went home with something.
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