"Beat the Cubmaster Race"

General topics of interest to racers and race coordinators alike.
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Noskills
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"Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Noskills »

Hello all,

I have read about this idea here on DT but i thought I would pose this concern to you all. My pack is not too competitive. I won the non scout race followed by my daughter pretty easily. Now this race is composed of siblings, parents and other leaders. I love to make my own car and to race it but I really dont want to "take away" a spot for some sibling of one of our scouts. We only had a few adults last year-not enough for an all adult race. So what should I do? Options are:
1. Adult race category separate from the <18 non-scout (and push our dads and leaders to join)
2. Race my car but not let it count in the top 3 for trophies
3. Same as number 2 but maybe have a special trophie for anyone who beats me (as the new cubmaster).

The "beat the cubmaster race" sounds fun but I wonder if I need to do well in more than one year (last year was my first pack race) so I have the reputation as someone to beat. It might sound a bit arrogant to assume that i am tough to beat after just one year.

Thoughts on this. :scratching:

Noskills (Seth)
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Stan Pope
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Stan Pope »

There are two entirely different approaches to this "competition." First, there is the Cubmaster car that only the fastest cars in the pack can keep up with, much less beat. This isn't very interesting to me.

The other Cubmaster Car is a sleek looking car that finishes its race in record slow time and that only the slowest cars are allowed to race against. The intent is to provide an opportunity for every scout to finish their racing with a heat win over another car. So in practice, after the pack racing is done and you have helped the slowest 2 or 3 racers bring their cars up to snuff, challenge each of them to a race. Bring out a fancy box with an equally fancy (but slow) race car. Let it be a "big production." Loose gracefully! Award an "I beat the Cubmaster" ribbon. But you gotta lose or the point is lost.
Stan
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by 4wheeldrift »

I really like Stan's idea. At our last cub scout race I was standing at the table and looking the cars over and this little Tiger comes along and asks 'whatcha look'n at?'.

I said I was just admiring the cars.

He then asks if I'd like to see his so I'm like sure, let's take a look.

He points it out and without missing a beat says 'I didn't win a single race today'. I don't know why, but it just struck a chord with me and was saddening. It also reminded me how these kids don't miss a single detail.

I think this would be a neat way to wrap it up for a few kids where the parents were probably throwing something together the morning of the race.
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birddog
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by birddog »

Seth-

We tried our first ever "open division" race last year. It went pretty well. We had 2 different divisions, an "open youth" (for kids under 16) and an "open adult" for anyone 16 or older.

We only gave out trophies for the youth division entries. This allows all the siblings to race and win trophies too. Note that we did not run the open division races until the scouts were completely done and the closing flag ceremony was finished (this kept the main focus on the scouts).

For the adults, it was just for bragging rights. However, we did do a "grand finals" that included both open youth and open adult to crown an open champion. This open champioin gets their name inscribed on a traveling trophy that can hold 12 years worth of winners on it. This year, a YOUTH won the first ever open championship.

Personlly, I'd focus on running workshops to up the level of competition in your pack as opposed to running a race where the slowest cars can beat the cubmasters really slow car. I think the kids (and parents) would see right through that and nobody needs that "consolation prize".

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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by 4wheeldrift »

I can see where you're coming from birddog regarding the consolation prize cause now I think about it, I wouldn't put it past some of the parents to then purposely make that their goal. Create a very slow car with the intention of at least winning the cubmaster race.
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Noskills
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Noskills »

Mike,

Thank you. I think an open youth with trophies and an open adult with bragging rights is a good idea. We also do lots of non-speed awards so that many scouts get some sort of goodie!

As far as hosting a speed clinic, I will need to read up in that section as I would like to do this but I personally dont have the room in my garage. Perhaps I can find a way to work this out though,

Seth
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Stan Pope
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Stan Pope »

birddog wrote:Personlly, I'd focus on running workshops to up the level of competition in your pack as opposed to running a race where the slowest cars can beat the cubmasters really slow car. I think the kids (and parents) would see right through that and nobody needs that "consolation prize".

birddog
My experience is that you would be okay with both.

Yes, parents would see through it quickly but would be concerned only if it affected their darlings adversely. The real question is how the youngsters react. When we ran quintuple elimination at district, about 8% of the racers would reach elimination without winning a heat. A couple of years we had half dozen "cubmaster cars". Boys who were eliminated during the 5th round (no wins) were invited to select an opponent from among the cubmaster cars, stage both of them, and serve as "starter" for the heat. Then they collected their "I won a race at" ribbon! Very few turned down the offer.
Stan
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Speedster »

This discussion has given me an idea. Has anyone run an open race that is scored in reverse? The slowest cars, not the fastest, get the trophies. We score Elapsed Time. My thought is to run the race with the same rules as regulation racing except the 10 slowest cars will get the trophies. The only additional rule will be If the car does not set off the timer it is eliminated. I will build a car and start by running the parts in the box down the track. I could then keep adding graphite, weight, remove wood, or whatever until the car set off the timer. This information will be passed on to the racers at our first presentation. Am I going to have a lot of problems?
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Stan Pope
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Stan Pope »

Speedster wrote:Has anyone run an open race that is scored in reverse? The slowest cars, not the fastest, get the trophies.
Search on keywords "turtle race".
Stan
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Re: "Beat the Cubmaster Race"

Post by Speedster »

Thank you. Lots of good info.
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