Pinewood Derby Rules

General topics of interest to racers and race coordinators alike.
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Speedster
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Pinewood Derby Rules

Post by Speedster »

Erie Shores Council, Eagle Bay District, Toledo, Ohio. I wonder if the Derby Committee knows this is the year 2019?

Double Elimination scoring, cars may not be designed to run into the rail, very light sanding to remove an imperfection on the wheels. There is NO Design category. I guess that last sentence solves the problem of which one the winner of both Design and Race must decide on. All racers sign in at the same time so I assume they are all raced together. One thing might be welcomed, as the racers are eliminated they get a piece of paper, or something, and they can go home. They don't need to stick around and congratulate the winner. If they run them all at once I imagine they empty out quickly. I don't know if they serve food but lots of folks leaving early has got to affect the food sales.
I will admit I once attended a worse BSA derby than this. They had "Single" Elimination. The leader's Explanation was "If they win in one lane they probably will win in the other". It was a junk wood track.

They do end the rules by reminding folks,
"This is just about the boys having Fun". I wonder if any of them do?
Unless there's a snowstorm I plan on attending this race. I'm curious to see if it goes smoothly.
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Vitamin K
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Re: Pinewood Derby Rules

Post by Vitamin K »

Glad my family isn't building cars for that race.

Double elimination SUCKS.

Also deliberately prohibiting rail riding? Duuuumb.
ironband
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Re: Pinewood Derby Rules

Post by ironband »

B. The body of the car must be made from the block of wood provided in an official B.S.A. PINEWOOD DERBY Kit (Cat. No. P1622).
The wheels must be placed in the slots provided (the original slots are cut at 4 1/2”). Wheels may not be designed to ride upon the
guide strip of the track.

I'd ask for clarification. To me it sounds like the wheels can't ride on top of the guide strip. How will they know the difference between a car designed to run the rail and a car that does so by accident anyway?

Assuming that the intent is to prevent rail riding, the winner will almost assuredly be an accidental - on purpose rail rider anyhow.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

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Darin McGrew
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Re: Pinewood Derby Rules

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Speedster
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Re: Pinewood Derby Rules

Post by Speedster »

Good One, Darin. I Like It.
This race is 37 miles East of where I live and it's all Ohio State Rt 2. Rt. 2 runs parallel, and very close to, Lake Erie. Sometimes Mother Nature decides to close sections of Rt 2. I can only hope she doesn't. Something interesting to me is, Marblehead is a rather Well To Do neighborhood. I'm wondering why they have a 2 lane wood track. This will be a journey into the Past.
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