Pinewood Derby Racin'

Scott decided to try to get some competitive action going with the adults in our mission ward when he heard that there was going to be an “open” class in the upcoming Pinewood Derby races. This open class allowed non-scouts to race in a separate category and to add more weight or size to your car or even add power. The open class race would be held at the conclusion of the regular Cub Scout race. Scott challenged the Elders and High Priests to build cars and race them against him, stating that he could “Whoop Them All.”

He didn’t want to spend much time on his car since that is not missionary work, so he took the block of wood, charred it on the stovetop to give the grain some color, and sprayed it with clear varnish. He glued a plastic missionary on top and added a propeller from a model airplane. No carving, shaping, sanding, weighting, nothin’.

Here is what the “Mission Unlikely” car looked like before the race.

The track was an amazing professional aluminum track with electronic eyes and computer software with projector showing who, when, times, speed, etc.

Here is the starting line.

Here is the finish line.

Note that in picture #1 the missionary is standing nice and tall, and that at the finish line the overhead score bar is, well, not quite so tall.

Here they go, the Mission Unlikely car off to a screaming lead.

At the finish line parts were flying all over the track. It seems the missionary was about 1/8” too tall to fit under the finish line.

Someone had a hot glue gun so the car was put back together without the missionary on top (I am not sure how the analogy fits into a mission story, but there must be some connection somehow.) The repair was done before the next round so the race continued.

Wahoo! Idaho wins! New track record too, 2.7 seconds compared to the next best at 2.9 seconds. Old Age and Treachery Wins Again!