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Pinewood Derby Stories and Photos from Maximum Velocity
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PINEWOOD DERBY MEMORY
A Long Wait
My son, Matthew, just won his first trophy for his first pinewood derby
race! Matthew is a Tiger cub this year and he has been enjoying being a Cub
Scout tremendously. There is a good story behind his joining, too. Matt came
home with a letter about a Cub Scout recruiting night from his kindergarten
class at school last year. He wanted to join and I said I would take him to
the meeting. Well, we didn't know that kindergarteners couldn't join the
scouts. All the scouting people felt really bad about disappointing him; he
was trying very hard not to cry. The same recruiting letter came home again
this year from first grade and Matt still wanted to be a scout. Again we
went to recruiting night and Matt got to officially be a Cub Scout. Well, as
it turns out he was the only first grader to join this year so there was no
Tigers in our town! Our Cub Scout master was advised to send him to the next
town to the Tiger den there. But our Cub Scout master decided to keep
Matthew in our community and have him go to the Wolf's den meetings, and
hope that more Tigers would join up (We ended up with two Tigers by the time
of the pinewood derby race). I'm am so grateful that he did, Matthew is a
pretty shy boy and has blossomed under his den leader's guidance.
Matthew and Mom (me) made his car together. He wanted it shaped just like
the one on the box, because it had to be fast to get on the box! I did the
cutting and he sanded. He was going to spray paint it but his little fingers
couldn't press the button on the can. He put the wheels on and I checked
that they were straight. He put decals on it and we got the scale out to
check the weight. It weighted three ounces. Matt got some lead weights at
the hobby shop and wanted to use them as the seat. so we cut them down and
glued them in the "cockpit". It just happened to be one inch in front of the
rear wheels (as I read in one of your stories). It was still a little light
so we put "muffler pipes" up out of trunk area. It was 4.95 ounces.
On race day, Matt was so excited about possibly winning a trophy. I kept
trying to impress upon him that even if he didn't win, he could still have
fun. When his car came across the finish line in the lead that first time,
his face was so excited! I think the whole room cheered for him. He won five
out of seven races! He was so proud to get his Tiger cub trophy and even
more proud of his car! He still thinks he would have got one of those big
trophies if he wasn't a Tiger. I believe he is right, his car beat the
second place finisher three times, but I didn't ask.
This program does so much for the confidence of little boys like Matthew and
everybody has been so great to him.