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Pinewood Derby Stories and Photos from Maximum Velocity
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PINEWOOD DERBY CAR SHOWCASE
Kevin Harvick Car - Brian & Brianna Fenech
This car was my daughter Brianna's (age 11) first ever submission for
her April 2007 Awana Grand Prix race. The paint/decal scheme is
similar to NASCAR's Kevin Harvick. Kevin was the winner of the 2007
Daytona 500. Brianna proudly wore her matching Kevin Harvick NASCAR t-
shirt for the Awana race. The car features an extended wheelbase and
super wedge design. All the weight is located near the rear axles, the
is 5.0 ounces. The wheels are race ready graphite coated slicks. The
axles were smoothed and grooved to reduce friction and hold additional
graphite lube to endure the race. The car raced a total of 8 Class
races. It sped to 1st Place - Top Speed in Class, then Top Speed
Overall to beat all competition, including parents. The race car also
garnered 2nd place in class for design. We're looking forward to start
building our 2008 Awana Grand Prix racers.
The Beast - Vaughn Lester
My car received its nickname from an uncle who thought the design
would demolish everyone else. This was our first pinewood derby and we
only gained interest by watching "Down and Derby". Anyway, after I
finished watching the movie I got on the Internet and happened to fall
upon your website. I quickly soaked up all the information and
designed my car. I then built a prototype and was happy with the
result. I made a few changes and this is what I came up with. I then
realized that there were still four months till the race and I was
already prepared to build the race car and race. However I had to wait
two months before I received the kit and then I built my car. It took
me a week to finish the sanding and then I started painting. I sprayed
four coats of white two to three times a day for the last week before
the event, until it had twenty plus coats of paint!!! I didn't have
any graphite yet but I needed the wheels on to participate in the test
runs. I was amazed how much better it performed than most of the other
cars (nobody else had lubricant either I am glad to say). Now to fast
forward to race day. Excitement builds as cars start coming and
the race hour draws near. I am participating in the leader's and dad's
race so I have a few stiff competitors. I placed 3rd overall, and I
lost to someone who I had given tips from your site to (my mistake!).
Green Machine - Andrew Lester
This was my son's 2007 car. He was a Wolf and we used some of your
matched wheels, tungsten weights, drilled block, and some tungsten
putty. He ended up 1st in Wolf at the Pack level, 2nd in Wolf at
District Semi Finals, 1st overall at Semi Finals (don't ask how this
works, we can only blame it on less than perfect brackets), and 2nd at
the District Finals.