It's the VanGangsters Baby!: Our First Ever Pinewood Derby and the Near Fiasco

Here they are sanding the car down.

Britten was given his pinewood derby block of wood at his baptism. He was soooooooo excited he did nothing but talk and talk about it all night. Then the next morning ,which was a Saturday by the way, he woke us up bright and early so that we could start helping him build his car. At this point we were less than excited about the idea of cub scouting and a little irritated, all in a spirit of good humor of course, with his scout leader! However, we did get on line and start looking up some how to's and design ideas.

Myles was not very excited to tackle this project so he put it off as long as he could. Finally the Saturday before the pinewood derby he decided to get busy with some friendly prodding from me and some begging and reminding from Britten. It took a lot longer than any of us expected it to take and many trips to the store. Pretty much the whole saturday was shot. Britten helped with what he could but for the most part he stood by and watched his dad using the tools while Myles explained what he was doing. Before you judge us however keep in mind, Britten has never done anything like this so education at this point is key.

Drawing in a few more designs to adjust the car properly

measuring

drawing

B with his partially finished car.

more sanding

on to the paint.

After working all Saturday and part of Monday Myles and B had a few coats of paint on and the wheels. It was our intention to have Britten paint and decorate his car Tuesday night and then Myles was going to put the weights on. However, for the fiasco part.............

The partially finished product.

I was on the way home from picking the kids up from dance practice when out of the blue I decided that I should give Liz, Britten's scout leader a ring and ask a question. I don't even remember what I asked, it was really an non important thing. Something that really could have waited. But in the process I discover that the Pinewood Derby is not on Wednesday like we thought but that night and that sign in's and weigh ins are happening right at that moment!!!!! I rush home and frantically tell Myles whats going on so we tell the kids, If you're going get in the car now. For some reason a few of them didn't get this statement????? Kids! Anyways we rush to the church and rush inside, no crafty paint job, no weights just a small red car with wheels. The thankfully had weights there to add to the car and we were all set to compete.

Weighing in and adding sticker weights to get the car to the right
poundage, or in this case ounces.

B putting his car on the track

Britten was super excited! He had a blast! It was sooo fun to see him enjoying his first Scout pack meeting and his first Pinewood Derby. He didn't even care that he didn't get to fancy up his car!

On you Mark, Get set, GO!

Anxiously waiting for the race to begin.

Ah, we came in 2nd.

"Please win, Please win!"

The cars going down the race track.

Britten thorougly enjoyed his first race. I'm so glad. I'm also very thankful that he's excited about being a Cub Scout and that he has an excellent leader.

Good Job B!

Britten's car didn'tdo that well racing so after the Derby was all over he made some adjustments with the weights. He changed them a couple of times and with his last adjustment, his car was racing super fast! Too bad the Derby was all over! I don't know why he decided to change things around, If someone said something to him or he just decided on his own but it worked great!