2011 Pinewood Derby

This February, Pete and Sam both got to participate in the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby race.

Pete worked really hard on his car, which he made all by himself:

It came out as a pickup truck, with a flatbed where you could add or remove pennies to get it at just the right weight:

His car ended up being a bit slow, due to a gumming problem with the lubricant that Poppy provided. This turned out to be the same problem that had dogged Christopher for 5 years of races. Once the problem was resolved after the race, Pete's truck was really fast in the post-race experimental races. He was also able to add more pennies to go above the legal limit and really fly in the after-races.

Sam also painted his own car this year. Here he is during the painting "process":

Here is how Sam's car turned out:

Sam finished third in his den and had fun participating in the post-race runs (Pete's truck is on the left):

Dad got to race in the "Leader Race" this year. It was exciting. Dad made a cool Michael Vick Eagles car that was completely within the legal limits:

Here is Dad's car right before the big leader race:

Despite all of the other leader cars being over the legal weight limit, Dad still won the race. His theory of top/rear weighting seemed to be validated.

Below, the results of the leader race:

It turned out that Dad's car was actually the fastest in the entire Pack.

If you have an extra 31 minutes, you can watch Pete's Pinewood Derby video.