District Pinewood Derby

Each week since he qualified, Harrison has been asking me if it was the week of the District Pinewood Derby Race. He has kept his car in a padded container in an undisclosed area of his closet so nothing would happen to it before the race. Finally, the day arrived! He was up and completely dressed in his scout uniform by 6:00 a.m. Truthfully, I did not know what a big deal it would be. I was very surprised to see how many scouts and parents were in attendance. All the boys received medals just for qualifying for the District race.

There was about 50 cars that qualified. Harrison's is in the front row in the container with the white padding. He named it "The Jedi".I was also impressed with the high tech track they used. It was all electronic and results were computer generated. Wow. I had no idea it would be like this.Every car raced 8 times with 4 cars racing in each heat. At the end, the times were averaged and the car with the fastest average score won. Harrison and another boy were neck and neck with their times the whole way. Sometimes Harrison would have a faster time and hold the track record and sometimes the other boy would. By the end, we knew Harrison would either be first or second but it was too close to tell until we heard the results.It was getting quite suspenseful by the end because we knew it was so close. Jeff and a few of the other Dads were all speculating who the winner would be. We tried to remember who had the more consistently fast times. It really made for an exciting day and I could tell Harrison was so happy his car was doing well. So, are you wondering if he won??? Am I keeping you in suspense???

YES!! You are looking at the Silver Creek District Pinewood Derby Champion!!
He had an average track speed of 204.3 miles per hour. Second place had an average speed of 204.0. It was soooo close!
These were the other winners through 6th place. There was a photographer there from the newspaper, so now Harrison is waiting for his picture to come out in the paper.

So, that was our Saturday. I have got to congratulate Harrison. He worked so hard on his car. He sanded and painted and took good care of it. All along, he took this Pinewood Derby activity VERY serious. He never played with his car, held it carefully, and made sure it was protected from sister, cats, dogs, elements etc. I also must congratulate Jeff. He spent literally hours on the Internet researching pinewood derby cars, races and techniques. It was a fun challenge for both of them and they had a great time working on it together. I am so proud of my boys!! Congrats to both of you!!!