by Mike Webb

Created on: September 01, 2008

When my son joined Cub Scouts we had no clue what were about to get into. My son really enjoyed the cub scouts and I was glad he was able to be a part of something that I hadn't been. I had never pushed him into being a scout he decided on his own, I wasn't even in on the decision making process. So what did we get ourselves into? Well, you could call it pinewood mania!

We were very naive when the pinewood derby first came around. We had no idea what the rules were and what to do, since it was our first. We were just hoping to build something that resembled a car. I found a template of a sports car that we both liked and preceded down the road with a need for speed, derby-speed that is. We thought we had a pretty cool car, until we saw all the other entries the day of the race. There were some awesome imaginations in the minds of those scouts who knew what they were doing.

Our focus was on speed, so it didn't matter too much on how well our car stood up to the others as they set on the table. "The track" was where it was at! Since rules were vague we only did what we thought necessary to make ours go fast. The idea of getting disqualified was my biggest worry, as I wanted my son to be able to race. We were so unsure, that we kept the weight low on the car so as not to go over the official total weight.

It was now time for the races to begin. My son's pack used the double elimination method for the derby. Once you lose two times you are out, which I must say is really tough on kids for them to have to set on the side while others continue racing. The pack had an old two lane wooden track and after a few races you could tell one side was always faster than the other. Not much you could do about it but sit, watch and hope your car didn't get the slow lane.

My son won his first heat, actually by quite a large margin. Not only were we glad it made it down the track, we were glad it would continue. Of course my wife and I were starting to get into it more than my son as each race continued. We had no expectations but as each race went on our expectations got higher and then it happened, he lost his first race. Only one more loss and he would be out.

My son was having fun talking to his friends and just enjoying himself, all the while my wife and I were on pins and needles with each race. "Who was teaching who at this moment in our son's life?" Meanwhile his car had dropped down into the lower bracket. Ok, we can call it the loser's bracket! He was down but he wasn't out,

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