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as he still had a chance to make it back.

As his car would race down the track and win once again, he would nonchalantly, pick up his car, sometimes by the wheels and carry it back to the staging table until his next turn. I quietly whispered to him, in a cool voice, "if you want to keep winning you need to hold the car by the body, not by the wheels". He took my advise and the next heat he was much more delicate with the car.

Because of the somewhat chaotic procedure of the entire race my son really had no idea what was going on. He continued to win but was never really concerned about how close he might be to taking it all the way. It was actually quite a treat to know our son was not overly competitive and very courteous about the whole thing. Once again, we as parents were getting a lesson on humility that "our son" was teaching us! Mind you, we are not a real competitive family but as always when your child is involved, you want the best for them, depending on what that best is.

The races continued and my son's car continued to win in "the loser's bracket" and he continued carrying his car back with little to no excitement; until it finally came down to the final race of the evening. One car had not lost a race and it was up against the winner of "the loser's bracket", which of course you guessed it, my son's Batman car!

Now odds are that there was no way my son's number 5 Dark Knight Batmobile could overcome the undefeated car of the night. The Batmobile would have to win twice against the car that had already beaten him once. Now the Batman's vehicle usually came with a lot of fancy gadgets on it, but ours was just made of soft pine. But we did have one trick up our sleeve. The only lubricant we could use on the axles was graphite and if you know anything about graphite it tends to make pinewood derby cars go faster as they race, up to a certain point. Since my son's car went into the lower bracket it actually got more race time. So we did have a slight chance to make a comeback.

Wouldn't you know it, his car got put on the slower lane for the first showdown. It was time to accept the fact that this was going to be the last race of the night, my son still just watching and enjoying his friends. The Cubmaster pulled the lever and they were off, my son's car trailing as they went down the hill and then all of a sudden picked up speed and pulled off the win right at the end!

We were still alive and now he was going to be put on the fast side of the track! There wasn't much of a contest, my son's car took it out of the gate this time and even though it was close, he led the entire length of the track! Finally, my son became filled with excitement and realized he had just won his first pinewood derby. He shook hands with the judges and also the 2nd place winner. He was proud but not too proud to know how to handle victory with a humble attitude.

I have to say I was so proud of not only seeing him win at something, but more importantly, proud of his actions during the entire evening. This was "my" son and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome at his first pinewood derby! We still have his very first car and all the ones he has built afterwards with even more exciting outcomes, but this was one we will never forget.

Learn more about this author, Mike Webb.
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