Pinewood Derby, 2010

It has come again... the time of year when one of my sons puts his entire self-worth into a race. Not just any race, but the cub scout pinewood derby. This is the 4th year we have been involved. Last year was D's last year to compete. This year was B's first. He had such high expectations. I was complaining to Dave about this whole process (as I often do) because of all the pressure to make sure the car does well, and therefore, my son's self esteem is intact. His response was, "There's no pressure. It's only his first year! No one expects him to do good." Yeah! Try telling him that!

Well, it all started out ok. My brother-in-law bought a new table saw that made the process far less painful than usual. I got it cut out in a fraction of the time. B was pleased with how it looked. I was feeling optimistic. A few days later, after much begging and pleading, I put the wheels on the car. It looked just fine, and all the wheels were spinning just as they should. I then gave the car to B, and told him to put it away carefully, and to not play with it so nothing went wrong or broke. Well, about 5 minutes later, I heard something of a crack, followed closely by him panicking. As he is quick to point out, he wasn't playing with it... just near it. He rolled over the top of it, breaking off 2 of the wheels along the side of the car and a good chunk of the wood that holds the wheels on. I did my best to glue it back on, but unfortunately, after all the glue dried, the front tire no longer could touch the ground.

After a couple of days of being more annoyed than usual at the Pinewood Derby, I decided I would just have to start over. I then talked to a friend who said that her son and husband had just finished their car, and during their research, they found that it can be beneficial to have one of the front wheels not touch--less friction=faster car...something like that. I'm pretty sure that there is a specific way to put in the wheels for this to really happen. Having the wheels break of, then glued back on unevenly isn't really the best to get the fast results one is looking for. Still, we decided to just go with it.

Friday morning, I put all the weights in the car and when B got home, he picked out what pictures he wanted to put on his car (he decided he wanted to pick his 3 favorite Bronco players and glue their pictures on the car). Once the glue dried (or had almost dried), I told him to grab his car and we were off to go and do the pre-weigh in. As we were walking out to the car, I heard another small crash. I turned around to see the car on the floor of the garage, with the same fateful wheel laying some feet away from it, with another piece of wood that broken off during this latest fall.

What could I do at this point? We picked up the wheel, went and weighed it in and then came home to glue the wheel back on for the 2nd time. After the glue went on, I made it clear that no one was to touch it. It sat safely only the counter until the next day when it was time to go. I picked it up, only to find that the glue didn't really take. I grabbed a little bit of duct tape and stuck it on it, knowing it was far to late to do anything else at this point.

Here he is with his car just before leaving for the big race.

Dave took B and the older kids down first while I waited for KL and CK to wake up from their afternoon naps. When I got there, he had been in 2 races, coming in 1st in one and 2nd in the other. I was feeling hopeful that it wouldn't be a terrible day after all. I got there just as he was getting is car ready for the 3rd race. As soon as the car left the starting block, I could tell our problem. It actually got out nice and quick, beating the other cars down the track. However, it was wobbling pretty good. As soon as the car hit the bottom part of the track, the shaking got violent and the other car passed it. This pattern repeated itself just about every time. B's face quickly began to fall as he would bring me his car after each race to show me how the wheel was barely hanging on. I tried to tell him how he was stilll doing good! He never came in 3rd and even managed to get one more 1st place. I pointed out to him how his car was always fastest up at the top, but it was the bottom when the bad wheel just came in to play too much. Somehow, this observation didn't help. He was just so upset that his car was broken.

Here is a picture of his car racing 1 other. You can see that, even given it's handicap, the car held its own. His car is the blue one on the right that is just barely about to loose.

After the racing was over, each boy got an award. He won for "Sportiest Looking". Here he is accepting his award.

Here he is with his award and car...maybe you can tell, but he is holding the cursed wheel because he had given up trying to keep it on the car.
Great smile, huh? It was actually the best he could manage. Just minutes later, the real tears began to flow. Tears of disappointment, hurt and dreams of what could have been had it not been for the fact that he was racing a broken car.

So, another pinewood derby season comes to an end. I am happy to have this chapter close and to know that I only have to go through this 2 more times (I'm starting to hope this baby is a girl, lest I have to start all over with this process!). I told B that each year I learn a little more to use on next year's car. He asked what I learned this year. Hmmm... What did I learn? When the car breaks, just bite teh bullet and start over. It's worth my son's happiness!

As of now, he seems to be over the worst of the disappointment. He is looking forward to next year. Oh great. The pressure is already starting!!!