Celebrated Rite of Spring

Being a female and not having a recollection of my brothers participating in a pinewood derby, this event is strange to me. Dads with their competitive natures in force and boys laughing and loving every minute of it. I can't decide what is more fun for the boys, the making of the car or racing it. Since I don't have a great understanding of this strange tradition, here is what I know...

The pinewood derby is a racing event for Cub Scouts in the Boy Scouts of America. Cub Scouts, with the help of parents (DADS), build their own cars from wood, usually from kits containing a block of pine, plastic wheels and metal axles.

The Scout is given a block of wood made of pine with two notches for wheels, four plastic wheels and four nails. The finished car must use all nine pieces, must not exceed a certain weight (usually five ounces), must not exceed a certain length and must fit on the track used by that particular scout pack. The idea behind the pinewood derby is for the parent, usually the dad, to spend time helping the child design, carve, paint, add weights, and tune the final car. However, it is often the case that the parent takes over the construction of the car! Once the car is completed the racing begins. During the event racing, dads exhibit crazy, fierce, and competitive behaviors. Their STRONG desire to succeed and/or win really shows! However, it still makes for great family fun and memories. The pinewood derby was selected as part of "America's 100 Best" in 2006 as "a celebrated rite of spring" by Reader's Digest. Here's to the arrival of spring!




The Fredette Vette is in the right hand lane! It's the coolest of all Pinewood Derby cars!


The "Fredette Vette" is in the middle lane and in the lead!!!!


I'm awesome, and my "Fredette Vette" won all six of its races!


What? Not 1st place, but the "Shiniest Car" award! I won all of my races, unfortunately, my "times" weren't as fast as the three top cars (Meanwhile, Eric is diligently checking the computer that has the race times logged, "how can this be, our car is the fastest, I, I mean we, worked on it forever!"). AAAAAAH, just wait til next year!


Bowen and the "Shiniest Car" at the Derby! Both are pretty awesome!