Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

This year's pinewood derby featured mixed-age runs. Rather than running the cars by Boy Scout pack (which correlates to age), each car was randomly assigned a number. It wasn't until the end of the evening that everyone found out who won their pack.

This turned out to be a very cool thing for Connor.

Three of the top four cars were from Connor's pack. They raced in three different heats, so three of these boys got to win their heats, which is a pretty cool feeling. From the parental perspective, it was awesome to watch Connor's joy as he won each of his heats, and equally awesome that a different kid won for their age group, so we don't have to spend a Saturday at the regional meet. (The back story here is that in Connor's first year of pinewood racing, his car was much faster than everyone else's car in his pack. It looked like a bus, so it was purely a function of getting the best axles and weighting it reasonably correctly, not a function of designing the most aerodynamic car. When we got to the regional race, Connor was so outmatched by the cars that other boys dads had built that he lost every race which was not fun.)

Connor came away with the design award - which means in a voice vote, his car got the loudest cheers. Ed and I had left the event by the time the cheering happened, so I cannot take credit for tilting the vote in his directions. He wins some cool camping equipment - which he'll receive at the next meeting. I actually love that his pack leader puts the emphasis on winning design, rather than fastest car, because design is where the kids really show their stuff.

Below is Connor's car, which Ed worked on with him. When it raced, a minifig with R2D2, Chewbacca, and Luke rode along, as well as a few weapons.

Connor worked hard on the car - and is already thinking about next year's car! He wants to win for speed and looks - which is a difficult combination, I suspect.

Elaine