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Garrettsville Cub Scout Pack 62
Webelos II Den

 

 

Pinewood Derby

If you're new to Scouts, you might not know what the Pinewood Derby is...or you might find it a bit scary. Read on to learn a bit...

What's the Pinewood Derby?

It's a miniature version of the Soap Box Derby. Instead of full size carts with kids riding in them, we have little 7" long cars racing down a sloped track. The car is made from a kit that includes a pine block for the car, plastic wheels and nails for axles. The cars run purely by gravity. The design and appearance of the car are entirely up to you.

In December you get a kit from the pack and you have until the Derby Day in January to make your car. The kit is free as part of your membership, but we do ask that everyone bring in one or two food items to help restock the church after Thanksgiving.

What do we have to do?

The only thing you have to do is put the wheels on, but that's not going to make a fast car...or a cool one either. You get to make the car look like anything you want. We only have a few simple rules about size and shape. You'll get those with your car. You should try to do as much of the work on your car as you can, but you'll want an adult's help with the wheels and nails to make the car run fast and straight. Let your imagination go crazy...shapes, colors, designs! The rules sheet also has several tips on making a fast car.

Derby Day

Derby Day is on a Saturday and we race in the gym at the elementary school. The pack owns two very nice new(ish) aluminum tracks with two lanes on each. The day starts with a check-in for all the cars. We check the size and weight of your car and a few other things to make sure it will race OK. Check-in ends at noon.

We then have a pack meeting before the racing. This pack meeting is special because this is when the 2nd year Webelos will recieve their Arrow of Light awards. This award marks their readiness to be Boy Scouts and is the only Cub Scout award you still wear as a Boy Scout.

Then, FINALLY, it's RACE TIME! Each Den races against itself first. The races are double elimination, meaning you will race until you have lost against two other racers. Each Den will have awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The champions also race for track championships.

 

 


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