Ahhhhh, it's that time of year again. The time that parents of Cub Scouts everywhere either love or hate.
It's time when you get to help your son turn a block of wood into the car of his dreams.
I wish I could say that we were the kind of parents who love and look forward to breaking out the power tools with our children, but as any power tool will kindly attest, Glen and I are a bit on the inept side when it comes to anything handy.
After a couple of years of middle-of-the-pack finishes, this year Adam finally recognized that relying on parental advice for designing his car was perhaps not entirely wise.
Cue an impulse purchase from Michaels, a paperback book confidently titled Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets.
Adam was enraptured to know that there were actually tricks to the trade and studied it diligently before completely designing the car himself. Glen helped him with the power tools and with tweaks, but the ideas were all Adam's.
There ended up being a few hiccups on race night, but after drilling a few holes in it to help it make weight and using a little glue to reattach the wheel which had broken off, Adam and his car (which he dubbed, "The Tornado," were raring to go!
Then something weird and unexpected happened....
Adam's car averaged 158+ mph and never lost a single race the entire night...
Now he and The Tornado are off to districts to race against the winners of all the other local packs....
Now if only I could get him to use some of his sweet skills to fix up a few things around the house...
It's time when you get to help your son turn a block of wood into the car of his dreams.
I wish I could say that we were the kind of parents who love and look forward to breaking out the power tools with our children, but as any power tool will kindly attest, Glen and I are a bit on the inept side when it comes to anything handy.
After a couple of years of middle-of-the-pack finishes, this year Adam finally recognized that relying on parental advice for designing his car was perhaps not entirely wise.
Cue an impulse purchase from Michaels, a paperback book confidently titled Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets.
Adam was enraptured to know that there were actually tricks to the trade and studied it diligently before completely designing the car himself. Glen helped him with the power tools and with tweaks, but the ideas were all Adam's.
There ended up being a few hiccups on race night, but after drilling a few holes in it to help it make weight and using a little glue to reattach the wheel which had broken off, Adam and his car (which he dubbed, "The Tornado," were raring to go!
Then something weird and unexpected happened....
Adam's car averaged 158+ mph and never lost a single race the entire night...
Now he and The Tornado are off to districts to race against the winners of all the other local packs....
Congrats Adam! You rock! Good luck at districts!
ReplyDeleteGrandma, Aunt Heather, and I were all amazed as we read your mom's post while on our trip in Africa!
ReplyDeleteWow, in the entire history of the Crain-Goold family (not sure about your dad or his brothers), you are the first ever undefeated PineWood Derby champ! Your uncles Nate, Pete, Matt, and Tim all came in near the last of the pack with my help. We never knew any of those tricks you learned and never won a race.
So, we are very proud of you and thrilled that you are going to race in the District championships.
Good luck there! May the force be with you!!
Congrats Adam! That is pretty dang awesome!!
ReplyDeleteBtw, Andrew is going to need your advice soon on how to build a winning car.
ReplyDelete