Pinewood Derby Fun
History
 | The first Pinewood Derby ever held took place in 1953. Pack 280C of Manhattan Beach, California gathered at the Manhattan Beach Clubhouse and made Cub Scout history. |
Cubmaster Don Murphy had been looking for an activity that his 10 year old son, Donn, could participate in after being too young for a soap box derby. Remembering the cars and airplanes he used to carve as a child he decided his Cub Scouts could work with their fathers and carve their own race cars. He felt this activity would foster a closer father-son relationship and good sportsmanship through competition.
Today most of the rules and regulations of the Pinewood Derby remain the same. Cub Scouts and their parents look forward to the race each year. Don Murphy, the father of the Pinewood Derby, still takes great pride in the event he started over 50 years ago. A regulation Pinewood Derby track can be found in the National Scouting Museum where visitors can race their own cars or a car provided by the museum.
Pinewood Derby Planning
Equipment
- The 4-lane track itself is stored at our chartering church
- Tools to put the track together
- Drill and large bits to set weights
- Glue gun for adding weight quickly
- Laptop with spreadsheet and recording program to record and average the heat times
Refreshments
- Sell soda, popcorn and other snacks
Awards
- Make blank certificates
- Order participation patches
- Order winner medals
Registration
- Makes rules, scale and special car ruler available
- Put number stickers on the cars
- Record scouts name, den and number
- Give scouts the participation patches
Opening Ceremony
- History
- Purpose
- Section the audience into 1/4 for the group participation Pack210.PinewoodSongs
Ask for volunteers to help with:
- 1 - starting gate
- 3 - for recording the times, 2 for hardcopy and 1 for speadsheet time entry
- 2 - for certificate judging
Preparations
- Brief den order and that kids will place cars on starting line and push the start button.
- Get dens to work on a cheer
- Brief the volunteers on starting gate and time recording
- Brief volunteers on judging cars that will not win first place and give suggestions for awards
The Race
- Race 3 heats per den, ~3 minutes per heat. If a den has more than the 6 scouts (for the 6 track lanes, work something else out). Cars will jump out the some lanes, causing the heat to be run again. Some cars have a nose on them that don't trigger the finish line gate very well and may have to run again. The goal is to have each car with 3 valid times. Run individual cars if necessary.
- Tiger
- Tiger
- Wolf
- Bear
- Webelos
- Have the boys put their own cars on the starting line. Have the volunteer help align them and make sure the wheels are on the track correctly.
- Have the scout in lane number 1 push the Start button.
- The crowd can get noisy enough that the time keepers cannot hear the results. Have the boys return their cars to the starting gate so it's not so loud at the finish line and speakers. If the two timekeepers agree on the times, relay that info to a third timekeeper who will enter the times into a laptop with best average times automatically calculated.
Announce den winners and Best of Show certificates
- Overall winners will be announced and 3 medals awarded at the next Pack meeting
Closing
Cleanup
- Important: have scouts and families help with the cleanup. Popcorn will get everywhere. Put away the track neatly and vacuum the floor.