Cub Scout Pack 289 - Springfield, Missouri

Pinewood Derby Planning

Equipment

• The 6 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 to record and average the heat times
• Paper and pens to record times manually
• Preprinted heat scoring spreadsheets for the scorekeepers to write on
  • 6 lanes, 3 heats per den

Refreshments

• Sell pizza for $1 a slice. Have soda, popcorn and other snacks available

Awards

• Make blank certificates
• Order participation patches
• Order winner medals

Registration

1. Makes rules, scale and special car ruler available
2. Put number stickers on the cars
3. Record scouts name, den and number
4. Give scouts the participation patches

Opening Ceremony

• History
• Purpose
• Section the audience into 1/4 for the group participation Pack289.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

• "A Reading"

Cleanup

• Important: have scouts and families help with the cleanup. Popcorn will get everywhere. Put away the track neatly and vacuum the floor.