Was wondering about good Pinewood Derby sites, forums to read up on current rules and what sneaky tricks folks have figured out. When my son was in the Scouts back in late '80, Louisville, KY area he cleaned the track at the regionals each year. He never lost a race and no one every figured out why. lol The regional was at Churchill Downs.
The first year he competed they had very minimal guidelines and equipment on race days. Golf club scales etc. Nothing accurate for measuring the weight of cars and rules that were way too broad. Not to be one to sit around I volunteered to write rules which were adopted and to help run the races where I showed up with accurate scales and a box full of official Pinewood Derby Car parts, glue, axles, wheels, weights, sandpaper, hand saw, potable drill, etc.
Couldn't stand to see a scout get disqualified, break a part by dropping the car and have no repair parts available. Also held workshops in my garage for all the scouts with a single parent. Wouldn't tell em all the tricks but they were usually in the top 4 or 5 cars when they left. We had a great time and a lot of fun.
I used to laugh silently at all the adults that got so wrapped up in winning while my son quietly followed the procedures we determined to be the best and he was always totally overlooked until the very last cars. One year he ran the block of wood just to show that all that fancy work wouldn't make em go any faster. After the race he'd let everyone inspect the car and they still wouldn't see the tricks.
I'm sure everyone is still having a lot of fun with this and keep up the good work. Would like to see some more photos of cars and learn of some good sites just for fun reading. Thanks and have fun. Flying Cockroach ( name of one of his cars)
