Great Event

General race coordinator discussions.
Post Reply
blcrow33
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 112
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:08 pm
Location: Sagamore Hills, Ohio

Great Event

Post by blcrow33 »

I just wanted to share our Pinewood derby event from last weekend since I have learned so much from reading all the posts on this site. Last years event was a total disaster and we had many complaints from the parents. There where huge delays and no organization. This year I got involved because I had a lot of great ideas. I got the go ahead to purchase a new track, timer, and software for our pack. It helps when I am the treasurer. I purchased a 42 foot 4 lane Best Track, a Microwizard timer, and the Grand Prix Race Manager software. We set everything up in the school gym. This year I decided to place the track so kids can get all the way around the track to watch the race. We had a check in table, a pit area, display tables, and even a room off to the side playing movies and crafts for younger kids that where not racing. I built lights to display on the track and we projected the software on to the wall. Someone else did the decorations and they did an outstanding job. We have 8 dens and each den would race during the day. We slotted a half hour for each den race where the cars would run 2 times in each lane. Our largest den has 13 boys. Then at night we had the Grand Finals where the 12 fastest cars would come back and race for the overall winner. We planned everything down to a T. I even made boxes to carry the cars from the staging area to the track and we made supports so the cars in the staging area did not have any wheels touching the tables. We ended up with around 68 cars. The den races went great. We kept on schedule the entire day. The software showed we averaged 50 seconds per heat and we raced 160 heats that day. After the den races we set all the cars in the display area for design judging and presented the den winner trophies. We had the lights dimmed and the spot lights on the track. At night for the Grand Finals race, we turned all the lights off in the gym and had only the track lights on. The kids thought that was really cool. The Grand Finals was very exciting. Because it was the 12 fastest cars from the pack, the races where a lot closer. After the race we handed out the overall winner awards. We receive a lot of complements on how well the race day went and the way everything was set up. We also had a lot of help at the races. We had people at every station helping out. We even bought a party tray for lunch for all the volunteers. We did not have the kids put their own cars on the track because with 80 kids in the pack, it would have taken us all day to get through the races and the kids had a lot of fun just watching the races and screaming for their cars. They got to sit right next to the track so they had a perfect view. The best part of the day was my son won his den race and ended up going undefeated for the third year in a row to take home the overall first place trophy. He did 90% of the work on his car himself this year and we could not use graphite this year. His average time was 3.178 seconds. He was so proud. All the kids got to take something home that night. If they did not win an award, they got a door prize. This will be very difficult to top next year. I will run it again if they want me too. Plus I will have both of my boys in cub scouts next year. I am hoping to get pictures back from the race soon.
User avatar
Go Bubba Go
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1190
Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:09 pm
Location: Northern, Illinois

Re: Great Event

Post by Go Bubba Go »

Very nice!!!

A lot of good pointers in there (research, involvement, planning, organization, delegation, decoration, visibility, etc.... too much to list).

Congratulations!!!
"Who's Grandpa's neighbor?"... Phil Davis, Down and Derby
Gameday
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 277
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:50 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Great Event

Post by Gameday »

Wow, what a great story! Next year I plan to get on our committee and I'm going to try and institute a lot of these excellent ideas.
User avatar
Cory
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 358
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 7:18 am
Location: Chantilly, VA
Contact:

Re: Great Event

Post by Cory »

Great story, great job!

What lube did you end up using?
blcrow33
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 112
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:08 pm
Location: Sagamore Hills, Ohio

Re: Great Event

Post by blcrow33 »

My son sended up only polishing the axels with chrome polish. He must have polished them 20 times each. Plus we used car wax on the body and wheels of the car so they shined.
User avatar
PWD
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 724
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:24 am

Re: Great Event

Post by PWD »

It is really nice to read such a positive story. Great job. I bet they ask you to run it again :)
ExtremePWD
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 331
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2003 5:04 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Great Event

Post by ExtremePWD »

Great story! Thanks for the details. Very well thought out. Congratulations to your son for his super finish!
Post Reply