The rebuild was left home ... it averaged 0.001 seconds slower than his pack car and was less consistent. Andrew raced with the Piantedoi-proven car that won his pack races. (I realized after the fact that he should have taken it and made some trial runs on one of those nice Piantedois tracks after racing was done to validate the decision to race with the pack car. Oh, well!)
Also held a short review with the 12% of the Cubs who thought that they had ended their day without a heat win. Did a one-on-one review of each car, complimenting workmanship and suggesting things that would make their car more competitive. Where defects were quickly correctable, we did so. (Was mostly beginner mistakes, of course, but I think boys and their parents appreciated the time spent.) Then I went head-to-head against 'em on the track with specially prepared cars. (As a small bonus, I asked them to be the starter for their heat as well.) I went about zero for 30. Best 30 races I ever lost! The goal was that each of the about 270 Scouts entered wore a ribbon home saying, "I won a race at the District PW Derby" (or words to that effect.)
One of the nice things done was to have each boy's picture taken with his car and smile and mounted on a car-display plaque for the boy's to take home after the racing was complete.
Went off in a corner (alignment board in hand) with some dads that wanted one-on-one post-race consultation. I think I helped 'em be a lot better next year. Hope so.
I went home pretty wasted ... always do after all-day events. But the "really wasted" contingent included daughter Sam (event chair) and husband Jim (her #1 assistant, announcer, go-fer, runner, enforcer, etc.) But hey, they're young and they can take it!
