How many pwd's do you run?

[GILLS]

With all the activity that I see on this forum, my curiosity has got the best of me. How many pwd's or church related g.p./r.a. derby's do any of you host in a years time? In my area we usually have just one pwd and just one church county wide race, and I usually host a small race at my church just for our kids. Is anyone doing more than one pwd in a years time?

[Mike Parrish]

How many pwd's or church related g.p./r.a. derby's do any of you host in a years time?

At our church, we run an annual Awana Grand Prix for the children, and several through the year for anyone not of Awana Grand Prix age. This year, we have 3 additional races scheduled. We basically run W.I.R.L. rules for the adult races.

[Darin McGrew]

With all the activity that I see on this forum, my curiosity has got the best of me. How many pwd's or church related g.p./r.a. derby's do any of you host in a years time?

My church has just the one derby of its own. Last year we had about 100 cars entered in the various age groups. Now that the younger kids (preschool through 2nd grade) are involved, we break the derby into two parts. The younger kids race before the potluck dinner, and everyone else (older kids and All Comers) races after the potluck dinner. But it's still just one derby.

CSB sponsor's a regional derby every other year or so. Some of the smaller groups use it as their only derby. When our elementary-age program used CSB curriculum, we announced that it was available, and mentioned where its rules were more strict than ours, but we didn't really promote it.

[RMoose]

I am in charge of our church's annual RA Racer event. This is for grades 1 - 6. Three years ago my assistant and I found an old track and held our 1st race, with a total of 6 boys. This year we had a total of 20 participants.

Last year we got together with a neighboring church and hosted an association-wide event (basically a county-wide race) with 23 boys showing up. This year's race had 45 cars racing. Our church hosts this event and we provide some of the personnel to help run the race. I help our association RA director with planning and setup.

There is also a state-wide event, but only the top two finishers in each age group from the association-level events qualify to take part in it. This year I was not directly involved with the state race. My only involvement with it was making sure the kids from our church who qualified for it made it there. We had three who made the state event, the most ever - so I am very happy for them!

[GILLS]

With all the activity that I see on this forum, my curiosity has got the best of me. How many pwd's or church related g.p./r.a. derby's do any of you host in a years time?

My church has just the one derby of its own. Last year we had about 100 cars entered in the various age groups. Now that the younger kids (preschool through 2nd grade) are involved, we break the derby into two parts. The younger kids race before the potluck dinner, and everyone else (older kids and All Comers) races after the potluck dinner. But it's still just one derby.

CSB sponsor's a regional derby every other year or so. Some of the smaller groups use it as their only derby. When our elementary-age program used CSB curriculum, we announced that it was available, and mentioned where its rules were more strict than ours, but we didn't really promote it.

Mike, I was curious about it, I am incharge of my sons pwd this year as well as our church R.A. derby. Between the time and energy that you will spend on workshops and helping the kids, I think that maybe most people would like a second chance to learn and rerace their car sooner than the next year. Am I off on my thinking or do any of you feel that a second race would detract from the PWD?

[Mike Parrish]

Mike, I was curious about it, I am incharge of my sons pwd this year as well as our church R.A. derby. Between the time and energy that you will spend on workshops and helping the kids, I think that maybe most people would like a second chance to learn and rerace their car sooner than the next year. Am I off on my thinking or do any of you feel that a second race would detract from the PWD?

I think that it might take away from the feeling of excitement for the kids, kind of like waiting for Christmas. The adults get their 'fix' from the extra races throughout the year. Even then, the child can be a part of the building of the adult car, maybe learning even more.

[Sylvar]

From a scouting perspective....The scout calendar is packed. Before the PWD our Webelos are working on their Klondike sled, and not long after the PWD its time to start looking at building a Cub mobile for the Soap box derby. Factor in parades, working on advancements, and camping, and....you get the picture. I like the fact that we make the PWD a BIG DEAL and try to make it a memorable event regardless of who wins. That would be hard to do more than Twice a year (Pack race and District race). I think it would lose some of its luster. You run into an "Oh, we will go to the next one" mentality if you run it too often.

Shane

[Stan Pope]

I think that I agree with you, Sylvar.