Guinness Book of World Records Pinewood Derby Track 9/25/10

[Stan Pope]

For the Cen-Ten-O-Ree event at Whittier narrows BSA is planning on constructing a track 20 lanes wide and with a starting line 20 feet high. It will obviously be pretty long but I haven't heard the length mentioned yet. Either way we are looking forward to one heck of an event and fun times at the track.

I have a bad feeling about this. Here is why:

I "cut my teeth" on a track that had terribly unequal lanes. Results were marred as a result. Good cars lost to much lesser cars. It left a bad taste in the mouths of participants ... a taste that has lasted many years.

Getting a track with 20 lanes to have 20 nearly equal lanes will be an effort beyond what most will expend for a "one off" event. Please do everything possible to assure that the track provides a "level playing field" for the participants. This may be difficult, but it must be done.

PPN charts (whether scored by points or by times) were the belated solution for the poor track that I started on. Those charts are not an effective solution for a 20-lane track with lane inequities because they depend on each car racing in each lane the same number of times. 20 heats per car probably doesn't fit the event schedule!

Youngsters have a strong sense of fairness, and an event on an inequitable track would be recognized as a farce.

[gpraceman]

Getting a track with 20 lanes to have 20 nearly equal lanes will be an effort beyond what most will expend for a "one off" event. Please do everything possible to assure that the track provides a "level playing field" for the participants. This may be difficult, but it must be done.

...

Youngsters have a strong sense of fairness, and an event on an inequitable track would be recognized as a farce.

Well, I wonder if this will be a "for fun" event as opposed to a true competition. If for fun, then lane equity is not really a big issue. However, if there will be prizes based on the racing, then that is a totally different story!

[GrimJeeper91]

It was my understanding that this was "just for fun" and not a competition. The shock and awe of seeing 20 cars launched at once. To actually have a competition at this huge event would be quite an undertaking.

[Stan Pope]

If no more than small "heat ribbons" are awarded, you should be okay. If the "competition" ended up awarding trophies (or other similarly material prizes) or singling out one or two as the "fastest of the day", then you increase the liklihood of bad feelings.

Ongoing caution is needed, because there will be some albeit well meaning people who will try to make the event more than it can be.

[piazza]

UPDATE:

The council is dragging its feet on the budget support of the event. Our District will be sponsoring the event along with many other events in our area for the celebration. Our theme is Route 66. We have a large classic car club that will be attending. Our fairway of events will be designed to look like route 66/cars. The 250' derby track will be the main event.

We are looking for event sponsors if anyone has ideas.

We have leaders in our district that are willing to build the track if we do not come up with appropriate sponsorship.

I plan on having appropriate trophies, t-shirts and even a special BSA 100 patch to go along with the event.

[piazza]

Additional Update:

I have been crossing paths with some hard core Derby Heads lately. We were going to attempt to run a Council Final on the track, but there has been too much argument over the rules. So the race is being limited to inner district entrants for now, but I am pushing for an invitational category.

On a side note: my family attended a BSA 100 celebration in Sacramento, CA this past October. It was a Scout March to the Capitol. There were 6,500 Scouts in attendance. This was a BSA 100 celebration event as we are planning for our council, so it looks like there is a good promise for a large turnout. I know that our council has almost twice as many scouts as the one up north that put on the march.

Lastly, yes, this event is going to be all about the boys. We held some Pinewood Derby races at our council's annual celebration last September, and the boys (and girls and adults) all had a great time. We had two tracks running and all we ran were "grudge matches" with a combination of loaner cars and and scout cars. Our district champ car was even in the loaner cars and we only allowed it to be picked by unknowing first time racers. We probaly ran about 200 heats in one day and it was a lot of fun.

[bad_karma_2805a1]

Any new news on this?

[piazza]

Funds and sponsors are very hard to come by for some reason (economy...and if I hear that again I'll pull my teeth out). Our Pack has a very good condition 3-lane wood track that is 44'. The current plan is to make 26 x 8' sections to extend that track out to 250' (252'). The event is still in the planning stages. We do have a web site running and registration should be active very soon. Here is the web link: http://www.bsa-ciec.org/openrosters/vie ... rgkey=2372

[piazza]

I have a flyer available for the event now: http://v-91.com/doc/Don%20Murphy%20Memorial.pdf

The official web site for the California Inland Empire Council's BSA-100 Birthday Party where this event will be held is: http://www.bsa-ciec.org/openrosters/vie ... rgkey=2372

Early Bird registration is now open.

We need event sponsors.

I have received permission from Donn Murphy, the son of Don Murphy (the founder of Pinewood Derby) to name this event the "Don Murphy Memorial Raceway".

We will be building 26x8' 3-lane track sections from wood to extend an existing 44' 3-lane track to 250'. This will add to the authentic Pinewood Derby racing for this event. We had attempted to find a track manufacturer to contribute for this event with mixed input, so the decision has been made to construct the track out of wood.

This will be an awesome event and I hope all you Pine heads will help pull this off with your support.

[JSG]

Have you contacted Lowes, Home Depot etc. I would think material costs would be the biggest expense. Even if you got a discount on material and they ripped them to width for you.

On a sidenote, we had a long track (180'?) at our councils big event and it didn't go well. Poorly engineered and constructed track made it pretty much a bust. Setting it up prior to the big event and testing it well in advance will give you time to make adjustments.

[piazza]

We actually have gained a sponsor for the event. The track will be an 8-lane Best Track and the length will be in excess of 200'.

[piazza]

Lots of updates:

I received permission from Donn Murphy to name the event the "Don Murphy Memorial Speedway" and I also made a cool logo for the event:



The event web site is up. Registration for Open Class races is open. You can even register to race in the Sponsor Races if you would like to race but are not able to attend. Here is the link to the web site:
http://www.bsa-ciec.org/openrosters/Vie ... rgkey=2372

There are limited spots available for racing

I hope to see some of you there on September 25th at the Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, CA.

[bad_karma_2805a1]

Love the logo dude. I should have the Centennial 1000 logo this week. I will post it so you all can see.

[gpraceman]

Looks like this track may be the new world record holder at 263 ft. 12 lanes!

http://www.lakecountyjournals.com/artic ... /index.xml

[piazza]

Wow! Nice job to those guys! Good thing we are working on a mile long track (yuk, yuk)!