Bizzare Parental Behavior - CAUTION - Very Negative!

[RaceFan]

This was my last time to ever run a pinewood derby. We pulled it off successfully, but it cost me a few vacation days and brought out some unfavorable behavior on the part of the parents:

1. One parent, who had obviously been up all night and was suffering from "combat fatigue", almost had a breakdown when I told him his car weighed 5.7 oz.

2. One poor guy showed up with several cars that wouldn't even fit on the track. This one was really sad because he'd done some real work on those cars but hadn't checked the rules. There wasn't much that could be done for him.

3. There were countless cars that were way overweight or underweight. The underweight ones not even making it to the finish line and the kids crying as a result wasn't really pleasant.

4. One kid showed up with wooden dowels for wheels. It was sickening telling him he couldn't race.

And my all-time predictable favorite:

When my son won first place......he and I were accused of cheating!...yes, cheating! Yeah, thanks!

People are weird sometimes, but it was done for the boys! I just hope those little boogers turn out to be good Americans when they grow up!!!

[gpraceman]

1. One parent, who had obviously been up all night and was suffering from "combat fatigue", almost had a breakdown when I told him his car weighed 5.7 oz.

2. One poor guy showed up with several cars that wouldn't even fit on the track. This one was really sad because he'd done some real work on those cars but hadn't checked the rules. There wasn't much that could be done for him.

There is not much you can do for these guys, at least on race day. Prior to that you can make a scale available during workshops so people can at least weigh their car if nothing else. For the guy that didn't read the rules, about the only thing that may have helped was to make sure everyone has a copy of the rules in hand and maybe even summarize them verbally when handing out the kits.

3. There were countless cars that were way overweight or underweight. The underweight ones not even making it to the finish line and the kids crying as a result wasn't really pleasant.

If a car is significantly underweight at check-in, we send them back to the pits to add weight. We make weights available during check-in (scraps, nuts, bolts, washers, fishing weights, etc.) This has greatly reduced the number of cars that do not finish. We also verify that they have lubed. Those are the top two reasons for a car not finishing, underweight and not being lubed.

4. One kid showed up with wooden dowels for wheels. It was sickening telling him he couldn't race.

Having some extra wheels handy really helps. People show up with the wrong wheels all the time, despite best efforts to ensure people know to use the official wheels.

When my son won first place......he and I were accused of cheating!...yes, cheating! Yeah, thanks!

Congrats on first place, but I'm sorry to hear about the accusations.

[RaceFan]

I'm just venting. There was nothing that could be done. You wouldn't believe how many times I talked about the rules at pack meetings, e-mailed them, posted them on the pack website. It was repeated so much, I was starting to look like a nutcase.

A majority of parents are just going to slap the cars together the night before the race regardless of what you provide for them. There's nothing that can be done about that. The results of that are just sad for the kids sometimes.

We actually did hold up the registration line and help fix & lube the really bad cars. After a while, I had to stop because it was taking too long.

If I recall correctly (the pre-race rush is a blur) we did donate extra wheels, axles and even a spare car!

I'm guessing the parents don't want to be like one of the parents in "Down & Derby" and have gone the totally opposite direction!!!.....just a theory.

[gpraceman]

I'm just venting. There was nothing that could be done. You wouldn't believe how many times I talked about the rules at pack meetings, e-mailed them, posted them on the pack website. It was repeated so much, I was starting to look like a nutcase.

As the old saying goes, You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

We actually did hold up the registration line and help fix & lube the really bad cars. After a while, I had to stop because it was taking too long.

I take it that you do your check-in on race day. We do it the night before the race and that has really worked out well. There is not so much stress about getting cars checked-in in a hurry so racing can begin. Check-in always takes longer than you want.

It does also help to assign someone to be in the pit area to help those that need it. That way you don't bog down the check-in line. Just send the problem cars to the pits.

[Nitro Dan]

Sounds like the rules were stressed well enough... I'm curious, were there any workshops or clinics provided?

-Nitro Dan

[RaceFan]

Sounds like the rules were stressed well enough... I'm curious, were there any workshops or clinics provided?

-Nitro Dan

No workshops have ever been provided in the history our pack that I am aware of. Some dens have done their own but our pack is unmanagably big. I was the coordinator and would have done one but I have no tools whatsoever. No drill press, no bandsaw...nothing. It would have been too much to do it at the pack level.

I would have liked to pre-register cars the night before but there was no way I could secure them overnight. I think we would have had only a few do that. Most pull all-nighters before the race and check-in at race day. I guess a future coordinator could require each car be turned in the pack meeting before the race but I know a bunch of people would show up with cars on race day anyway.

It wasn't about tools or lack of info. The ones who wanted to build the cars built them and won. The ones who only put forth a half-hearted effort hopefully learned their lesson (I doubt it). A lot of the worst cars were made by parents who have been in a few years and know better.

There's no solution to this...You can't change peoples' attitudes, only they can do that. I'm done with ever having to do this again anyway and really should simply get over it. Thanks for the listening!

[Randy and Son]

After seeing the stress that same day check-in and race causes, I'm a believer in doing check-in the day before the race. In your case its sad there isn't some way to secure the cars for at least overnight.

We do our check-in the night before and it really does make both race day and check-in go much smoother and seems less stressed for everyone. As far as securing the cars though our Cub Master just takes them home with him. They are placed in those large yet low profile plastic storage boxes with some padding placed inside to immobilize the cars. These are those plastic storage boxes low enough to fit under a bed. At the end of check-in we seal the boxes and load them in his truck.

There's no mad rush at check-in and likewise everyone showing up on race day is relaxed knowing all they have to do is enjoy the event. All of the heavy lifting has been done by then.

Randy

[RaceFan]

I'll suggest pre-race check-in to the next coordinator so perhaps some good can come from this years' ordeal.

[Go Bubba Go]

After seeing the stress that same day check-in and race causes, I'm a believer in doing check-in the day before the race. In your case its sad there isn't some way to secure the cars for at least overnight.

Randy

We perform an optional "pre"-check-in (and allow the boys a few runs down the track before our Open Class race) Friday night and find it works great for identifying (and fixing) potential non-finishers and violations that can be time consuming to repair. We don't actually perform the "real" check-in until Saturday morning, but the "real" check-in runs very smoothly as most of the big headaches are resolved Friday night. We don't impound after Friday night, it is strictly a "pre" check (not sure I'd want the headache of boxing up the cars and storing them overnight...).

Bubba

[Darin McGrew]

For several years, we've been running the check-in on the Wednesday night before the derby (during our regular club meeting). The derby is Saturday evening.

We store the cars in a locked room on the same display racks that we use during the derby. Both the check-in and the derby itself go much more smoothly this way, and as a bonus, we have a lot more flexibility scheduling the design judging, and it was much easier to get photos of all the cars so we could display them as part of the computerized schedule/results during the derby.

[TwoRacers]

Sounds like the rules were stressed well enough... I'm curious, were there any workshops or clinics provided?

-Nitro Dan

No workshops have ever been provided in the history our pack that I am aware of. Some dens have done their own but our pack is unmanagably big. I was the coordinator and would have done one but I have no tools whatsoever. No drill press, no bandsaw...nothing. It would have been too much to do it at the pack level.

I would have liked to pre-register cars the night before but there was no way I could secure them overnight. I think we would have had only a few do that. Most pull all-nighters before the race and check-in at race day. I guess a future coordinator could require each car be turned in the pack meeting before the race but I know a bunch of people would show up with cars on race day anyway.

It wasn't about tools or lack of info. The ones who wanted to build the cars built them and won. The ones who only put forth a half-hearted effort hopefully learned their lesson (I doubt it). A lot of the worst cars were made by parents who have been in a few years and know better.

There's no solution to this...You can't change peoples' attitudes, only they can do that. I'm done with ever having to do this again anyway and really should simply get over it. Thanks for the listening!

The lack of your own tools does not mean you can not have a workshop. We have 89 kids in our pack and schedule workshops by having any parent who has tools they can bring, bring them! The workshop runs from 9am until 5pm and the scout leaders rotate time to help the scouts with their cars. I didnt have time to stay to help this year but I dropped off my scroll saw for use for the entire day. I think of the 89 scouts we had about 30 come through the workshop. The rest built on their own.

[RaceFan]

The lack of your own tools does not mean you can not have a workshop. We have 89 kids in our pack and schedule workshops by having any parent who has tools they can bring, bring them! The workshop runs from 9am until 5pm and the scout leaders rotate time to help the scouts with their cars. I didnt have time to stay to help this year but I dropped off my scroll saw for use for the entire day. I think of the 89 scouts we had about 30 come through the workshop. The rest built on their own.

I will recommend that to the next coordinator. I didn't get a whole lot of cooperation this year for some unknown reason. Maybe I have bad breath and don't know it. Hopefully, a more charismatic speaker can relay that need to parents with tools.

A lot of the atrocities had nothing to do with tools, though. Cars weighing almost 6 oz? As low as 3.9 oz? There's really no excuse for that especially since I brought the official scale to the pack meeting before the event as well as the night before the event.

Cars with an inch or less between the wheels making it impossible to be positioned on the center guide? Maybe a lesson in how to read instructions would be more beneficial.

As you can tell, I'm a little letdown by my group. We kept it positive and fun for the boys, though. I'll relay these good suggestions to the next brave soul who tackles this event!

[Randy and Son]

And my all-time predictable favorite:

When my son won first place......he and I were accused of cheating!...yes, cheating! Yeah, thanks!

I know how you feel.

At our race this year, I was just standing around waiting for the festivities to get under way and noticed the guy running the race seemed to be flying solo. Then I happened to ask who was going to be gathering cars for the on-deck circle. He said, "You are!"

Kids weren't staging cars this year and I wound up staging ALL of the cars too. I gave each car equal treatment and after all was said and done, my son's car is Pack Champion. No one said anything, but I know I felt at least one dagger. And all I did was open my mouth at the wrong time.

Randy

[RaceFan]

And my all-time predictable favorite:

When my son won first place......he and I were accused of cheating!...yes, cheating! Yeah, thanks!

I know how you feel.

At our race this year, I was just standing around waiting for the festivities to get under way and noticed the guy running the race seemed to be flying solo. Then I happened to ask who was going to be gathering cars for the on-deck circle. He said, "You are!"

Kids weren't staging cars this year and I wound up staging ALL of the cars too. I gave each car equal treatment and after all was said and done, my son's car is Pack Champion. No one said anything, but I know I felt at least one dagger. And all I did was open my mouth at the wrong time.

Randy

We're suffering this abuse for the boys! I just hope the little stinkheads appreciate someday what their Dads endured and tried to teach them in Cub Scouts!

I happen to enjoy weight lifting and keeping in shape. So, you know what people predictably say? "He must be on steroids." (Working out hard 4 times/week must have nothing to do with it.)

There's a huge percentage of jealous envious people out there, even in Scouting. I think the best thing to do is acknowledge the fact and teach your sons to be prepared for it.

You did the right thing in helping with that race.

[Glengary]

IMHO, no one should feel guilty about people who DO NOT understand the basic idea of following rules. RaceFan, I really hope you change your mind about volunteering for next year. We cannot be responsible for other people's actions or lack of action.

Forgive me if I rant too long on my soap box...
Unfortunately, some part of our great society take the stance of:
- First, unjustly pointing blame on others for their problems and/or shortcomings.
- Secondly... do not take responsibility for their own actions.

Case in point... these people who tried to wage lawsuits against major fast food chains, blaming them for their obesity! And for every obese person who says "they don't have time/money/resource to excercise... we can find that average working person who gets themself up at 5am every morning so they can run a few miles, before sitting down to their oatmeal (eeewww!) and then going to work. The same people who accused you of cheating would fine something negative to say about this 5am jogger/oatmeal eating person!

RaceFan, you volunteered your own time to help out with the derby and spent priceless time with your son teaching and helping him with the car. I am sure you feel the reward of your son's feeling of winning the race. Don't let other people's lack of involvement and negativity affect your positive contribution. I am sure that in the back of their minds, these same people who claim you cheated, probably would prefer you be back next year. Why? Because you know what you're doing, and everyone wants an expert involved. Crying cheating is really just a rude "sour grapes" reaction... very Childish. Unmotivated people are jealous of others especially winners.

Sorry if I ranted too long.