On April 3rd, the club had their annual Pinewood Derby. Leading up to the race, Chad & L spent a good amount of time choosing, sanding, painting, assembling, & adding decals to L's car. The theme: K-State. Good ol' Purple Power, Baby. Their hard work resulted in a sleek, shiny, purple/silver car.
We arrived at church around 2:30p.m. & got in line to register L's car. It was the official weigh in, to determine in which heat each car would race. Cheering on L, besides Chad & me, were J & Chad's parents. J & one of his best buddies even got invited to hold/wave the checkered flag. (A preschool perk!) A few minutes were given for the cars to practice & to receive any necessary fine-tuning. I swear one time I looked around the room, & every adult male was armed with a tiny tube of graphite powder...quickly, yet carefully applying it to the wheels & axles of the cars.
As all the cars sat neatly lined up on a nearby table & all the participants sat lined up next to the track, it was clear that excitement was in the air. It's as though each of them had a big smile & the hope that his car would be the fastest in the bunch! After listening to the rules & a word of prayer, the race was on! 
When it was L's turn, his car sped down the track & came in 2nd. He wasn't able to advance to the next heat, but he was still pleased with the outcome of his race. We had a great time cheering on all the kids & checking out the awesome variety of cars. I wish I had been able to get a picture of all the cars, when they were on the table.
After the "official" races, there were just-for-fun "grudge matches". This was probably one of the best parts of the derby, for these kids. The boys chose who to race against, and I'm guessing they each must have taken maybe five hundred turns. ;) Time after time, the cars zipped & zoomed down the wooden track & smacked into the well-padded finish line. L's car took first place in several of the matches, and he literally couldn't have been more pumped about it.
During the grudge matches, Chad brought in the Pinewood Derby car that he made, as a kid. In his glory days of boy scouting, a boy just bought a block of wood & started sanding. There weren't prepared kits that included a roughly outlined car body. His "vintage" car (that's for you, Jimi), was painted blue & had white stripes. L was ecstatic that his new car beat his dad's "antique" (that's for you, Phil) car in every match. However, he was equally happy just to race alongside his dad. It was pretty special.
Overall, the 2011 Pinewood Derby was a success! It was a great time of fun & fellowship.
1 comment:
What a great recap! I'm so glad L enjoyed the day. If they would have given awards for coolest cars, his surely would have won.
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