Pinewood derby is an annual ritual where fathers face off and lend their help to their sons to elevate the honor of their family name. or something like that. Even though I am an eagle scout (earned some 3 days before I turned 18), nothing gets my scouting juices flowing like pinewood derby. It truly is a great way to work with your son and help him to feel accomplishment. Granted dad does alot of the work, but we still make it a combined effort. We'll talk over ideas first, then let my boy pick one. Dad cuts the wood to a basic shape for safety reasons, then my boys help to sand it. My boys do the basic paint job, then dad adds detail. I must admit I get into making the cars look unique, my creative side comes out and I find it a very satisfying project to work on with my boys. Our family has had some really cool designs between Jonathan and Caleb that have looked great and raced well.
Jonathan's three years in scouts had three fun cars. The first was the best, a shark design that weighed only 4.5 ounces (limit is 5.0) that we didn't worry about until we realized weight is one of the most important factors and you need to be close to the 5.0. Regardless, he still placed 2nd with the car. The next two were fairly successful racers with an army assault vehicle and a roadster with a crazy driver.
Caleb had a space shuttle last year, but this year's design topped them all. He called it "Wipeout", a double wave car that had two surfers on it, one paddling and the other in a barrell in back. It looked awesome, but raced even better, taking first place out of 28 cars.
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