JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for July 24, 2016

not as quick to disqualify as one might think.The reward may just lie in doing the right thingIt pays over a lifetime

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People who have to cheat to win are admitting they are losers

Reminds me of an incident with my daughter and a local beauty pageant for little girls 25 years ago. The rules said the girls must look like little girls: no makeup, no gowns, etc. I bought a frilly, short party dress for my girl and did her hair in one long braid, as she had Rapunzel hair. And you can guess the result. Every other child (I’m talking 6 years old) there was in Tammy-Faye Baker style, over the top makeup and ball gowns! And none of those girls were disqualified…in fact, the winner came from that group (professional pageant children). Why have such rules that no one follows and then no disqualification when not followed? The pine box derby seems to have gone in the same direction.

One cub scout pack I knew of had two competitions: one for the boys and one for the parents (mostly dads). They decreased, but probably could not eliminate, parents helping the kids.

Do the rules really say you can’t use a store-bought kit nowadays? That’s stupid.

not stupid at all. It should be the budding engineering skill of the child, not the toy manufacturer that is being challenged.

One can find some really good tips on YouTube about building those, as well as the physics behind why certain construction techniques work as well as they do. A winning car can look a long way from fancy.

How can the rules say no store bought kits? That’s what they are FOR, it’s how the sport stays regulated.

You know what? I have more to say about the store bought kit thing, have you SEEN the kits? It’s not like they have a little car all ready carved up for you to paint, it’s just a regulation sized block of wood with the holes pre drilled nice and parallel, regulation weight, and regulation wheels and axles. The kit exists so everyone has the means of making a car that fits within the competition’s parameters, it’s up to the person to carve the thing into an aerodynamic shape that’ll go down that slope faster. Without those kits someone could use fancy wheels that have less friction, heavier weights that’ll make the car hug the road surface harder, or any number of things to gain an unfair advantage.

The kits seemed to be a block of wood, wheels, axles, and a basic instruction sheet. You provided the design, paint, decals, power tools to cut out the car, and sandpaper. It was great when races for parents, younger siblings, and semi-trucks were part of the competition.

Unfortunately….Life is full of Rules that are actually polite suggestions…

It’s all who you know

It’s been about 20 years since I worked with my son on his pinebox car. It was indeed from the standard kit, as described by the in-the-know commenters above. My son did 90% of the work. It wasn’t the most beautiful car in the world, but the design and decorations were original and it was his. It didn’t win, but it sat on his dresser for several years after that. And I still remember some of the slick cars that were so obviously made primarily by the parents. I would have been embarrassed to bring a car like that to the race and pass it off as my son’s own work.

While the strip talks about “pinebox” derby cars, the Cub Scouts have “pinewood” derby cars. My dad built a beautiful track that would allow 12 racers at once and was about 40 feet long – it came apart by sections for easy transport. His track was much in demand for Cub Scout races because the track guides were spaced so that fancy cars that were too wide (with spoilers, etc.) did not fit. It forced everyone to be more careful about the rules. And yes, those cars that were obviously built by the dad rather than the 8 year old were disqualified before the races started.

I have worked many pinewood derby races for the Cub Scouts. I usually ran the pits. I would greet kids as they arrived and give the car a once over to see if all four wheels turned. I then suggested they try it out on the track, and if it didn’t make it all the way have them bring it back. I also trained the track crew in how to handle cars. Never push down on a car, and park them upside down. Best feeling I got was a boy tears in his eyes handing me a car with a broken rear wheel. His dad said it was beyond repair as the wooden axle was also shattered. A new wheel from my collection, and an axle rebuild using a hot glue gun. and five minutes later he tested it on the track. It raced, it lost. but it did race. Big smile on the face of the looser. That is what pinewood is all about.

Many years ago my wife and I were asked to judge the cars in a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby event, and we selected the best cars done by a kid. Several really beautiful cars (obviously done by dads) did not win, and even the kids that did win, thought the dad done cars should have gotten something.