Brandon and "Blue Lightning"
Wow. I had no idea that the Pinewood Derby was taken so seriously. Seeing as I am a female and therefore, have never been a scout and seeing as I come from a family of all girls...this was my first experience with the Pinewood Derby. Brandon has been in scouts for less than a month so we didn't have the weeks and weeks of building time that the other scouts did. In fact, we picked up our car kit the day before they were due at weigh/check-in. But I wasn't worried because Bryan had all the tools we needed in the garage and I really didn't think it would be that hard. And it wasn't, really. More time would've been nice, certainly....we were literally drying the paint with a hair dryer to get it done in time! But it looked cool, I thought. And Brandon thought so too. Until he got to the check-in and saw the other cars. Bryan came home somewhat disgusted. "This really ought to be called the 'Dadwood Derby'"! One father/son reportedly bought 15 different car kits until he found one with perfect wheels that rolled just right. Another father/son supposedly sent their car out for a professional "skin" paint job. My heart hurt when Bryan told me all of this and what Brandon's reaction had been. And I hoped and prayed that when the day of the race actually came that Brandon would have a good time and not worry about what the other cars looked like.
And thankfully, all did turn out well. Brandon was kind of in awe at all the decorations and the big track. The scoutmaster pulled Brandon up in front of everyone and congratulated him for getting his car done in the least amount of time. And his car consistently came in 2nd place in all of his heats. I saw Brandon proudly pointing his car out to his friends. And he should be proud! Because he helped build that thing from start to finish. He designed the shape and details of what it should look like. It was his idea to have a lego guy in the driver seat (the only car with a driver). He picked the color and then was the one blow drying the paint. He came up with the name. That car is totally and completely his and I'm so glad that it ended up being a good experience for him. But let me tell you, we will start much earlier next year!
Not that you can tell really well but Brandon's car is on the race track in this picture. It was a cool track. And it was kind of fascinating watching how they timed and videoed all the heats. I was really impressed with how much work goes into putting on a Pinewood Derby.
Brandon and "Blue Lightning"
2 comments:
Oh my heck! Your ward has a camera for "photo finishes?" I think your ward hypes up the pinewood derby much more than our ward! I'm glad that Brandon did well and didn't let all the "fancy" cars upset him any. I totally agree with Bryan. The fathers do most of the work anyway. When we did ours, we tried to involve Josh in anyway the we could. He choose the shape and design, the colors and he sanded and painted. Josh's car wasn't the fanciest car at ours either, but it rolled so we were happy! Good luck for next year for when you have a little more time!
I felt the same way as Bryan. There were dad's who melted the weights and they just get way to into it that they actually have races just for the dad's. I thought that it was pretty sad, you could tell the ones the kids made and the ones the dad's made. Ethan had a lego driver in his as well. I'm glad that Brandon had fun, and sounds like he did better than most the ones that the dads made for their kids.
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