This past Saturday was Logan and Kyle’s Pinewood Derby race. Last year we didn’t do so well (dead last I believe it was) so this year we put a little more effort into it. Instead of crayon coloring a pre-cut block of wood and doing as little as we could, we went nearly all-out this year in an effort to at least get a respectable showing.
We did buy a pre-cut car, but we bought one that looked like it could perform…not just look good. I also decided we would spend time on the most important part of the car…the wheels and axles. We bought some nail axles (I hate the straight models) and all the stuff we needed to grind, sand, and polish them to a perfect set of axles. We even went to far as to make sure one axle wasn’t touching the track (legal and makes for less friction…which is the name of the game).
It took a considerable amount of time, but we got that car and it’s axles as perfect as we could. No burs, shined to perfection, and lubed up and ready to run. On race day we got the weight at a perfect 5.0 ounces and watched as the competition rolled in…about 20 cars in total. I know this sounds smug, but I thought we had a good chance to at least make the top 3 (at least I was hoping for it…Logan needed it!)
And boy did that car of his perform! We watched a few races until it was our turn and most of the cars were turning in track times around 3.5 seconds. The fastest cars were getting close to 3 seconds, but nobody had broken the 3 second barrier (including Kyle’s car, which we hadn’t spent quite as much elbow grease on). Then it was Logan’s turn…
He was matched up against the car I thought had a good chance of being the fastest car there. You run against each car twice…but it’s the track time that really counts. Not only did Logan’s car win a VERY close race, but he posted a time of 2.918 seconds (the fastest track time for the entire day)!! He also won the second race (again, very close) with a sub-3 second time.
His last two races where slower: 3.000 and 3.400 seconds (the last one was due to running off the track). They throw out the highest and lowest times and Logan’s car came in second place for the entire Troop/Pack…losing by only 0.08 seconds (that last run killed his total time) to the car he first raced and beat.
It was a fun day for Logan, Kyle and the rest of the family. Logan won first place in his Den, First place in the Pack for a Pre-Cut Car, and Second Place Overall…I loved seeing that smile on his face when he knew how well he had done!! He didn’t win a trophy (don’t get me started), but we went out and bought him the trophy he’s holding in the picture above…he had earned it.
Kyle also won first place in his division. So it was a good day on the track for the Baumgartners. I must admit that I’m glad the next race is a year away…it’s a lot of work…but it was worth it this year!! =0)
I use to love those races. I remember finishing 2nd or third as well in our pack. Great memories. Doesn’t sound like I had the technology crew that Logan has. Graphite was the answer thoase days! Well done Logan! Larry
Congrats on the Pinewood win. We need to have a show-down between the Monk and Baumgartner cars. A run for pride!