Derby Night!

Last night was Pinewood derby night for the older boy's Cub Scout den. This is always a time of much stress in the house. For the boys, as they would love nothing more than to show up their friends. And for me, as I am the lucky guy who runs this event.

Historically, the boys have not fared well in this activity. Last year there were 33 cars in the race. Denis ended up in 32nd place. Liam did somewhat better, all the way up in 26th. There should be no reason to complain about this. We did our cars in one evening (the one before the race, naturally). We spent all our time cutting and sanding that there was no time for speed tricks (if we knew any). And while there was no reason to complain, that sure didn't stop Denis. He was very upset. In tears at one point (after his third straight 3rd place finish).

I was determined to do better this year. And how would any good father address this challenge? With a trip to the hardware store, of course! Over $100 of tools later, and suddenly we were in business. I got a Dremel, some new hacksaw blades, hobbyist metal file, and a few other odds and ends. And we started early on the cars. Not exactly the day we got them, in early December. And not exactly during Christmas break as we had thought. Well, Wednesday night, actually. But this was still an entire day earlier than last year!

And the Dremel came with a DVD with some helpful tips. Naturally, as with most construction projects, when they are presented the tips sound like the simplest things in the world. Doing them? Another matter entirely. Still, we used the idea of drawing out the design and tracing it on the wood black for cutting guidance. And I learned how to smooth the wheels and axles. So not a total waste.

The construction was pretty straightforward - this is our 3rd year after all. And you could tell the go-fast tricks really helped. Liam brought down last year's car. We spun the wheel. It went around 4 or 5 times and stopped. No wonder it was slow! Then we spun a wheel on the new car. Oh my! You couldn't even count the rotations. The improvement was incredible. I started to foster some hopes, still tempering them with the knowledge that there were Dads who had been working on this for months. Who have secret family tuning secrets that they'll never share which they've passed down through the generations. But still - hope was glimmering.

I got everyone registered and ready to go, and before long Denis came up in a heat. I was so nervous! And in looking at him I could tell he was too. The board dropped, and his car jumped out of the gate. The other cars closed, but he held them off. He won his heat! This was a first. And the smile on his face was a mile wide.

Next was Liam's turn. And he won too! Now the smile was on my face. I was one of the 'in' dads now. I had the secrets to pass to future generations of McGraths. Denis came up again, and won again. Liam ran again, and took second. Life was good. The last prelim heat was the nervewracker. Denis vs. Liam. Someone wasn't going to be happy. It was close, but Liam won, with Denis taking second.

So after the prelim rounds Denis and Liam were tied for the 6 seed out of 27 cars. I was ecstatic. We had still put almost no effort into the car, and they were among the fastest in the field. Awesome.

After the prelims are the elimination rounds. The top 3 come out of there and go to the finals. It took several rounds for Liam to come up. He ran, and came in a close second. So he was out. But still very pleased with his result.

Next was Denis. He ran, and also took second. He was now out also. And was he happy? Pleased with his incredible improvement from last year. Of course not! No - he was running out into the hallway near tears again.

I have to confess I was a little frustrated. He told me his car sucked. I couldn't believe it. We spent no time on the project, he was in the top 1/4 of the cars. He was way better than last year. And he was still mad. I'll never get him.

On the plus side, as we talked about it on the way home he perked up a bit. And when he told Mimi he left off the 'sucked' part. And today they both seem to have good feelings about the results.

And for me? The Access application I wrote to manage the process worked flawlessly. Including projecting heats up onto a screen so everyone could see who was racing. Many compliments from the parents. So I still rock.

But for both the cars and the software I've already got ideas for improvements for next year!

Can't wait!