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Post by 2FAST4U on Oct 29, 2006 0:47:40 GMT -7
Well here is the story about little brother 1977. My brother just got done with a three year winning cycle in the pinewood derby. Now I stepped in and it was going to be my turn to start it all over again. I was at the shop every time my father and brother built his winning pinewood derby cars just watching and wishing I could race one. but little did I know I was learning as well. The time was here its my turn to build a car with my dad. whats this fathers can't help, nooooooooooooooooooooo. I cry-ed for days. the scout master said no father can help, to keep this on a fair playing field for everyone. you all come to my shop and build your cars here "he said". so after soaking in my tears for weeks, It was time to go to the scout masters shop to build my car. I will never forget my father words " Glenn you can do this you have watch your brother and I build these cars you know how, remember just have fun and I love you. So off I went to build my first pinewood derby car. Well I built my car Its not very scientific but a simple wedge shape to keep the weight back far I thought looked good. It was the only wedge car built. every other car the kids cut the back off. the time was here race day my nerves where racing. my stomach was ready to explode. first race I won, then the second, then the third, I could not believe it, I was winning all on my own, my dad had a smile from ear to ear. then came the final race they had a coin toss to see what lane we got. I won the lane choice. there where to lanes blue or yellow I picked blue for 1st place. We stagged the cars shook hand to wish each other luck. They pulled the lever and they where off down the hill they went side by side I could not bare to watch I screamed with excitement go go go go I said, it started to pull ahead could I, could I, It did, I won, I won the race. this was and always will be a memorable experience for me. MY father came up to me and said I knew you could do it son I knew you could do it... from there on are fathers could help us build are cars again and we went on to win the next 2 years of my pinewood derby's. Glenn 2fast4u Here is a picture of MY first pinewood derby car that still gives me inspiration on my cars today...
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Post by JOKER on Oct 31, 2006 1:38:52 GMT -7
1976 - My Dad helped me throw a car together at the last minute - did not win a single race at pack. (car was blue & black with an old-school body design) 1977 - We built a cool looking wedge & painted it fluorescent orange......it had an engine and roll cage from a dragster model......won a few races at pack & won best design. 1978 - We got tired of losing and did some research. My Dad built a 3-lane wooden track. We built 12 cars and would race the fastest one. We won both the pack & district championship. ( car was called Darth Vader - modified wedge with shaved down BSA wheels - black with gold #1 painted on top) 1979 - Used same process of building 12 cars & ended up with a red modified wedge with lightened BSA wheels.....called The Flash. The district outlawed the shaved wheels that I had won with the previous year. We repeated as pack & district champions to finish my scout racing career. (My younger brother then took over & dominated for the next following years.............good times!)
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Post by Hillbilly Kustoms on Feb 15, 2007 23:31:33 GMT -7
As far as my personal cub derby experience goes . . . it was dismal. I built the cars myself with a screwdriver To make matters worse, the kid that always won always had his car painted in his familys bodyshop. I never had a chance! I decided then and there that my sons cars would be different. And they have been . . . well, except for the thie first one. My oldest sons first derby snuck up on us. The pack he was involved with didn't tell us about the race until the day of. We had two hours and no tools to get his car built and at the race. Needless to say, it wasn't a proud moment in the familys derby history. The wheels were right out of the box and one fell off during his first heat. The next years car we had moved to Phoenix and we had a couple months to get his car going. I had access to a shop and tools, and had also taken a job as a painter. It recieved Grand Champion and best of show, he kept his titles the next year and then Skylar followed suit and kept the title for the next two years. We lost it this year but that was due to an alignment error, which we've corrected. You'll be seeing this car in March . . . if he ever decides what color it's going to be repainted.
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Post by Smokin' Joe's Racing on Feb 20, 2007 5:29:11 GMT -7
Mine was in the back seat of a 68 Dodge Dart... whoops...uh sorry...I misunderstood the thread topic.
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Post by Smokin' Joe's Racing on Feb 20, 2007 5:52:15 GMT -7
Both! ;D Hence the thread title.
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Post by Hillbilly Kustoms on Feb 20, 2007 9:05:05 GMT -7
As long as it wasn't a blue dart ;D
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Post by Barnyard on Dec 27, 2007 19:59:48 GMT -7
Being the son of an engineer with a shop full of woodworking tools at our disposal, PWD came relatively easy for me growing up. I think I was the only one in my pack that lathe turned my wheels. There were plenty that understood the value of polishing and removing the mold mark, but that was about it.
Despite all the tools, the cars were always a basic wedge. A red wedge with a black "V" the first year (won pack and took 4th in district). A blue wedge with side pods (kind of a poor man's door-slammer) and a white "V" the (won pack took 2nd in district). A black wedge with side pods, rear 'fenders' and a silver "V" the third year (won pack and took 4th in district).
My son Aaron has picked up right where I left off in winning his pack last year (we were out of town for district and had to forfeit our spot!). Hopefully we can continue the winning family ways here next month.
Whatever the outcome, I'm SURE we'll get a severe butt-kicking come February in whatever class we enter!!! I still can't believe how fast and consistent everyone here is! My we have A LOT to learn!!!
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Post by Mayhem Miller on Mar 25, 2008 23:08:32 GMT -7
Ok, my story is both good and bad and is kinda two parts.
I was only able to be in cub scouts for 1 year when I was a kid and I remember trying to build my own car. I remember using a metal hacksaw to try and cut it and after sawing until my arm hurt, I quit and went with what I had... a block of wood with a 2 inch crooked hacksaw gouge in it.
I remember painting it with magic markers, and playing with it on the floor until the wheels wouldnt stay on it, if I remember correctly I used some good old elmers glue to put the wheels back in place.
My dad (who was a total !%#*) saw the car I had worked really hard on and called it a piece of crap. I remember him calling it ugly and telling me I shouldnt even bother racing it... No kidding. Well, I raced it and came in dead last.
Now, I'm a 35 year old Deputy Sheriff and I have 5 wonderful children of my own. Last year my oldest son just started scouts, and came home in Feb with his first pinewood derby kit. He was so excited telling me about how he wanted it to look and what color he wanted to paint it!
I knew right away I wanted him to do better than I did, so I went out and got a full set of derby worx tools, bandsaw, drill press, digital caliper, digital scale (I confiscated from our evidence locker) and some other misc things I thought he might need. My wife about poo'd when I told her the tools were for a pinewood derby.
He spent weeks working on the car, doing most of the work himself, I only helped when he needed it. He shaved his own wheels, grooved his own axles, drilled his own axle slots, poured his own lead and even did all of the painting himself. Not once did he complain or say he was tired of working on the car. He was so excited, telling me he hoped he would do good enough to get a trophey. When he got all finished with his car, I was so darn proud of him, he did an amazing job.
The day of the races came last March and since he was a tiger he was the first to race. As soon as that pin dropped, I knew my son was going to do well. My sons car won its first race, my sons car won his second, third, fourth.. My son won 26 races in a row that day winning his den and pack and finished unbeaten all day. I honestly felt like I coulda cried, I was so proud of him.
Two weeks later we traveled to the district race in Glencoe, Minnesota. I think my son actually got nervous when he saw the other cars with their stenciled paint jobs and fancy workmanship. He kept asking me how old the kids were that built the other cars. Well, believe it or not, my son won another 22 races in a row that day and finished his very first pinewood derby season unbeaten with 48 wins in a row. I was so proud of him, all of his hard work had paid off. He got his picture in the paper and even the local news did a short story on him. It was probably the most proud I've been in my life.
My son has an autographed picture of Glenn Jewkes framed and hanging on his wall in his bedroom, he refers to Glenn as the pinewood derby champion of the world. I can only hope my son grows up to be as successful in racing as his idol has been.
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Post by A-Line Performance on Mar 26, 2008 8:06:32 GMT -7
Hey Miller, great story - I was with you all the way until you said your boy has an autographed photo of Glen on the wall Not that he's not the best but how many people really know that Welcome aboard ;D ;D
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Post by Mayhem Miller on Mar 26, 2008 12:42:59 GMT -7
Both my son and I started watching pinewood derby races a while back on you-tube, and we watched a video of a Jewkes car racing against some others, I dont remember exactly who they were. So, at that point, my son thought Jewkes was his hero. Over the past year, my son would always be on the internet and talking about the Jewkes, he wouldnt shut up! This year when I ordered a set of holeshots from Glenn, he was nice enough to send my son an autographed picture, and, now my son has it in his room.
Your right in saying most people dont know much about pinewood derbys, and those are the people my little boy loves explaining who the guy on his wall is.
And, with todays society with NFL players and most celebrities ending up in prison or dead from overdoses, I'm glad my son has chose who he did to look up too.
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Post by A-Line Performance on Mar 26, 2008 14:56:24 GMT -7
You're right about heros. I think Glen's as good a choice as any. He's still the one I'm trying to beat! I hope he doesn't get a big head with all the FANS !!
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Post by scoutmom on Oct 13, 2009 11:13:51 GMT -7
I loved reading these stories! Ya'll need to write more of them-- I would like to read more about how you folks got started in PWD racing. Looks like Scouts opened the door for most-- which is understandable. I never knew about the PWD until one day my son came home with the kit and said that we had to "build" a car out of it. LOL!
My husband, Jesse, had started working with Ethan to build their his first PWD car. However, before it was finished, hurricane Katrina, and then Hurrican Rita, hit the gulf coast. Jesse is a mechanic for TXU so when the crews go on storm duty, he has to go, too. Jesse was gone for 8 weeks, and during that time the PWD had to be built. Of course, I step in. Now, I had done a lot of wood working in my younger years. I used to do competitive show jumping and built my own horse jumps. Pretty fancy ones, too-- I might add. But... building 6 foot wing standards is MUCH different then building a 7 inch long car! Needless to say... Ethan's first foray into the world of PWD racing was NOT a huge success! Yeah, his car sucked. I remember that at the last moment we glued Double A batteries to the top of the car to increase the weight! Ethan painted them silver to make them look like pipes on the top of the car. Still, even with the two batteries the car weighed no wear near 5 oz. Ethan won only one race that night.
I remember looking around the gym at all the PWD cars-- especially the ones that were winning. I KNEW that there had to be a method to building a winning car (and a dad's hand in a LOT of those cars). I went home that week end and started educating myself about PWD cars! I devoured everything that I could about the construction and theory behind PWD cars. I became a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. Then, I found these sites with you builders and discovered that I knew NOTHING compared to what there is to know! Reading about all the tiny intricacies of making a car go fast makes me dizzy! I have picked up a LOT and we have high hopes for this year's derby car!
BTW.. that next year-- yeah, Ethan whupped butt. Beat every car in every race, and then went on to be undefeated at Districts. Was undefeated this year, too-- no one even came close. I have offered to help our fellow Scouts with their cars (we want some competition!)-- help them make faster cars, but so far only two people have taken me up on my offer. So, we will see.... I am just thankful that I have discovered that PWD racing does not have to END when Cub Scouts end! There is a whole other world out there and we can continue racing into old age!!!
Teresa
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Post by nicdolas on Mar 10, 2010 9:38:46 GMT -7
Love these stories, so I will share mine My Grandfather would help me build my cars as a child in his basement. We never did great but I always had fun, back then you weighed and raced the same day. Since we didnt have a scale every year I had to add weight or take it out with the help of some of the Dad's. My dad lived far away so he didnt get to help with this stuff. So my pinewood experience was fun but not very exciting... So years go by I get married and have my 1st child my son Nicholas about a year ago going thru some of my old stuff he find my old pinewood derby cars, He was like these are cool. So I told him how we used to build them and not much came of it except him racing them around the house. Well he decided he wanted to join scouts at one of our meeting they give out the pinewood derby kit and our adventure begins. I asked him when we got home what kind of car do you want to build a fast one or a cool looking one.( Yes I now know they can be both:P) He's like I want to go fast, so we pick a design from a book that another father lent us. I didnt let him cut the block to much, I wasnt comfortable letting a 7 year old work a scroll saw. He helped witht he sanding, polishing and painting. So we get our car done and it looks good runs straight and weighs 5oz on the dot. I think we have a good shot at winning so the day before the race my sons like I want to win. Well race day is upon us and I am nervous, the dad are checking out my son's car and saying it looks fast. So his 1st heat comes he gets lane 1 in a 6 lane track, lane 1 gets to start each race so he presses the button and off it goes. Well he wins the heat and his face lights up with a huge smile as he is putting his car back he's like dad we won. Now he got really into it because he saw his name on the screen in 1st place overall with the fastest car. He would come up to me every few minutes and ask when are we racing again. He ended up winning every race that day and taking hope a nice trophy and gets to move onto districts. Now the fun begins we get the district rules and come to find out the rules for districts won't allow an extended wheel base so we have to start our car all over. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated that the rules could change based on which pack was hosting districts. After a few conversations the chair person for the pinewood derby commitee agreed they need a blanket set of rules but wouldn't allow my sons car to race with the other kids. If he wanted to race he could but if he car was in the top 4 he wouldnt get anything. Well as a competitive person I was like well now I need to build a faster car and win this thing. So the race is next saturday and i think we have a good shot at this and I couldnt have do this without the help of a few people on this forum. Carolina Gravity Sports, W Racing and Glenn Jewkes each of these guys went above and beyond to help me with this car and I wanted to take this time to thank them for all of their help with questions I had throughout the rebuild. Thank You, Nic (dad) and Nicholas (son)
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ljo
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Post by ljo on Oct 27, 2010 3:51:45 GMT -7
Mine was a Royal Rangers event, and will never be forgotten. I had a mediocre car, that won a few races and lost more, particularly to the E-Racer( a 7 inch Pink Pearl on wheels)! But the most memorable part of my first derby experience came after the race, when I super glued my eye lid shut! I was packing up after the race, and as I adjusted the cap on the super glue tube, it some how squirted into my left eye. It's funny now, but scary when you are 8 and don't know if you will ever get your eye back open.
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