The first year we followed all the rules and came in third.
My observation was that there was a little more parent involvement than what the rules called for.
The second year we had my boy design and paint and do the initial wheel and axle prep and then I did the final polishing with shop grade abrasives.
He came in second.
We happen to live in an area where about fifty percent of the parents are engineers, of one sort or another.
When I looked at the degree of finish on their wheels and axles it seemed to me that it was not something that could be accomplished by a ten year old.
This year I'm getting my micron level abrasives out, that I use for finishing solid surfaces to a gloss.
God help those engineer daddies.
Gloves are off.
( I guess the optical comparators will be out next year)
Why not just have a "Parents Division" as well? It kinda gets the message out that Dads (and/or Moms) want to play as well, and might, properly guided, get the parents to use their car as the example of each step without locking the Cubs out of the entire process?
Yeah, I read an article recently...I forget where...which talked about how there used to be limits and it used to be about the kids and having fun. The point is lost when your engineer father builds it for you.
Yeah, but once you understand what is going on, it then seems fair for the cabinetmaker fathers to do a little more helping than what I believe the rules call for, just to keep a level playing field.
The only worse group of people to piss off about the reality of the thing would have been machinists.
I think that this year will be about the profession v. the trades.
No, that's just a shame. A damned shame is that every year at this time, at least half a dozen eBayers offer to build you the winning car for $100 and up. Check out the prices and number of bids:
formatting link
all that drama and just buy your kid a boxful of medals for 99 cents! ;-)
Even in the parent does a lot of the work and provides a lot of knowledge, isn't there something to doing a project with your child? It seems like that's missing these days. I have two memories from pine wood derby when I was a Cub Scout.
My dad using a wobble dado blade on a radial arm saw to waste away wood on the car and thinking to myself, "That looks dangerous."
My dad bring home powdered graphite from work and how that made the car much faster. Most people don't even know that graphite can be a lubricant. It at least seems like that's worth teaching.
My den mother daughter worked hard for years helping her two sons compete in the derby. Finally her day arrived as the scouts parents had a Parent's Derby. They designed their own cars and on the day of the big race when all those engineer dads showed up with tricked out cars she smoked them!
You'd think that, but the wrong message is getting through in most cases. Rather than becoming a chance for father son bonding, the lesson is WIN at any cost. It is OK to use ringers, buy, instead of developing technology, etc. I wonder how many kids never get to touch the car?
The real shame is that our kids turn out too stupid/unmotivated to get into engineering programs at our universities these days. Science and engineering slots are now filled with foreign students. Bet their parents didn't help them build pinewood derby racers. Most likely didn't build their school projects either.
By the way, in the 50's pinewood derby racers were constructed by Cub Scouts. Our den mother assembled blocks cut from 2x4s, nails, wheels, etc. They all came out of the same bag and we used these parts to cut, sand, nail and paint our own racers under her husband's watchful eye. We conducted our own races. No parents in sight. Cookies and fruit punch for everyone after. Had a GREAT time without daddy. Daddy was at work building Studebakers. He did admire my racer after the fact.
And what's wrong with that? It teaches them how things are done in a free greed society such as ours. It instills in them the (lack of) morals to get ahead. Victory at any cost. Screw anybody to get there.
I doubt that either stupidity or lack of motivation is the reason that American kids don't enroll in engineering programs. The simple fact is that in every job I've ever worked engineers are treated as poor relations and paid peanuts. Even worse, you become a specialist on your first job and there's no mobility to speak of. Unless you really love the work or luck into some really hot project it sucks as an occupation. I can't imagine any kind in his right mind _wanting_ to be an engineer in the US today.
You agreed to let your son into the Cub Scouts. You thought there was a value there. You found out that there was little, if any value left. Parents are mostly non-participating in den and pack activities. It's become a quest for patches. A desire to complete the check lists of mundane activities. It is what the parents let it become.
Don't contribute to your son's decline by giving validity to the other overdriven parents dubious actions. Years from now, what he'll remember is that his dad built a car using whatever he could to "teach those other cheating parents" a lesson.
Just find a few other people in your area with kids about the same age as yours and have weekly or monthly BBQ and camping events. Both you and your son will get more out of it anyway.
You could always tell pinewood derby season had arrived at my old engineering company. Lengthy (and sometimes heated) lunchtime discussions of the best location for weights, effectiveness of streamlining, wheel and axle lubrication, and some really science fiction go fast ideas. Come the great derby night. We had a large and active troop, and EVERY kid showed up for the race. A huge track with electronic timers was set up in the middle school gym. Throngs of excited scouts, hordes of parents, ear shattering noise, and an infinite number of cars zipping down the track. By 11 o'clock I was secretly hoping we would get eliminated so I could go home to bed. No such luck, our car was quick enough to place, the kid got a certificate and everything. Didn't get home til 2 in the morning. Big night.
What's wrong is that it doesn't teach the kid how to do his own screwing. He ends up living in your basement while you write his college application essays for him.
My son has 1st & 2nd place trophies on the mantle, along with two butt-ugly cars that have only his fingerprints on them. We researched the principles, brainstormed ideas, and drew up plans together. But the construction was all his. He wouldn't trade one of those cars for an Xbox. :-)
We lived in a cramped apartment at the time, and didn't have much in the way of tools or workspace. Just a 9" bandsaw, benchtop drill press, and a 1" belt sander, all from Harbor Freight. But we got 'er done! I may have overdone the safety thing at first. :-)
Won 't stop the dad's from doing it for their kids. After all, it IS supposed to be a parental help thing, but there are rules on what it can be. Ask to enforce the rules next year.
My son started scouts as a 6 year-old tiger cub and is now a few months away from making Eagle. I didn't see a lot of life-skill value in the Cub Scout program, but he enjoyed it enough that he never asked to drop out, so he stayed in. But Boy Scouts is a whole different program. It teaches a lot of good things kids just need to know. And it isn't all taught by adults. They learn a lot from each other. I'm really glad my boy had the opportunity.
The parental involvement issue with the Pinwood Derby has been beat to death. Yes, there are a few parents who build or buy the cars while the kid plays Nintendo, but that doesn't totally ruin it; it only ruins it for them. My boy had a part in every step of every car. When he was six or seven, he chose from several design options I gave him. Then, he put his hands on the coping saw while I guided the cuts. Then he made a few awkward strokes with the rasp, and I finished up. He'd sand a while and I'd finish up. He'd spray on a coat of paint, complete with drips and runs; and I'd sand it off and re-coat after he went to bed. He would hold the trigger on the cordless drill to spin the axle while I polished at just the right place.
Each year he did more and I did less. My point is that every year, he was convinced that HE had built the car, even in those early years when I was doing it all. And I'm certain that he learned more than he would have if I had handed him the box of parts and told him to build it himself. We'll see what his memories are years from now. Mine are priceless.
DonkeyHody "We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again---and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore." - Mark Twain
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.