New to scouts

[Mailman7]

I would like suggestions on putting together our local Pinewood Derby this year?

[ScoutNut]

Is this Pinewood for a single Pack, or for an entire District?

[Mailman7]

This is for a single pack about 50 scouts or less? We were just wanting to do something a little different this year and I am new at this.

[Eagledad]

Ask your DE (District Executive) or District Commissioner for help finding a pack that will loan you their track.

 

Set a date so you dont use the track on the same day as the other pack. I advice a Friday night and make it a family night. Have hot dogs, chips, and sodas for sale for one price so the families can eat dinner there, it adds more fun for everyone and your pack can make a few bucks. If the other pack is using the track on a Saturday morning after, they would love for you to leave it set up.

 

Give out the cars all together so each scout has the same kit and require taht they use only the materials in the kits.

 

Have a car building day a couple weeks before the derby so the boys whose parents cant help them will have an opportunity for help from a handy dad with some tools to help them work safely. Many dads tell me that helping the boys is the best part for them.

 

Have a final weigh-in and check in the night before the race so your crew isnt rushing to get all the cars checked in before race time. There will always be a couple cars that need some help. And make be sure to help the boys get their cars close to weight either by adding or taking some weight off. That means have some tools and materials ready. Again, some boys come in totally clueless. Your job will be to help them get the cars at least race ready. Have some way of keeping the cars together safely until the race.

 

We always set up chairs on both sides of the track so everyone can watch, but I leave a clear space next to the track where the scouts can sit right next to the track. It is very exciting for them and only requires an occasional caution to not be tempted to touch the track or cars.

 

Now you need to understand that these kinds of competitions bring out the worst in some folks (dads), but Im not one to add a bunch of rules designed to keep them at bay. Instead I explain at the pack meetings that this is a family event. But this is also scouting and a perfect opportunity for the boys to learn the satisfaction of watching their creativity race with their friends. So the parents need to participate without taking over. Of course the younger the scouts, the more the parents might need to help.

 

This should be a good start, Im other will be excited to add their wisdom.

 

I love this scouting stuff.

 

Barry

 

[Mailman7]

Thank you for your input, I have a track lined up and appreciate the suggestions. If there are more out there please respond. Thanks again Barry

[GKlose]

Like lots of us here, I've seen a lot of Pinewood Derbies, and I've seen good things and bad things.

 

One policy I liked best is with one pack that had trouble with cars being dad-built and it was kind of going over the top. So they started offering an "other" category for family-built cars (with separate trophies), with strict guidance that Cub-built cars were to be built and decorated by Cubs (with my own sons, I drew the line at unsafe tools -- their designs, but I'm the one that cut and chiseled them -- but they used sanders; that kind of thing).

 

One thing I really hated. My younger son is in his last year of Webelos at a different pack than the one above. They set up the track and then set up a ring of chairs (facing outward) all along the track. Dads crowd around the track, running the races. Kids have to really crane their necks to see the action (from a distance). They lose interest and don't pay attention, until two hours later when some kids hear they've won a trophy.

 

Guy

[Lisabob]

I've seen what Guy describes (both ways) too, and I agree that you want to include the boys as much as possible in the actual race. This may mean finding ways to get each boy's car to race multiple times even if they lose every race. It might mean you give out some off-beat certificates for things like best scout design or coolest paint job or whatever, that are not related to speed. We had one kid in our pack who, every year, created a car in the shape of a cartoon character. He had a blast, though his cars were often slow. It isn't just about winning the race.

 

You might also want to consider offering a couple of "pit days" where you have some folks who know how to use tools available (with tools) to assist families who don't have, or don't know how to use, those tools. We had a lot of single moms who had no idea where to start helping their sons. Or at least, you might suggest that your den leaders consider doing this at one of their upcoming den meetings.

 

Barry's right about events like this sometimes bringing out the worst in some adults. Be forewarned and figure out what you are willing to do to try and avoid this. Contrary to Barry, I found that having a clear (but reasonably simple) set of rules helped reduce this sort of thing. Most districts have a set of rules for their district derby - you might want to just adopt those. Regardless, whatever rules you have, be sure everyone knows them well in advance.

 

After a particularly bad year with some out-of-control parents we started giving out a sportsmanship trophy, which became one of the most coveted. We told everybody that we'd take into account not only the boys' behavior, but also their parents' behavior in determining the winner. That helped a lot. We also asked some boy scouts (neutral folks) to come to our race and help determine the winners of various non-speed awards.

 

Last thing - this race - building the cars, racing the cars, the whole thing - should be about two things: bringing families together and having fun. Encourage parents to LET THE KIDS PLAY WITH THE CARS when the race is over. I can't tell you how many irate parents I've seen, snatching the car out of junior's hands, because he might damage the paint job or something, causing junior to cry and ruining his fond memory of the race. Heck, they're boys with toy cars! Let them zoom the cars around on the floor after the race, etc, if that's what they want to do.

 

[GKlose]

Right, Lisa...in fact, I think both of my kids have won design awards (I noticed in our present pack, where just a few too many cars are dad built that all of a sudden are winning design awards too -- but the Cub, of course, is picking up the trophy but doesn't really understand why). They've never yet won a single heat of any race (out of maybe 8 total cars built so far).

[ScoutNut]

I would recommend that you do NOT run an elimination race. They focus to much on the winning and not enough on the fun. Also, for a good number of the boys they run 2 races and then they are done.

 

We use a Partial Perfect-N program (a quick Google search will give you a number of sites where you can find programs). The boys race all evening long. We usually average about 8 races each, on a 4 lane track, before the boys start getting antsy. Then we calculate, based on the number of 1st and 2nd wins, the top 3 finishers. They race against each other in the last race of the night for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. They get special certificates and the red/white/blue PWD medals.

 

We do certificates for the top 3 car designs, participation certificates for everyone, and the 5th grade Webelos make display stands for all of the cars as part of Craftsman.

 

[AnniePoo]

We have a 6-lane track for our pack of 60 scouts. We run Tigers first, and each scouts gets to run 6 times, once in each lane. The computer averages the times. Tigers only compete against Tigers, etc. We have an open class at the end where sibs & parents & leaders can compete, and it's a lot of fun.

 

We have our Winter outing in the local camp's lodge staring the night before, which is an optional overnight (inside) campout complete with a million games, crafts, night hike, etc. We make sure the kids don't get bored. This continues up until the lunch before PW derby, provided by the pack (BBQ, hotdogs, etc.). We get good participation, and since a lot of extended family members come to watch, we schedule our Friends of Scouting presentation right before the races start.

 

Send me a PM and I can e-mail you the Word file of our PW Derby rules.

[kbandit]

Contact a car dealer and see if you can borrow some of the flags they put in the carlot.

 

Set up a concession stand. (donated stuff you can sell)

 

Grudge races at 25cents. Dads vs. scout car type of thing. scout vs. cubmaster.

 

Ask for donations of old bowling, car show trophies. Trophy stores sell the tops pretty cheap and easy to change. We got a ton that way and they were pretty nice.

 

Years ago our cub pack had a 6ft. grand winner traveling trophy (donated see above) that we added the scout's name to each year. one year was as long as anyone wanted it to sit around. LOL

 

Unlimited class-only has to fit on the track for those talented people. had a stage coach one year.

 

Try to get an imparcial judge. Does not care who wins. No family involved.

 

Most of all make it fun for everyone. Nothing worse than a crying scout.

[IM_Kathy]

racing and tourney depends on the track you have... our packs track when my son started did not have a timer so it was done by double elimination. by the end of my son's time in cubs the pack had a new track with a timer - each scout got to race on each lane and the times were averaged for winners.

 

as for car judging it was also done a couple of different ways while my son was in cubs... a few years they had themes (patriotic, space, scouts, funny, colorful, etc...) the boys made their cars to fit one of those catagories and then they were judged. the other few years instead of catagories they went by levels - knowing that a tigers car is often built mostly by the parent and the webelos car was made mostly by the boy they were able to be judged by the work done by the boys.

[raisinemright]

We tend to go a little over the top on Derby day.

 

We have a four lane track with computerized scoring, broadcast on a movie screen. We also have a camera on the track to broadcast the race as well as a stop action camera that shows the photo finish. The Cubmaster made a car with a cordless spy camera on it so we also run an in car camera on some races.

 

At the least, try to get an electronic finish line. When cars are closely matched, it's hard to determine a winner. We once had to run the final race about ten times before a clear winner was established cause they were so close.

 

Here are a few things we've found to work well.

 

Be very clear on the rules as the cars are being handed out.

 

We don't have a group building day, but we have a weigh-in and inspection the week before the race. Everyone comes over and we weight the car and have a variety of materials to add or subtract weight to get each car at 5 oz. (as a joke, I loaded an old car up with 9 oz. of lead last year and suprisinngly did not win.)

 

The cars are then quarantined until race day.

 

Have heavy competition for design prizes as well as fast cars. My kids for instance never really cared about speed, they have always been more interested in a cool design idea. One year I had three kids cars entered and all three won their design category. As I was passing out the prizes, I told the parents I didn't tally the votes and I didn't even cast a vote.

 

Have some snacks for sale. Hot pretzels, candy and chips go over very well.

 

We have a whole slew of prizes to raffle off. Some donated, some bought and some leftover popcorn. In between many of the races we'll pull a ticket or two. Each kid gets a couple tickets for just showing up. They can buy other for $.25 ea.

 

We also raffle off a BB gun (to the parents officially) and pocketknife every year. Tickets are $1.00 ea. Just enough to pay for the items.

 

That is a real highlight.

 

After the racing is over, the real action begins as the track is open for any family or grudge matches.

 

Make sure the event is fun.

 

[ScoutNut]

IM_Kathy states - "racing and tourney depends on the track you have... our packs track when my son started did not have a timer so it was done by double elimination."

 

While nice, a timer is not really a necessity. We have 40 boys, a 4-lane track, no timer, and do not run an elimination race. We had a timerless 3-lane track that was as old as dirt. When we went to purchase our new 4-lane a few years back, we had a discussion on weather we should purchase some kind of timer to go with it. We decided to go with the more laid back, hands on approach, and skip the timer.

 

Our finish line judges are our UC and a couple of our Troops asst SM's (no boys in Cubs). With our Den Chiefs, and any other willing Boy Scouts, acting as Pit Crew, this gives the Cubbies and their families some needed exposure to our Troop and its members.

 

Another idea -

 

Last year, for the first time, we had a food table set up, manned by some of the parents, and older sisters, where we sold dogs, chips, and cans of soda for a minimal price. This went over so well we are planning on including it again this year.

 

[Karen_216]

We give medals to the the 1-4th palce in each den. the top 2 go to the all around round.

We use a "lose 3 times" elimination system. Every car in the den races every other until elimination begins. we only mark the last place with a slash and whennit loses 3x it's out.

We also have a "pit-stop cafe". We take donated drinks and make hotdogs and sell for a little and sncaks and used to use money to offset costs. this year somemone suggsested we donate the money.

Also we have an awesome awards site with huge tropies we get all medals and trophies for 1-4th place for about 90.00 or about that.

Medals have year rank on them as well.