Start Your Engines Part 2 - Weston, MA

Okay, so when we left our Cub Scouts yesterday, they had arrived at St. Julia's Church in "downtown" (LOL, never fails to crack me up this teeny town) Weston with their two pinewood derby cars clutched in their hands. They promptly ran into two friends who were carrying their cars in specially built carrying cases. We had an inkling then what we were getting into.

I cannot even tell you the thrill and chill that went through me when I first saw the enormous aluminum track. It took the whole of the room, six lanes and a digital finish line that showed the place of each car as it crossed the finish line. At three computers, scout leaders and dads were working on the software that would show the various race heats, the winners and the times. It was, in an overused word, awesome.

Weigh-in. One kid has his car carrier (all kids faces blurred, okay?)

But first it was time to check in. As I mentioned yesterday, derby cars cannot weigh more than five ounces. Digital scales were available to check your cars. BH brought the two cars over to the pit stop and they came in under four ounces each. One of the fathers there said "hey, you're going to add more weight right?" and BH said no, the cars were good to go. We had already taped on quarters and prettied the cars up with colorful duct tape. We were done. We watched as other kids (and mostly dads) adjusted wheels, added weight, polished wheels. Some of the cars had built-in small weight carriers; most were amazing engineering models.

One of my kids' friends rushed over and said he hadn't lost a single heat on the test track. This same kid had won the derby last year at the den, and was sure of his repeat win. And so we opened the back doors and sure enough, there was last year's derby track, all wood, much smaller. You see, our den had scrimped and saved from popcorn sales from the last three years to buy the new track. We tested the cars on the wood track--they neither won nor lost, they just played the game. Ran the race, as it were. 

Check-in took almost an hour as each car from the Tiger (1st grade), Wolf (2nd), Bear (3rd), and Webelo (4th and 5th) was carefully weighed by older boy scouts and carried to another table to await their heat. My kids said goodbye to Gronk and Dragon Master as they were placed with the others.

Our Boy Scout pack leader. Nuts. Like all of them.

Then the Boy Scout troop leader came up, with his bandanna around his head and started cracking jokes and getting people worked up for the race. We sang the pinewood derby song to the tune of "Take me out to the ball game." We cheered, we stretched, we did whatever he asked. At one point he put on his racecar helmet and the crowd went wild. He was wonderful at getting the kids to cheer for each of the more than 40 heats that were in the Derby.

Take me out to the Derby

The track was tested with a Go Pro dummy car (we got to watch a pinewood derby eye's view of the aluminum track) and then the races were off. The kids cheered for every single race. They cheered their friends. They made faces of despair and joy (none of which are shown here due to privacy) and had a great time. A kid brother of my son's best friend got 2nd place in Tiger--he'll go on to District finals at the end of March.

The amazing software (minus names...yep, privacy)

So how did Gronk and Dragon Master do? Well, they did fine. They did the best I could have hoped for--they each won one heat and never did worse than fourth place out of the six cars running. One mix-up with lanes had BH protesting (nicely) so that heat was re-run. No one got upset. The MC loved to say the Gronk car--I think probably it won the popularity-with-the-MC prize. We find it likely that the kids ended up in fourth and fifth place in the wolf den--they only announce first through third. As a mom of twins, I am thankful neither of my sons got podium without the other, and also that I do not have to go to district finals at the end of March (I prefer to go skiing, thanks). 

That's Gronk  in 3rd for the heat, and Dragon Master in second

What an amazing event! My sons' friend who was confident about his win? He won for the Wolf Den. He had a very cool flat car at the very limit of weight class. We know more for next year--if the kids do Cub Scouts again next year. All kids got participant ribbons and a special award for their car--one was "best wedge"(turned into "best wedgie" instantly by his brother) and the other "most sporty"(Gronk). I think they were reaching on those awards, but it doesn't matter.

We came, we raced, we had tons of fun. Thanks Cub Scouts!!

Start Your Engines part 1 - Weston, MA

The spirit of volunteering must be one of the greatest cultural strengths of the United States. I challenge you to find one single friend or neighbor or acquaintance who does not donate his or her time or money in some way to the greater good of the school, the town, the environment, the arts, animal charities or whatever. I'm sure there is a hermit somewhere who doesn't but you're going to have to scratch the surface pretty hard.

Just in my neighborhood, people go in once a year to help at a school event, or they go every week or go every day. They donate books to the local library, pick up trash from the street, teach English as a second language, coach sports teams, foster decrepit dogs back to happiness and health and on and on and on. It is as American as apple pie, but most folks do it without thinking much about it.

Today I want to talk specifically about one volunteer organization--to me, perhaps the mother ship of all volunteer organizations. I am talking about the Scouts.

The Boy Scouts, per Wikipedia:

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States with 2.7 million youth members and over 1 million adult volunteers. Since its founding in 1910 as part of the international Scout Movement, more than 110 million Americans have been members of the BSA.



The BSA's goal is to train youth in responsible citizenship, character development, and self-reliance through participation in a wide range of outdoor activities, educational programs, and, at older age levels, career-oriented programs in partnership with community organizations.
I had been impressed with Boy Scout Troop 157 (Weston, MA) since before we moved here. When I contacted them in June 2014, one of the leaders emailed back and told me all about the fall activities and invited my kids to check it out when things started up in September. And so we did, and built paper towel roll stomp rockets. Camped out at the lodge in the rain (oh wait, that was BH), learned the Cub Scout sign, and for my once-Brazilian kids, learned the pledge of allegiance.  Still on the calendar for the year is an overnight on a battleship (that is for BH to do), camping, hiking, etc. And hopefully shooting marshmallows out of rifles. Yes, I am anti-gun. I make one exception: marshmallow rifles.

Paper towel roll rockets at the Scout Lodge

From the get-go what strikes you about the boy scouts is how many people help out. Boy scouts building the fires at the camp out and with the fathers (and mothers!) with uniforms or those less official set up, took down, managed popcorn orders, meetings and more. Our Cub Scout leader is fantastic--funny, engaging, and energetic. He is also possibly a polar bear: he wears cargo shorts in February. I could go on and on about the Cub Scout spirit of volunteerism, but my point somewhere in all of this is the Pinewood Derby, one of the biggest events in the Cub Scout calendar, run since 1953.

With apologies, I will again turn it over to Wikipedia to explain the Pinewood Derby:

The Scout is given a block of wood made of pine four plastic wheels and four nails. The finished car must use all nine pieces, must not exceed a certain weight (usually five ounces (150 grams)),must not exceed a certain width (usually 2-3/4 inches (7 cm))and length (usually 7 inches (17.8 cm)) and must fit on the track used by that particular scout pack.

Blocks can be whittled with a hand knife or a bandsaw or a Dremel carving tool for major shaping. Decals can be bought at scout shops or hobby shops. The original style is based on open-wheel cars; however, fender or body kits are available, or wheels can simply be placed outboard of the body.
Other than the previous basic design rules, the Cub Scout is able to carve and decorate the car as he chooses. Many Cub Scouts also add weights to the final design to bring the car to the maximum allowable weight; coins, glue-in lead pieces, and melted lead are common ways to add weight. Cars typically vary from unfinished blocks to whimsical objects, to accurate replicas of actual cars. Graphite is usually the only lubricant allowed, and it often helps to polish the provided nails.
 

Pinewood Derby kit (image credit: wikipedia)

Now, as you may or may not know, BH travels a lot. And you guessed it: the pinewood cars are theoretically supposed to be built by the kids, but in actuality, the fathers (occasionally mothers or others) are the major construction workers. So we were working from behind (and when I say "we", I mean "not me.") since the cars were handed out only in December--undoubtedly so some folks did not work on them a year in advance.

We were casual about the cars. We were going to participate, have fun, have pretty painted cars and hope for the best. BH watched videos on youtube on how to best build a car with proper weighting, polishing etc but we were anything but crazy about getting things just perfect. In general, though, to say that there is a HUGE to-do around this would be an understatement. There is another way of saying it: people are nuts. But that will probably be tomorrow's blog. Titled: "People, and especially Cub Scout dads, are nuts. Except BH."

"Gronk" car

The kids designed the shapes of their cars: BH carved them. The kids painted their cars: BH put on the wheels and measured the weight on the kitchen food scale. The kids named their cars "Gronk" for a beloved New England Patriots football player, and "Dragon Master" for the painted Chinese dragons on the other. 

Dragon Master car

 Due to a tremendously busy schedule and the fact that Brazilians have a different concept of time and its passage, the cars were wheel-less, weight-less and basically carved painted pieces of wood as of 6 am on race day (races started at 9 am, with check-in at 8:30). 

And this is where I will say that I am impressed with the Brazilian. BH. The Brazilian husband. The one who had never heard of a pinewood derby until January. Or done the scouts. Or let's face it, carved a piece of wood (yes, he is a mechanical engineer. I don't know what that means). 

Between 6 am and 8 am, the cars got their wheels, had their graphite applied, were weighed and adjusted and finished with all of us in the car at 8:15 am on our way to the church where the race would be held. The kids were happy and excited and nervous...but none of us had any idea what awaited us. An event so extraordinary that I will have to do a part 2 on this tomorrow. It would take me too long. What an incredible event, all brought to the Weston cub scouts by the volunteer leaders and builders and track monitors of the day. 

Now you have to idle your engines til tomorrow.