The annual Pack 462 Scouts Pinewood Derby is always a big draw, but this year's race had more entrants than in a long time. Our starting blocks feature 40 cars. And we only have about 50 active Scouts overall. For the math-challenged among us, that's 80% of the Pack! We thank all the parents who were committed enough to help their kid's get to the finish line. This takes a lot of effort, from design, to cutting, sanding, decorating, and getting up to weight. Not to mention the step that I always screw up: inserting the wheels.
Every one of those racers got to participate in a minimum of 6 races, twice through each lane on the battered old wooden track. We wanted to make sure any issues with the lanes (such as a bad seam on Track1) didn't hurt competitive fairness. That first round took 80 races alone. Then we cut down to 10 finalists and did 3 more races among the best of the best. Even after all that we had a tie that had to be sorted out at the top of the podium.
Ultimately, Theo Pham was the grand prize winner. Jack Delozier came in 2nd Place. James Hutton came in 3rd. And Connor Schwartz was the fastest among our youngest Scouts (Lions & Tigers). They each walked away with trophies. Just missing out were Leo Rostand and Bryce Bingaman, but they deserve honorable mentions. Also in the top 10 were last year's top 2 (Matt Mullin and William Volovnik), plus Timmy Dilorio and Vincent Coletti. There was a common theme amongst those speedy cars. #1, #2, and top Tiger were all simple wedge shapes. Getting fancy didn't pay off this year. Sleek and aerodynamic was key. I noticed that at least one of those racers also employed the old "one wheel off track" trick. Look it up. But it never worked for me. Pack 462 doesn't just reward speed though. We always want to encourage creativity and artistry in the car designs as well. It gives more kids a chance to win something (usually small gift cards). There were some amazing builds this year worth celebrating. Top 10 finisher William Volovnik's Copperhead Car was voted by his peers as the "Most Creative" car of 2023. He balanced speed and style. The 2nd place for Most Creative was Colin Hatton's Hammerhead Shark design. Our lone female Scout, Sylvia Garrett designed a pink car with futuristic curves and angles that I still can't figure out how it was cut and shaped. The kids must have recognized the effort as she wound up #3. The ballot box was sealed so I don't know who came up 4th, 5th, etc. but honorable mentions in my book were the Pepperoni Pizza Car (a classic wedge with penny weights painted to look like pepperoni) from Owen Montemuro; the Mighty Mario car complete with a lego Mario (Garrett Kroeger); a Philadelphia Eagles car shaped like the logo (Leo Johansen); plus some army vehicles, an Ice Hockey rink (Ben Uebele), classic animals like Cheetahs (Jacob Hutton), Lobsters (Atticus Arnold), and Feathery Birds (William Arnold). JD Bowen's muscle car had a built in engine that extruded from the hood. Two cars had a classic flaming paint jobs (Owen Anderson and Andrew Phillips) that were clearly kid-drawn. That's a good thing. We'll have an adult derby eventually for all the crafty parents. Until then live vicariously threw your children's speed and creativity. And start planning for next year's race.
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