Meservy Family: Pinewood Derby

When the sign-up sheet was passed around to participate in the ward pinewood derby and passed it along. I knew my boys would like to do it but I didn’t know what to do with a race car. I remember my dad and brother going to town sawing, sanding, drilling, painting, ect. their cars but I didn’t know how they got from the beginning to the end. And Chris is always really busy so I didn’t think he’d have time.

Well the sign-up sheet of course was passed around in where there’s lots of testosterone and Chris gladly signed us up for two cars. The good thing was the cars were pre-cut. Chris let the boys pick out their cars and they were both really excited and played with their cars for a week even without wheels. Chris was so cute and went to work trying to see what we’d need to make our cars “fast”. The biggest goal of his was to have each car win a couple races. He did a little research figuring out where the best weight placement would be and bought an axle and wheel kit to help polish the axles that came with the car.

We borrowed our neighbors drill and went to town making holes for our weights. What a mess.

Jared’s car was easy and took us less than 20 mins to drill the holes with the right drill bit but Spencer’s was tricky. It was skinny and didn’t leave much room for drilling. We thought we’d have to put some of his weights sitting on the top but thanks to me, I pushed the limits and drilled deeper filling that puppy up.

I used wood filler to glue/secure the weights in place and then the boys and I painted them.

I let the boys go at it and then I touched it up after they were done glopping it on.

Spencer named his car Green Monster and Jared named his Blue Magic.

The night before the race Chris and I stayed up late, past twelve (that’s late for me!), polishing the axles. Each axle, 8 total, we sanded 8 times. We put the nail in the drill and then one person held down the button while the other held the sand paper and moved it up and down the nail. It took quite a bit of time but we could really tell the difference. The nails were a lot smoother than when we first got them. The next day I was in charge of putting the graphite in the wheels and spinning them and sanding the inner part of the wheels. I spun each wheel three different times for well over one minute each spin session. By the end my fingers were sore.

So did all our hard work pay off? Chris accomplished his goal of winning a couple of races and plus some… Spencer’s car never lost!

We were pretty sure Spencer’s car was going to be the faster of the two because it was so much heavier in the back and had a sleeker build. I was worried what Jared would do when Spencer’s car beat him. The first time they raced against each other and Spencer won, Jared came up to me and said, “Spencer’s car won for me mom!”

Jared’s car ended up coming in third but we tell him it came in second.

According to the numbers he technically got third (I think because he raced against Spencer more than the second place car) but Jared only lost to Spencer and the second place car never beat Jared. Although there was one race where Jared’s car crashed and didn’t cross the finish line so it got third that time… Anyways we ALL had a blast.

The activities committee in our ward is AMAZING! They did a great job with décor, food, and organization. For winning Spencer got a trophy and when they called him up he was pretty funny. Everyone was yelling for him and cheering and he didn’t know what to make of it all. He didn’t get that he’d “won”.

Jared was a pretty good loser until we got out to the car and he wanted a “piston cup” too.

I must say I got into the whole creating/making process more than I thought I would. Chris and I were tempted to buy new wheels and axles to replace our already sanded down ones and save them for future cars but decided against it. We decided the boys needed to do it for themselves one day. I definitely think this ward activity was a success. The atmosphere was great, there was a great turnout (around 40 participants), and it was fun seeing all the grown men getting into it. Who says this activity is just for scouts? I wouldn’t mind if this became a yearly tradition:)