Lined up just right, he looked back toward the end and his waiting friends and asked “ready?” Then he let the gate go, and the cars sped off, rushing down as their plastic wheels squeaked as they spun to the end.
Legend didn’t do as well as he hoped at the Derby Extravaganza.
“All I can say,” he said, nodding his head to one side, “is that it’s Barry’s fault.”
He made up for the loss later when he won the pinewood regatta, where Scouts blow on the sails of pinewood boats racing in a raingutter-sized track full of water about two yards long.
Hunter Blackman, a Scout whose trailer-shaped pinewood car had Hotwheels glued to the back, said his car did well for the day. Legend’s brother Maverik did about the same with his pinewood car, which he said he painted red and green because they were his favorite colors.
The pinewood derby is one of the big events of the year for Cub Scout troops, according to Pack 610 Cubmaster Erik Owens, because it allows the Scouts to be creative and also enlist the help of their parents.
His own kids bugged him until their cars, boats and space rockets — a rocket propelled by a rubber band along a suspended string — were ready for them to work on for the races.
“They wanted to make all sorts of designs and things like that,” he said. “It was just fun. Kids love to paint; to get their hands dirty. They just had a blast.”
This was the pack’s first year hosting a pinewood derby, regatta and space rocket races after being chartered in November 2012, Owens said.
He hopes the event will continue to grow in the future as the pack grows larger.
After spending Saturday morning sending their cars flying around tracks, their rockets down wire and their sailboats along the water, the kids still wanted to do more.
It didn’t matter to them who won or lost at the end of the pinewood extravaganza. They were too busy having fun to pay more than a moment’s attention when the awards were handed out to the winners.
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