80 Cars Compete at Cub Scout Pinewood Derby!

by Kim Bogosian

On Sunday, March 17th, Cub Scout Pack 168 hosted its annual Pinewood Derby at St. Mary’s auditorium. Trophies were awarded for both speed and design. 80 cars raced down the track to the delight of all!

Categories included: “Most Original” / “Scoutiest” / “Most sportiest” / “Patriotic” / “Most Homegrown or Scout Crafted”

Contestants were provided a kit to start with and encouraged to use their creativity to come up with fun designs as long as their car did not weigh more than 5 ounces, could not be larger an 7 inches long and 2 ¾ inches wide with 1 ¾ clearance between the wheels and ⅜ inch clearance under the body.

Each scouts car raced in multiple laps and the top two winners from each rank were awarded a trophy. The top three winners from each rank then compete again for the top three winners of the overall pack.

Ayaansh Jain, one of the Pinewood Derby winners, poses here with the trophies he won after car set the record for the fastest lap time making him win first place in his rank (Wolves) as well as again in the overall pack 168.

After choosing his design, Ayaansh cut the block at the Scouts organized cut down event. He then applied some Engineering principles such as aerodynamics, friction and gravity to engineer his car which he named "Scoutcraft."

Ayaansh is now looking forward to the district level pinewood derby competition scheduled for this Saturday, April 6.