Derby Car

Today was Buddy's official Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby. 

But first things first, this process began a couple of weeks ago, when Buddy designed his block of wood to look like a nascar and then went to a scout master's house and had it cut on the band saw.  It sat in that rough state for a couple of days, until with some nagging from M.E., the Man and Buddy headed over to Chris' and used the belt sander on it.   Then it was back home for some more hand sandy.

Buddy actually helped with the sanding.

Then they finally got out the paint (my craft paints) and Buddy went with navy blue. I really thought he'd go with green.   Then he decided he wanted an orange stripe and the #74, so the Man used some painters tape and got the stripe on and I used my cricut to cut out stencils for the circle and numbers.

Sorry the pics a bit bright, I was alittle too close.  The wheels are a whole other issue, on in which the Man spent many hours working on, but you know what. It paid off.

(We had a basketball game this morning, so the team didn't change into their scout uniforms for the race)

Here's Buddy cheering for his car.  It was so fun and really cool.

They had this very large ramp/track that even included electronic sensors of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, so there was no arguing over winners and they went so fast, they completed 20 heats in no time.

Here's a blurry shot of Buddy's car at the finish line.  I neglected to take a pic of the track but like I said it was really cool. 

Of the 20 heats, Buddy won 13!  3rd Place!  woo-hoo! 

I had totally talked it up that he'd probably only win one maybe two races and to not be upset if he didn't win any, but to my surprise he won race after race.  He was thrilled he could hardly stay in his seat. 

Here's the entire group who raced.  Buddy's on the far left with a crooked smile.  I think he was really wanting second (it came down to the last race).  The winner the little guy in the middle of the back row, is a fabulous little guy and he insisted on his cars design, even when his dad tried to talk him out of it.  I guess he knew what he was doing.  His older brother also won his class, so it must be in their genes.

We had a really good time and the Man's already excited for next year. 

We are very proud of Buddy for his contribution on the car and patiences and for actually coming in 3rd, something we never imagined.