This past fall, Andrew decided to join a church group called Lutheran Pioneers. It is a group that is similar to Cub/Boy Scouts. He has been so excited for the Pine Car Derby. This weekend was the “practice” derby held at a nearby church. I had no idea what I was getting into when I was handed a block of wood, 4 wheels, and 2 axels. As most of you reading this know, Al is not the handiest person when it comes to things like this, and while I’m crafty in my own way, I have no woodworking tools. We decided for this year, being his first, to do a simple design that a friend in church said he could help us cut. Andrew had a lot of fun painting it up and making it look good.
Here is a picture of his car:
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| From 2010-02-07 |
His car in the line up and ready to race:
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| From 2010-02-07 |
On your mark:
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| From 2010-02-07 |
Get set:
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| From 2010-02-07 |
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| From 2010-02-07 |
Go:
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| From 2010-02-07 |
Andrew receiving his certificate:
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| From 2010-02-07 |
All the kids (and a mom) who participated (yeah, there is an open class at the district derby and parents/siblings can compete too!):
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| From 2010-02-07 |
Now, while I knew we should have it weighed and make sure it was close to 5 ounces, I did not have a chance this week to go anywhere or get any approved weights. His car was quite a bit underweight. I’m sad to say that his car did not make it to the finish line…but…like I said, this was just a practice derby. All the kids there got certificates for participating and they all got mounts to put their cars on to display after the real derby. The actual district derby is next weekend. We have since had help (thanks to the guys from church who took pity on me and my son and helped us out) and our car now is weighted better…we also had help with getting graphite powder to put between the wheel and the axle to cut down on friction. We will not be able to attend the district derby, but the same church friends are going to take our car and enter it into the derby for us so Andrew can still compete. Here’s hoping for a better showing next week!!
By the way…Andrew has fired me from helping him next year…Grandpa, if you are reading this, you’ve been elected to help out 🙂
Snapshot of my life 