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                         February 6, 2004

Cub Scout Pack 23 races in annual Pinewood Derby

Story and photo by Spc. Benjamin Gruver
Staff Writer  

And they're off! Cars of many different shapes and colors speed on the downward slope of the Pinewood Derby race track’s six lanes with hopes to be a winner.

West Point Cub Scout Pack 23 held the annual Pinewood Derby in the U.S. Military Academy Band day room in the evenings of Jan. 26-31.

The cars designed and built as skateboards, roadsters and fire trucks by the Cub Scouts and their adult sponsors came to race and measure up and see which would take first place in the derby, but there were many other categories besides speed to send everyone home happy.

“The eight dens that make up Pack 23 raced over a period of five days with the top three finishers from each den advancing to the Pack Runoff,” said Lt. Col. Beatrice Lambert, den leader in charge of the Pinewood Derby and assistant math professor here.

According to Lambert the top finisher from the Pack will advance to the Hudson Valley Council Runoff scheduled later in February.

“The goal of the Pinewood Derby is to have fun while teaching the boys a variety of things,” Lambert said. “Good sportsmanship, wood working skills, getting a project done to completion and team work are just a few of the skills that are reinforced during the Pinewood Derby.”

 “It’s about spending time with your child and getting to know them better,” said Melanie Dodge, den leader. “You have an opportunity to get the car and work with them. The race is the opportunity, but in the end it’s the time spent together.”

 The car must meet several required specifications, Dodge explains.  It must be no more than 7 inches in length and weigh no more than 5 oz. There are also limits to the wheel base and width of the cars.

“We all went and got the kits from the Cub Scouts,” Dodge said.

The kits consist of a piece of wood, four nails and four wheels. The rest is left to the imaginations of the kids and sponsors.

The Cub Scout tradition that originated in 1953 by a man named Don Murphy who wanted to create a Cub Scout event that he could do with his son. Murphy got the idea from his company’s Soap Box Derby races.

The idea caught on and has been bringing fathers and sons together to build a racing car out of a piece of pinewood ever since.

“It was about having a project that he and I could work on together and see the progress,” said Cpt. Thomas Gilleran, Cub Scout father and TAC officer here, speaking of the project he did with his son.

 “I started out asking him to draw a picture of the race car,” Gilleran said. “He drew a picture, and that is what we made. We took the block of wood and sanded it down, smoothed it all out and painted it all different colors with a flame job on the side. It was really fun.”

Gilleran explained that he and his son did the project little bits at a time.

Cutting and sanding one day, coming back another day to do the paint job and letting it dry before putting on the wheels.

“This was more about something for he and I to do together than to worry about we have to win the Pinewood Derby,” Gilleran said.