Girl Scout Grand Prix

I have a confession to make: it's not often that I find myself wishing we had a little boy. I'm perfectly at home in a world of fluffy dresses, bows and braids. Girls I get. Boys, not so much. But a couple of years ago I found myself at the church one evening when the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby was taking place. Generally speaking, a pinewood derby is just a block of wood with 4 wheels going down a ramp. In a larger sense, there's a bit of craftsmanship that has to take place. A member of our congregation noticed my interest and sidled up to me with a wry smile. 

"You have to have a boy to compete in one of these" he joked. All the questions that had arisen in my mind in the 5 minutes of observation came spilling out. He called over the engineer- that's right, ENGINEER- who built the track and the timing mechanism. I was blown away at how technical it was and stunned by the cars themselves. Suddenly I wished I had a little boy, if only to have an excuse to take part in this quirky little past-time. 

Fate dealt me a sweet hand when it was announced the girl's council was having a Grand Prix. For reasons still unknown to me, Brent vehemently refused to have any part in the whole thing. Maybe he had a traumatic pinewood derby experience as a Boy Scout? Or had a decent one but it exhausted any desire to ever participate again? Maybe with a bunch of girls he'd mentally blocked the possibility? Whatever the case, he made it crystal clear I was going to be on my own. 

That's ok because I was already planning to tap the sage advice of my older brothers who have both made champion cars for their own Boy Scouts. A lot of their suggestions were actually against the rules in this race, but I was able to pick up a bit on the physics of the whole thing. According to my brothers, the cardinal rule is to make 1 more car than you need, so you have a backup and exactly get the weight right up to 5oz. The girls picked out the colors while I sanded, painted and finished the body:

Then, I prepped the wheels by sanding down the axles and the wheels to knock off the burs:

Brigitta actually had to help me with that one since the older two were at school. To Brent's credit, he graciously add graphite to the axles when I was busy trying to get everyone out the door. Technically, he helped out a little bit.

I asked a friend with a treadmill to let me come over and break those wheels in:

This was actually really valuable because I could see if the wheels were askew and then modify the fit of the axles. I tried 3 different methods of weight. All 3 cars had weight running through the body. For Ireland's pink car, I put the extra weight on top, around 1 inch in front of the back axle. For Liesel's, I put weight on the top and on the bottom, again around 1 inch in front of the back axle. I couldn't put it all on the bottom because then it wouldn't sit properly on the track.

The day before the race, we were allowed to test the cars on the track and make sure they made weight and dimension requirements. After seeing which of the 3 was fastest, the girls made their final decisions on their cars. At long last, the day of the race was upon us.

At check in, the girls received a "driver's license" and coupon for the concession stand.

How cute is that???

They had a photo booth with lots of props. In fact, the entire place was decked out in checkered flags. There was a pop-up Girl Scout store and even some crafts for the girls while they waited. The concessions were definitely above average with lots to choose from. The Boy Scout troop leader who ran the computer commented that the place looked nothing like a Boy Scout pinewood derby.

We perused the trophies...

...and the competition...

...and crossed our fingers.

Liesel's car had actually done better than Ireland's in the test run but it was a tad overweight. I don't want to create a scandal or anything, but I do think their scale was off because I weighed those things on a brand-new scale and they were perfectly 5 oz. In any case, we had to take some weight off before the official weigh in. In the end, Ireland's car was the fastest of the two and she won every heat she was in.

Each car raced in all 4 lanes and then the highest time was dropped while the remaining 3 were averaged. The top 10 cars then raced each other in exactly the same manner. Up to this point, I was really happy with how Liesel was handling not being a winner. Maybe I'm a bad mom, but I want my girls to learn that not everything works out the way you want it in life. I'm glad there were just a handful of trophies and not one for everyone. She cheered on her sister and the other girls in the troop.

When Ireland's car made it to the top 10, she got to learn the same lesson as her car was no longer first. She ended up winning 2nd place in her division and I was SO elated to make it to the winner's circle! The overall winner broke track records 3 times (meaning her car beat out all the Boy Scouts who ever raced on this track too). Who runs the world? GIRLS!

My favorite part of the race was when one of the cars fell off the track. The room went quiet as the Girl Scout and her mom were called to the front. As they walked away from the track, I approached her and told her I had an extra car if she wanted to use it. She thanked me and said they just needed to fix a wheel. She hadn't walked another 3 feet away from me when a big, burly guy approached her and told her he had a truck parked outside with every imaginable tool in it. After she walked away from him, another guy approached her offering his help. Everyone wanted that little girl to be able to fix her car and be able to compete again. Sportsmanship at it's finest!

As for me, my pinewood derby dreams were fulfilled and I connected with my dad and brothers in a whole new way. Liesel and Ireland had a blast and that sweet little trophy is going to find an honored spot in the garage.