Introducing: Our Pinewood Derby Winner!

Last year was the first year Javi was in Scouts so it was our first year learning the ins and outs of the program. One event that we definitely weren’t prepared for was the Pinewood Derby! The Pinewood Derby is a wood car event where the kids design their car and then race them on a special track to find a winner. Last year, I think he came in 4th place (out of the 5 kids in his Den.) But this year… was a different story. He was determined to do better.

Javi and Sean worked on the Derby car from December until mid-January when the race happened. Javi chose the design he wanted his car cut into and they attended a wood cutting workshop (who knew that was a thing?!) so that the car was perfect.

The next step was a super paint job, adding axels and wheels — and weights. After each step, they would weigh and reweigh the car, because it had to be under (or exactly) 5 ounces. Javi would add a coat of paint, weigh the car and discover it was too heavy. So Sean would drill another hole in the bottom to even out the scale. They ended up buying teeny, tiny weights to add into the car right behind the rear wheels because apparently that makes the car move fast. It was a big back and forth project!

The design he went with: his favorite colors, a lightning bolt for speed, a “J $” sign because of his name “Javier Cash” and then an “85” — I’m not sure where the 85 came from but I like to think it has something to do with Back to the Future. 🙂

Finally, the day arrived for the race! He was in the third heat since he is a Wolf this year (they start with Lions and then Tigers) and they race each car on each of the tracks to find the winner. That meant that Javi’s race was actually 6 races and then they average it all out. So he won the first race… then won the second race, I think got second place in the third race, and then won the fourth race and that’s when he realized… he couldn’t lose. And he was in first place overall.

After a big celebration, we realized that his car then had to compete in the Final round — against the winners in each Den. That’s where the day sort of fell apart….

Unfortunately, he didn’t place in that round and his disappointment was deep! But we had a lot of conversations in the moment, later in the day, and consistently since the race — about winning, accepting defeat, setting goals, doing your best, and the beauty of having something to work toward!

His newest goal: next year, he wants to win first place in his Den and then win first, second or third place in the Finals round. We’ll see what happens!