Awana Grand Prix (Pinewood Derby)

This morning I took my kids to their Awana Grand Prix at their mom's church. We had to get up and be on the road by 8am.

I participated in 2 pinewood derbys as a cub scout but my cars were both slow and boring. I have no woodworking skills (or tools) so I really am not very helpful in this. Their mom had their brother Jim (her son from her 1st marriage) help them. So when they arrived on Friday night, their cars were put together and painted.

When we arrived, the man who checked us in advised Levi and Bess to add some weight to their cars. He offered some washers and screws and both kids wanted to so we added some weight to the top of Bess's car. Levi's car was too thin for the screw to go in all the way so we added his weight to the back.

We were ready to go!

Before the races there was a short presentation from Jeremy Grimm, a bicycle racer from Team GodSpeed. He quickly covered several topics including his relationship with God, the importance of eating right and exercising, his relationship with his family, and bicycle racing.

Now Rae's age group was up first. Rae's car had no extra weight but won it's first race. She lost her next race but it was double elimination so she was still alive. She won another before losing again to finish at 2-2 and earn a participation ribbon.

Levi's car was up next and the trouble began. His car was triangle shaped and painted yellow with black spots, it looked like a piece of cheese. The added weight in the back brought the front wheels up and his car jumped the track and crossed sideways in front of the car beside him. This happened twice and the judges gave the race to his opponent.

The old-timer who had suggested we add the weight quickly found us and suggested we race his car backwards so that the wheels stay down. We tried this for the 2nd race but now aerodynamics were against us and Levi's car lost a close race.

Meanwhile Bess raced unopposed in her first race and moved on, but lost in her next 2 races.

They gave 3 trophies in each division for speed and 3 more for design. But many of the top cars for speed also won for design, even though they were just very thin, with well-placed weights, and a shiny paint job. Rae's car had red, white & blue stripes. Bess's car had flames shooting up the sides. But Levi's cheese car was pretty creative. Still he was not judged in the top 3 in the design category.

Each child was awarded a ribbon for participation.

It was a fun morning, and then we had to hurry home for Gabe's 1st birthday party!