Hail the New Champion!

Sometimes traditional methods win out over the most high tech designs. Such was the case this Wednesday when my son Matthew's pinewood derby car not only won his pack's derby but it also beat the Übercar! I'm not sure if my car was just not dialed in properly or if Matt's car just happened to luck into the perfect wheel alignment but either way I have to admit that he beat me!

Naturally, Matt had my help building this car but the design was all his. I explained the principles and he came up with the design. He operated the power tools (with my supervision of course) and sanded the wood. I helped him polish the wheels and axles (turns out he doesn't have much patience for that) and helped him align the axles. He did the paint job.

His younger brother Chris' car came in second in the derby and might well have come in first if he hadn't had a minor crisis just before the race. On the way into the building, his car hit the pavement and one of his wheels decided to take a short vacation. We had to do some emergency repairs right before the race and I don't think we ever got that axle properly aligned again. It's hard when you don't have the proper tools handy.

I'm pretty happy for both of them! Now I'll just have to go back to the drawing board and see if I can come up with another car that can beat my son's!