Friday, January 2, 2009

Racers Start Your Engines...

Yesterday was spent with the Princes and Yummy in the garage building the Princes' pinewood derby cars. The race is just a week away and there's still so much to do. They cut and sanded the cars, polished axles - I think I heard a few grunts coming from the garage. It's that guy thing - new tools and all. I swear these cars have cost $500 to make! A new scroll saw, belt sander and various derby tools from the Internet plus did I mention that we had to get new kits because the first blocks of wood splintered? Hopefully, it will be all worth it. The Princes are EXTREMELY excited to have Yummy making the cars for them. When he was a kid, he and his brother both won their packs derbies several times. So there is A LOT of pressure on Yummy right now. We're trying to make it about having fun and learning how to use the tools but the Princes really want fast cars and to win. What little boy doesn't?

Today we're off to the hobby store to pick up paint for the cars. Come back home sand some more and then put a couple coats on today. By Wednesday, we should have the cars built and ready to race. Then it will be test time to make sure the cars run straight... Wish us luck!

The race is Saturday afternoon so I'll make sure to post pics and the results that night or Sunday.

6 comments:

Dana said...

I must confess, this is a sore spot for me! When Cam was in Cub Scouts, I required the he design and build his car with minimal supervision. It was always clear that there were racers who built their own cars, and those that didn't. I always thought there should be two classes of racing - cars built by the kids and cars built by the adults, because seldom did a car obviously built by an actual Scout ever win.

That said, good luck!

Anonymous said...

vroooom vrooooom

good luck!

Percy said...

I have polished many an axel... now i do REALLY mean other boys axels for their cars

rage said...

This blog post reminded me of the Simpsons episode when Homer and Bart built soapbox derby racers...

Riff Dog said...

I loved this as a kid and I love it as a dad! Such fun!

Maggie said...

This sounds so MUCH better than last year- and what a great way to spend time as a family and for the boys to bond even more with Yummy.

I hope they kick racing ass on Saturday! Good luck!