Pinewood Derby - Behind the Scenes

A lot of movie directors and book writers have been contacting Huner and I concerning our 2nd place finish in last week's pinewood derby. So far we have held out looking for the big paycheck, but until that happens I thought I would post my memoirs on the blog. We began working on the pinewood derby over a month ago - Stacey went to Utah, so she took the block of wood to have her dad cut out the design for Hunter's car. Hunter had spent countless hours looking for exactly the right design he wanted. So, Grandpa McClanahan cut out the car. Hunter and I then sanded the car to get it ready for painting. For a couple of weeks, Hunter and I took 1200 grade sandpaper and we were smoothing out the axles, so the tires could have less friction. Then, we painted the car cherry red. Stacey proceeded to try and paint some flames on the car, but for some reason the paint didn't work and the red base paint became ruined. Stacey tried to repaint, but things got worse. In the end, I had to sand off all the paint and repaint about two days before the race. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday leading up to the Wednesday night race, I would constantly graphite the wheels and spin them on the axles to help create the almost frictionless wheels we needed to compete. I took the car to my work and weighed it on the postage meter and added weights until we got to exactly 5 oz. I put the wheels on and ran a few practice races in my office. That was when I realized that the car kept going hard to the right. I didn't want to mess with the wheels any more, but was concerned about having a good outing that night. I left work early and took the car home for Stacey to put some flame stickers on the car - no more painting! Finally, the car was complete and we headed over to the church for the big race. Our first race was exciting and intense, and I held my breath in hopes that the car would have a decent race. Hunter ended up winning his first race! I was able to breath easier knowing that we won at least one race. The next race Hunter took first place again, but a car car jumped the track and he ended up re-racing that race. He then took second. The next race he took third, then 2nd, then his car jumped off the track, and then he posted 3 straight wins. When he took third place, he became very sad and came over and sat on my lap. He figured there was no way he would place now. But thanks to the 3 wins in the end, he started getting excited again. Then, the Scout Master announced the winners and handed out trophies. He started with the last place race and then posted racers from 20th to 10th on the big screen. I was happy to not see Hunter's name on that list because we then knew he made the top 10. Then, the scout master listed from 9th through 4th. Again, we did not see Hunter's name on the list. Hunter became very excited. When he saw his name at the 2nd spot he was beside himself with giddiness! He was so happy. I couldn't believe that we had done so well either, but I am not going to argue. Hunter had a ball and I was excited to see my son so excited. Of course, now we have set the bar extremely high - how can we possibly top that?? I hope that once the movie and book deals come in then Hunter will forget about trying to achieve first place next year...