"Caspian" at the Pinewood Derby

Michael entered a pinewood derby race, submitting "Caspian," originally, a 2"x 7" block worked into a blue, green, and red striped "box" car with yellow details. Wasn't aerodynamic to my mind - modeled upon a Thomas tank engine - but while he learned invention, I learned submission in this father/son enterprise.

Actually, it was a good lesson in learning how to guide, suggest, etc without stifling your youngster-partner. Perhaps you have no idea how much energy went into the above; it was my first derby car, as well.

The qualifying table: no more than 5 oz, 7" long, 3" high, and 2 3/4" wide. We glued in weights to gain speed. The track- sponsored by Pennzoil.

Upon hearing your name called, you enter the circle - no adults allowed - grab your car, and submit it for the race. Michael lost the first round (before we discovered the WD 40 trick), then proceeded to win...

earning a handsome, third prize trophy!

So excited.

Buddy, Jeremiah, won for best design. We raced from 6:30 'til 10, devouring great hot dogs and enjoying the evening, punctuated uncharacteristically by light rain and even a tremor.

Although families with a resident engineer clearly had an advantage, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason between design or craft and winning. Jeremiah's dad spent hours finetuning the wheel axles, whereas a lady at the pit-stop - the day of the race - crudely hammered in her son's wheels - and won. My son's clunker did, too.