Let's Get Ready To RUMBLE

Fourth place. Not bad placement for his rookie Pine Wood Derby year. Braden was so pleased with his car's performance. Inside Sam and I were repeating the words, "Just win one race, just win one race". You always feel so bad for the kid that loses two races and is finished. After a rough basketball practice just prior to the race we were hoping it wouldn't be Braden. He put a lot of preparation into his car; including getting up early Sunday morning to re-paint spots he didn't like (that left a huge paint spot on the garage floor). Braden's favorite part about the Pine Wood Derby was watching the car race down the track. Miah Moore is the Cub Master and he wanted each of the boys to feel important before the race began. All the cars were pre-weighed a couple days before and a couple un-biased ward members/neighbors judged each car for a ribbon (Braden won "The Most Colorful"). They were presented to each boy the night of the race, right after a Chicago Bulls-type entrance. The lights were off, each person had a flashlight waving slowly at the ceiling and there were spotlights pointed at each boy as they entered and a list of their talents were presented to the crowd. How could you not feel good about that?

Paint tip: To get flames on the car Sam had Braden paint the base color and once that was dry it was covered in masking tape. Braden took an Exacto knife, cut the flame shapes, peeled the cut parts out and painted them. Once dry the remaining tape was peeled off and ta-da: FLAMES!