Pinewood Derby '09

Ryan designed and made his own car the night before weigh-in. No power tools--pure lean muscle! Like Dory from Finding Nemo: "Just keep sanding, just keep sanding. What do we do? We saaaaaaaaaand! Ooo, oooo, oooo, ooooo. . ."

Scott simply could NOT find the time to help. So guess who got to pitch in?

Jordan came downstairs and said, "Uh, Mom? You better not hold the saw like that. It could slip and cut you." I thought, I've cut a ton of apples with the blade facing me. This should be no problem. Then, not 30 seconds later, OUCH! his warning came true.

Finished product. He named it "Marshmallow". Travis was cool and let us borrow some wheels from his old car. We just couldn't get the new axle design to work. Thanks Travis!

Ryan's car raced four times. The first three he had the weighted side at the front. The last time he flipped the car around and put the weights at the back. It took first place in that round. He learned a good lesson about weights being at the back of the car. (*I finally figured out why. See below if you want to hear my scientific theory behind it.)

He didn't place because of the first three backward races. HOWEVER, after the official race, he raced the winning cars with his car going the right direction and he was a top contender! He even beat the first place car a few times.

(I just have to add that the first place kid was first place last year too. He and his dad pull out all the stops and use every trick in the book.)

I am so proud of Ryan. Not so much because he had a fast car named "Marshmallow", but because he created it, didn't give up, and had a FANTASTIC ATTITUDE no matter what place he came in. Way to go buddy!!!!

*Kim's scientific theory: The car starts on an incline. Ergo, with the mass at the rear it is elevated to a higher altitude. This results in greater potential, or stored, energy. Wah-lah! I remembered something from high school physics class.