The Keenan Family 411

Owen Burns Up the Track!

Owen, our resident cub scout, took the Pinewood Derby world by storm this past weekend.  He showed up sporting his Black Angry Bird-themed car and despite the stiff competition he nabbed three 1st-place finished and three 3rd-place finishes. 

Not bad considering there was a heavy emphasis on appearance in the design process and virtually no focus on maximizing speed!

In fact, now that I think about it, the first time we did Pinewood Derby with Cameron I spent an irrational amount of time working on things like weight distribution and aerodynamic qualities.  We actually considered renting out a wind tunnel at Pratt & Whitney.  The result?  Middle-of-the-pack finishes, if that!  The next year we invested a grand total of 20 minutes on the car and it kicked butt.  Go figure!

Anyway, there are some more photo's from the big event on the right...

Who wants an Owen Fajita?!

Having long run out of patience, Owen's entire Cub Scout troop decides to turn him into a human fajita and serve him up with salsa and chips.

Well, that's not fair to Owie.  They were actually learning how to make a full-body sling for transporting an injured person and Owen was the lightest scout there (46.5 lbs. as of this morning!).

Cameron Nabs a Silver Medal at Pinewood Derby!

At last year's Pinewood Derby competition, Cameron's car was...well... underwhelming.  It looked very sharp, sporting tiger stripes and a snarling, sharp-toothed face in the front.  Unfortunately, it's speed didn't live up to its paint job as it engaged in a fierce battle with Jake Brainard's pick-up truck for last place in each of the six races.

So this year I just shook my head in disbelief as Cameron's car kicked coolie.  Out of the six races it ended up with three first places, a third and a fourth.  That was good enough for second place overall in Den #3, which has eleven cub scouts.  The funny thing is that I spent nowhere near as much time working on it as I did last year.  The term "dumb luck" comes to mind.

Anyway, Cameron chose a Transformer design this year; robot-gray with a big Autobot symbol on the hood.  And Cameron decided on a sleek racecar design for the body.

I'm seriously considering storing this car somewhere safe for a year and then racing it again, only with a different paint job.  Why mess with success?  I'd better find a Pinewood Derby rulebook...