St. Michael Area Scouts Compete in Pinewood Derby

Saturday Jan. 14, Cub Scout Pack 767 once again gathered at Middle School East to find out who truly has the fastest Pinewood Derby car in town. Every winter, Dads and sons (and some car-racing loving Moms) head to the garage to turn their small wooden block of wood, into their own personal speed machine. Rules are inflexible on weight and height off the track, but otherwise – each Scout is free to shape it as he dreams it. Spray paint, decals and embellishments adorn nearly every car, depicting the style of the creator.

The Dyer brothers both raced and older brother Noah walked away with a second place overall in the Pack award. The boys shared with the Patch the highlights of their day:

Alden (age 5 – Lion Cub): "It was fun watching all the cars race." "Me and my dad worked hard on my car but it was awesome to see it go fast!"

Noah (5th grade – Webelo II): "Since this is my last year in Cub Scouts (before moving to Boy Scouts), I was more excited than ever for the Derby and really hoping for a fast time. I was happy with how fast my car was, but was really hoping for first place! It was really close, only .03 seconds from the first place time!"

The Pinewood Derby was developed in 1953 by a Scout Dad who wanted to give his younger son something to race, until he was old enough to join his older brother in the Soap Box races. Hence – the birth of the Pinewood Derby car. Two years later in 1955, the Scouts of America adopted the car and race as part of their curriculum.

Cars must maintain rigidly enforced maximum and minimum standards, but what is carved out in between those values is up to each scout. The physical dimensions of the car are as follows: maximum overall width (including wheels) - 2 ¾ inches; maximum overall length - 7 inches; minimum width between wheels - at least 1 ¾ inches; minimum bottom clearance between car body and track - 3/8 inch.

Nearly 1.5 million Scouts race in the Derby each year. It is hands down the most popular scouting event outside of camping.

Local Pack 767 pulls nearly perfect attendance for the event each year – and this year was no exception. There were 45 Scouts racing and 5 adults/child cars in the open division. The fastest time down the 40 foot plus track is captured by a sophisticated electronic timing system. Results are seen instantly as they are projected onto a screen nearby for all the bystanders to follow along.

Some Scouts find more fun in the artistic design, rather than the race and their efforts are best displayed in the car itself. Some unique designs seen this year were a black Wii controller, an Army tank and a cheese wedge.  They might not have all been aerodynamic, but they were all clever.

Cub Master Allen Christopherson shares, “The most popular car was designed as a school bus. At one point, all the scouts were cheering "bus, bus, bus...." and Colin Fair started playing "the wheels on the bus go round and round..."  There was more cheering than at a Timberwolves game!”

Each boy received participation certificates and winners earned trophies and medals. Both my sons are Scouts and their rooms each have a shelf dedicated to past cars, dusty medals and pictures of them each year with their latest and greatest car. Without hesitation – they can still rattle off their place and time from past races. The derby is a common rite of passage for young boys and for many Dads during these elementary years.

Race day also offered up $2.00 slices of pizza from Andy’s Hometowne Pizza in Albertville of which the Scouts and families happily partook.

Below is the official list of winners from the Pack 767 Pinewood Derby:

Place – Speed – Time – Racer – Car Number

1 3.1937 213.5 Andrew Butkowski 12

2 3.1940 213.5 Noah Dyer 59

3 3.2020 212.9 Ethan Yantes 25

4 3.2040 212.8 ALden Dyer 1

5 3.2110 212.3 Nolan Levreau 35

6 3.2277 211.2 Braxton Fair 45

7 3.2290 211.2 Tom Butkowski 43

8 3.2440 210.2 Jude Adams 26

9 3.2450 210.1 Reece Erickson 2

10 3.2463 210.0 Zeke Elwood 6

11 3.2513 209.7 Ben Kloss 47

12 3.2543 209.5 Carter Descent 8

13 3.2697 208.5 Kyle Mialkowski 52

14 3.2773 208.0 Trevor Shull 23

15 3.2780 208.0 Adam Buckmeier 30

16 3.2827 207.7 Ryan Erickson 18

17 3.2863 207.5 Dylan Bennett 28

18 3.2887 207.3 Jordyn Lane 34

19 3.2907 207.2 Johnathan Olson 20

20 3.3003 206.6 Aiden Olson 11

21 3.3013 206.5 Kevin Shull 22

22 3.3020 206.5 Brandon Langdok 48

23 3.3043 206.3 Isaiah Navarrette 38

24 3.3087 206.1 Austin Stefffen 41

25 3.3210 205.3 Noah Anderson 27

26 3.3263 205.0 Xavier Peltoma 21

27 3.3287 204.8 Logan Sonenstahl 53

28 3.3360 204.4 Brady Suchy 51

29 3.3393 204.2 Mitchell Giese 19

30 3.3987 200.6 Colton Christopherson 44

31 3.4033 200.3 Tyler Yantes 54

32 3.4183 199.5 Grant Olson 40

33 3.4240 199.1 Caleb Boyette 15

34 3.4460 197.9 Bryan Erickson 16

35 3.4737 196.3 Rogan Helm 33

35 3.4737 196.3 Joel Wilmot 24

37 3.5697 191.0 Lukas Peterson 57

38 3.6280 187.9 Jon Nagovsky 50

39 3.6647 186.1 Zach Sjoberg 58

40 3.8603 176.6 Adam Lindenfelse 5

41 3.8740 176.0 Jonah Lyke 9

42 3.9973 170.6 Hunter Williams 4

43 4.1240 165.3 Will Manderfeld 56

44 4.1400 164.7 Ethan Dinh 55

45 4.3573 156.5 Kayden Denne 7

46 6.1403 111.0 Jack Schutz 61

47 6.3033 108.2 Luke Brandli 29

48 6.3120 108.0 Roman Robison 14

49 6.5873 103.5 Austin Nelson 39

50 6.6327 102.8 Samuel Caron 31

51 6.7607 100.9 Ethan Evenson 3

52 6.7910 100.4 Hayden Carlson 13

53 6.8493 99.5 Shane Mosley 49

54 6.9173 98.6 Josef Sinkule 10

55 7.7710 87.7 Jack Martin 37

Open Class 1 3.2167 212.0 B Thomas 65

2 3.2227 211.6 Langdok Jon 66

3 3.2330 210.9 Adams Sara 64

4 3.2917 207.1 Giese Easton 62

5 3.3613 202.8 Adams Halen 63