The Shark Car Debuts at the Pinewood Derby

Our Cub Scout pack's annual derby this year was the Pinewood Derby.  The car kits were handed out two months prior and this year we actually got the darn thing done early.  Chad and Merritt went over to Chad's brother's house to play with his wood working tools and when they were done, Merritt had a "shark" car.  He picked out the colors he wanted and painted it very carefully, only asking me to help with a little of the finish work and decorating.  He was extremely happy with the result.

The only thing that didn't get done before the derby was the wheel installation, but I wasn't too worried until Chad called to say he had to work late.  When I realized it was up to me to put the wheels on I figured we might as well just use the car for firewood since I was bound to screw it up.  Sure enough, two of the wheels gave me fits and I ended up using some wood glue to stick the wood chunk that flew off back on.  Thankfully, the husband of one of the Wolf leaders was adding weights to all the cars so that they were equal and doing a little spruce up job on the ones that needed it so he tweaked the wheels.  Merritt's car won three of its heats, which was so fun, and came in 10th overall.  He got a little plastic trophy, which he was really excited about, and a homemade sucker shaped like a car.  It was a fun night.