Saturday, April 18, 2009

Pinewood Derby-NASCAR style

So I'm a little behind in the blogging world because of way too much time spent on school (posting about this to come). But several weeks ago we had a ward activity fashioned after the cub scout pinewood derby. But to put a little twist on it we decided to go NASCAR style. I'm not really sure I went along with the theme, but it was a fun activity anyway.

So a couple of days before the activity I came home and find Jessica, Sara and Jacob sitting on the floor in my living room with some wooden cars, sand paper, paint and other items needed to properly dress a pinewood derby car. After a LONG day at school this was just what I needed--an artistic outlet. I had originally decided to make a car with Tycen and Shana, but somehow that never materialized, so I hurried over to pick up a pinewood derby car and start on my masterpiece.

The hardest part (or so I thought before making the car) was deciding what to make. It had to be something original because who wants their car to look typical. So after looking at all sorts of pictures online I finally came to the best idea ever...a hearse. It's the last ride you'll ever take so it's gotta be a good one. Now that I had come up with an idea the real hard part began. I soon realized that making a pinewood derby car out of a rectangle block of wood without using any sort of power tools is rather interesting. But I went to work using my chisel and pocket knife. Let me tell you, it is quite a job to fashion a pinewood derby car by hand. Our living room turned into a workshop complete with wood shavings all over the floor! At one point in time I looked down to see that my hand had taken the brunt of the force from the chisel and was sporting a big red blister that had popped before I even knew I had it. But I couldn't give up, so blister or no blister I was going to finish that car. It took several days of working, sanding, painting, and drawing to complete my masterpiece, but Saturday afternoon it was ready for the race of a lifetime."The Black Widow"

We got to the church and I think there were 16 entries. We first raced to get our times and be seeded in the bracket. I was somewhere in the middle. I won my first race but then lost in the second race to The Red Army (the car the eventually won it all). I guess it was good way to go out. But despite only making it through one round I had a great time. There were lots of really creative cars. I must say I was partial to Sara's "da po-po" and Jessica's "Mean Bean". After consuming NASCAR style chicken wings and corn dogs we decided to call it a night. Very successful ward activity.

The crew (well some of them)

No comments: