"Cheese Racer" Triumphs!

Yesterday was the Pinewood Derby for my older son's Cub Scout pack. This is one of the highlights of the year for the boys. Even my youngest gets in on the fun. Starting last year, they held an "open class" after the official races so parents and siblings could build and race cars. All three of my "boys" made cars this year.

This is the six-year-old's car. It is some type of rocket.

My husband made an Army jeep. This was for show. He didn't add any weights to it. All of the boys loved racing against it. I think it was because it was a cool-looking car that one of the leaders made that they were able to beat!

The only official car was by my Webelos scout. He saw the cheese car design in a book, and quickly decided that would be his car for this year. By the time the races started, the kids were cheering "Go Cheese Racer, Go!" to the tune of the Speed Racer song.

This was his fourth Pinewood Derby car, and I've loved seeing how much more active of a roll he's taken in the construction of his cars over the years. Their pack's rules allow the top two finishers in each rank to advance to the District competition. He made it the first two years. Last year he didn't, but I was so proud of the sportsmanship he showed, especially as he came to realize that his car wasn't doing too well.

This year, however, there was no stopping the Cheese Racer! It won every heat in the webelos division. Then the three division winners had another set of races to determine the overall pack winner, and...the Cheese Racer won!

I, in general, am not a crier, but did have a Misty-eyed Mom Moment when I realized he had won. For me, it's an even sweeter victory, because if you read my baseball post from a week or so ago, you know that this child is never going score the winning run or make the last out in a game. It's good to see him excel at something other than academics.

Now the Cheese Racer heads to the district competition that will be held at the end of March. He will be racing against nearly 100 cars at that level, as opposed to the 20 at the pack level. He should stand a decent chance, although all that really matters is that, according to the Scout motto, he "Did his Best."