We’ve done this for 3 years. He’s 10 now and will no longer be able to participate in the pinewood derby.

Our first experience (my first experience since the mid 80s when I was a child) was rough. Our car, 3 years ago, lost every heat: dead last. My son was crying and I did my best to comfort him. I’m a bit of a recluse and typically don’t like crowds. Or extra responsibilities along these lines. Back then I was hoping we would be done after that year. Thankfully my son has more commitment to things of this nature than I had as a child. So we stuck it out.

Last year we came in 2nd place over all. Such a reversal of fortunes. My son was buzzing with pride on the entire drive home and all through that evening. He was so proud of his little trophy.

We did pretty good this year, tonight. But didn’t get a trophy. My son looked to be having fun but somewhat abstracted from the whole thing. Not getting so into it as he did the previous years. There’s an interesting developmental shift that separates 10 years of age from all of the single digit ages that came before. I don’t think he’s trying to be too cool for it… But some thing was definitely different.

When we got home tonight my wife made mention of the fact that this was the last year we compete in the pine wood derby. It’s a funny thing… For as much as I did not want to get involved in any of this previous years, I now find myself with a weird feeling in my stomach. A weird sense of loss, a longing for those earlier years when he was so much more emotionally involved in it.

It’s great watching the young kids really mix it up and runaround like lunatics. Liam did alittle of that this year. But not as much.

It’s not a new story… but I go from being a self concerned, too advanced for the age fella prior to having children. Then I have children and in such an amazing way it turned my entire world upside down and scrambled all priorities and previous certainties up. They get older and their interests shift from you to their friends. I get how very selfish it sounds: but it leaves you feeling a bit hollowed out. I’m offering it up, being thankful for how it was/ how it is, what it’s becoming. In the end I trust God to see things through. Ramblings from an overly sentimental chunk of coal.

Yep, it's quite an inexplicable process, being a dad.

I hated pinewood derby as both a child and as a dad. But I think I only did it one year as a dad. Maybe two?

As a dad, I sure enjoyed looking at the magnificent cars that were made with painstaking precision by all the little kids.

Some of those designs... wow. Those "kids" must have ready access to a woodshop with some of the best tools available.

Yeah, that was part of the issue, for sure. It's not supposed to be about Dad making a whizbang car for his kid, is it?

We didn't realize our last pinewood derby would be the last. Our youngest boy is quite an athlete and so ended up dropping scouting pretty young.

I am savoring all the things I get to do with him now, though, as I am keenly aware I am doing many things for the last time when I do them with him. Definitely bittersweet.

Ah, good times, even with the rampant dishonesty. I helped my son make his car, sort of. So help me it was the ugliest car on the lot, but he got a trophy - "I Tried My Best." I'll never forget his acceptance speech: "I want to thank my Dad for helping me get this trophy. He showed me how to use a saw and a can of paint. I took it from there. Thanks for nothing, Dad."

On another note, at one time I was a merit badge counselor for my son's Boy Scout troop. I used to joke that I was engaging in homophobic behavior. And then the leadership caved in to political correctness.

I vividly remember my two pine wood derby's.....miss those days of youth!

My first car ended up dead last in my first heat. So I looked at the designs of those who won and corrected my design for the following year. Wasn't a pretty car, but it won first in my first heat and 3rd in my second. I just missed the cutoff for the final. ;-(

Dad didn't help me as I'm very independent and wanted to do it all myself.....

Years later, despite my horrible wood-working skills at the time, got interested in building stuff and made an all-wood tube guitar amp. It looked like an old 1950's radio and was pretty dang good. Later I built a 12-person table for our dining room (we have 6 kids and always had folks over, so the table was great for many years0. I also built all kinds of smaller projects....never a "master" at wood-working, but was good enough to not embarrass myself.

Its amazing what a little thing like a pinewood derby can do to foster creativity, friendly competition, bonding, and launch a small hobby.

You are a good father; hold on to those memories.

That all sounds so nice, but I have to admit I am thinking about 12 people at dinner and all the dishes that means had to be done.

6 kids can do a lot of kitchen cleaning pretty quickly.

We didn't realize our last pinewood derby was our very last one either. The boys had never placed, but were improving every year. That last year was looking good: Our oldest, having just crossed over to Boy Scouts, was allowed to compete in the sibling category and won 2nd place. Son #2 had the fastest car on the track until a spectacular crash took him out of medal position, but he and the youngest were feeling very optimistic about the following year.

That was 2019.

Derby was cancelled in 2020, and in 2021 it was scheduled in conflict with our family vacation (which had been rescheduled from 2020) and we couldn't make it.

Our youngest crossed to Boy Scouts in 2022 and that was it. Bittersweet, partly because I'm sad that they missed out on so much over those 2 years. But mostly because 2 years is a lot in the life of a kid. I blinked, and went from having 3 Cub Scouts, to 3 Boy Scouts. I'll blink again and they'll all be in high school.

Yes. Bittersweet.

I live in an area that is chock full of various PhD engineers and scientists. Some of whom could not separate their egos from the results of the Derby. I would say that about 40% of the Derby cars we saw were engineered to be the most aerodynamically perfect shapes with optimal weight distribution for speed down an inclined ramp. One such unabashedly related how he had tested his "son's" car in his lab to create efficient axles and perfect wheel alignment.

Needless to say, my son never won. But he placed in a heat. However, he was well aware that he wasn't really competing against other kids. So, I arranged it so my second son didn't do Pinewood Derby ... or Cub Scouts. Scouting had changed....and not for the better.

Way, way back when, I too competed. Never won, but knew I lost to other kids.