Car won 2nd in Pack...No districts?

[ronimous]

First, I'm a new member and built a car for my son using many of the tips from this board. Thank you for that.

We are in a new Pack in Southern California, just moving here from St. Louis. My son's car was flying out of the gate...won the first 4 races by at least 5 car lengths. Due to poor alignment of the stop section, his car hit funny and did a few flips after the 4th race. After that it didn't run as fast the rest of the day, eventually finishing 2nd overall.

I had a lot of issues with how the derby was being run. After check in the scouts and parents were no longer allowed to touch the cars. One of the dads was an assistant cubmaster and did some placing of cars on the track, paying close attention to what lane his son's car got and even closer attention to how his son's car was aligned. Guess what? His car won. So this kind of went against their rules of parents not being allowed to touch the cars after check in.

More disappointing was the revelation that our Pack doesn't participate in districts. I have no doubt that if I had been able to correct whatever issue caused by the flip and crash onto the hard floor that we would have finished first and I'd love to see this car keep racing and go on to districts.

I'm trying not to be 'that super competitive parent', but I have great memories of taking my car to districts and the council derby as a scout and I'd love my son to get to experience it as well.

I plan on sending an email to the district to inquire about districts, curious if anyone else has encountered this type of situation and also how to best approach my issues with how the pack derby was run without coming off as the super competitive parent.

Thanks in advance,

Jason

Here are some links to the first three runs, as you can see, we were much faster than the competition...before the crash....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COvx7Vb41Y
www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_aI2tJbe_4&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-9-ITG9Z1Y&feature=related

Attachments:

[pinecone123]

I had a similar problem with my pack. Although we always participated in districts, there were many double standards when it came to running the race. I solved the problem by getting involved in the pack. I took on a leadership role and was highly visible. I find it unusual that your pack doesn't go to districts. Why not??? Also, when your car crashed you should have been able to inspect it for damage. I don't think you are being a very competetive father. I think you, like most, care about your son and insist on following the rules. So remember for next time, let yourself be heard before the race, during the planning stage when there is still time.

[RacerX]

Comgrats on your sucess, at least until the track bit ya!!! Thats one thing we hear at Derby Worx A LOT is how the track was a problem, everything from old rough tracks to improperly assembled new tracks, it can be frustrating.

As far as your districts go, can you put something together and have your pack run the race? Our local pack was moved to a new district a few years ago (we were gone ) that did not have a district championship, they were told that "No one cares much about pinewood derby in their district" funny thing was that the local pack put it on, the they use the Derby Worx shop track with levelers and a Micro Wizzard and now EVERYONE wants to race districts, even boys from other districts want to come over because of the track and organization.

Just a thought.

Racer X

[ronimous]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I got a email back from our Council that said our district does not do a district race. Very disappointing.

Not sure if our pack would try and host something, there's only about 30 boys....

[derbydad3]

Check to see if there is another district close by. Luckily, our pack runs a pretty fair race, with very few problems. However, our District runs there race considerably different. We checked into a different district and was able to run the car in a modified class. Good Luck!!!

[3cubdad]

I really have to second RacerX's comments.

When we moved to TN, the district that we went in to hadn't had a race in 10 years. I ended up heading up our pack and then the district races, (pack also only had about 35 kids), with the district race growing to a couple of hundred kids before we left!

Fast forward to here outside of St. Louis.... pack interest is fair, district race is small. I'm now heading up our pack race and should be working with the district race this year too!

In short, if you want to make it better for all, you'll have to step up!

Interesting fact, do you know that the Scouting for Food program started in St. Louis 25 years ago as a single Eagle Project? Look what it is today! All it takes is a little effort.

3cubdad