Cub Scout PWD, When is your race?

[slkrnsntracing]

Smokin' Joe,

Good luck in the Council Race Tomorrow. You'll do fine!!!! Just keep your dad from getting too excited.

Let us know how you come out...

Phil

[Smokinjoesracing]

Thanks Phil! I hope I can sleep tonight ;D. I can never for sure tell you that Joe will win. I can say that his car is A) much faster (about a full car length) than last year's car which finished 3rd by a hair and...B) This year's car is set up to drift the correct way with the raised wheel. Last year...we didn't know.
Good luck to Fred's Grandson tommorow too. I'm hoping we both can spread the good news tommorow.

[Smokinjoesracing]

Just got back. Joe placed 6th and got a nice sized trophy for his efforts. I made a mistake. We set the car up for a longer track. For some reason it just got shortened this week. The track was only 30 feet long. If I had let Joe race the back-up car it would have been faster. His car needed about 1 more foot of track to have done better. Live and learn...we have 3 more shots at council. Met some nice people who follow WIRL and I don't want to give you guys a big head but evidently LOTS of folks are fans.
In the first heat of the finals Joe put down last years winner, who had to face the eventual champ in the next race. I felt sorry for them for it was a double elimination race. No trophy at all this year for the x-champ. The kid has a great set of parents. I told his dad that they have lots to be proud of.
The drama of the day....THE PHYSICS TEACHER! Some guy had bought two of his cars. The first one did not pass inspection. He came back with another one. WOW $600 just to lose...that guy had to feel pretty low. His car came down and won a heat and I heard this guy say "Physics teacher". We laughed and started talking about him when lo and behold the boy's mother who had been standing next to us Quipped "MY husband built that car". I said..."That's great...My son and I built his". ;D No trophy or brag line for the physics teacher.
A fun day and a productive season. We will pay a little more attention to things next year and not make the same mistakes. I'm very proud of my son for the way that he conducted himself in victory and defeat.
Overall I prefer a timed event but you can't beat the drama of a draw down double elimination event with hundreds of racers representing thousands of local Cubs.
Thanks again to all of you for your support and well wishes.

[woodenwonder]

Congrats on a pretty good day Smokin'.
My nephews district was today. My nephews car did well but not fantastic. He ran a 3.07?? and then a 3.0515 which I guess held up as the fastest time of the day. His next heat he ran a 3.11??. Don't know what happened but that run killed his average. I had to leave early but he ran a 3.07?? after I left and finished 5th overall and 2nd in webelos II. On to council in May. Also boy that I gave technical assistance to came in 3rd webelos II. So he gets to go to council also, for first time ever.

[slkrnsntracing]

Great job Smokin' Joe,

You have a lot to be proud of.

You were very active in building your own car, and you finished very well. Any kid who does that is a winner.

I know the thoughts of what you need to do differently next year will cross your mind often, but next year will be here before you know it.

Congratulations!!!!

Phil

P.S. Dad will also recover in time.

[slkrnsntracing]

Congratulations BargaKidsRacing,

Sounds like your nephew and the kid you helped both did great today.

I'm sure these boys will appreciate and remember how you helped them for a long time. Hopefully they will pass on the favor when they get older.

Great job.

Phil

[JOKER]

WAY TO GO BARGA & SMOKIN'!!!

[wheeler]

Grandson raced at district today, he got 2nd in Tigers and 4th overall. Good district race, as ususal, about 112 cars and a well run race. Kept Barga busy teching for 3 or 4 hours. I think he left early to take a nap. Heading for Council race May 20th.

Congratulations Smokin' and Joe. Sounds like a great day for you, as it was for us. Fred

[slkrnsntracing]

Way to go Fred and Grandson,

Sounds like things went real well for you guys.

Congratulations on today, and good luck at the council race.

Did somebody remember to wake Barga up before they shut off the lights and locked the doors???

Phil

[Smokinjoesracing]

Fred, Congrats to your Grandson and Bob to your Nephew. We felt fortunate to do as well as we did. Our first race Joe passed the other three in the last 3 ft. I knew the track was going to be just a tad short. Joe picked up 5 trophies this year and told me this year was a success.
I still can't get over how many people knew about us from WIRL. They asked about all you guys. Looks like we need to get into merchandising ;D

[patmanruls]

congrats to Bob, David and Fred.

David, were you able to recruit any of these 'fans' to race with us in WIRL?

Just to let everyone know, I've been working with Jennifer to have her create a template for business cards to promote WIRL. You can buy the business card stock at Walmart and any number of office supply stores. I'm planning on printing up a bunch of cards and carrying them with me to these races.. Just hand them out and have them check out the website and message board.

Hoping to have something soon.

[JOKER]

CONGRATS WHEELER & GRANDSON!!!

[wheeler]

Thanks Smokin , Phil , Pat and Joker.

[warthog]

Congrats to the Smoking Joe, Barga and Wheeler families! Sounds like a lot of fun and success this weekend!

[parrish]

warthog said:

Congrats to the Smoking Joe, Barga and Wheeler families! Sounds like a lot of fun and success this weekend!

Once again, congrats and great job to you all and those you helped. It just goes to show that the fastest builders hang out here on the board! ;D

[woodenwonder]

Hey Guys,
Just checking back in. I have a few things I would like to comment on from our district race Saturday. I was very disappointed in the number of DQ's I had to do. Several wheel violations and one axle violation. It is amazing the number of guys that cone the hubs and say, "I did not realize I done that." after I explain the rule that says you can't. One guy even argued with me that because the rules had not changed and he was allowed to run with the same axle violation last year that I should let him run this year. I doubt that I missed his violation last year but I am human. Regardless, I told him he could not run with axles the way they were but I would give him a set. He had epoxied them in and refused to try to change them. Another guy had coned hubs. I realized that he did not even glue his axles in so I offered a set of wheels ( I bet I gave away at least 4 sets). He said, "Nope we are done, come on son." To be honest he acted like he did not even want to be there anyhow. There was so many DQ's this year that the DE asked what I thought about next year if a car is illegal and can't be fixed to let them run but they are not eligible for any awards. I really would not have a problem with that but I think he should work on getting everyone to follow the rules, not accomodating those that don't. Just my 2 cents.

[greenhorn]

AGREED!!!

[Mr. Slick]

Just finished our district race. I didn't DQ anyone, could have but I am a follower of "if they show up, they will race" tradition. My solution has been to have the workshops for the kids to build their own cars and I have most everything they could need/want. I talked to several parents about the fairness of purchasing items for the purposes of beating someone else in a race and if they thought their "investment" was the best way to become involved with the son and the car.

One of the joys I got was seeing that virtually none of the cars that had the various speed axles or lathed wheels took home a trophy. :-)

At the workshop I have a stations where the boys/parents can create their own BSA speed axles and lightly sand the tread and cone the hub. Then I make sure that all of the cars get weighted for the 1" - 1.5" COM in front of the rear wheel. I also instruct them that they should "align" their cars as best they can but that a few inches of drift in several feet is probably going to be just fine.

I have decided that if the BSA provides instructions on what to do with their supplies from the store, such as coning the hub, sanding the tread, etc., that I will allow such enhancements.

I just get such a rush from seeing all of the cars that I know the boys have designed, cut out, and finished beat the others that I almost feel guilty! :-)

140 cars, 2 hours and 13 minutes for 140 heats of 6 cars each - the normal heats were done in 1 hr 45 minutes and then we had 12 heats that had to be re-run due to various issues. Most were due to a couple of cars being repaired and having to skip the heat during regular racing. We did have a piece of debris make it onto the track which caused problems for 4 heats before it was spotted! Yesterday I was told by several parents that the kids thought that the crashes were the best part. ;-)


The venture crew and other adult volunteers doing everything were great!

[parrish]

mrslick said:

I have decided that if the BSA provides instructions on what to do with their supplies from the store, such as coning the hub, sanding the tread, etc., that I will allow such enhancements.

That make a lot of sense Mr Slick! Why take away the creativity of the kid and adult helper...Theres a chance to learn something there.

[Buckeye]

I run our District Race and I am of the belief that it should be more about what you can do than what you can not. Our rules are pretty easy. The car can not weigh more than 5 ounces and the wheel base can bot exceed 4.5". The wheels must be official BSA and the tread must remain flat and normal width, no holes in the side walls either. Any lube is allowed and holes or slots as long as the base is 4.5" or less.

The last thing I want to do is send a Cub home because of a minor rule infraction. So we pretty much eliminate the minor rules. If a rule is difficult to enforce, why have it? As long as everyone has the same opportunity and with the Internet they pretty much do, it ends up being a fair race.

There will always be those cars that are going to be fast and those that will be slow and the rest that are in the majority. Rules will never change that.

One of these days Districts will outlaw Cubs with parents that race Wirl. Don't those Cubs have the greatest advantage?