The "Anything Goes" Pinewood Derby

The elder's quorum presidency in our ward was trying to get the less active members out to a fun activity, so after brainstorming they came up with an adult, no-rules pinewood derby. The president gave each of us a cub scout approved car but openly suggested that we simply do whatever we want. No weight limit, no size limit, mechanical propulsion allowed. The only rule was no chemical/explosive propulsion.

In the regular pinewood derby, 5 ounces is the weight limit and everyone is always trying to make their cars as heavy as possible. So, I thought, well, let's go heavy....

Yes, that is a 5 pound weight in a couple notches drilled into a pinewood derby car (Annette's idea actually). Originally I had glued the weight on, but then it rolled off the desk and broke apart. Nets whipped some gorilla tape on and a little paint and voila! We were set with "The Heavy Weight."

A week or two before the activity the word got out to the other wards and when we got there we found this. It had turned into a family affair with about 25 cars entered in the competition. There were all sorts of cars. My favorite though was the Cougarmobile.

My first race things were going well. The weight was paying off. (And yes, that is a helicopter car I'm racing against)



So far so good. But the pinewood derby wheels and nails/spokes wouldn't last long. By the second race, the wheels had already started to buckle and grind against the body of the car.



After my loss, a friend took my car and taped it onto his car that he had hollowed out and melted lead into. Our total combined weight was around 8 pounds. Unfortunately, his wheels didn't hold up much better.



The winner had a cord attached to his car and a cord retractor at the end of the track, he simply jerked his car to the finish line. There was dessert and a good time had by all.

MTC at Last!

Packed, ready, and smiling.

Getting him out the door was quite the group effort.

We took our photos at home just like the handbook said to do and then headed to the car.

We went out to dinner to Toscanos - which was marvelous- and Tosh had a great time. He was in his suit and the waitress asked him where he was going. After that she said the words that all Sugiyamas love to hear... did you know that missionaries eat free?

Soon it was time to go and we all piled into the van and picked up Dan - who wanted to say goodbye too.

As we pull up, we are greeted by a young missionary 'host' who is there to usher Tosh in. I think this might actually be more humane on the mothers as watching the videos just prolongs the inevitable tearful separation.
The hug after the ugly cry and off he goes into the sunset to return in 2 years.