HOLDEN — Cub Scouts transformed wood blocks into race cars on a local track, showing off their speed, or in some instances more style than speed, in the Pinewood Derby.
The Cub Scouts in Packs 46 and 180 converged on the gym at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Feb. 10 to show off their cars, built to meet size and weight criteria, before sending them cruising down the track, powered by gravity.
The setup requires the cars fit properly on the track, and weight limits affect the success.
Anthony Buck’s car included red and yellow paint and cover art, he said, a finish added after planing the wood block in the kit each Scout is given. Anthony, a third-grader at Mayo Elementary School, has competed four times, and has won three trophies.
Of his latest effort, he said the design worked “pretty good actually.”
Adult leader Will Murwin served as a “pit crew” to help repair cars that had problems, from gluing parts back on to adjusting components.
Murwin had helped his son, working till 1:30 in the morning, he said, when they realized that the car that started at proper weight was overweight after finish painting. They opted to carve off sufficient wood from the bottom in order to leave the finish intact.
The effort paid off.
The younger Billy Murwin, a Mayo fourth-grader, had a fast car, setting a new track record at 2.638, and later breaking that record as well.
Opting for a steamship design, Helen Dempski had some solid finishes, including a fourth place after having to glue a smokestack back on. A Dawson Elementary School fourth-grader, she said, “I wanted it to be a ship instead of a car.
“I didn’t want it to be the Titanic,” she added. “I just wanted it to get to the end.”
She said she was nervous competing, but her Titanic car held its own on the track, where cars sped down the ramp and had their times recorded electronically.’
During a break in the action, emcee Earl Nezuch, Pack 46 Cubmaster, noted the work that had gone into setting up the track and organizing the derby as well as the work that went into building the cars.
Many of the cars had a common theme.
Pack 46 opted to focus on a food theme, yielding cars that resembled items from candy bars and Oreos to bananas and watermelon slices.
This was the second year the two troops — 46 and 180 — ran a combined Pinewood Derby, so named for the block of pine wood that Scouts get to carve, mount wheels and finish to their own design.
“It’s been really fun to be able to do it together,” Tanya Kakalecz said. As a committee chair and mother to two Cub Scouts and three Scouts, she noted the fun at the event, but added it had been hard to get people involved in Scouting after COVID. She had adapted by holding many den meetings outside, but events like the Pinewood Derby highlight the variety of activities in Scouting.
Nezuch said the first Pinewood Derby was run in 1953 in California, and it spread from there. Despite its success — many fathers at the event, like Anthony Buck’s, said they had participated in their Cub Scout years — it was not until 1997 that Cubmaster Donald Murphy became aware of the fact the event he started had become such an iconic part of Scouting.
In the past couple of years, Nezuch said, the two packs have tried to do more things collaboratively.
“The Pinewood Derby is one of those big events,” he said as the gym at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Holden was transformed into the race venue.
It included races for Scout siblings, intermission-style activities, and plenty of snacks, from food made by Pack 180 to pizza donated by Big Y and Papa Gino’s.
Derby champs
Winners, determined by their race times, were awarded trophies in several categories in each pack.
Topping the competition, measured in seconds down the track and the miles per hour speed, were:
Pack 46
1st – Zelek Kakalecz (Bear) with an average time of 2.72 and average speed of 181.3.
2nd – Noah Kakalecz (Webelo) with an average time of 2.73 and average speed of 180.77.
3rd – Nicholas Monroy (Lion) with an average time of 2.75 and average speed of 179.71.
Pack 180
1st – Billy Murwin (Webelo) with an average time of 2,6358 and an average speed of 187.54.
2nd – JD Rejniak with an average time of 2.741 and an average speed of 180.34.
3rd – Emmett Brooks with an average time of 2.76 and an average speed of 179.
