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Re: Another "Can of Worms" - Speed Racer
Beth Guth (bethguth@ENTER.NET)
Thu, 2 Apr 1998 17:48:53 -0500
>
>* Volunteer to be the Cubmaster. Store the track at your house. Test
>Drive your car.
>
Legend has it, (I got this second hand, and it is whispered, no one has
actual proof) that in addition to the above, *several* cars were made,
tested and refined (BY THE BOY OF COURSE, NOW WHAT WERE YOU THINKING) they
won during those cubmaster years early and often.
I set up our track 2 weeks before the event, at our meeting place. All dens
meet the same night, same place. It was a not-so-subtle encouragement to
families who hadn't started the car to GET GOING. Boys were allowed to
bring last years cars and race their wheels off. Boys were discouraged
from racing this years car without adult supervision in case it got dropped
and spoiled. 1 week before we qualify the cars and then lock them up. No
one touches the car after qualification. They are allowed to lubricate them
once, observed by judges.
THE WINNER THIS YEAR, hacked his car out of wood at a den meeting 2 weeks
before the race. It was really coarse, VERY badly sanded and stained
rather than painted. It didn't qualify, all cars must be turned in by the
end of the meetng before the race. Dad hacked a bunch more wood out with a
chisel and recessed the metal plate they used for weight and drilled holes
in the side and monkeyed around with it. Dad and son were a might stressed
and felt bad at the end of the evening with this jimmy-rigged car. After
he finished in the top 5 of our pack I couldn't wait for the District race.
By our timing, this was an awesome car. (The boy that went to district
last year, and did well, had carefully preserved his car and used it as a
pace car. The hacked out car beat that car). This car went on to finish
16th out of the 160 best cars in the District. I was so proud of this boy,
and his boy built car! Sitting there all ugly next to these cars that
looked like they came from the Ethan Allen Furniture Store or the body shop
or General Motors or something. I am still proud. When he was eliminated,
I suggested to him and his Dad that he preserve it so we could use it to
test against next year. NOPE! He wants to play with it, he earned it. So
he layed on his stomach and ran it back and forth on the gym floor with
some other boys and had a fine time. Even Thomas, the visitng cub scout
teddy bear from West Virginia got a ride on top of the car!
Other notes:
My favorite was a candy bar. They took an actual candy wrapper from a huge
butterfinger. Crafted the wood to fit inside. It was very novel. A
pencil car (looked just like a #2 pencil) won the race.
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
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