Pinewood derby car building instincts skip a generation, but they are hereditary. My dad built me some prize-winning cars when I was a cub scout, but I couldn't build a winner to save my life. I still recall traveling to East Salem for a regional pinewood derby run-off (for I had won at the local level in Keizer), which I took 2nd place (I wish I still had the trophy--it was pretty big). My mechanical skills are an embarrassment--I really have no idea how I received an "A" in shop class in middle school. Aaron built his own car, as he did last year, and my meager contributions included painting and carving out some of the rear of the car to replace with heavier metals (if you look at the close up pictures of his car, you will see how I made it worse). His car was pretty lightweight, because he had cut off most of the wood, and I struggled to add more weight without making it look ridiculous, so we both accepted that his car would probably be just as slow as last year's entry.
We arrived about 20 minutes before the race was supposed to begin to go through the weigh-in process with the officials. Aaron was at 60% of the maximum weight allowed, but one of our friends in the neighborhood was also there and motioned for us to come over and offered some special weights that he didn't need. Aaron glued them on top, and he was suddenly near the ideal weight. This friend also had some graphite lubricant that he allowed Aaron to use on the cars wheels and axles.
The race was divided into three parts so that each age group was competing against itself, and Aaron being one of the oldest was slated to run in the third heat. I was asked to be a judge, so I was stationed at the end of the track with another guy from our ward and had to determine the order that the cars finished (while keeping Ian away from the track, as Meg and Edward had stayed home). I was pleasantly surprised when Aaron won his first race; he's a pretty good sport win-or-lose, but he was visibly sad and upset losing every race last year. At least this year he would have that one race that he won. But his car kept winning, and winning, and winning. One race was tight and his car needed a huge come-back at the end to win, but otherwise he won easily, taking the top spot for his age group. The three age-group winners--all from our tiny ward (I swear, we two judges were completely impartial, even though both of our boys made it to the finals)--then raced head-to-head, and Aaron won again, claiming the overall championship. He showed great enthusiasm for his good fortune, but he was also very supportive of his peers and congratulated them without gloating or trash-talking.
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