Post by Zeebzob Gravity Cars on Apr 20, 2011 9:41:18 GMT -6
Like most here, I got involved in Pinewood Derby racing when my oldest son was a cub scout. I had no tools or skills (you could probably argue that I still have no skills) for building a car. That first year we scoured the internet (like most of us have) looking for that speed secret that would put us in the winners circle. Well, most the tips were enough to give us a decent showing, he came in 3rd for the Tigers and (I think) 10th overall for the pack. We were very happy with that and excited to get a jump on next year’s car right away! Well, that fizzled after a week or so and before we knew it, it was derby time again as a Wolf. We did better this year - 2nd for the den and 5th overall. Again, we intended to start immediately on next year’s car, and again the excitement was short lived. We are now in the Bear year. Two things happened this year. Number 1, we made a huge mistake in using tungsten for the weights (a sure fire tip from the internet). Well, we weighed in at 5.1 oz. It is nearly impossible to shave .1 off the car without digging one of the tungsten weights out. So now we are at 4.6 oz and I am sure I did the alignment no favors when working on it at tech-in. So we ended up with a mid pack car. But the second thing that happened this year was this; my son’s friend had an older brother who had a car that raced in the friends and family races. This kid was telling me how fast he was, no one could beat him, it would be a waste of time to even try, etc. So I said to myself, “I’m gonna beat this 12 year old if it KILLS me!” The friends and family race was a lot more open as far as the rules. I built what I now know is a modified car, and it was fast! Almost embarrassingly fast. The crowd would Oooo and Ahhh as it went down the track. I may have over did it. But I was bitten by the pinewood bug for sure! I thought I’d send it in and see what I can do against the big boys. I sent it into PDDR in April of 2008. I remember sitting at my computer anxiously waiting for my car to race. I thought I hung in there pretty well, only getting beaten by a car length or so. I now realize how badly I got it handed to me! HA! Anyway, I was hooked from then on. I’m not really any faster, but I still have a blast with it. Oh and by the way, from that year of proxy racing and all that I learned, my son blew everyone away in his last year of scouts!
I have raced proxy in two leagues, PDDR and PWDR and you all continue to amaze me at the speeds you are capable of reaching!
Oh, and by the way, some of you may wonder what the heck Zeebzob is….well when I was a youngster, whenever me and my friends would come across someone talking about something he is clearly clueless about (i.e. BS), we would say “Listen to that guy, its all zeeb zob zoob” HAHAHA! It’s stupid, I know…..but the older I get, the more I realize that everything that I say may as well be zeeb zob zoob!
I have raced proxy in two leagues, PDDR and PWDR and you all continue to amaze me at the speeds you are capable of reaching!
Oh, and by the way, some of you may wonder what the heck Zeebzob is….well when I was a youngster, whenever me and my friends would come across someone talking about something he is clearly clueless about (i.e. BS), we would say “Listen to that guy, its all zeeb zob zoob” HAHAHA! It’s stupid, I know…..but the older I get, the more I realize that everything that I say may as well be zeeb zob zoob!
