Pine Wood Derby

Justin and I sat in the back seat do the blue Fairmont station wagon holding onto the small cardboard boxes and imaging what they would become. The boxes gripped in out hands were yellow, blue and white. They had a 50's style, drawing of a boy scout with an unhealthy amount of excitement watching, what I can only assume is his car, rolling down a rump. In a square font, which I associate with signs made in a school wood shop, they read Pine Wood Derby. When I shook the box, I could hear the four plastic wheels and little nails bumping against the block of wood. I assume the wood was pine, but I wouldn't know the difference.

We were both Cub Scouts and for a cub scout this was one of the major events you would participate in each year. We would spend weeks planning, at home and at our weekly meetings. We would be carving and sanding and painting. In my mind, I wasn't holding a block of wood, but a miniature Lamborghini.

A few days later, we had pulled the blocks out of the box. They had square notches where you could imagine the ghost driver sitting. My block sat on the table in front of me. I moved down to eye level to help me imagine the lines. Justin used the technique of moving it through space and making race car sounds. I readied my pencil.

I press hard and drew slowly. I placed my first line with intention, trying as hard as I could. It wobbled, showing every correction, nothing like the smooth line I saw in my mind. Additionally, it didn't look like a sports car, it looked like a bubble. This was supposed to be a Lamborghini, not the VW bug my dad used to have. So, I erased, the best I could, and started over. Become the Countach.

I didn't finish my lines that day, I never could get to to look right. Justin, with a little help from Dad, had a pretty sweet design, but mine was becoming a wedge, the standard design adopted by thousands of scouts. I rounded to and added the cool cut back front, which I associated with sports cars, but really I ended up with a fancy wedge.

After those lines became reality all there was left to do was sand, paint, hammer, weigh and finally race. I held my shaped block of wood in my hands and imagined how the paint would look.