Photos by Stacy Newgent & Mary Means

How fast can you make a five-ounce block of wood go — without attaching a rocket to the back?

Would you believe more than 400 scale-miles per hour?

Absolutely!

But let’s go back to the starting line.

For 55 years, Cub Scouts around the country have been handed a small block of wood, four nails, and four wheels as part of the scouts’ Pinewood Derby event. Usually working with an adult, they use saws, sandpaper, paint, and patience to turn the wood block into a speedster.

The scouts then match their cars against cars made by other kids in their Cub Scout pack. The cars race down a sloped track — no motors or pedaling hamsters allowed. Gravity is the only thing that makes these cars run.

With quick wheels and a smooth-running shape, the cars can get pretty fast, and everybody has a great time.

But more than 400 scale-miles per hour?

Those speeds were at a special event at the Indiana State Museum, where the Crossroads of America Council of the Boy Scouts set up a special long, steep track.

For two days, anybody — not just scouts — could bring their cars in and try them on the track.

Indiana scout Jack Hunsicker, eight, ran two cars, one from his pack’s Pinewood Derby last year. “It was a Ferrari. That’s a car that’s really fast. It was red.” Its name, in fact, was “The Red Rocket.”

The Red Rocket really took off, partly because the track used at the event started about 20 feet in the air and was a total of 125 feet long. Cub Scout tracks usually start about five feet high and are about 60 feet long.

Everybody got three runs on the big track, and the five fastest cars earned whopping trophies for their owners.

But even bigger was the fun that everybody had building, racing, or just watching the cars streak down the track.

A Car Kit
Entrants get a block of wood with two notches for wheels, four nails, and four wheels. All nine pieces must be used, and there’s a weight limit, usually five ounces. (See why on page 8.)

Kids can customize their racers with stickers, different shapes, or fancy paint jobs. At the Indiana event, we saw railroad trains, skateboards, airplanes, even plain blocks of wood with wheels.

Speed Tips
There are lots of places to get ideas on making your racer the fastest. We’ve listed one book, Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets, by David Mead (DK Publishing) on page 9, but there are plenty more. Here are a few tips we’ve collected:
• Sand wheel tread to cut down on friction.
• Rear-weighted wedge-shaped cars tend to be fast.
• When completing the sanding, go with the grain, not against.
• One front wheel can be raised slightly so it doesn’t even touch the track, cutting friction.
• Axles can be filed smooth so they turn faster.

Miles to Go
Though cars are timed at 400 “scale-miles” per hour, the imaginary scale-miles are shrunk down to match the car. So a Pinewood Derby car doing 400-scale-miles per hour is really traveling about twenty real miles per hour. Still pretty fast for a chunk of wood!