Scouts race to the top in annual derby

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Seventy-one Scouts in Pack 367 cheered as their wooden cars whizzed past them at more than 100 mph at the pack’s 61st annual Pinewood Derby on Feb. 9.

“I think the boys had a lot of fun,” said Cub Master Pat Burke, “it went pretty well.”

The scouts create the wooden cars themselves, with the help of family members. At the pack’s annual holiday party, the scouts are given the materials — a pinewood block with four wheels, and four nails for axels — to make their race cars. Burke said that some of the kindergarten-aged scouts just design and paint the cars because they are too young to carve the wood themselves, but as they get older, they take on more responsibility in crafting the car.

“The whole idea is the scout gets to do a little work on it,” Burke said.

Second-grader and Wolf Scout Aidan Palacio won this year’s Pinewood Derby with his car that reached speeds of nearly 195 mph.

But, Burke said, that if a scout got the chance to make a car with his or her family and enjoy the day with his or her fellow scouts, “then I had 71 winners.”