Annual Pinewood "Doobie" Race

For the second year in a row, the primary presidency (which now includes me) hosted a Pinewood Derby event for all of the 8 to 11 year old children in our ward.  We also invited younger siblings to participate if parents were willing to buy their own car kits.  At my suggestion, we planned this event in June before school got out so that no one would miss due to being out of town for summer trips.  The first counselor did a great job overseeing the entire event and delegated out responsibilities to the rest of the presidency.  The decorations and treats were absolutely darling and we had a great turnout for the event.  Ron agreed to make three cars again this year so that Emmett could participate with Ella and Logan.  Emmett was so excited about this and kept on talking about making his car for the Pinewood "Doobie" race which we all thought was the cutest thing.  Instead of focusing on appearance like they did last year, Ron and the kids decided to make speed a priority this year and so the cars turned out looking quite simple.  Since Ron burned Logan's car with a torch, they decided to name his car, "Burning Wood."  Ella's car was named "Silver Streak" due to being painted in a solid silver color, and Emmett's was named "Midnight Rider," due to being all black.  

We ate an early dinner and headed out the door around 6:30 to get to the church in time to check in and have our cars weighed and registered.  We then spent the next hour or so watching heat after heat as all of the kids had a chance to race their car at least three times.  Ron's decision to focus on speed over appearance really paid off as our children's cars came in first or second place in all of the early heats that they raced in.  The funniest heat of the evening was when Logan and Ella were finally matched up to race against each other towards the end of the activity.  As their cars were racing down the track, Ella's car jumped her lane and knocked Logan's car completely off the track, causing the large weight on top to completely fall off.  It was so funny and shocking at the same time and totally symbolic of how Ella treats Logan in real life on a regular basis.  After a quick tape job to fix Logan's weights, the officiators redid the race and Ella won.  After several more heats, we were so thrilled to see that Ella's car came in third place out of 23 cars earning her one of the trophies that I had ordered for the top three winners.  In addition, the primary presidency handed out six participation awards and Emmett received a certificate for "Most Basic" for his plain, black car.  Overall, we had a really fun evening and I am just so grateful that Logan had a second chance to do this between the pandemic years and moving on to the Young Men organization next January (ahhhh)! 

All of the kids lined up together in front of the "parking lot" board before the races began.

A close-up of the darling parking lot board where all of the cars stayed when they were not racing.

Ella and Emmett watching one of the heats at the end of the track.

Ella standing next to the starting line after handing the officiator her car.

Emmett proudly holding up his car after one of his heats.

Logan posing for me after delivering his car to the officiator.  You can tell how he felt about taking this picture due to the look on his face.

Emmett reaching high to put his car back up on the track.

Ella and Emmett watching her car race to the finish line.

The final race of the evening when it was determined who would be first, second, and third place.  Ella's car is the one on the right.

The scoreboard announcing the top three winners after the final race of the evening with Ella's car, "Silver Streak," in third place.

All three kids at the end of the evening with Emmett holding up his award and Ella holding her trophy.  Emmett's car ended up coming in 10th place and Logan's 12th place which is still great considering the fact that there was 23 cars in total.

A close-up of Ella with her car and 3rd place trophy.

Cute Emmett holding up his "Most Basic" certificate.