The Pinewood Derby is tonight and “we” just finished “my” or umm… “Thomas’s” car; “The Jack Bauer” (its number is 24, get it?). More after the jump (that means click on the link below).

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In case you have never experienced the thrill and excitement of Pinewood Season, it’s really something. In December, the Scouts get a car kit. The kit consists of a 7” block of wood, 4 penny nails and 4 plastic tires. I let that block sit for a full 2.3 months and start to work on it 2 days before the event!

Once the Derby rolls around, the kids watch the first 3 races and then ADD kicks in. The only spectators left are the Dads who have invested a sick number of hours in to these cars. They live and die with each heat.

In the past I have spent up to 20 hours on that block of wood…but not this year! I went to D & J Hobby and bought a pre cut car and went to Ebay and bought pre-machined nails that are used as the axils of the car. All you have to do is bring it home, sand it (which is what Thomas did) and paint it (which Thomas helped) and put it together. The kit even comes with a motor, pipes and flamed decals! I’ve put about 4 hours into the car and it was well worth the extra expense! Plus,, this thing looks pretty good.

Now if you’re thinking, “how lazy” I’m thinking, “Kiss My Ass!” Every father should go through the pain of building a car from scratch “ONCE”! Then I recommend going to your local hobby store and doing it the “Smart Way”!

Wish me or umm ahh Thomas luck!

Update 02/01/2007 11pm or so

Well all that “Professional Help” really paid off! We took 2nd place, winning all our heats accept the last two where we took 2nd! One father was quoted as saying; “This is like a cock fight without the money”! I guess my cock was on steroids! (that might not sound right, I wonder what ads Google will place next to this post?)

We are off to district finals where I’m sure my car (ok Thomas’ car) will meet with much scrutiny…

Update 02/02/2007

Well, we took 16th out of 66 cars in the district finals! Not to shabby considering I was stacking unassembled parts onto the scale the night before the first race.

When our car was returned to us, The way too uptight Scout Master informed me that; the car was “technically” not legal. It was made from a pre cut kit and the axils weren’t visible to assure that no “outlaw axils” were being used. I am so glad Thomas isn’t doing Boy Scouts!