Shawn's Family Blog: January 2009

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Front Page online

You can see the boys here while the link lasts.

Those that dont catch that:

By ELEANOR BALL

For The Norwich Bulletin

Posted Jan 22, 2009 @ 07:46 PM

Colchester, Conn. —In an era where winning is everything, the Cub Scouts of Pack 72 proved Sunday that just isn’t true when it comes to the Pinewood Derby.

Yes, there was a “King of the Hill,” but more importantly there was imagination, gentlemanly handshakes and good old fun.

One of the boys bursting with enthusiasm was Ryan Schulze.

“I have a metal bullet-proof kind of car,” Schulze said. “It makes clouds around it.”

Young Scouts and their dads inspected the cars for any last-minute changes before having them officially weighed in. “It took three to four days to build,” said Webelos Ray Talbot. “My dad helped me,” he added.

Paul Talbot also helped his son, David, (who is too young to be an official Cub Scout) build a car. “David made the car shaped like a pencil thing,” Paul said. “Both my boys will be here next year.”

Tiger Cub Kyle Denker also said it took about four hours to build his car. He was very proud of his creation, which earned a trophy. “It’s like Kyle Busch’s car,” Denker said. “That’s what its supposed to look like, the M&M Kyle Busch Nascar,” said his father, Michael Denker.

The pack doesn’t have a computer to time the runs. They use an easel and list the boys by name.

“Look at the board, we’ve done a lot of racing,” Assistant Scoutmaster Tom Cleary said.

In between heats, Cleary manually calculated whose car was leading the pack. As he took the time to do so, the boys participated in other activities planned by their leaders. Cubmaster Ken Whitesell spoke with the boys about a long ladder leaning against a wall which had words pasted on each rung.

“It’s the ladder of success and good citizenship,” Whitesell said.

With each heat, the Scouts cheered each other on. Kyle Denker and Tiger Cub Zack Mitchell shook hands after their cars went head to head. Although Mitchell’s car didn’t beat Denker’s, he was still thrilled with the event.

“What I like best about racing is that everybody’s car is going fast,” Mitchell said.

In addition to the trophies, each boy won an elegant ribbon and medal to pin on their uniform.

Each racer also received a certificate prepared by Unit Commissioner Mike Boldzar, who was in attendance. Those that received certificates included parents and den leaders who participated in their own race after the Scouts event. Webelos Den Leader Bill Burtis sheepishly grinned when he received his certificate for “Best Driver in the Car.”

Several of the dads who were Cub Scouts when they were young could not remember the specifics of their Pinewood Derby. But the Schulze family might remember this one. It started with an unusual christening of the car during breakfast. “The winning car this morning was stuck in maple syrup on the breakfast table,” Ryan Schulze’s grandmother, Jean Sleath, said. “You know how kids are.”

Ryan summed up how he felt after winning the biggest trophy of the day. “It felt like happy, helpful, cheerful, like Boy Scout happy,” Schulze said.

Ryan wins first and king of the hill
Two years in a row!

You can see pictures of his 2009 car below. If you remember last year he won as well. He worked for weeks on his car and measuring to make sure he could make the width and the height requirements and was always weighing his car trying to get to five. This year he had to add some headlights and use a spoiler for a rear bumper to get to the perfect weight. He also had some challenges in figuring out where and how to weight his car. One weight, the front bumper weight, popped off on the second race and then he lost a headlight on the 4th race.

Our pack leader said he can fix it before he heads off to the district races. (Perhaps he should use a better glue.) He actually received four awards, one for participation, one for the most patriotic, one for first place for his den and one for first place overall.

Great job Ryan!