News Editor

Cub scouts got to experience the thrill of the race at the annual Pinewood Derby held at Charles Henderson Middle School Saturday Morning.

The members of Cub Scout Pack 41 gathered in the gymnasium of the school to show off their cars and see who had the fastest one.

According to Cub Master Terry Kersey, the event has become a tradition with the pack and takes place around this time every year. He said scouts from first to fifth grades compete to see who wins the top

trophy.

"They love this," Kersey said. "The event is a double elimination tournament between all the age groups, then the winners from each group competes to see who are the overall three top winners."

Kersey said the competition is double elimination to allow each scout to get to race his car twice.

He said in each race, the competitors also race twice, switching sides of the track for the second run.

Another part of the competition includes the Best of Show. The top three cars determined to have the overall best designs are chosen and medals are awarded to the winners.

Kersey said the scouts build the cars form official boy scout directions and must be a certain length and weight. Each car cannot weigh over five ounces, and before Saturday’s competition each one was being weighed and measured by den leader Stephen Landers, who assisted with any last minute adjustments that needed to be made.

Kersey explained that each car is made from a block of pine wood and weights are added to bring each car as close to five ounces as possible without going over. Besides the weight and length requirements, he said the wheels and axles also have to be a certain width.

"The kids and their parents put a lot of time into making these cars," he said.