Cub Scouts design, drive their way to victory
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on February 17, 2013 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Cub Scout Connor Hill of Pack 92 readies his Pinewood Derby car for competition at the annual Pinewood Derby held at Mount Olive College on Saturday.
Jackson Rose had already been warned once about running, but the 7-year-old couldn't contain his excitement Saturday morning.
His red Pinewood Derby car had just won the first Outlaw race of the day at Mount Olive College's Kornegay Arena, defeating a wooden replica pick-up truck and he had to tell his Pack Leader, Megan Britt.
After a big high five, he quickly told his twin brother, William, about the result.
William has a car in the competition, too -- one Jackson admits is a little bit faster than his, but it's not all about speed.
On the judge's table in the Best of Show category sits Raiford Turner's entry -- one that looks more like a work of art than a wooden car.
The 11-year-old has been competing in the competition since he was in first grade and has always aimed for style rather than speed.
"Mine are more pretty than they are fast," he said, holding a car that features a model of a campsite on the back, complete with tents and a campfire.
He used features from his train set to build the mini campsite, he said, since camping is his favorite part of being involved in Scouts, and while he and his mother, Heather, are happy with his effort, he wasn't sure ahead of the competition how well his entry would fare.
His campsite car won in the Webelos 2 Division, but other entries including a car shaped like a Hershey bar and another shaped like a strip of bacon.
There was also a Batmobile and a red replica of a Nintendo Wii controller with wheels among those entered in the Best of Show contest, but there were still others that attempted to combine style and speed for their entries, like Hayden Wall.
Hayden, 8, entered a car with a Formula One-esque body -- a project his mother, Angela, said he took on along with his dad. The car is a shiny, metallic chrome that could almost convince a bystander that it was aluminum.
But Mrs. Wall insists it's paint. She is also pretty sure it was her son who did the painting, based on the residue at her house.
"He did the paint himself because I've got the paint on the utility room floor to prove it," she said.