It was a Pinewood Derby miracle!

To say that the pinewood derby was not high on Sparky's priority list would be an understatement.  For months we gently prodded the scout to get working on his car.  Finally, two nights before the big race I brought the subject up again.  We were fully prepared to just let the kid race an uncut block of wood, but in the end Sparky was able to convince Doug to pull out his saw and cut out Sparky's custom design.  Here it is:

Look at that attention to detail.  The careful touch of the hand to customize a simple block of wood into this stunning work of art.  Seriously?  I couldn't even get the kid to slap on some paint.  All he did was grab a marker, color a green line on the front, and write the word "Rocket" on the side.

When it was all said and done, the boy came in third place.  His best showing ever in a pinewood derby.  The other two boys who won had spent hours and hours on their cars and totally deserved to win.  I am still a bit in shock that Sparky's car did so well.  He lucked out big time.

The winners.  Not a bad way to leave cub scouts.  I actually did not attend because of a headache and so I was very sad to learn that this was Sparky's last pinewood derby.  He just earned his Webelos and in August he will get his Arrow of Light and cross over into boy scouts.  Doug was kind enough to console me with the fact that we get to do this all over again with Tiger.  Oh the joy.