A Cheating Bunch
 

"Of course, I say that with a smirk and a smile on my face… all kiddingly naturally."

https://dragracingedge.com/featured-...heating-bunch/

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

Went my son was in Boy Scouts they had the derby cars built from kits. They stressed the weight had to meet. We showed up with a car that met weight and all the rules. The more experienced adults knew they were not actually going to weigh the cars. We came in last place. Lol
I picked up one of my sons friends cars. I bet it weighed 10 lbs. That’s when I learned a valuable lesson.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

There was something I read a while ago about the "soap box derby" cars. The cars are held up at :start of the ramp by a metal plate. Someone figured out where to mount a magnet so that when the plate dropped down, the magnet would help give a good hole shot and win.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

If you stick around after the Pinewood Derby is over you'll see the Real fast cars come out. The organizers and 'informed' parents had cars that were built to run fast, no asthetics. Aside from polishing the axles and 'rounding' the wheels, all you need is a 3/4" wood dowel hollowed out and filled with weight (lead). Weight mounted as low as possible and alignment was very important . I won't get into the CNCd wheels and axles, but of course there was not a scale to be found either!

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

This was a great story. I had to think for a minute what it was a accomplishing.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

One of the best things about cub scouts for myself and my son and the extended family. Back when I was a kid, 76/77 I went to the new england regionals with my built in the basement special. Looked bad, hauled ***, and certainly weighed, graphite on those wheels, and only having 3 out of 4 down, along with Irish coins in the rear were the trick for me. Still proud of that bad boy.

I couldn't compete with the 100% dad built toys that rolled in there.

When my kid was of age, I followed the same formula, he built it, decorated it, I tweaked it on the weight front and setup, three wheels down, etc, used my big dollar digital scale at work to be 100% legal. He did well all three years with his home built toys, earned whatever he got, now he's a Marine, where as the saying goes earned, not given.

Eric

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

cheating is when you specifically disobey something that is in black and white.. example, nitrous oxide is not allowed in prostock and you hide it in the drysump tank. using the rules to your advantage, innovative!. formula 1 at one point limited fuel tank size, one team found out they could put 20pct more fuel in if they cooled fuel significantly. unforseen problem. race delayed while cars on grid and fuel started overflowing as it warmed up

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

Part of creativity... :D

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

"When my kid was of age, I followed the same formula, he built it, decorated it, I tweaked it on the weight front and setup, three wheels down, etc, used my big dollar digital scale at work to be 100% legal. He did well all three years with his home built toys, earned whatever he got, now he's a Marine, where as the saying goes earned, not given."

Eric
__________________
Eric Merryfield 1883 STK

I like what Eric did!
What are people teaching their kids by cheating?

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

I still have my Pinewood Derby car. It was the second place car that year.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

I still have the one I built for my son somewhere is the garage. It has all the tricks and won first place. I don't recall whether they weighed the cars but I doubt it because it's filled with lead.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

A picture of all my pinewood derby cars I have lined up on the track.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

Without going off track... winning. Winning being the only thing that matters. Any means to an end.

Cheat, steal, ignore rules, fairness is for suckers - just win.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

Personally I wont cheat to win. Just not worth it to me. It would be a hollow win. One of my most memorable wins was at an IHRA race in Immokalee Fl. Final round and Anthony Bertozzi in the other lane. Nothing better than winning the final over a great racer like Anthony.

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

sounds like stock elim racers !

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

KY seems to be ahead in some areas of country.. We have always had to show ID to vote even though half the people there working had/have knew me my whole life..still had to show ID..
When I was in Cub Scouts which has been 45 years ago now....I won our Pinewood Derby.or should I say my Dad did LOL ...Dad had weighed at the grocery store then had screw in weights if needed adjusting at the race.... our cars were weighed before the races then set directly on the track for that round..

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

For those who were involved with Cub Scouts, you know its a parent/scout project. For the most part, the parent ( usually some over competitive father) spends hours prepping axles and wheels and puts the weight in just the right spot.

A good friend of mine who works for Penske racing was involved with his son in a scout troop that almost every father was involved with a NASCAR team. They ended up instituting an “impound “ policy after weigh in because the cars would be reengineered between weigh in and the race. He told me there is nothing more competitive than 20+ nascar dads trying to win a pinewood derby race. Lol

Just to add, all 5 of the cars Doug posted a pic of won fastest in rank, and top 3 overall in troop in all5 years we raced. :-)

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

My dad took my Pinewood Derby car away from and said let me do it if you want to win. Well the wheels fell off halfway down the track and Mom laughed all the way home

Re: A Cheating Bunch
 

I helped my stepdaughter do pinewood derby when she was 6. We followed the rules to a T and I did the tricks I found online, with some success. We would have been better setup for a downhill oval race with the screwed up stagger I put in it, but I digress. She is very artistic and painted it all up and it had more glitter and sparkles on it that a Hess car! (j/k as those guys car are super cool looking!) We had to weigh in at registration and then wait our turns to race while watching the other races. The Mom next to us was dismantling her kids car and stuffed a ton of lead into it, then put back together like it didn't happen. My little Ruby looked at me, and said, "That lady is cheating." Made for a good teaching moment that some people don't follow the rules and you can't do anything about it. She was happy with her car and it finished mid pack I think. She got a medal for an appearance category and a participation medal, we had a fun day, and one medal hangs by computer as a good memory.