I was in the Cub Scouts when I was a kid, Pack 1333, Den 2. I was in it with several William Tyler Page Elementary School classmates.
I remember participating in a few derbies – the classic pinewood derby, the boat derby, and the space derby.
I didn’t perform well in the pinewood or boat derby (though I see now I have a bronze medal for that – maybe that was for participation). However, I killed it in the space derby. Here’s how I remember how it happened:
I built an ugly green space ship out of wood. It was hideous, just like my pinewood car and my silver boat. I wouldn’t have gotten any points for creativity. I also learned there were ways to cheat by adding extra weight to these vehicles (they were weighed before the competition but who was to stop someone from adding, say, a quarter to a hidden slot after the weighing?).
Anyway, for the space derby, we had to twist the propeller, which was connected to a rubber band, many times. Then we hooked the space ships to a long wire with something holding the propellers in place. Then they released that thing, allowing the space ships to race down the line.
On my first race, my propeller somehow got stuck and didn’t move out of the gate. Of course, I was made.
Then came the second race (we all got at least two). I didn’t just win, I pulled a Secretariat on my opponents, crushing them. How did that happen? NO CLUE. It just worked, WELL.
Then the third race, and at some point the finals, and each time I killed it, taking the gold easily, despite having no idea how that stupid green hunk of wood that I made didn’t just win, but destroyed my opponents. I remember even keeping it for several years and a keepsake, but it fell apart.
Recently, I found that gold metal on my old Cub Scout shirt buried away. Wanted to put this story down as a time in my life that the ball just bounced in my direction.
