The Sun News

Scouts hold Pinewood Derby

WARNER ROBINS — It was off to the races for Cub Scouts as the Robert L. Scott District held its annual Pinewood Derby on Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church.

The district encompasses Crawford, Houston, Macon, Peach, Pulaski and Taylor counties. It has 20 Cub Scout packs, according to Rebecca Hayes, a leader with Pack 127 from Andrews United Methodist Church, who chaired the derby. Hayes was responsible for getting the information out to the different packs, making sure all the boys had the opportunity to race and organizing the volunteers.

All scouts who raced in their local pack race are eligible to race in the district derby, regardless of the place their car finished on the pack level.

“It is about the fellowship, about the boys from different packs coming and meeting each other, finding out what they are all doing in their packs,” Hayes said. “It is about exchanging ideas and making new friends.”

“I would have had fun even if I didn’t win just being with my friends,” said Dalton Vasquez, a scout from Pack 220 located on Robins Air Force Base and second-grader at Perdue Primary School.

Vasquez, whose car was blue and black with stripes and a wolf sticker on it, explained the process for having a fast car.

“You sand it and paint it, and then polish the wheels,“ he said.

Scouts receive a block of wood and are expected to carve a car, coming up with the shape and design themselves. The car must not be more than 7 inches long or weigh more than 5 ounces.

“They are building the cars, but they are learning as well, since there is a lot of physics that goes into making the wood cars,” Hayes said.

Gabriel Holzwarth, a Tiger Cub with Pack 127, used his favorite colors, blue and yellow, and his favorite number, 26, to decorate his car. His father helped him cut the car out of the block of wood, but Holzwarth did the rest himself. For Holzwarth, winning isn’t the reason for entering the Pinewood Derby. After all, scouts are taught that it isn’t about the end but about the process.

“It’s fun,” he said. “And you just do your best.”

Robert L. Scott District Pinewood Derby winners

Tiger DivisIon

1. Cody Burns

2. Justin Shepard

3. Gabriel Holzwarth

Wolf Division

1. Jacob Goff

2. Dalton Vasquez

3. Bob Schofield

Bear Division

1. Nick Reagan

2. Sam O’Neal

3. Reilly Evans

Webelos DivisioN

1. Killian Timko

2. Riley Brooks

3. Emory Jolley


1. Cody Burns

2. Jacob Goff

3. Gabriel Holzwarth