Three days after - 11:30 PM, Monday, February 25th, 2019
The thrill of race day is finally in the past. For the most part. My son's disappointment has faded. I have told him at least 20 times, 4th place out out 100 is awesome! Unfortunately, his expectations were high as we vowed last year to go to districts! I've replayed it in my mind at least 100o times. Still, he has proudly displayed his den 1st place trophy where he can look at it and for all to see. He is proud and happy.
Race day: My son's first race. We have a great feeling about his car. We have done everything right. Followed every trick, our prep was immaculate. This is the year we go to districts! We have broken in the graphite ahead of time. Not too much, bust just enough to make it fast at the start but not wear down towards the end. First race, as 3.70s. Not bad for the first race! Graphite must not yet be broken in just right. Second race? 3.68s! The announcer is excited and he screams "FASTEST TIME OF THE DAY! First car in the 3.68s. As noted earlier, I'm not good with numbers. The scores go to the 4th decimal point. But for the purpose of keeping it easy and actually possible to remember for me, my mind only remembers two decimal places. But hopefully you get the idea.
Obviously, we are stoked! This is a great start, a promising start. We are just where we want to be! My son is all smiles! And then?
Next race, 3.71. It's ok, just a bad run. Next run: 3.71s. His car has slowed. I worry something has happened. Later he hits the 3.70s again, sometimes 3.71s, maybe one or two 3.72s. He stays mostly in the low 3.70s to high 3.71s range all day. I'm happy, but can't help but wonder why we are so much slower than our second race.
I know why he is disappointed, and I get it. I try to understand, but truth is if I were in his shoes, I would be ecstatic. Again, I remind him, 4th out of 100 is great. "But I only have ONE more year to win it dad. I didn't make districts" He's right. We wasted the first two years. The first year, we had no idea it would be so wonderful. The second year, we knew how cool it was and did research to see how to be fast, and we were. Unfortunately his car was dropped and it slowed too much to be competitive in the finals (Typical for me and my family). The third year? This year? We went ALL out, learned EVERYTHING and did EVERYTHING we could think of to gain speed! We did just as much research as building, which is saying something when you build 20 cars practicing for that one final fast car for race day.
Again, I understand his disappointment, but part of me doesn't. I look back to my childhood. I never won anything. Ever. I came second and third constantly. Always good, never good enough! Truth is we didn't have much. I had 4 brothers and a mom that stayed home to take care of us. My dad worked literally all the time just to make ends meet. He never spent time with me to do things like Pinewood Derby. If I had entered this race, I would have been on my own and one of the 96 kids looking up to my son. Truth is, I never would have got a trophy in my den, much less the place 4th in the pack! I do understand, and thinking of this makes me grateful for the gifts we ARE given, for the 4th place finishes we are allowed to have. I don't begrudge my dad for his absence. On the contrary, I love him more because I realize he did what he had to do for us to survive. He sacrificed everything to make sure we had food and clothes.
The first thing I ever won? And this occurred at the ripe age of 38. The Adult/Sibling Derby! That is a large part of why I love the Pinewood Derby so much. I feel like I am actually OK at it and have a chance to be more than an also ran, and that I can help my kids be that too.
Part of it was just my luck too. I would never be first in ANYTHING simply because my luck. Bad things happen to me constantly. Just when I'm about to have a breakthrough or finish first finally, bad things out of my hand strike! So the first thing I vowed when I had kids, heck, before I had kids, is I would sacrifice EVERYTHING I am to make sure they have a chance to finish first just once in there life, just to have that feeling of sitting on top of the world. So yes, I get it, I get why he is disappointed. It's more fun to win! But still, that's a great finishing spot!
And to note, bad luck not only strikes me, but my family that goes near me. We've been stricken with bad luck now at the Pinewood Derby two years in a row. Last year, my son's car was dropped in the finals after being one of the fastest all day and slowed down. This year, you've all read the story of the power outage that cost my daughter first overall. This curse is real.
I think the worst part for my son, and this may be what is causing a lot of the disappointment, he was beaten by his sister whose younger than him and this is her first year!
"But daddy, this is her FIRST race! It's not fair. I didn't do that good my first race."
To note, my son is NOT spoiled. This is very out of character for him, which is why it's a bit surprising. He is a carbon copy of me, silly and kind to a fault. He is incredibly generous and grateful, graceful as a child can be. He is a great kid. I guess he is just like me, he is tired of finishing just short, tired of bad luck striking him at the worst moment. My brother calls it "Duck Luck." It afflicts my entire immediate family, but me so more than my brothers. Seriously, the stories I could tell about my luck!
I've looked at his car a 100 times since race day. I asked my wife to drive so I could examine it on the way home from the races! Each time it goes like this.
I place the car on the tuning board. It's SUPER FAST and smooth. 4" over 4'. I've used this turning board enough now to be able to tell when it's fast or not fast, relatively that is, a rough guess that holds merit. It seems faster than his Sister's second place (first place in my heart) car. Then, second run, it's not as fast. Instead of being smooth, it almost seems to be fighting itself. It will turn a little, straight, then turn a little more. Jerky. Hesitant. Like it wants to go left, then changes it's mind for a millisecond, then wants to go left again. But it drifts 4" over 4', every-time. Two more test runs, jerky. A third and a fourth? Smooth and fast.
I don't get it.
I look at everything again. Wheel spin freely, smooth and 30+ seconds. Back is perfectly aligned. I can't figure it out. I've looked at it so many times, it's got me puzzled.
Flash forward to 11:30 PM last night. I'm laying in bed tossing and turning thinking about this car. When things like this happen, they eat at me. I'm not obsessive, I just have to know WHY so I can learn and not do it again. I want to know why we fell short yet again. No sleep tonight, it's back to the tuning board.
First run, fast.
Second, fast
Third and fourth and fifth, jerky.
I finally decided it's time to take the wheels off, maybe switch them around, re prep them? I don't know, the race is over, I just want to know what we did wrong. What derailed us after our fast car. Taking the wheels off is the next logical step.
I'm holding the car in my hands, ready to pull the front wheels off. I pick up my axle pliers. Something is off about his car as I hold it, hand straddling the front axle. Why does it feel like that? Then it hits me.
His car is cracked in two. It is a wedge design, and super thin at that. Above the front axle slot, the wood is super thin. And it had cracked. Entirely all the way through, but still holding on with enough strength to run. But just enough to cause it to bend slightly, and move when a little weight is applied. In fact, all that seems to be holding it on is the glitter foam that we applied as a top coat! It's so loose, just wiggles.
I'm such an idiot. I should have noticed this first thing! No wonder it slowed. It ran a blazing time, fastest time of the day, hit the stop and cracked in half at the front axle. It held in place all day, by a few splinters and foam, and still finished 4th. That's a victory in my book! I can't believe it did as good as it did. Everything makes sense.
Then a sense of dread washes over me. This is my fault. It was too thin. My son did nothing wrong, this is all daddy. I cost him the race. He said he wanted a thin wedge like daddy's car, that's what I gave him. But TOO thin.
Needless to say, I blame myself. I felt horrible in that moment, and do feel bad still. Duck Luck strikes again.
I couldn't wait to tell my son the cause of our agony this morning. I woke him up for school earlyand immediately spilled the beans. He blinked at me, still half asleep.
"We had a cracked car dad?"
"Yes, it's my fault, and I'm sorry."
"Yeah, but we finished 4th with a car almost in two! That's awesome dad!"
"Yeah, but it's my fault son, I failed you after you put so much hard work in."
"It's OK, we will try to win next year."
Finally, his disappointment has faded! And I learned a valuable lesson. I've learned cracking quite often, it's a normal problem to spring up when going with a thin design. Maybe doesn't happen all the time, but it has happened to some. And I learned from it, which means it won't happen again.
As I said, sometimes your kids think you are Superman, more often than not, you turn out to be Clark Kent.
The world keeps turning and as I said, the thrill of race day has past...mostly. My daughter is already gearing up for districts. The rule set is different, so I gave her the option of using her car, which is fast, or going all out and building a new car following district rules to hopefully be more competitive. She is all in of course, wants to chance a new car. The day after the race, she is already getting to work.
"I want to design it today! I can't wait."
I'm happy for her, and glad she WANTS to do this. I love spending time with my baby girl. I've never pushed anything on my kids, I let them make up there own mind and be there own person. So we spend the day sitting at my computer, coming up with all sorts of neat designs. In the end, Rainbow Dash wins out! Which is very fitting. You see, 20 cars ago, the first car she built was a Rainbow Dash car. At tech day, it ran in the 3.74s. Much slower than her final car. It will be fun to look back at that Rainbow Dash car and compare it to the new Rainbow Dash car. What I love about it most is it proudly displays her name and is ALL girl, ALL my daughter to be exact.
That way when it is a blue blur zooming down the district race track, the little boys will know what there brother already knows.
"I got my butt kicked by a girl."
The thrill of race day is finally in the past. For the most part. My son's disappointment has faded. I have told him at least 20 times, 4th place out out 100 is awesome! Unfortunately, his expectations were high as we vowed last year to go to districts! I've replayed it in my mind at least 100o times. Still, he has proudly displayed his den 1st place trophy where he can look at it and for all to see. He is proud and happy.
Race day: My son's first race. We have a great feeling about his car. We have done everything right. Followed every trick, our prep was immaculate. This is the year we go to districts! We have broken in the graphite ahead of time. Not too much, bust just enough to make it fast at the start but not wear down towards the end. First race, as 3.70s. Not bad for the first race! Graphite must not yet be broken in just right. Second race? 3.68s! The announcer is excited and he screams "FASTEST TIME OF THE DAY! First car in the 3.68s. As noted earlier, I'm not good with numbers. The scores go to the 4th decimal point. But for the purpose of keeping it easy and actually possible to remember for me, my mind only remembers two decimal places. But hopefully you get the idea.
Obviously, we are stoked! This is a great start, a promising start. We are just where we want to be! My son is all smiles! And then?
Next race, 3.71. It's ok, just a bad run. Next run: 3.71s. His car has slowed. I worry something has happened. Later he hits the 3.70s again, sometimes 3.71s, maybe one or two 3.72s. He stays mostly in the low 3.70s to high 3.71s range all day. I'm happy, but can't help but wonder why we are so much slower than our second race.
I know why he is disappointed, and I get it. I try to understand, but truth is if I were in his shoes, I would be ecstatic. Again, I remind him, 4th out of 100 is great. "But I only have ONE more year to win it dad. I didn't make districts" He's right. We wasted the first two years. The first year, we had no idea it would be so wonderful. The second year, we knew how cool it was and did research to see how to be fast, and we were. Unfortunately his car was dropped and it slowed too much to be competitive in the finals (Typical for me and my family). The third year? This year? We went ALL out, learned EVERYTHING and did EVERYTHING we could think of to gain speed! We did just as much research as building, which is saying something when you build 20 cars practicing for that one final fast car for race day.
Again, I understand his disappointment, but part of me doesn't. I look back to my childhood. I never won anything. Ever. I came second and third constantly. Always good, never good enough! Truth is we didn't have much. I had 4 brothers and a mom that stayed home to take care of us. My dad worked literally all the time just to make ends meet. He never spent time with me to do things like Pinewood Derby. If I had entered this race, I would have been on my own and one of the 96 kids looking up to my son. Truth is, I never would have got a trophy in my den, much less the place 4th in the pack! I do understand, and thinking of this makes me grateful for the gifts we ARE given, for the 4th place finishes we are allowed to have. I don't begrudge my dad for his absence. On the contrary, I love him more because I realize he did what he had to do for us to survive. He sacrificed everything to make sure we had food and clothes.
The first thing I ever won? And this occurred at the ripe age of 38. The Adult/Sibling Derby! That is a large part of why I love the Pinewood Derby so much. I feel like I am actually OK at it and have a chance to be more than an also ran, and that I can help my kids be that too.
Part of it was just my luck too. I would never be first in ANYTHING simply because my luck. Bad things happen to me constantly. Just when I'm about to have a breakthrough or finish first finally, bad things out of my hand strike! So the first thing I vowed when I had kids, heck, before I had kids, is I would sacrifice EVERYTHING I am to make sure they have a chance to finish first just once in there life, just to have that feeling of sitting on top of the world. So yes, I get it, I get why he is disappointed. It's more fun to win! But still, that's a great finishing spot!
And to note, bad luck not only strikes me, but my family that goes near me. We've been stricken with bad luck now at the Pinewood Derby two years in a row. Last year, my son's car was dropped in the finals after being one of the fastest all day and slowed down. This year, you've all read the story of the power outage that cost my daughter first overall. This curse is real.
I think the worst part for my son, and this may be what is causing a lot of the disappointment, he was beaten by his sister whose younger than him and this is her first year!
"But daddy, this is her FIRST race! It's not fair. I didn't do that good my first race."
To note, my son is NOT spoiled. This is very out of character for him, which is why it's a bit surprising. He is a carbon copy of me, silly and kind to a fault. He is incredibly generous and grateful, graceful as a child can be. He is a great kid. I guess he is just like me, he is tired of finishing just short, tired of bad luck striking him at the worst moment. My brother calls it "Duck Luck." It afflicts my entire immediate family, but me so more than my brothers. Seriously, the stories I could tell about my luck!
I've looked at his car a 100 times since race day. I asked my wife to drive so I could examine it on the way home from the races! Each time it goes like this.
I place the car on the tuning board. It's SUPER FAST and smooth. 4" over 4'. I've used this turning board enough now to be able to tell when it's fast or not fast, relatively that is, a rough guess that holds merit. It seems faster than his Sister's second place (first place in my heart) car. Then, second run, it's not as fast. Instead of being smooth, it almost seems to be fighting itself. It will turn a little, straight, then turn a little more. Jerky. Hesitant. Like it wants to go left, then changes it's mind for a millisecond, then wants to go left again. But it drifts 4" over 4', every-time. Two more test runs, jerky. A third and a fourth? Smooth and fast.
I don't get it.
I look at everything again. Wheel spin freely, smooth and 30+ seconds. Back is perfectly aligned. I can't figure it out. I've looked at it so many times, it's got me puzzled.
Flash forward to 11:30 PM last night. I'm laying in bed tossing and turning thinking about this car. When things like this happen, they eat at me. I'm not obsessive, I just have to know WHY so I can learn and not do it again. I want to know why we fell short yet again. No sleep tonight, it's back to the tuning board.
First run, fast.
Second, fast
Third and fourth and fifth, jerky.
I finally decided it's time to take the wheels off, maybe switch them around, re prep them? I don't know, the race is over, I just want to know what we did wrong. What derailed us after our fast car. Taking the wheels off is the next logical step.
I'm holding the car in my hands, ready to pull the front wheels off. I pick up my axle pliers. Something is off about his car as I hold it, hand straddling the front axle. Why does it feel like that? Then it hits me.
His car is cracked in two. It is a wedge design, and super thin at that. Above the front axle slot, the wood is super thin. And it had cracked. Entirely all the way through, but still holding on with enough strength to run. But just enough to cause it to bend slightly, and move when a little weight is applied. In fact, all that seems to be holding it on is the glitter foam that we applied as a top coat! It's so loose, just wiggles.
I'm such an idiot. I should have noticed this first thing! No wonder it slowed. It ran a blazing time, fastest time of the day, hit the stop and cracked in half at the front axle. It held in place all day, by a few splinters and foam, and still finished 4th. That's a victory in my book! I can't believe it did as good as it did. Everything makes sense.
Then a sense of dread washes over me. This is my fault. It was too thin. My son did nothing wrong, this is all daddy. I cost him the race. He said he wanted a thin wedge like daddy's car, that's what I gave him. But TOO thin.
Needless to say, I blame myself. I felt horrible in that moment, and do feel bad still. Duck Luck strikes again.
I couldn't wait to tell my son the cause of our agony this morning. I woke him up for school earlyand immediately spilled the beans. He blinked at me, still half asleep.
"We had a cracked car dad?"
"Yes, it's my fault, and I'm sorry."
"Yeah, but we finished 4th with a car almost in two! That's awesome dad!"
"Yeah, but it's my fault son, I failed you after you put so much hard work in."
"It's OK, we will try to win next year."
Finally, his disappointment has faded! And I learned a valuable lesson. I've learned cracking quite often, it's a normal problem to spring up when going with a thin design. Maybe doesn't happen all the time, but it has happened to some. And I learned from it, which means it won't happen again.
As I said, sometimes your kids think you are Superman, more often than not, you turn out to be Clark Kent.
The world keeps turning and as I said, the thrill of race day has past...mostly. My daughter is already gearing up for districts. The rule set is different, so I gave her the option of using her car, which is fast, or going all out and building a new car following district rules to hopefully be more competitive. She is all in of course, wants to chance a new car. The day after the race, she is already getting to work.
"I want to design it today! I can't wait."
I'm happy for her, and glad she WANTS to do this. I love spending time with my baby girl. I've never pushed anything on my kids, I let them make up there own mind and be there own person. So we spend the day sitting at my computer, coming up with all sorts of neat designs. In the end, Rainbow Dash wins out! Which is very fitting. You see, 20 cars ago, the first car she built was a Rainbow Dash car. At tech day, it ran in the 3.74s. Much slower than her final car. It will be fun to look back at that Rainbow Dash car and compare it to the new Rainbow Dash car. What I love about it most is it proudly displays her name and is ALL girl, ALL my daughter to be exact.
That way when it is a blue blur zooming down the district race track, the little boys will know what there brother already knows.
"I got my butt kicked by a girl."
