Very pleased to report that all of the amazing advice here helped my son Ben win his Pack outright and place third overall at our District. Pack races were a blowout, not a car within several lengths of him over 8 heats. Running on a 42' Best Track 4 lane, in the final round his times were 3.0810, 3.1040, 3.0840 and 3.0880! The track was not in the best shape, so we were very, very happy with this result.
Districts were run on a wooden, much shorter track. Times were in the 2.55 range for the top cars. In the finals our times were slightly ahead of the top two cars until the final heat where something on the track popped Ben's car loose and it slid across the finish line sideways! Still came in third overall despite that horrendous time! (Sidenote, this was the only time the entire day that any car had an issue and I think that they should have re-run the heat after brushing the track clean, but oh well).
As you can see from the pics, the best part was the sheer joy on Ben's face! It was nice this year to be able to have him do significant work on the car, doing what he was able to do (he is a special needs kid with Down Syndrome). He helped with the shaping on the belt sander, final sanding, axle polishing, wheel bore polishing and applying the vinyl. He even tried his hand at routing weight pockets with the Dremel, but after several disasters and new blocks dad had to do the routing!
Cannot express how much the information here was helpful. Enjoy the pics.
