Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Roars to a Winning Finish

The Preparation

This year’s races included: 36 Cub Scouts from Pack 334; 15 Cub Scout Leaders, friends, and family; and 24 Girl Scouts. We handled 74 Racers in three separate races, the most in one day!

Pack 334 Leaders start meeting to plan the Pinewood Derby in November or December, then have a series of meetings in January, February, and March to iron out all the details. It is tremendous work, and you’d never bother doing it unless you loved Cub Scouts, especially the Pinewood Derby.

The night before the race, we hold our “Set Up Night” where parents and volunteers come out to transform Westminster Hall into our Race Hall. So many parents came out to help, and it got a little chaotic sometimes! Something to tweak for next year.

This year, we were able to run a full dress rehearsal, so by the time we left at 11:30 p.m. (!), we knew that we were ready to race!

The Race Hall

Like the 2024 Pinewood Derby, the Pack turned Westminster Hall in Leverington Church into the Race Hall, complete with a fast aluminum track, a hyper-accurate finish-line timing system, amazing software to track and sort every racer and every race, and a completely transformed space decorated with love by parents.

To add to the festivities, we had a special flyover during the National Anthem, a drone piloted by licensed former Eagle Scout and current Troop 334 Committee Chair Keith Humphries. Check out this amazing footage he captured!

Amazing drone footage courtesy of pilot Keith Humphries, former Eagle Scout, current Troop 334 Committee Chair.

The Cars

We hand out the Pinewood Derby car kits in January, then hold workshops to help Scouts and parents build the cars.

The car kits are given to families with detailed instructions and rules, and, as it has for years, our website maintains a robust page with former winners, rules, and tips.

A week before the race, we have a festive “Weigh-In Night” where all cars must be inspected, including ensuring each car’s weight is at or below 5.0 ounces. Once a car is weighed-in, it is sequestered by Race Officials in a special box, and not touched again until Race Day.

Look at some of this year’s amazing cars!

Take a tour of all of our 2025 Pinewood Derby cars.

The Race

Finally, with all the cars ready and the Race Hall all set up, Race Day dawned. Some of our Leaders arrived before 7:00 a.m. to ensure everything was in order and ready to go.

Before the race began, an esteemed Judging Crew assessed each car for our Creative Awards. This year’s Judges were: Jeffrey Craighead, the Chartered Organization Rep for Pack 334; Rob Ross, volunteer derby car builder for Pack 334 and Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 334; Bruce Hoffman, President of the 21st Ward Veterans Administration; and standing in for PA State Representative for the 194th District/Philadelphia, Tarik Kahn, was his Chief of Staff, David Rivenbark.

The judging had some issues this year, as the scoring sheets given to the Judges were incomplete, difficult to read, and too complicated. Something to tweak for next year!

While the judging was happening, our Racers registered in the hallway and received their 2025 Pinewood Derby Driver’s License to wear and take home as a keepsake.

Finally, the doors flew open and Racers rushed into the Race Hall, awed by the decorations, dancing to the car-themed music, and eventually finding their “reserved seating”.

After a rousing rendition of the National Anthem by Bear Den Leadear Shawn Dillon, a few speeches, and a review of the rules, some silliness and some explosions (this is Pack 334, after all), the 2025 Pinewood Derby was off to the races!

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Asst. Cubmaster Fury firing his “cotton ball cannon”.

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A full house; let’s race!

In the 2024 Pinewood Derby, we switched from “head-to-head” racing with a double-elimination bracket to a timed race using our new software (GrandPrix Race Manager) and timer (TwinTurbo). While the results were incredibly accurate, many felt some drama was lost without the head-to-head racing.

So this year, we tried something new.

We used a hybrid racing format that incorporated the double-elimination bracket system we’ve used in the past, with fancy software and a timer to measure each car’s speed each time it raced.

We did this by breaking the race into two rounds.

In Round One, we had multiple “heats” so every car could run once on every lane (our track has three lanes). This allowed each car to have three timed runs. The slowest time of the three was dropped, and the remaining two times were averaged.

The Best Gas Mileage winner was determined by the car that finished Round One with the slowest average time.

In Round Two, the sixteen cars with the fastest average speeds raced in head-to-head, double-elimination races, eventually determining the First, Second, and Third-Place winners.

We got closer to our goal of a precise and fair race, along with some intense championship drama, but how we ran the race seemed to go on a bit too long, especially for the youngest Scouts. Something to tweak for next year!

The Winners

After the Race was run and won, we held an Award Ceremony for our winners. Each Racer received a special 2025 Pinewood Derby Patch, and we recognized the fastest car in each Den. In addition, the following Scouts received special recognition for their achievements; they will receive their trophies with their names engraved on them at our Blue & Gold ceremony.

Creative Awards

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Speed Awards

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A special call-out to Jen Dillon, Cub Scout parent, whose car “Gulf Oil” won the Community Race, and to David Rivenbark, Chief of Staff for and racing on behalf of Rep. Tarik Kahn, who hasn’t built a car in decades yet managed to place 4th in a tightly contested match (even though he had to tape his weights on at the last minute).

David’s car, 194, named for the 194th District, was almost named “Carstituents”, but somehow he was overruled. Politics is a tough business.

The Aftermath

After the Cub Scout Race was complete, Leaders from Pack 334 stayed to manage an additional race for Daisy Scouts from Girl Scout Troops 983 and 9004. When their race concluded, the spell was broken, and with the help of the Girl Scout leaders and some parents, the Race Hall was meticulously transformed back into Westminster Hall.

Within 24 hours, Pack 334 sent a survey to parents asking for feedback on everything related to the Pinewood Derby. We received a tremendous response and incorporated the results into a lengthy debrief meeting a few days later. For almost three hours, we discussed what went well and what could be improved, and we started sketching out the plans for next year’s Pinewood Derby.

Even though we seem to get older each year, the Pinewood Derby makes everyone feel like a kid again; we can’t wait till next March.

Though speaking for the other leaders and parents, if we don’t have to fiddle with wheels, weights, and graphite powder for a little while, we’re very OK with that!