A couple of days ago I posted a blog about preparing for Camp Quest Arizona. I got a few likes and a couple of comments. One of the comments that I received on FaceBook was about the Pinewood Derby. Pinewood Derby played a significant role in my entire life and I’m very happy to share it with the kids at Camp Quest.
I was introduced to Pinewood Derby quite a few years ago—actually over 50 years ago. I was in a Boy Scout pack hosted by a Catholic Parish in Idaho. My father was serving in Trabzon Turkey on a remote assignment with the United States Air Force and my mother and two sisters were living in a converted basement a couple of blocks from the Catholic school I attended. We had come to Pocatello half way through my 3rd grade year. A remote assignment is one of the occupational situations that occur when you’re serving the country and my father’s number was called. For those not familiar with the military jargon, a remote assignment is one where the military member must go overseas without his family. At the time, the normal duration for a “remote” was 15 months. My mother and father were from Pocatello so it made sense for us to relocate there while my father was away. We’d be close to family.
My 54 Year Old Car
One of the normal activities associated with Boy Scouts is Pinewood Derby. Each boy is given a kit consisting, at that time, of a block of pinewood, two axle supports, 4 nails, and 4 wheels. The kid, with the help of his father, was to make a “race” car to compete with the other members of the pack. My father was unavailable and my mother was not capable of helping me make my car. However, she found someone to help me. I didn’t know him and I don’t know where she found him. I can’t remember his name. He was a Bishop of the LDS Church and volunteered to help me build the car for the Pinewood event. I must confess that I don’t remember looking into this man’s eyes. I was 8 years old at the time. To this day, I appreciate what he did for me. It’s a shame that I don’t remember his name. I met with him and he was very patient with me. He asked me what I had in mind for my race car. I had no idea! I knew what my uncle’s sprint car looked like and chose to make it look like that. I remember that he wasn’t sure that was the right way to go but couldn’t talk me out of the design that I had in mind. I took out a pocket knife and scored the shape into the block. Over the next few weeks I went to his house and cut and sanded on the car. It looked like what I had in mind but we were running out of time. My benefactor helped me out by taking the car into his work place and painting it for me. When I saw it, I was amazed. He had finished it for me and it was beautiful. It was perfectly finished and shiny. He gave it to me and I was on top of the world. My mother thought that I shouldn’t have it until the day of the race and placed it on top of the refrigerator where I couldn’t get at it. Unfortunately, it fell and the wheels were cracked. My benefactor took the car back and filled the wheels with wood putty so that the car could still be used in the race. I never forgave my mother for destroying my beautiful car. The race was anti-climactic. It was held in the basement of the Catholic Church. I handed over my patched up car to the race officials and watched—distant and disconnected from what was happening. I remember the lever on the side of the track being turned. I remember the cars going down the track and I remember that my car finished last. That was it. It was over. My beautiful race car had lost and I was done. I won no awards but I took my car home and 54 years later, I still have it.
My next experience with Pinewood Derby involved my own son. He was in Boys Scouts for three years and I have his three cars. The first year I helped him quite a bit and the car shows it. In subsequent years, I did less of the actual work. This is as it should be. However, I never forgot my experience and worked with the pack leadership to make sure my own son’s experience would not be the same as mine. The first year, I offered to help but was turned down. “No help needed. We got this,” I was told. To be fair, the pack at Edwards AFB did run the event in such a way that each boy got a chance to run more than one race. The philosophy was that each boy got to run on each lane at least once. However, their electronic scoring system failed and they relied on volunteers looking at the finish line to determine the winners. This didn’t work out well! The second year, I once again offered to help but was told “We got this.” Again, the electronic system failed and scoring was left to the calibrated eyeballs of volunteers. The third year my friend, Don Golding, and I were determined to make the event the best that it could be. We built a new track and Don Golding developed and built the electronics scoring box. I wrote a software program and a procedure to insure that each boy got a chance to run on every lane and at least once against every other boy in his group.
My son’s last year in Boy Scouts and his last year of Pinewood Derby was quite rewarding for him and his pack. The new track and software made for a conflict free event which is unusual for these types of events. Everyone who participated came away with the feeling that they had just experienced a fun and fair event. Each boy ran their cars at least 6 times and they handled their own cars. They were involved.
I’m now over 1000 words and only through with the first chapter of the story. Watch this space for the rest of the story. Next time I’ll post pictures of my son’s three cars and our father/son experiences.
…and I may not be ready…I’ve made a joke of it but it’s true! Ever since I retired, I don’t have time for my hobbies. Currently, I’m preparing for my second year as a camp counselor at 
This might be considered a public service. When someone calls me at home, I simply say, “I don’t give money to people that bother me by calling me at home. I’m sorry. Goodbye.” If you want money from me, don’t call me…And don’t come to my door either. The same rule applies. When someone calls to sell me something, I’m less polite than that. Normally, I just hang up the phone and add the calling number to my “blocked list.” Rude? Perhaps but is it less rude to hang up on an unwanted call than to make a sales call to a person who has enrolled in the “do not call” list? To those that call from “Microsoft” telling me that they’ve noticed that I have malware traffic on my computer…I’m even ruder! If I knew how to say “Fuck you, you’re a liar” in Hindi I’d say it but I have to register my displeasure in good ol’ English. Technology is wonderful and I’m on board with most of it. At one time the phone was the pinnacle of technology in the home. When I was a kid we had one on the wall in the kitchen and it had a very long coiled cord. My parents splurged on a “private” as opposed to “party” line so that when the phone rang it was supposed to be for us. However, we lived in base housing on the grounds of the Air Force Academy and our number was GreenWood 2-1006 which was one number off from the number for the kitchen at the Officer’s Club. You can imagine the phone calls we got:
Nancy and I just returned from “down under.” We visited Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. It was a bucket list accomplishment and we’ll be paying for it for a while but it was worth it. We’ll be headed for Memphis for Easter weekend in a few hours to attend the American Atheist Convention and more good times with great friends and fellow free thinkers.
2015 marks my 10th year of Atheist activism. Prior to 2005, I carried one of those little memo books around in my shirt pocket. On the first page was a list of things that I wanted to accomplish. They were big things like refurbish my classic car, replace the carpeting in the house, add a balcony, and build a workshop. In 2005, I was 3 years from my second retirement and I stopped adding to the list. The things on the list got done and I was approaching the point when I needed to find a new purpose. I had plenty of hobbies to keep me busy but I needed something that needed to be done and something that would make a difference long after I’m gone. Hanging more trophies on the wall wasn’t going to do it for me anymore. Nancy and I started getting busy with Skepticism, Atheism, and Humanism. We joined the related organizations but it wouldn’t be long before I would move into a leader position. It is inevitable but so is burnout but there is so much left to accomplish.
I’ve been busy with Halloween for the last several weeks and I need to get back to the series on building a secular community but not today. Today, I want to offer an idea that is particularly suited to this time of year—the day after Election Day.
the one pictured here:
I was in particular need of a box for my rapping skeleton prop that was given to me this year. He worked out great at the Halloween Karaoke gathering at the house but he’s 5 foot tall and the box he came in is only 3 foot tall. He was designed to be pushed down for packing against some strong springs but the locking pins have been misplaced and 10 year old Chinese plastic can become brittle. It would be better to pack him in a bigger box. With his head removed, I needed a 4′ high box.
out great. I cut a picture from the original packing box and taped it to the outside and it’s ready for storage for a year. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to make out of all the other signs.
Apparently, Coroplast sign material is recyclable but it is strangely satisfying to “repurpose” this material directly and custom made Halloween storage boxes is a great application. A new cardboard box for the Rapping Skeleton would be over $5.
Tucson has had its freethinking community for quite some time but it consisted of small disassociated groups with small memberships.
This is the first in a series of short articles about the freethought community in southern Arizona.
The contest has always focused on autonomous systems. It is not a contest of the eye hand coordination of the operators but their ability to make a system that can perform the various tasks without human intervention. Of course, there are “operators standing by” with kill mechanisms to bring down the flying vehicles immediately if there is a problem and they have been needed from time to time.
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