Dylan’s FBI Car

Jason writes:

Over the last several years, the boys and I have enjoyed the annual rite of the pinewood derby. Over the years we’ve developed a process for creating our designs, and the boys have been able to do more and more of the work.

In the early days I told them we can make the car fast, or we can make it look good, but we wouldn’t have time to do both. The boys always chose for it to look good, and their cars won some prizes as the "Scouts' favorite." And some years, we’ve been fast, too.

Last year was the first time we missed building a car. February is always so busy for me, with Simplot Games and everything else going on, and last year it just got away from us, so Dylan used the same car he’d built in Las Vegas when he was eight (it was a great car – Scouts’ choice, and runner up). It was the runner up in his new pack.

The last several months have been incredibly busy, so this year’s derby snuck up on me. I toyed with asking Dylan to forego another car. But before I could, Dylan asked me if we could build a car. So, yes, I told him we’d build it, but he needed to accept that we just didn’t have the time to do it right. He said he didn’t care, he just wanted to build one with me.

So on a Sunday afternoon, just nine days before the derby, we sketched out the plan that we’d create a car that looked like a killer whale. On Monday night we put our process to work in double-time. We drilled it for weights, cut it out, sanded it, and applied putty for the finish. That was for looks.

Dylan took charge of making it fast. Working on the drill press, he polished the axles until they had a smooth mirror finish, and sanded the wheels perfectly round.

I took the sanded block of wood with me that night to my hotel in Baltimore (I had all-day meetings on Tuesday) and primed it on the hotel’s bathroom floor (I used a complimentary copy of USA Today to protect the floor). On Wednesday morning Dylan and I hopped on a plane to Idaho for Simplot Games. Inside Dylan’s carry on: Zip-Loc bags with his car (now in white primer), wheels, and axles. That night we drove to the Pocatello Home Depot and purchased black spray paint and masking tape.

It wasn’t until late Friday night, (after two days and almost 30 hours of work at the Games), that we were finally able to apply the paint in Yvonne’s parents’ garage. We worked fast, because it was well below freezing – but the finish was smooth and glossy. Back on the airplane the following Monday, Dylan securely and carefully placed the dry car in his carry-on. The pinewood derby was the very next day.

So d-day (derby day) Tuesday, I got home from work early so we could place the wheels and axles on the car. Thirty minutes later we were off to derby with no test run, no pre-weigh-in, nothing. I told Dylan again not to be too disappointed if it wasn’t fast, and to be happy because it looked great.

At the derby we finally weighed it: too heavy. To add a little drama, I couldn’t get the weight out of the car. Borrowing a knife, I was able to pry out the extra 0.4 ounces and narrowly avoid snapping off the back end of the whale. The second time on the scale, we were on the money.

Dylan and his friends were wrapped up in the excitement of the derby as the races started. On the fourth heat, Dylan’s car finally got on the track. Yvonne and I watched nervously. He had worked so hard and been so patient, we didn’t want him to feel a let-down if it was too slow.

The cars were off, and Dylan’s edged forward on the slope. A promising sign. Then it hit the flat portion of the track…and it exploded to the finish line, winning by more than three feet. Dylan turned around and looked at us like “where did that come from?”

And so it went for three more races, Dylan’s car winning by three or four feet every time, going away. I was asked how we made it so fast. I said I didn’t know. Dads were carefully examining the car to find our secret, but there wasn’t one. Dylan worked hard to contain his enthusiasm, but he couldn’t hide his smile as he accepted awards (and a box of candy) for the “killer car”, the fastest car, and, yep, Scouts’ favorite.

 

I was proud – but not of the car. I was proud of Dylan. He was so patient, and so flexible, and so surprised that we pulled it of.

Finally, the headline – Dylan’s FBI car. We needed to come up with a name, and FBI just made sense, because it was built and assembled in Frederick, Baltimore, and Idaho. Perfect.