No offense to Hinsdale’s Memorial Hall, but the setting for Cub Scout Pack 10’s Pinewood Derby this year was quite a step up from the basement, where the pack used to set up its racetrack among the shelves and boxes of a food pantry.
The Laurel BMW car dealership in Westmont not only paid for a new track, it also hosted the derby in its showroom March 1, with professional race car drivers, instant replays and promotional gifts.
“My whole goal is to get kids interested in the automobile industry,” said Patrick Womack, the general manager at Laurel.
He’s not proposing all the Cub Scouts own car dealerships when they grow up.
“I’m sure these kids will have more opportunities than I had,” Womack said.
But they may become interested in car design or mechanics.
“I want to open them up to all the possibilities,” Womack said. “There are tons of opportunities.”
Pack 10 draws boys from The Lane, Oak and Monroe schools in Hinsdale and Elm School in Burr Ridge. To compete in the derby, the Cub Scouts must build a roughly 7 by-3 inch car from a single block of pine wood, that is subject to weight and other restrictions.
Cubmaster Robert Rocque knew the children would be thrilled with the derby upgrades.
“We’d been stuffed in the dingy basement of Memorial Hall using a three-lane track that was 20 to 25 years old and held together with Band-Aids and baling wire,” Rocque said.
The new aluminum track has six lanes, a remote control start, camera and a real-time video feed that can be played back in slow motion on a large screen. It is 42-feet long, compared to the old track, which was 26-feet long. Throughout the races, the sound effects of engines revving and cars crashing were played.
“It’s a whole different beast,” Rocque said.
Sportscar drivers Ashley Freiberg and Trent Hindman had one of their BMW race cars in the dealership and demonstrated a driver change, with safety checks and harness and helmet hookups, in about 20 seconds, Rocque said.
Freiberg, who last year was the first woman to win the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Daytona International Speedway, and Hindman, the youngest winner of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, explained how they started racing, did a question-and-answer session with the audience and signed autographs.
Freiberg and Hindman also presented the trophies for fastest, most unusual, most innovative and other categories of cars.
Even the adults were given an outlet for the enthusiasm for racing the pair generated. After the Cub Scouts raced, the track was opened up to brothers and sisters of the Cub Scouts, parents and other adults.
Freiberg, Hindman and Womack raced Pinewood Derby cars they had made.
“Their cars had more style than speed,” said Rocque.
Rocque said he had the fastest car of the adult-made cars, some of which were crafted by BMW mechanics.
Overall, it was an amazing day, Rocque said, and hopes it will be the start of an ongoing partnership between the Scouts and BMW.
Twitter: @kfdoings
