Port Chester Cub Scouts Test Their Skills at Pinewood Derby

Members of Port Chester Cub Scouts Pack 19 went head-to-head in a Pinewood Derby to see which of them could make the fastest wooden car.

About 18 members of the pack, with Boy Scouts from Port Chester Troop 400 helping out, gathered at Our Lady of Mercy Church's community room on Sunday for the Pinewood Derby.

Members of the pack spent about a month making their cars out of wood and decorating them for the race, which uses a long piece of track on which the cars ride.

About 40 friends and family members attended the race to cheer on the Cub Scouts. There were trophies for the winners and the race participants.

Congratulations go out to the race winners:

Pack Champion - William MacAllister 

2nd runner up AJ Rich
3rd runner up Noah Rotfeld 

Webelos 2nd year 

First place - William MacAllister
Second Place - Michael Kessler 
Third Place - Justin McFadden

Webelos 1st year
First Place - Gavin LaDore
Second Place - William Manos
Third Place - Brandon Ramos

Bears                               
First place - Noah Rotfeld 
Second Place - Dillon Ramos

Wolves                                 
First place - AJ Rich
Second Place - Tommy Borzoni 
Third Place - Julian Alvarado

Cub Scouts have been building their own cars and competing in Pinewood Derby events since 1953, according to scouting.

"At the heart of this event's success is the process itself - bonds are strengthened as the Cub Scout partners with a parent or adult mentor to design, carve, paint, weigh, refine, and race the car. In addition, Cub Scouts build confidence and take pride in their own growing skills and hard work. So enjoy the ride!"

Did You Know? 

A fast Pinewood Derby car can reach a speed of nearly 20 miles per hour. Pretty good for a little block of wood! 

If a Pinewood Derby car racing down the track was enlarged to the size of a real automobile, it would be speeding at more than 200 miles an hour. That's fast! 

The first Pinewood Derby was run in 1953 at the Manhattan Beach Scout House near Los Angeles when Cubmaster Don Murphy introduced the idea to Pack 280C. 

Over the years, Cub Scouts have built close to 100 million Pinewood Derby racers. That's a lot of cars! 

If you lined up all the Pinewood Derby race cars, bumper-to- bumper, they would reach more than 7,000 miles - far enough to stretch from Charlotte, North Carolina, to the North Pole! 

If every Pinewood Derby car made this year took just one run down the track, the combined distance would be from the Earth to the Moon and back. That's out of this world! 

Reader's Digest magazine included the Pinewood Derby in its 2006 Best of America list as "a celebrated rite of spring." Way to go, Cub Scouts! 

No Pinewood Derby car has ever used a drop of gasoline. Gravity rules!