Let’s Race! were the words of the day at West Windsor Cub Scout Pack 40’s annual Pinewood Derby on January 20. Each year Cub Scouts build race cars from a standard kit. The cars race and the Pack awards trophies and medals to the fastest cars, and prizes for the best-looking cars.
For many of the scouts, especially the younger ones, making the car was a joint parent-child activity. “We never dreamed that we would have so much fun being part of Cub Scouts and the Pinewood Derby,” says Randy Kullman, whose son Kevin competed as a Wolf Scout while his three daughters competed in the sibling league. “It was both entertaining and a great learning experience. We spent a lot of quality time together making our cars and it was very apparent that everyone else did as well.”##M:[more]##
The winners for speed by rank were: Tiger scouts: Preston Heyse, first place; Kevin McManus, second place; and Samuel Chen, third place. Wolf scouts: James Donato, first place; Kevin Kullmann, second place; and Rahul Setya, third place. Bear scouts: Patrick Zeoli, first place; Nathan Painter, second place; and Andrew McTigue, third place. Webelo 1 scouts: David Yaffe-Bellany, first place; David Van Dyke, second place; and Michael Rexroad, third place. Webelo 2 scouts: Michael Vogt, first place; Adam Kercheval, second place; and Vikranth Eleswarapu, third place. Siblings: Kar Setya, first place; Rebecca Van Dyke, second place; and Rachel Heyse, third place.
The overall winners for speed for the Pack as a whole were: Patrick Zeoli, first place; Michael Vogt, second place; Preston Heyse, third place; Nathan Painter, fourth place; and David Yaffe-Bellany, fifth place.
The four winners, who received inflated race car prizes, for overall appearance were Jack Dreger’s rocket ship enhanced with Lego pieces, Matthew Bergman’s gila monster, Kevin Kullmann’s spaceship, and Matthew Warshauer’s black dog.
“Over the years, our family has been involved in three different Cub Scout packs and this by far was the best Pinewood Derby we have ever been to.” says Lisa Heyse, a Tiger den leader.
A thank you plaque was presented to Mike Kercheval, the Pinewood Derby announcer for many years. “He sounds like a professional announcer at the Daytona 500,” says Louisa Ho, coordinator for the event. “There was such positive energy and excitement in the room that was created and maintained by Mike’s amazing humor and enthusiasm as an announcer.”
“I enjoy seeing all the families having a good old time with each other,” says cubmaster Anthony Zeoli. If your son is interested in joining Cub Scout Pack 40 in West Windsor, contact Mary Painter at 609-275-9869.
