Please read the following carefully before your cub scout starts to build the car.

To try and move away from recent races where cars designed and built by some of the boys have to complete against cars designed and built by parents, we are adopting the following rules for the 2007 Pinewood Derby.  Obviously we can’t check on how much adult involvement  there is in building each car but we rely on the cub scouts / parents to enter a car in one of the 2 categories listed below . . . and parents can build a car for the adult race if they’re interested to try their hand at building the fastest car .
There will be 2 categories of cars in this year’s cub scout pinewood derby race:

1.    Cars which are built by the boys (almost) entirely themselves.  The only adult help allowed is during the cutting stage – HELPING the boys in guiding power tools or holding the wood and supervising while the boys use a hand saw.  The boys should be encouraged to design a car which they are able to cut themselves.   The design, sanding, painting, applying weights, decoration etc. is 100% the work of the boys.  Of course the boys will need encouraged throughout the project but can still make the car “entirely” themselves.

2.    The boy and adult can make the car together as a project.  The adult can be more involved in this build but it is not the intent that the adult cuts and sands while the Scout watches – parents can shape with power tools and then direct the rest of the action while showing the boy each step in building the car.  The scout should still feel a real sense of achievement for what HE has built.