Cub Scouts race cars in annual Pinewood Derby

Cub Scout members geared up Friday night to show off their wheels to family and friends.

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Five dens from Pack 620 competed at the annual Pinewood Derby Race at Wesley United Methodist Church in Evans.

The boys sat around the race track and waited until their names were called for their turn with about 120 cars racing in the competition.

"Where else would you find 100 boys on a Friday evening sitting and behaving like they are now?" said Jeff Schwab, the Scout executive of the Georgia-Carolina Council.

The racers built cars of different colors and designs out of blocks of wood from a kit.

Though each is unique, the cars are required to maintain some similarities.

Each car was measured and weighed before the race began. The cars could be no more than 7 inches long, a little under 3 inches in width and weigh no more than 5 ounces.

The track consisted of three lanes with a laser timer recording the times of each car.

A computer randomly chose the racing schedule.

Powered by gravity, each car was placed at the top of the track and raced three times. The times were then averaged together to determine the winner for each category.

Jackie Eubanks, who helped organize the race, said the top three winners in each den would move forward to compete in the council derby followed by the district race against packs in different counties across the area in either March or April.

"We're just basically looking for them to get pride in the work they do and to get togetherness with their parents, guardians or whomever," he said, "and then just have a little fun."

Along with bragging rights, awards were distributed for placing in the race and having a creative car design.

Jake Hughes and Nicholas Eubanks, both in the Webelo I den, said they spent about two months working on their cars.

"We're excited about maybe getting a trophy," Nicholas said.

Jake Rutt won first place in the Webelo II den, Luke Lamb won first place in the Webelo I den, Zach Rutt won first place in the Bear den, Austin Volpe won first place in the Wolf den, Gregory Sullivan won first place in the Tiger den, and Dylan Gregory won first place in the sibling category.