ROANOKE RAPIDS — Though the weather was cold outside, the mood inside was warm and friendly as Cub Scouts throughout the Roanoke Valley journeyed to the Becker Village Mall Saturday to race small wooden cars down a track and to socialize with each other at the Tri-County District Pinewood Derby.

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Eight packs and 80 racers came to compete, according to Beth Perry, who helped organize the event sponsored by Gay Implement Company. “They helped pay for the trophies and patches,” Perry explained.

Technical glitches delayed the start of the races, starting with a bad power strip, Perry said. Computer problems followed, but after about 20 minutes, the racing began.

“I think (the Scouts) get a lot of camaraderie,” stated Pack 182 Cubmaster Greg Diettrich. “Kids talk; they’re a lot less inhibited than we are.”

In years past, incidents involving the passion of competition have arisen, from Scouts and parents. This year everyone seemed to be behaving.

“The Scouts I’ve seen in this area are very well behaved,” Diettrich asserted. 

“A lot of the kids are not that competitive,” said Tanya Glasgow, leader for Den 8 in Pack 238 Cub Scouts. “I think they’re more interested in the design of the cars and showing them off to each other.”

Diettrich sees a lot of character building in the Pinewood Derby for the boys. “As a boy you get to bond with the adult you’re working with,” he said. “You get to see the fruits of your labor (during the races).”

Bruce Allen Manning, whose grandson Jackson Wright finished second on the Tiger Division, remembers his own Pinewood Derby. “It was all manual,” he recalled. “At the end, there were flags that would pop up. It was nothing like this.”

These days, a computer determines the lanes for each car and provides an instant time. Racers go three times, once in each lane, and the winners are determined by their average time.  “It’s amazing now the complexity of it,” Manning said.

Complex or no, the District Pinewood is still a big event, as Glasgow asserted. “As I’ve said before, it’s the Olympics of Cub Scouting.”