By Jay M. Woodward Pony Express Editor

    On Saturday, March 10, 2007, for the second year in a row, NNED Royal Rangers held the Northern New England 600 Pinewood Derby at the Curtis Lake Christian Church in Sanford, Maine.  This year, a total of 69 boys and leaders from across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont entered in the competition for the thrill of the race, and to earn some fabulous prizes!       Boys and leaders spent many hours designing, cutting, sculpting, sanding, painting, fine tuning the wheels, and putting the finishing touches on their sleek wooden racing machines in order to get ready for the competition.    

    For this year’s Pinewood Derby, the goal  from the beginning was to make it even better than last year’s, and the efforts were clearly visible.  As Deputy District Commander Kendall Sperrey, who again this year served as the Derby’s Crew Chief, explained, “I think we had a better idea of what was going to take place, we had taken some good notes from last year, some things we wanted to change, we were able to make some enhancements.”   There were new posters all around the gymnasium, better prizes and trophies for the winners, a PlayStation 2 for boys to play NASCAR 2005, and even an improved concession stand menu, which this year included hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches!   Boys clearly saw the improvements, too.   Adventure Ranger David Drury of Outpost 36 commented , “This year was better than last year.  One of my favorite parts was the food, it was cheap, it was very good.  It was pretty cool how one guy brought the PlayStation to hook up to a projector.”   

    The Derby began at 11:30 AM.  Making sure that the focus of the day was on Christ, Commander  Ken Bustard began with a devotion on Jeff Gordon, and told the crowd that while winning trophies is exiting, they won’t mean anything when we stand face to face before the Lord, and that we will lay our crowns at His feet.  It was a very meaningful devotion to start the event.  Following the singing of our National Anthem, the races began.  Each age group got its turn to race its cars on the track, and the results were tallied electronically, and immediately, thanks to the state-of -the-art Pinewood Derby sensor system!  As a result, there were no disputed racing results.  Expedition Rangers went first, followed by the Ranger Kids, then Discovery Rangers, Expedition Rangers, and finally Leaders & Dads.   Though there was plenty of excitement and competition, everyone was still in good spirits.  As Adventure Ranger Kyle Constable of Outpost 21 said, “There’s been a lot of good sportsmanship, and no matter what the outcome was, people really had a good time!”                   

    Awards were handed out to the top 3 racers in each group.  In addition, each age group had awards for Most Unusual Car and Best Paint Job!  In the Overall Competition,  Zach Stanley of Outpost #25 was the 2007 NNED Cup Champion!   He joined the rest of the Top 5 overall winners inside the Winner’s Circle, another new feature of this year’s event.  Following the race, boys got to pick prizes, such as baseball caps, t-shirts, and even NASCAR replica cars!  These were made possible through the sponsorship of New Hampshire International Speedway, NAPA Auto Parts, and several auto dealerships in Maine.  A big THANK YOU goes out to all of our sponsors!

     Also, there was a special occasion celebrated for District Commander Jerry Love’s 60^th birthday.  The crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him, and he was presented with cupcakes arranged to read “60” with candles on them, which he easily and handily blew out.  The cupcakes were then made available to anyone who wanted one.  Now that truly was icing on the cake! 

After all the awards and prizes were handed out, boys and leaders worked together to clean up the gymnasium, take down all of the race banners, and leave everything in better shape than it was before they came.   All in all, Pinewood Derby 2007 was a great success.  Reflecting on the event, Commander Kendall said, “Overall, I think the Derby went well.  I’m very pleased with the way the day turned out.   We had a lot of boys who had a lot of fun, and it’s all about having fun.”  Also, there will be enhancements made for next year’s Derby better than this year.   But for 2007, Pinewood Derby was back- and better than ever!