Pinewood Derby

The Pinewood Derby is the iconic Cub Scout event. Every year, every scout in the pack builds a small wooden race car and we race them down a sloped track on a Saturday in January. It’s one of the most loved traditions in scouting — and for good reason. Watch a five-year-old’s face as their car crosses the finish line first and you’ll get it.

Pack 12 holds our Pinewood Derby every January. The exact date appears on our calendar once it’s set.

What it is

Each scout receives an official BSA Pinewood Derby kit:

A rectangular block of pine wood
Four plastic wheels
Four metal axles (small nails)

With an adult’s help, the scout designs and builds a car from those parts. Cars are powered only by gravity — no motors, no propulsion. On race day, all the cars race down the same track, and the fastest cars move on through brackets to crown winners.

When you’ll get a kit

We hand out kits at the December pack meeting, which gives every scout a full month to build their car before race day in January.

If your scout joins mid-year and misses the December distribution, talk to the Cubmaster — we’ll get them a kit.

The rules

We use Scouting America’s standard Pinewood Derby rules:

Maximum weight: 5 ounces. Cars over 5.0 oz on the official scale cannot race in the standings until adjusted.
Maximum length: 7 inches
Maximum width: 2¾ inches (this is the wheelbase plus a little margin — your car must fit on the track)
Wheels and axles must be the official BSA parts from the kit. You may polish or smooth them, but you may not replace them with aftermarket parts.
All four wheels must touch the track at the start.
No loose parts. Anything on the car has to stay attached during the race.
No external propulsion — no springs, magnets, motors, or chemical reactions.

Decoration is wide open. Paint, decals, sculpting the wood into shapes, weights for ballast — all encouraged. Some of the most fun parts of race day are seeing what designs scouts come up with.

Building the car

The Pinewood Derby is a parent-and-scout project. The scout designs and decorates the car; the parent helps with cuts that need adult tools and supervises any sanding, painting, or weighting. The goal isn’t a parent-built showcar — it’s a car the scout had a real hand in creating.

A few practical tips:

Sketch the design first. Decide on the shape before you cut.
Cut early, decorate later. Get the rough shape done first so there’s time for sanding, painting, and adding weights.
Get the weight right. Most cars come from the kit underweight. Stick-on weights or tungsten putty work well — anything that gets you close to (but not over) 5.0 oz.
A dry lubricant on the axles (graphite powder) is allowed and helps. Liquid lubricants are usually not allowed.
Test fit on a household scale before race day. Many scales aren’t perfectly calibrated, but they’ll get you close.

Race day

Pinewood Derby day is a pack-wide event — usually replacing that month’s pack meeting. Here’s how it generally runs:

Check-in and inspection (Friday evening or Saturday morning). Bring your finished car. Each car is weighed on the official scale and inspected against the rules. If your car doesn’t pass, we have tools on hand for last-minute adjustments — adding weight, trimming length, fixing wheels.

Heat racing. Every car races multiple times, in different lanes, against different opponents. This evens out any track-lane advantage. Times are recorded electronically.

Finals. The fastest cars from each rank advance to a final bracket. We crown rank winners (fastest Tiger, Wolf, etc.) and an overall pack champion.

Awards. Trophies for the fastest cars in each rank and the overall pack winner. We also award Best in Show based on design — voted on by the families in attendance — so creative cars don’t go unrecognized.

Sibling and adult races. After the official races, we run a fun exhibition for siblings and adults who’ve built their own cars. No trophies, just bragging rights.

What if my car loses?

Then we cheer for whoever’s racing and we go home and try again next year. Sportsmanship is one of the things this event teaches. Win gracefully, lose gracefully, and remember the kid you’re racing against is your friend.

We also ask that scouts don’t pick up their car early if they’re out of contention. Watching the finals (and cheering for the scouts still racing) is part of the day.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy a pre-cut car or use last year’s? Each year’s car has to be a new build using that year’s kit. Pre-cut official BSA blocks are available at the Scout Shop and are allowed — they save the cutting step but still leave plenty of building, sanding, weighting, and decorating for the scout.

My scout wants to win. How do we make a fast car? The biggest factors are weight (right at 5.0 oz), weight distribution (toward the back of the car), wheel alignment, and friction reduction. The internet has endless guides. But honestly, the real lesson is the process — and a slower car your scout actually built is worth more than a fast car a parent built alone.

My scout is brand new and we have no tools. What do we do? Talk to the Cubmaster. Several pack families have shop space and tools and are happy to help. Nobody gets left out of the derby because they don’t have a band saw.

What about district and council races? Pinewood Derby winners at the pack level are sometimes invited to larger district races. Specifics depend on what the council and district schedule each year — we’ll let winners know.