For this year’s car, we decided to get a little silly.

“I can’t believe we didn’t make a single cut on the car this year!” was the Boy’s refrain.

We drilled a couple of holes to put in some weight; we sanded a lot; and we painted a bit. However, not a single cut.

We haven’t had a lot of success in the pinewood derby. I don’t think the Boy has even placed in his den let alone the pack.

Still, we kept trying. Last year, we employed a number of tricks:

• polishing the axels;
• bending the axles to make the wheels point outward at the bottom to minimize friction;
• mounting one front wheel high so that it didn’t touch the track;
• making sure we’d put the weight in the perfect location relative to the car’s center of gravity.

None of that really helped.

I think this year we were both hopeful that if we didn’t place in the actual race we might get some recognition for originality. After all, we entered a stick of butter.

“I can’t believe we didn’t make a single cut on the car this year!”

It did about as well as our fine-tuned, finely-balanced car from last year in the race. And in the superlatives?

The Boy’s expression says it all.

“I was hoping to win something today,” he said quietly afterward.