WEBVTT - How Pinewood Derbies Work 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to you Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:12.760 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.200 Josh Clark. There's Charles w Chuck Bryant. Jerry's over there 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.119 with her timer wagging her finger, which means it's time 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.919 to start. Stuff you should know. The podcast just got 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.440 out of ruler. She ready to wrap us on the knuckles. Yeah, 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:28.000 you can get out of line. It's like a nun 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.480 it's right and Chuck. Before we get started, I want 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:33.600 to tell everybody they can follow us on Twitter at 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.000 s Y S Kid Podcast. Oh yeah, they can join 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.120 us on Facebook dot com slash Stuff you should know. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.559 Why are we going backwards? Huh? Okay, if you want 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.479 to send us an email, you can send it to 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.440 Stuff Podcast at how Stuff Works dot com. Yeah, we 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:47.680 have a beautiful old website called Stuff you should Know 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.159 dot com where all sorts of other neat stuff happens too. 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.720 All right, so this listener mail I'm just gonna call. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:58.520 Uh oh wait, sorry, you gotta save it and saving 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:03.240 it Chuck. Yes, were you in boy Scouts or cub Scouts? Nope? 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.399 I went to one cub Scout meeting and uh I 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.120 didn't go back because The very first meeting I was 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.600 at was there beginning of their candy sale, the ritual 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.720 sacrifice now at the beginning of their candy sale, and 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.200 I just didn't As a little kid for some reason, 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.720 I didn't like my first meeting them saying, here's a 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:22.920 bunch of candy, go sell it. Yeah, but you know 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.800 they front you're a bunch of candy. They let you 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.039 walk away with a box of can It turned me off. 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:30.280 And I'm not knocking it. It's a great organization, but 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:32.600 I just never went back. I can't imagine. It's not 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.039 the best one to start out on. Plus I was 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:38.479 I was a Cub. I did cub scouty things just 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.040 in life because you know, it was a big into 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.840 camping and stuff. And I was taught wilderness survival at 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.440 a young age, so I was like, I was my own, 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.040 had my own scouting troop. Your parents just dropped you 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.480 off in the woods. Once back, Yeah, it all worked out. 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.040 Made my way back about a year later. Yeah, there 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.080 was none, no worse for the wear. So you never 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.760 made a pine with Derby car hunt, No, Well, I've 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.240 never made a pine with Derby car. But in Industrial 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.320 arts class I made the the CEO two racing cars, 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.720 remember those, yeah, which sort of it's sort of like 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.120 the Pine with Derby, but it's powered by noxious gasses? 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:20.239 Is it not just gas? Now it's actually CEO two. Yeah, 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.120 I think it might be noxious though it's not obnoxious, 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.800 but it's noxious and then it will kill you. Well, 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.239 it's a kind of a funny story actually, I and 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:34.520 my brother one of course, because he's my brother cheering 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.200 him on. Now. He won, uh, the school, and then 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.000 he won county, and then he went to state for 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:42.959 the and I don't think he won state, No, but 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.160 he did place most handsome. He did most Handsome Racer. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.839 And then I, of course, like everything else, I tried 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.799 to copy my brother. I'm still doing today, and um 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.200 sure I am and he um and I tried to 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.400 copy his design and mine just turned out a little 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.840 crooked and not quite a straight and um, I didn't 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.640 even win in my class, not alone the school man. 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.720 So that just goes to show you my brother is 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.160 better at everything than me. That's a great story. His 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.040 was awesome, man, that that thing flew, and mine was 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.040 like knocking against the track and was missing a tooth. Yeah, 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.240 it was a pale impression. Pale impersonation. But that is 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:26.079 a great lesson. You gotta forge your own way. That's right, 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.680 you know, my ugly little car. That's that's the lesson 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.600 of this Pinewood Derby episode. You have to create your 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:39.320 own Pinewood Derby car, and not just figuratively but metaphorically 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.680 as well. Well, what's the Pine with Derby? I think 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:43.440 some people there's a lot of people that are like, 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.080 oh my god, this is the best, and then the 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:49.440 other of your like, what so the Pine with Derby 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:55.160 is the nation's premier gravity racing event. Yeah. It takes 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.360 place around the country around this time, I think, right, 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:03.480 does it beat street luge? Uh? It's a great point. 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:07.160 I said, this is the second best. Okay, miniature gravity racing. 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:12.720 What about many street luge man? Um? And yeah, I 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.000 think around It takes place around this time of year. 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.520 Oh is it? Yeah? Cub scouts and boy scouts around 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:22.040 the country, around the world. Are they into it now? 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:28.920 To make little wooden cars um and race them? And 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:32.119 it uses nothing but gravity, the force of gravity, little 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:36.360 angular momentum, reduction of friction, that kind of thing to 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.200 see whose car is fastest? Yeah. So um, we'll get 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.320 in to the details in the history, but it's basically, 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.960 you know, like you said, a track that starts on 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.479 a hill and it has a little, um call it 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.160 a pin, but it's like a little stick basically holds 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.320 the car in place right at the at the front, 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.839 and then they pull a lever and those sticks drop 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.320 and then um, it's like the starting gate and then 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:03.840 it rolls. Because anyone who listened to our slinky episode. 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.640 When the cars are up there pressed against the starting pin, 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:11.159 they've got tons of potential energy. Then right when that 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:15.160 that starting pin has removed, that potential energy turns to 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.839 kinetic energy and gravity pulls them downward to the tune 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.480 of like twenty miles or so. But the cool thing 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.279 about Pinewood Derby Racing is that all of the UM 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.279 cars start out the exact same They're blocks of wood 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.640 with the same wheels, the same axles, And it's up 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:36.440 to the cub scouts in their moms to uh craft 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.520 this thing, to to make it slightly different enough that 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.800 it wins the race. It beats these other cars that 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.919 were also the same kinds of blocks of wood before. Yes, 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.080 or uh, you're not so concerned with winning and you 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.640 just want a cool looking car and you want to 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.200 have a good experience with your parents. That was me 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.320 with my car, the Pinewood Derby car I made with 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.400 my Did you do it? Really? One most creative? There's 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:04.479 a coke bottle, No way, and I like you a 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:06.200 real coke bottle. You got the piece of wood and 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.640 carved into a coke bottle. Yeah, the would, okay because 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.800 other people, you know, they can there's all sorts of 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:13.760 things you can do now, Yeah, but you couldn't use 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.080 a coke bottle and do it. You'd be disqualified on 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.280 the spot and maybe laughed out of the place. No, 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.800 there's like there's different versions now like there there can 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.560 be like the regular hardcore race and then the one 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.200 that's a little more fun where you can use different Uh. Oh, 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.400 I got you, Yeah, I got you. But I mean 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.839 that's not the origin. The origin was, like you said, 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.600 just straight up woodblocks. So and let's talk about the 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.120 origin of this year. Well did you win that? I 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:40.440 want to hear about your one most creative at all? 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.680 So you were into just the cool looking thing. Yeah, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.760 as a cub scout, a boy scout cub scouts, did 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:50.880 you boy scout? You've had enough I did. Actually, um, 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.919 my dad was the dead parent. That's nice, but I 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.200 quit mid season and he continued on as the dead Parents. Really, 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.600 there's more than one awkward boy Scout meeting at my 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.080 house where like I just went hung out, you like, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.840 wander through eating a twinky. Yeah. My dad was like, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.760 I can't believe this interesting, so he stuck it out. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.200 Yeah that's kind of admirable. I guess I had a 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:16.960 thing where I, um, they the Cub Scouts teach and 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.680 Boy Scouts teach that you just respect your elders as 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.640 a rule of thumb. Well, I've met too many elderly 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.480 people who I didn't feel deserved respect across the board, 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:34.160 and that I disputed this idea enough that I left. Wow, yeah, 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.080 that's pretty awesome. That was why I left because I 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.320 had to sell candy. You left because there were a 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.960 bunch of jerky old people in your community. I just 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.480 didn't think that everyone deserves blank respect. I think you 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.880 earn respect absolutely. You know, Hey, that's a pretty forward 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.040 thinking thing for a little young Josh. You just didn't 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.480 want to go. No, it really was that you're like 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.040 the meetings with the same night at the eight team. 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.760 So yeah, there was one meeting where I just sat 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.720 there and watched the eight team really loud. Well, my 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:01.880 dad and the rest of the Scouts are trying to meet. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.880 That's pretty good stuff. So yes, my dad and I won. 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.640 I think it's most creative category for the coke bottle 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.440 at Southwick Mall and Toledo, Ohio, that's where they had 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.480 the racist It's pretty funny. And you still drink like 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.920 a gazillion Cokes a day, not cokes well, Cooke zero 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.320 or whatever. Yeah, I've tried to limit it. I don't 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.720 drink a gazillion. I would say I drink a lot 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.360 of water and coffee too. You just you're you get 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.559 beveraged up like no one I've ever seen. Now. It's weird, 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.400 you know. It's like I constantly have to be drinking something. Yeah, 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.160 I don't get it. Hey, that's your thing. Huh, it's 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.280 no big deal. It's not like you're like downing bottles 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:43.840 of vodka all day long. Just red bull um. All right, 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:45.440 So you want to talk about the history of this thing, 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:53.000 let's don Murphy. May nine is when the first Pinewood 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.520 Derby was held in southern California, Manhattan Beach, California, which 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.360 is where you means, and my friend Molly is from. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.600 You can be from worst places in the world. You 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.160 know who else pretty sweet either is from or lives 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.120 in Manhattan Beach. I looked this up who Kevin Nealon, 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.680 Don Dokin uh and then some other people too. I 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.120 think our buddies, uh Luke and Catherine Ryan live in 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.160 Manhattan Beach. Oh do they? That is a nice town. 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:25.839 It's like a small town feel on the California's coast, 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.640 like on the boardwalk that connects like all the other towns. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.880 Pretty nice. That's where the Lost Boys live? Was it? No? 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.079 I think they were like Santa Cruz or something like. Yeah. 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.120 I think they were a little more north all right, 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:44.680 so very nice history of Manhattan Beach residents. Don Murphy 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.800 was a cub Scout leader for Pack to eighty and 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.520 um he had he had some kids that wanted to 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:54.120 because there's this other race called the soapbox derby. This 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.280 is when you actually put your child in this thing 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.800 to be injured and put and push him down a hill. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:01.599 But he had some kids. You have to be a 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.120 certain age to do that, and um, his boys were like, Dad, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.200 I want to be in the soapbox Derby, and he said, 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.440 well son, you're too young. So he tried to think 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.600 of something that you could do together with his boys 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.439 and came up with the Pinewood Derby, which is a 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.440 pretty cool idea. Yeah you know. Yeah, it's basically making 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.120 a soapbox derby racer too small for human to fit 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.280 and be injured in. It's correct. Yeah, much safer, I 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:28.079 would imagine. So. Um. Apparently, like at this first one, 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:32.080 they pulled out all the stops immediately. Um, they came 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:37.120 up with a regulation wood blocks, wheels, and axles that 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.960 everybody had to use the same things. Right. The axles 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.960 are just nails, yeah, but they had wooden struts that 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:48.000 the nails went into too. Um, And the they came 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.840 up with a pretty cool track, like a thirty two 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:53.760 or forty something foot track. The first one was thirty 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.800 one okay. And then but they also used like old 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:04.760 doorbells to create like, um timekeeper, so whichever car passed 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.320 the thing first would set off a light in that 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.160 lane above that lane. He's got a little more advanced 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:15.120 since then, Yes, I mean that's that's that's pretty advanced 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.280 for the first one. Yeah, not bad for the early 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.000 nineteen fifties. No, and so the first this first one, 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:25.679 I'm at three in Manhattan Beach. Um. Apparently it was 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.000 just such a total hit that the guy who invented 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.280 at Don Murphy was like, this is some this is 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:32.400 a thing. Yeah, how can I make money on it? 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.560 Apparently he didn't. Now he didn't, but Boil. A lot 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.000 of people have since then, which we'll get to as well. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:44.400 A lot of um entrepreneurial fathers were like, hey, I 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.960 can make some dough on this by designing these things. Yeah, 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.840 good for them, all right, you know so um Don 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.120 Murphy with the other route and so I don't want 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.520 to share this with the world. This is my creation. Um, 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:01.480 and I'm going to get in touch with the Boy 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.040 Scouts of America and say, hey, guys, I've got this thing. 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.959 And the Boy Scouts said, that's great. We're sending out 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:12.120 Boys Life Magazine to cover this. It's gonna be hot 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:16.000 off the presses. Remember that um an airplane where the 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:20.080 little uh the kids reading Now the nun is reading 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.400 Boys Life Magazine and the little boys reading Nuns Life 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:27.040 Magazine next to that's pretty funny. So Boys Life Magazine 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.439 is like the official magazine of boy Scouts, right, and 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:32.840 they came out and covered it, and I think nineteen 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.360 fifty four the next year, but it was just kind 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.160 of like a little blurb a little right up one 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.320 page or it didn't really get the extent of this across. Yeah, 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.840 and um by ve they had over three hundred people 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:49.040 racing for the championships in l A's Griffith Park. And 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:53.679 um now, I think since its inception, over fifty million 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.800 kids have done this and a ninety million including parents, 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:00.240 which is a little lazy to me. They are just 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.120 like they're just had two parents per kids. Object a few, 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.679 let's make it ninety million. But yeah, it's become a 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:12.000 huge hit and a tradition that lives on today. Um 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.000 and kind of the same way. I mean, they've gotten 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:18.960 way more um involved in making these things as fast 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.760 as possible, but the general gist of it and the 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.960 rules are about the same. Yeah, and let's talk about 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:43.679 the rules right after this break, So chuck to make 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.720 these things fair. All pinewood derby cars start off the 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:52.640 exact scence, little woodblock, some regulation wheels and axles, right, 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.200 and then it's up to you, the scout, to make 0:13:56.240 --> 0:14:00.280 it your own and um, this article funny enough says 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:03.480 that aerodynamics don't really play a role. That is not 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.360 the case at all. No, they play um uh if 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:12.600 you want to speak scientifically, and eleven percent um reduction 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.640 and speed just using the wood block. Yeah, if you 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:21.400 if you make it more aerodynamic, So it's um, it matters, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:23.560 but it doesn't matter quite as much as you think 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.840 it might, right, but it does have some effect. Absolutely 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:32.240 eleven and so um, there are some some guidelines to 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:37.560 making a soapbox derby racer Pinewood man, it's gonna get 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:41.120 me all episode. That's okay, Just remember soapbox equals death 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:45.400 of child, pinewood equals fun for child. Great, Okay, Okay, 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.920 I think I got it now. That's right. Um, no 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.600 car can weigh more than five ounces and um we'll 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.440 get to the tricks of the trade later. But you 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.760 want your car to weigh that five ounces? Yes, you 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.920 don't want it to weigh four because faster cars or 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.040 heavier cars canna be fast. That's right, because of gravity 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.000 and mass, well sort of, I mean that technically a 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.760 heavier car it's it's all about weight distribution, it is. 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.800 But a heavier car is going to be subject to 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.840 the force of gravity more than a lighter car because 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.840 it has more more mass for gravity to exert an 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:22.360 effect on cars. Cannot be longer than seven inches. I 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.560 think initially they were a little bit longer than that, 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.200 but they settled on seven which is good. Uh. They 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.520 cannot be more than two and three quarters of an 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.680 inch wide, and the clearance of the car on the 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.720 track must be no more than three eighths of an inch. 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.840 And the clearance is very important because Pinewood Derby cars 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.280 are called rail cars. They ride along a central rail 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.600 where the car and the wheels straddle a rail that 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.320 goes underneath it. Right, it's not just in a lane 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:54.160 to bump back and forth. Yes, very good point. Uh. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.520 And the last rule, of course, um we mentioned it's 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.800 all gravity fed. You can't have any starting device or 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.080 any uh CEO two cartridge or motor or anything. It's 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.360 it's just wheels guiding it down the track. If the 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:07.840 jet flames shoot out of the back of your Pinewood 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.240 Derby car, it's kind of get disqualified. You'll get some 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.240 wows of the crowd for sure. Well you'll also get 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.240 some wows if you carve a cool coke bottle or 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.960 make a NASCAR or general leaves a big one. Oh, 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.400 I'm sure. But what I basically found in researching this 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.000 is you can't have both. Um, you can either have 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.360 a really cool looking car or a really fast car, 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.240 because the faster ones are not very like great looking. No, 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.040 and a lot of people just go with a wedge 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.120 because the wedge is aerodynamic. It's a lot more aerodynamic 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.560 than there's the block. It's easy to make, and apparently 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.600 they're very fast. Usually that's right there. I saw one. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.960 If you type in cool Pinewood Derby cars on a 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.480 Google image search, comes up with some cool Pinewood Derby cars. 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:55.840 But one of them is this kid holding his car. 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.960 It's like this weird reddish brown and has Spider's paint 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.120 it on it. He named it Derby. Death's my favorite 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:09.919 pine with Derby car. That's your favorite kid? Yeah? Um mine, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:11.800 it would have just been me holding up my sort 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.080 of oddly shaped thing that says not as good as 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:18.479 your brother's. Um. You start off with um, either like 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.960 a balsa wood or um. What's the other kind of would? 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.320 They suggested? Pine pine? This is a little softer, easier 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.480 to carve that's the pine with Derby car. Oh well yeah, 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.959 that's true. But bosses I think lighter, So it is, 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.080 but again you don't necessarily want lighter. Well that's a 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.200 good point, thank you. But again you want the weight 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.359 distribution correct, so you may want the body lighter so 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.560 you can control that weight more. Yes, it's just a 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:46.640 little tip. No, that is a good point right there. 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.440 You want to control where the weight goes. That's right. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.280 So yeah, maybe boss is the way to go. Well, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:53.920 they do have the kits you can buy that are 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.199 fully uh stocked with everything you need. Or you can 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.080 go ala carte because there are a lot of companies 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.639 out there now that make um all manner of add 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.119 ons and special wheels and axles and all kinds of 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.199 things to make your car faster. Yeah, and you you 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.960 if you are building a Pinewood Derby racer right now, 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:16.800 and you're like, yeah, that sounds pretty great. I got 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.440 some money to spend on this thing. Um, you will 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.560 want to check your local council's rules because some of 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.359 them are like, nope, you can use nothing but what 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:33.200 comes in the official Pinewood Derby kit Um and other 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:38.080 places are right exactly, and now go sell some candy 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.760 after the Pinewood Derby is over. Um, then other places 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.600 are like, yeah, go nuts. Most places agreed, like you 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:49.240 can't send the kid off to a third party and 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:51.760 have a third party make your Pinewood Derby racer for 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.720 you and send it back. Oh yeah, no way. Other 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.640 places say that can't. Well no, that's the whole point. 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:02.560 It's just supposed to be like a parent kid activity 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:10.760 of learning about physics, engineering, building, working. Yeah, probably losing sportsmanship, yes, 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.400 not throwing a punch when you lose stuff like that. 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.880 And if you just basically buy a racer, I mean, 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:20.239 what kind of like villainous rich kid are you if 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.800 that's what you're you're doing at the Pineood Derby? You know, yeah, 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.920 you're what's his face from Pewee's Big Adventure? Oh man, 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:32.560 what is his name? Do you know it? I'm completely blanking. 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.320 I can picture him chewing that black gum. Yes, I 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.840 can picture him in that big bathtub swimming pool in 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.040 his home. Well, we'll figure it out. It will come 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.560 to one of us. I don't feel the need to 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.320 email because this will be weeks later. We got it, 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.920 We got to cover it. Um or you could be 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:54.240 the antagonist in the movie down in Derby Man. Yeah, 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.600 did you go to IMDb on that one? Very briefly? 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.720 Did you see the movie poster? That is everything you 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.040 need to know about that movie is captured in the poster. Yeah, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.760 there's a film about a Pinewood derby two parents who 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:11.400 of course two fathers who were lifelong rivals. Yeah, that's 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.719 all you need to say. Well, was starting uh the 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.040 Boss from Ally McBeal. Yeah, Greg German. Yeah, I'm a 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.240 big German fan. But are you I think it's good? 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:23.840 He was great in that show. I never saw that show. 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:25.640 That was a good show. Wasn't he on the West 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.480 Wing to Uh? No, you're thinking of Bradley? Um, oh, 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.399 I like that guy. Yeah, great incentive a woman Bradley Cooper. 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:39.880 No not I you mean Whitford. Yes? His his His 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.920 best role though, seriously, was in Billy Madison. I never 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:48.360 saw that either. What right? Yeah, you gotta see that one. 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.240 Happen to Gilmore are classic films. I've seen some of 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:54.440 Happy Gilmour For some reason, those Adam Sandler and the 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:57.880 Chris Farley movies. I never really saw what I didn't 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:02.480 see Black Sheep, Well black it's fine, but you never 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:06.840 saw Tommy Boy parts of it. I know, I don't 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.439 know what was going on. One are those like when 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.080 I was in college or just right after? But yeah maybe, yeah, 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.800 that was like a dark being a little too sophisticated 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.040 for those you know, No, not at all. They really 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.480 are great movies. Like if if you don't like them, 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:23.600 you're just being a snob. Like they're just funny movies 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.600 that anybody can enjoy on just the basic level. I 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:29.879 can assure you I didn't avoid them out of snobbery. 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.399 But um, I think that was just like a weird 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:36.280 period where I didn't see many movies. You were just 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.360 watching nothing but Fellini, No, I don't know. I don't 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:42.440 know what were you doing instead? I got just watching TV. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.159 I gotta find out what year they came out. I 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:50.320 would say probably between four and nineties seven. Yeah that 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:54.879 was college. And UM, I don't know. Okay, we'll just 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:59.160 leave it. I just didn't see him all right. Where 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:04.720 are we we are at? The Oh, I've got one. Um, 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.600 if you do, um, if your counsel does allow outside helper, 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.760 you'll if you can buy other parts, because a lot 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:15.840 of times it's like, no, you have to use these 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.800 but some of these companies have figured out ways around it. 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:23.200 Like your Pinewood Derby car is going to be inspected conceivably, 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:25.600 especially if it's really fast and it's a winning car, 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:27.560 They're gonna really look at it to make sure you're 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.520 not cheating. One of the ways that you can make 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:35.399 your car faster is with wheels. Lighter wheels, so less 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:39.280 mass equals less friction, I believe, and um, so they 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:42.160