“Gentlemen! Start your engines!” was the cry heard on a brisk Saturday morning in February when some of Alexandria's youngest car racers gathered round the race track.
The Cub Scouts of Pack 1509, along with their parents and siblings filled Fellowship Hall of Plymouth Haven Baptist Church for their annual Pinewood Derby race. With cars of all makes and models, the Scouts and their families transformed Fellowship Hall into a Daytona Racetrack North with a four-lane race track, a pit area to work on and tune up the cars, a refreshment stand and viewing space for all to watch the cars zip their way across the finish line. From Batmobiles, pirate ships, sharks and video game characters, the boys’ imaginations transformed simple pinewood blocks.
Each car got to race on the track four times. The fastest of the fast moved onto the semi-finals and the final race. In the end, a first-year Cub Scout a Tiger Scout named Colin Sullivan claimed the title of fastest Pinewood Derby Scout with a speed of 172.4 mph and a time of 2.868 seconds.