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Pinewood Derby Cars
Car Designs - Top Speed Products - Free Tips
Increase your child's self-esteem! Here's how...
Design a Winning Pinewood Derby Car!
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Welcome to Pinewood Pro,
the pinewoodderby experts since 1995! |
My
name is Joe Gargiulo, the founder of Pinewood Pro, offering pinewood derby car products and a game design company called Evryware.
I live in Trumbull,
CT with my wife, son, Steven, and two daughters. Steven earned his Eagle Scout in November, 2006. He and I have been involved with Cub Scouts and Pinewood Derby
car racing since he was a Tiger Cub in 1994.
Before Pinewood Pro, I started a game development company called Evryware in the "early days" of computing (the 80's), when one person could design the entire game! I designed a game called Galactic Warrior and another called Space Odyssey I that ran on CP/M machines and later co-developed Ancient Art of War in the Skies.
 During my son’s Cub Scout years, I managed the PinewoodDerby
race for Pack 468. The website idea came from my experience managing
our Cub Scout Pack pinewood derby race coupled with our success
at winning races. I started Pinewood Pro in 1999 to help others
build their pinewood derby car. That same year, I wrote our #1 best
seller, Winning Pinewood Derby Secrets, that has helped thousands
of people build winning pinewood derby cars. I beam when someone
sends an email with their pinewood
derby story of how our products helped them.
We
are very proud to be involved with Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Pinewood
Derby racing by volunteering our time, making yearly donations
to BSA and local cub scout packs and helping people through Pinewood
Pro. We also are happy to be involved with other pinewood (a.k.a.
pine car or Grand Prix) organizations such as AWANA Grand Prix,
Royal Rangers, Shape N Race Derby, Kub Kar Rally, Girl Scouts Grand
Prix and WIRL. With your support (link
to our site!) we will continue the Pinewood Pro tradition of helping
others design, build and race winning pinewoodderby cars.
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Humble
Beginnings
My Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Story |
Yes, I was a Cub Scout. Looking back to those formative years, I
realize that through Scouting I discovered my love of “building
things” and figuring out how they worked. In fact, I attribute
much of my desire to become an engineer to my excitement doing Cub
Scout projects as a young boy.
I still
have many, many fond memories of my days as a Cub Scout. It was
exciting, challenging and most of all fun to do the activities with
my friends. I had the added joy of being in a den with my brother,
Henry (more on him later), and cousin, Jeffrey.
The
most exciting event of the year for me was pinewoodderby car racing.
I loved the idea of designing and building my own cool, little car
out of a block of pine wood (…with a little help from my Dad).
I carved
and sanded (I don’t think electricity was invented yet!) my
pine wood block seemingly for hours. I kept thinking, “Could
I actually build the fastest car and win 'fastest derby car' in
the Pack?” I couldn’t wait to race my car against my
friends, brother and especially my cousin for bragging rights.
Well, race day finally came. I was about 8 years old and my first
PinewoodDerby race was a memorable one alright…
In
our very first heat, my car and my brother’s car were perched
on the top of the track. My heart was beating fast with anticipation.
The pin dropped, then BOOM…nothing happened! What the heck?
Well,
actually my car raced to the bottom with the other cars, finishing
dead last. I was the lucky one. My car actually made
it to the finish line but nobody noticed my car because everyone’s
eyeballs were glued to my brother’s car. You see, his car
didn’t move at all! It just sat there at the top of the track.
A silence fell over the crowd until one of the older boys pointed
and yelled, “Look! Henry’s car has rigor mortis!”
(1).
Everyone’s
eyebrows rose as they leaned forward and stared. Finally, someone
grabbed a ruler and pushed his car…it reluctantly moved a
few feet then stopped again, seemingly to ask, “which way
does gravity go again?” It never did reach the bottom. Someone
mercifully pulled it off the track for a few, um, adjustments.
Hmmm,
do you think we had the wheels a little too tight? Uh, did we forget
to remove those sticky little burrs under the axle head? Did we
misalign the wheels? Was the car perhaps a little underweight? Drum
roll, please…..answer? All of the above. Basically, we didn’t
have a clue how to make a pinewoodderby car, let alone know the
speed secrets to make the car competitive.
My
brother, cousin and I look back and laugh but at the time we were
devastated. Nobody wants their car to be nicknamed, "flat tire".
I certainly didn’t want my son, nor any other child, to go
through something like that. Today, I receive many, many pinewood
stories of how Pinewood Pro has helped thousands of
beginners and experts alike build a fast, winning pinewood derby
car.
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Steven’s
Pinewood derby Experience |
When Steven entered 1st grade, I was anxious to relive those Cub
Scout days with him. I would teach him to camp, use a knife, tie
a knot, use a compass, “build things” and figure out
how they worked. Along the way, he would learn the values of scouting
(“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty…”)
and scouting would instill integrity in him (“A Scout is trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind…) and best of all,
I would be able to relive and share those life long experiences
with him…especially Pinewood Derby Car racing!
 No,
I wasn’t a fanatic about building our pinewoodderby car…the
first year anyway. Steven and I built a cool car (the one you see
above in the pinewood derby logo) but we only won a small ribbon
for fastest in our den. The next year, however, I decided to get
serious. As an engineer I knew I could do better. I spent many hours
thinking up ways to improve speed. I invented many "speed tricks”
( Winning
Pinewood Derby Secrets ), Speed
Wheels, Speed Axles,
Quad Dual
Block, etc.
My
speed tricks were so successful that we never lost another race.
I continued to invent new speed tricks and test my secrets. In 1999
we published Winning
Pinewood Derby Secrets that contains over 30 speed
secrets, along with a car building guide, that we used to win…now
you can learn my winning secrets too!
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My
years as a Pinewoodderby Race Manager |
While
my son was in Cub Scouts, I managed the Pinewoodderby event for
Pack 468 in Trumbull, CT. It was gratifying to help the Pack, work
with the parents and a thrill to watch the boys race their cars.
For the vast majority of cub scouts, pinewoodderby is the best event
of the year. It was fun and exciting for everyone. There was, however,
one aspect of being the race manager that I didn’t like.
 Each
year we made Pinewoodderby participant trophies for every child
in the Pack. We even spent the extra money to have each trophy engraved
with the scout’s name. Every Cub Scout that showed up got
a trophy. At the end of the race, I was always deeply saddened to
see a small group of trophies leftover, sitting on the table. These
were the trophies of those Cub Scouts who never showed up on race
day! Why???
Over
time, I learned that building a pinewood derby car was beyond the
skill level of some parents. So their Cub Scouts simply didn’t
participate.
Each
year I offered to help anyone that needed it…just ask. I pleaded
for them to "just ask". I taught a “Pinewood Derby
school” to get beginners started. We setup a car tune-up “pit”
to fine tune each car before the race to help them be competitive.
Finally, I wrote Pinewood
Derby in Six Steps to help beginners build their car.
It also includes a bonus section on “Speed Essentials”
to make their car competitive. Now, all I have to do is point people
to the book so everyone can participate!
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Pinewood
Pro Values |
Pinewood
Pro was launched in 1999 to help beginners and experts alike build
a competitive Pinewood Derby car (aka Grand Prix car) and to "give
back" to BSA and the Cub Scouts. Steven and I believe so much
in the BSA values and how it gives young boys a solid foundation
in their formative years.
We sincerely hope that all those involved with pinewoodderby car
racing learn what it was meant to teach:
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Teamwork
(yes, even one parent and one child is a team)
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Parents and children spending quality time together
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How
to plan a project (hint – start early!)
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How
to build something to be proud of
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How
to use tools
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Sportsmanship
(only one person comes in 1st place!)
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And
most of all – having fun with family and friends
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As
long as I run Pinewood Pro, I will continue to volunteer, make annual
donations to BSA
and local Cub Scout Packs.
We
are also happy to be involved with Awana Grand Prix, Royal Rangers,
Shape and Race Derby, WIRL, Girl Scouts Grand Prix and others that
share the values and ideals of Cub Scouts and Pinewood Derby car
racing. |
Pinewood
Derby Car Racing
Do Your Best |
After
the first year of doing not-so-well in our Cub Scout pack race,
my son and I were the team to beat every year. We were the gurus.
Everyone wanted to know our secrets.
When Steve moved
on to Boy Scouts, I wrote Winning
Pinewood Derby Secrets that divulged all of our speed
tips for building a winning pinewoodderby car. (That’s Steve
and I on the cover after winning the District Championship). I update
it yearly so you get the most complete list of speed tips on the
market.
Every year when
Steven and I completed our car, I always repeated these words, “Whatever
happens at the race, win or lose, we did our best...and doing your
best is what counts most”.
We are here to help you do your best.
Have fun, good
luck and God Bless…
Joe
and Steve Gargiulo
Pinewood Pro
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PS:
Keep those emails
coming and send a picture of your cool pinewood derby car so we
can add it to our derby
car picture gallery! |
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(1) OK, I made up
the riger mortis line (couldn’t resist) but the rest is the
God’s honest truth! Just ask my brother Henry. |
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