More than 40 boys were off to the races Jan. 19, when Hillsborough’s Cub Scout Pack 189 held its annual Pinewood Derby.
St. Joseph’s Parish Hall was transformed into a racing venue, complete with a six-lane track, excited fans, split-second finishes and old-fashioned sportsmanship and solidarity.
Wolf, Bear, Webelos I and Webelos II Scouts vied for trophies for first-, second- and third-place finishers in each division. A grand final pitted the winners from each Scouting level for this year’s overall championship.
The Pinewood Derby was organized by Wolf Dens 2 and 4. Pack 189 Assistant Cubmaster Paul Robuck as Master of Ceremonies kept the audience informed and entertained with play-by-play racing commentary.
Parents served as race officials, manned the starting line and operated the computer-controlled system that determined order of finish.
The parents also organized and staffed a concession stand. Support from the Boy Scouts helped organize games, manage the test track, and Troop 89 gave the Cub Scouts a presentation on knot tying.
The majority of last year’s trophy winners returned for another run at the overall title. The races in recent years have been extremely competitive as Scouts and adult partners of Pack 189 have fine-tuned their skills and learned to build faster race cars.
As in sanctioned Pinewood Derby events, the only legal method of propulsion for the cars was gravity. The races are often determined by margins of thousandths of a second, which encourages Scouts to scour physics books for any trick that can increase momentum or decrease friction.
The races went off in order from youngest division (Wolf) to oldest (Webelos II). Each car in each division raced several times, until the field was narrowed to the fastest six cars. The final six then raced six times, once in each lane, to determine the division winner.
This year’s winners from the Wolf division were: 1. Will D’Andrade; 2. Christopher Demetrio, and 3. Paul Steele.
Winners from the Bear division were: 1. James Gaffney; 2. Aditya Shama, and 3. Kavish Nagarajan.
The winners from the Webelos I division were: 1. Justin Armant; 2. Scott Torzewski, and 3. Shreyas Pani.
The winners from the Webelos II division were: 1. Jonathan Demetrio; 2. Kurt Fleischer, and 3. Ben Khoury.
The finals pitted the four division winners in a series of six races, again rotating lanes to keep the competition as even as possible. Webelos II Scout Jonathan Demetrio captured the overall title. Webelos I Scout Justin Armant took second place, and Bear Scout James Gaffney third.
The judging for fastest looking, best-looking, most realistic-looking and most imaginative cars took place before the races. Maysen Lane won the competition for fastest looking. Erik Robuck for most imaginative, Ryan Plum for most realistic and Atticus DeFilippis for best-looking car.
For information on joining Hillsborough Cub Scout Pack 189, contact Cub Master Mark Torzwewski at [email protected].

