Soapbox Derby

There's a commercial on TV lately that reminds me of when I was a kid. It's this kid who makes a car for a soap box derby. His dad tells him to do his best. The kid sees the other kid's car, a slick, tricked out race car obviously not made by a child. The boy's blocky car wins the race and the boy goes home happy having learned pride in doing something himself...

I was in Cub Scouts when I was in 3rd grade. They had a soap box derby competition in my troop. You were given a piece of wood and a set of wheels to make the car out of and guidelines for what was allowed. My dad said the same thing as the one on the commercial. I should do the work myself. He would help if I came to a problem.

Since I was a pretty self sufficient kid that was fine with me. My dad didn't have a tool shop or many power tools and, well, I was maybe 8 years old. Power tools are dangerous if in the wrong hands. So I set about making my car. I don't have a picture of it, but it was just as blocky or maybe more so than the one in the commercial. I painted it blue, gave it the #9 and thought it looked cool.

When I got to the derby that night I saw what the other kids had done with their cars. They had sleek sports cars that were one step away from being formula 1 cars. Oh, but wait, they did all the work themselves. The word "bullshit!" would have popped out of my mouth if I had known it at the time. All the other kids cars were made by the dads. On the underside of one car I remember seeing a space carved out and filled with lead shot to add weight to the car to make it go faster. It was epoxyed in to keep it in place. This was within the guidelines for the manufacture of the car. But I knew the kids didn't do it. My car looked like it was made by a kid. These were not.

I lost every race I was in. Badly. I don't remember who won. It doesn't matter. It did teach me that people don't necessarily follow the rules. And sometimes they win. I still am pretty self sufficent, but now have mad skills. Funny what a simple commercial can stir in the memory.

Just because the game is fixed doesn't mean you shouldn't play.