PARSIPPANY — Cub Scout Pack 177 held its annual Pinewood Derby on Saturday, January 27 and Caleb Heindrich was named Champion of the Pack. Five preliminary heats were held according to scout rank, and the winner of each heat competed in the finals.
The heat winners were Sahil Indoria (Tigers), Anish Desai (Wolves 1), Caleb Heindrich (Wolves 2), Joey De Cicco (Bears) and Stavros Tserpes (Webelos). The five car final resulted in a tie between Caleb and Anish, who continued on to a tiebreaker round. Anish’s car performed excellently, but in the end it was Caleb by a hair.
Caleb’s name will be added to the Pack 177 Pinewood Derby trophy, and the trophy with his winning car added will be displayed at his school this year. Heat winners and runners up will receive trophies and medals at the annual Blue and Gold dinner in the spring.
To prepare for the Pinewood Derby, each scout builds his own car according to the theme for the year. This year’s theme was Emojis. The scouts’ designs were creative and colorful as well as fast. The cars are powered by gravity alone, so weight and aerodynamics are important. Scouts learn a lot participating in the derby – and they also have a lot of fun. The leaders put in a lot of work to help the scouts have a great event.
