One experience I had as a child and then later had as an adult was building Pinewood Derby cars for Cub Scouts.

When I built my first Pinewood Derby car as a Cub Scout in the 1970s I was supervised by my dad, but he in no way built my car.

This always tends to be the big hoopla amongst the adults at the derby — how much did “junior” do when it comes to his derby car and how much did Dad do?

When my dad and I were first getting into it, it was a great project. I learned how to draw designs and use a saw. I discovered for the first time how difficult it is to use sandpaper. Then I learned how to properly paint, by brush, the rest of the car and put it together.

I was really proud of my car when I brought it into Derby night at my Pack in Janesville. That first Derby night was a spectacle. It was part carnival, part WrestleMania.

The thing my dad had helped me with the most in building my car was adding molten lead into the wooden body so that it was as close to regulation weight as possible. Otherwise I had done everything. The molten-lead practice is no longer suggested.

We had no special tricks, we followed the instructions that came in the car’s box. We did use some graphite at each wheel.

When I lined up my car in the racing “pits” I could see there were two kinds of cars. There were cars that looked a lot like mine of different varieties. Then there were some cars that looked like a team of professionals had worked for weeks using the latest technology. There were hollow-body cars, and cars that had professional pearl-coat paint.

As I looked at the cars, I saw the long line of fathers and sons getting cars weighed. When I went through that process, I walked up, handed over my car, they put it in the box to make sure it was the right size. And it weighed probably three-tenths of an ounce below the limit.

Meanwhile, I was fascinated watching fathers take electric drills and start to drill portions of lead out from the bottom of cars. Announcements were being made: “Five minutes until inspection and weigh-in is closed!”

I remember seeing a classmate crying and trying to figure out what happened when I saw his car — his father had used a bit too much elbow grease when trying to drill out lead and his car was broken in half.

When the races started, I sat back with my friends and watched. It was a two-lane track and a double-elimination tournament. I lost my first race to a car I swore had a jet engine. I won my second race just barely. And I was eliminated in the next round to another sleek racer.

I don’t remember feeling at all bad about it.

Something odd happened at the end of the Derby, the boy whose car was the overall winner was disqualified. The ruling by the judges was that his father had built too much of the car. I remember feeling sorry for the Scout. I do have to admit looking back, his car was a complete scale replica of A.J. Foyt’s Indy racer.

My dad and I continued to build my Derby cars together until I grew out of the program. I never finished first and I never finished last. I finished somewhere in the middle. The cars were definitely mine. I remember taking a plastic army man and turning him into a little driver. I wanted my racecar to look like an Army staff car.

My experiences as a youth and investigation into Pinewood Derby cars some 25 years later helped me guide my son to build his own racer. I followed my dad’s lead, but I had learned a lot more about how to make a car go faster.

Key considerations include — weight placement, wheelbase length, axel alignment and tire preparation. However, the most important “trick” is getting the axels as smooth as possible. A combination of these tactics when building a Derby car can help it go fast. I saw a scout leader put all of these different additional tactics to work using only the block of wood that comes in the box. It was the fastest wooden block that I’ve ever seen.

Although I knew these tidbits about making a car faster, the Scout must build the car. My son drew his own designs, made things the way he wanted them and, in the end, he did the best job he could. How many kids are going to want to use 1500-grit sandpaper to polish wheel axels? We used the parts in that came in the box — we bought no “aftermarket” derby parts. Yes, there is a whole industry out there for better-engineered parts than those that come in the box.

One of the best things my son’s Cub Scout pack did was in the month before they raced we had a movie night and watched 2005’s “Down and Derby,” which is about a trio of dad’s who take the Derby way too seriously and in the end come to the realization the “competition” is about the Scouts.

Many Cub Scout Packs have “adult” racing categories for the Pinewood Derby. This lets the older, competitive parents race their own cars while allowing their children to have their own experience.

— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.