From staff reports

The 46th annual Davis Anderson Memorial Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Allohak Council Championships will be Saturday at the Grand Central Mall in Vienna.

Information and registration links can be found at allohak.org.

Organizers will not be able to take onsite registrations Saturday morning, in order to start on time. Racers will check in at the mall and go through inspection at 9 a.m. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., each racer will race against boys of his own rank level and finalists will race for the championship at 1 p.m.

For a second year, the derby has changed the former double-elimination format. The derby will feature timed races. Each racer will race against boys of his own rank level and finalists of those races will race for championship. Each boy is expected to race four times under the new format, organizers said.

The Cubs will race each other starting with classes based on grade-level ranks from Tigers to Webelos. Top finishers by rank will race against top finishers in the other ranks to determine the overall champion and top finishers in the Cub Scout division.

In a new addition to this year’s program, the kindergarten-level Lions will also be participating in the derby. There will also be a Siblings category for the brothers and sisters of Cub members. There will also be displays by the Boy Scouts of America and local community organizations.

Organizers have worked to simplify the rules for making the cars so that those with little or no woodworking experience could still have fun working on the project. The focus is on the basic Scout derby car kit and lets Scouts and their adult helpers do as much or as little work as they want within the rules.

Pinewood Derby racing requires participants to learn the crafts necessary to make the individuals cars, the PWD rules that must be followed in the car making, the racing process and, most important, sportsmanship, organizers said.

The model cars are made of wood to specified dimensions, created, carved, assembled, and decorated by Cub Scouts under the guidance of the parents or helpers. All Scouts are required to build a new car each year. On race day, the cars will be weighed, measured and inspected to confirm that the race rules have been followed.

The Allohak Council serves 17 counties in West Virginia and Ohio. For more information, go online to allohak.org. While the first local Pinewood Derby was held in 1972, the Pinewood Derby has been an annual event at the Grand Central Mall since 1974. Cub Scouting is a year round family oriented program for boys who are in first through fifth grades or ages 7-10 years.