The first priority was to call my Dad (aka Grandpa) and schedule some wood working time in his workshop. To my surprise, my brother Brian and his son Apollo beat us to it! They were already cutting and sanding when we showed up! Doh! Looks like this is getting pretty serious!
Grandma made a wonderful dinner and Grandpa and I (mostly Grandpa) helped the boys design, cut out, and sand & shape their cars.
Excitement filled the air as those blocks of wood began to take shape.
When I was a kid, my Dad handed me the block of wood and a piece of sand paper and said "there's a car in there...just sand away everything that's not a car." Ugh! Needless to say, I decided to go with a "boxy" body design that year.
Now that Dad has all these great woodworking tools and with his expertise, making these cars was MUCH more fun!
When the first coat of paint was applied, the boys were thrilled!
Visions of our cars speeding across the finish line in first place began to fill our minds. "Your going DOWN!" I said to my brother...and the thus the trash talk began!
Even my Herbie car started to take shape!
Waiting for the cars to dry seemed to take forever!
Adding the windshields, mufflers, stickers, and wheels was like adding icing to the cake. The cars just looked better and better! I called my brother and told him that the cars were looking good and $78 at Ace Hardware said they were going to be fast too! A healthy supply of graphite, a wheel mandrel kit, and a special axel kit would ensure first place for one of us for sure!
The trash talk between my brother and I just grew and grew. Talk of his "Redemption" car grew and grew. It sounded pretty legendary. My brother-in-law got into it too. Before long, the stories of his Optimus Prime truck started to grow. This was looking like it was going to be a battle for the ages!
The day of the race finally came! Kathy made a huge dinner for the whole family. My brother Brian brought dessert...Humble Pie. He said that his "Redemption" car was going to be serving up plenty of that for everyone! Then he unveiled his car (whoops! I mean, his boy, Apollo's car!)...
I must say, I was very curious to see it!
The fog poured out of the case when he opened it and the headlights of his car cut through the fog like a laser! It was definitely intimidating! We all let out a collective gasp. I must admit, it was an impressive showing. Kathy grabbed the knife and said "I'm not ashamed...I'm going to eat some Humble Pie right now. Anybody want some dessert?"
My sister Kim and her family came for dinner. Their Optimus Prime truck was pretty amazing too!
Brendan was excited to race his cool Transformers truck! Wow! Amazing car! The hollowing out of the inside of that truck to get it under the weight limit was very impressive.
Yeah...I stayed up till 1:30am finishing off my Herbie car but I started to feel bad thinking about how the others would feel when my Herbie car flew past all the rest and took first place...especially after all the hard work everyone put into their cars! Maybe I shouldn't have lifted one of the four tires to reduce friction to make it go so fast. But then I saw Grandpa's car!
His Fat Boy rocket car was unlike anything I had ever seen before! Dinner was great...but who could eat with the big race coming up!
The boys were so excited!
Jackie looked great in his Scout uniform!
Carson couldn't wait to see his baby go down the track!
Andan was proud of his car too! It came out just like he drew it up!
We took one last photo just before we raced... All those hours of work! All the trash talking! Who (besides Kathy) was going to eat the Humble Pie? The moment of truth finally came! Was Redemption going to live up to its name? Stay tuned to see what happens!! :)
