Scout Blog

Over 25 cub scout families went camping at Camp Alpine. We joined with Troop 334 who ran scout skills stations for our cubs. We had made memories, had great food, and an entertaining fire with skits.

Pack 336 held a bike rodeo for our local community on Sept 21st. Cubs were treated to a safety demonstration by Montvale Police Department and earned their biking elective adventure.

Pack 336’s Arrow of Light Den 4 and Webelos Den 2 competed in the 2024 Three Rivers District Klondike Derby. Our scouts had a great time and won two awards.

AOL Team: Abinaya, Aidan, Anjana, Jacob, and Kevin, had a strong showing and won 3rd place for the Derby!

Webelos Team: Ben, Dash, Jaden, and won 3rd Fastest Sled district wide!

The 2023 Pinewood Derby will be Saturday, January 21, 2023 at Montvale Community Center. This year’s theme is Animals; from simple tiger stripes to a snail car, let your creativity run wild!

Please bring your car to weigh in by dens at the times below. 
2:15 – Lions & Tigers
2:25 – Wolves & Bears
2:35 – Webelo 1 & 2

Races will start at 3 pm promptly with Lions first, followed by Tigers and then the remaining dens in rank order (the oldest scouts are last to race).  Every racer will have 4 heats, so every car goes down each of the four tracks. Once your den has completed it’s heat your family is free to leave or stay to cheer on your fellow scouts and find out who is the fastest in the pack. 

2023 Pinewood Derby Rules

Pay attention especially to the weight of your car, it cannot exceed the weight limit of 5 ounces.  Overweight cars are not allowed to race. If you don’t have a scale, you can check your car’s weight at the post office. 

Racemaster’s track has gates, to make sure you car fits it must be NO taller than 2.75 inches for max height.  Minimum width to fit the track is 1.75 inches and maximum width is 2.75 inches with a clearance under the car of 0.25 inches.  Cars cannot exceed 7.125 inches in length (the car kit is 7″).

• Please make sure your car will fit the track or it will not be able to race.
• Cars cannot exceed 5 oz total weight, overweight cars will be disqualified if not under the max weight in time for their heat.
• No wet paint, glue or wet lubricants are allowed on the track.

This video by Mark Rober runs down the physics behind common characteristics that lead to fast pinewood derby cars. This video was originally shared with the pack by our district.

We’ve had some questions about the derby rules and in the video, Mark goes over some tactics.  To be clear:

• You must use the parts in in the kit, no specialty wheels, nor can you significantly shave down the wheels.
• Axle polishing is allowed, but you must use the nails from the kit.
• Graphite powder is allowed (if you don’t have the special powder you can also use a pencil), no liquid lubricants (e.g. WD40, oil) are allowed.
• The use of weights is allowed and encouraged.  Small weights that you can easily remove or adjust one will allow you to modify your car if it comes in over weight. 
• Small screws can make a good tool for fine tuning your car’s weight, as you can easily remove them from the back or bottom of the car if you are slightly over max weight.

Pack dues for the 2021 year will be:

$150 for returning scouts or scouts transferring from another pack.

$175 for new scouts registering for the first time.

You can pay dues online using our Square Site.

This year, our local council has made changes to it’s fee structure. In the past, the local council, did not charge any fees, instead it relied upon popcorn and friends of scouting fundraising efforts. The fee for first time registration also increased, that is why they are more. You can read the announcement from NNJ Council here.

Below is how the fees paid by the pack to council break down. You can see that the pack only keeps $24 out of the dues we collect to pay for things like patches, belt loops, supplies and event registrations.