When the racers hit the starting blocks on Saturday, April 15, for the annual Pinewood Derby hosted

by Pack 45 at the Greenville YMCA, there was no true leader coming out of pit row.

The competition was tough, with more than 50 young racers on hand, and the only way to settle the score was dead heat competition, a race to the finish, with the last man standing to take all the glory.

The Pinewood Derby is an event where Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts and Weblos get together and race model cars the boys put together from kits.

Some of the young racers spend many months assembling, refining and testing their cars before finally putting them into head-to-head competition against the cars of other boys from around the area.

The kits contain a block of wood, four wheels and regulation axels, and it is up to each boy to fashion his own race car that not only emphasizes speed, but also conforms to the strict weight and size requirements of the Pinewood Derby rules.

To many of the young Scouts, the race is one of the high points of the year, and this year 51 participants were joined by more than 100 spectators for the two-hour, double-elimination race to determine who had built the fastest Pinewood Derby car in Greenville.

When the smoke cleared, Logan Ausderau had captured first place, Sean McKeague took second place and Ralph Norman finished third.

A special award for best design was presented to Taylor Loftin.

Cub Scouts is an organization of The Boy Scouts of America and is open to all children from the first grade through the fifth grade. A Scout day is held in each school in the fall for registration.

Students can register for Cub Scouts at any time by contacting Cub Master Russty Parrish at 382-5111