8-YEAR-OLD ENTERS TOP WINNER IN CUBS' MINIATURE CAR RACE.Byline: Phil Davis Daily News Staff Writer Powered by gravity and luck, 8-year-old Joey Barlak's little car hurtled across the finish line ahead of the competition again and again Sunday during Cub Scout Pack 219's Pinewood Derby. ``He's still winning. It wasn't a fluke,'' said his mom, Liz Barlak, as her son's 5.5-ounce wooden car continued to vanquish opponents long after he'd won first prize. Joey, a boy of few words on the exciting Sunday afternoon, said he planned to keep his first-place trophy in his bedroom next to the blue car he built with his dad. The races at St. Finbar Catholic Church's parish hall drew dozens of excited kids who raced unique, handmade cars decorated with everything from flaming skulls to American flags in several heats. Joey won the top honors among the Cub Scouts of Pack 219, but earlier races were open to all children. Every child went home with something. ``The point of this whole thing is to bring families together,'' said Mike Parker, leader of Pack 218. ``Families have to work together on the car, but the focus is to have the Cub Scout work on the car as much as possible. By race day, they get to race something they built with their own hands. There are more lessons in that than can be counted.'' Joey and his father, Cub Scout Den Chief Bill Barlak, used the Internet to develop their winning strategy for a lean racing machine with good wheels and small weights near the back. Some Pinewood racers racer, name for several related swift, slender snakes, especially those of the genus Coluber. All of the racers are nonpoisonous, nonconstricting, day-active snakes. The black racer, C. constrictor, is easily confused with the constricting black rat snake, or pilot black snake (Elaphe obsoleta), which may account for its misleading Latin name. favor weight in the front. ``It was close - very close,'' Joey's dad said about the championship heat. Joey's racer named Fire Coaster edged out 8-year-old Danny La France's yellow Firebird racer that features a wooden pilot named Stinky. ``My dad cut it, and my mom helped me paint it,'' Danny said about his second-place winner. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Joey Barlak, 8, holds the racer he and his dad built and gets a hug from his mom Sunday after he won a Cub Scout derby. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Special to the Daily News |
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