• Thursday-What'sUP March 31 - 09:26 am

It may not be Nascar, but the U.P. has its own version of the races and they're held indoors. It's the Pinewood Derby, complete with hand crafted, colorful cars and the fans to cheer them on! Nate Alwine was in the crowd with camera ready to document the races in Iron Mountain recently. The contestants are members of the Royal Rangers Outpost 33 youth group, sponsored by the Maranatha Assembly of God Church in Kingsford. These busy contenders also competed with Royal Rangers Outpost 30, from the Good News Assembly of God Church at the Ishpeming Armory. You can catch all the action from both competitions, in this slideshow, found in Nate's Guest Gallery. Good old fashioned fun!

Mary, You're early this morning. Hope everybody has a good day. Tomorrow's Friday after all. It's raining here. We need it though as we didn't get much snow and it will clean everything up nicely.

Is this the Yooper version of the Indy 500? ;) So nice to see kiddies have fun, without a computer :)

Nice track setup! A indoor version of a Soap Box Derby!

Such marvelous pictures. Great activity for both the kids and their parents. My sons loved making their cars with their dad several years in a row for Cub Scouts. In fact I just attended a Pinewood Derby here in Scottsdale about two weeks ago, and helped with the refreshments. It was great to see the boys having such fun. After the official races, they let the dads race their cars too. Such wholesome entertainment and great memories for the families.

Seeing This Brings Back So Many Good Memories Of My Two Sons In The Cub Scouts,Days Like This Are Pure Gold ,Hold Them Close.

Todays pictures bring back many memories of these type races. My grandson and I built cars for pinewood derby races for several years. We didn't win much, but had great fun and fellowship with other Royal Rangers and their families at TRINITY ASSEMBLY OF GOD In Mt. Morris Michigan just north of Flint. Great pictures. Keep up the good work..

When I lived in the big city (Detroit burbs) the church my grandsons went to had this Pine wood Derby. It was really great....daddy got into it with them and it was a fun time. Just the other day I was looking thru my pictures and found a picture of Tyler with his big trophy. Brings back great memories of family times past.... grandkids are great blessings from God.

Blessings for your day folks ..........

Wow great pic's. Back in the days when my son was younger I was his Scout Leader and had great fun in the scouting world Pinewood Derby and all.

This brings back many good memories of earlier days. I have 3 sons and we did the pine wood derby for years. By the time the last son was racing we had learned all the tricks of the trade on how to make a fast car! Getting the placement of the weight was the hardest.

What great memories this site brings back to us all. Thank you Charlie and staff. I think back to the Pinewood Derby Races at our church in Hazel Park (Calvary Baptist). It was in Brigade program for boys that my hubby and boys were involved in. Like someone else mentioned, to see the boys excitment when their cars would win and the big trophies they would get. Even if they didn't win the excitement was there.

To make that track complete, they should have a model of the bridge in the middle. (Smirk). Speaking of the bridge, it will be going up a level soon, no?

Great pictures today - they look like a bunch of budding automotive engineers -- who knows, maybe they'll have a future in resurrecting the auto industry in the USA/Michigan!

Speaking of learning a few tricks, as our 3 boys built and raced their cars some of us dads always hoped to place 3rd. That was considered a good saturday afternoon but not good enough to advance to the next level (and have to go to Flint or someplace else!). Great memories!