Tue, Dec 02 2008
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Published April 08, 2008 10:34 am - Steve Garrett, of Oskaloosa, inspects one of his three Pinewood Derby cars before competition Saturday morning at Penn Central Mall. Steve Garrett's day at the Pinewood Derby By DUANE NOLLEN The Oskaloosa Herald OSKALOOSA — Steve Garrett, of Oskaloosa, has always liked racing with cars. He used to work on race cars, but now he builds Pinewood Derby cars and races those. Garrett had three sleek Pinewood Derby cars ready to race Saturday morning at Penn Central Mall for the Seventh-annual Pinewood Derby Race. Garrett has been making Pinewood Derby cars for four years. “I’ve seen them racing here .... and I like working with my hands. I was looking for a new hobby,” he said. There are different classes of Pinewood Derby cars. There’s a 5 ounce model, an 8 ounce car, heavy weights — more than 8 ounces — and “Outlaws,” an 8 ounce car that you can modify with anything you want. Pinewood Derby cars are 7 inches long and about 2 3/4 inches wide. “I run 5 ounces and an 8 ounce Outlaw and heavy weight cars,” he said. Garrett said it takes two weeks for him to build a car. It takes a lot of cutting and sanding to transform a block of wood into a viable car. “You either build for show or build for go,” he said. “It’s hard to do both.” Since Garrett has a need for speed, he builds for go. “I build for speed,” he said. Although he is a speedster, Garrett said he is planning on building a show car for next year’s derby. People who build cars for show add a lot of trinkets to their cars. “Once you add for show, you lose your speed,” he said. The Hawkeye Cadet Council provided the race track for the derby Saturday morning. Garrett said Outlaws run at about 2.6 seconds on the track. “It comes down to thousandths of a second,” he said. 
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