Every year, the Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) holds a pinewood derby for Builders and Manufacturers at the Louisville show; after the racing, the cars are auctioned off as part of a fundraiser for charity. And every year, those entries just keep getting better and better!! This year included some models that were 3D printed, some models that were hand-carved from rare woods, and even one that was painstakingly carved in clay, molded in silicone, and then cast in resin for the final product. The engineering that can go into some of these is mind-boggling!
Friday’s portion of the competition was the Builder’s Challenge, whose title was taken home for the second year in a row by Blake Meaux of Mo’ Muscle Cars. Congratulations, Blake!!
Saturday’s portion was reserved for the Manufacturer’s Challenge. RideTech’s 2016 entry was modeled after GROUCHY, a mean ’33 Ford we built a few years ago, and we think our guys did a fantastic job of replicating it!
They also brought in a few of last year’s entries in order to do a round-robin style elimination, and our ’33 ended up taking every round it was in and bringing home the Manufacturer’s Shootout trophy!! In the end, it graciously ceded the Overall Champion title to the Mo’ Muscle entry, but we were extremely pleased with its performance. We can’t wait to see how much it brings at the SEMA auction for charity!!
