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  The Pinewood Derby is an event held by Cub Scouts to race homemade wooden cars with metal axles and plastic wheels. Every spring, each group of Cub Scouts gets together tracks, vehicle kits, timers and anything else needed to hold this event. How you want to run the competition is up to you, and there are many methods to choose from.
  
  

Single Elimination

• Single elimination involves have two scouts compete against each other, with the winner advancing to the next round. This is a great way to determine the best racer and it keeps the event relatively short. You can continue the competition after the first-place winner has been chosen if you wish to have an additional competition for second and third place, though with the winner already determined, you may lose crowd interest.
  
  

Elimination Ladder

• The elimination ladder method is easy to organize as many athletic competitions and other events use this method. As a result, most scouts and parents will not be confused by the method. If you have a two-lane track and you wish to do a double-elimination tournament, this is the best method. This method is similar to single elimination as you still have two scouts competing against each other. If a scout loses, he drops down to the loser's bracket. The scouts who have lost compete against each other for a chance at third place. The winner of the main bracket gets first place.
  
  

Ladderless Elimination

• Create a table with the columns "no losses," "one loss," "two losses" and so on. Have your scouts compete against each other, using as many lanes as you have. Each team starts in the no losses column and as scouts lose, they move to the one loss, two losses or lower column. It is a good idea to use Velcro or something easily movable so you don't have to keep rewriting scouts in different columns. Have them keep racing until a clear winner has been determined (the scout with the fewest losses).
  
  

Lane Rotation

• Also referred to as the California or the Cross-Track method, you will rotate different scouts in to ensure that each scout gets to compete in each track. If you have four lanes and 10 scouts, you will start with scouts one through four in lanes one through four. After they race, shift scouts two through four over to the left, shift scout one out and shift in scout five. Continue this until each scout has raced four times and tally up the results. The top entrants can move on to the next round, and you can repeat the process again until you end up with a winner.
  
  

Elapsed Time

• If you have a track with a timer, you can keep track of the elapsed time of every racer. Have the racers go several times each and then add up all of their times. You can use the lane-rotation method to run the race to ensure that each racer gets a chance in each lane. If you have a very large derby competition, this may be the best choice to avoid anybody claiming the race has been unfair for any reason.