How It Works

Running a Pinewood Derby with our system follows six stages — from your first planning session weeks before the event to the final standing ovation at the ceremony. Each stage flows into the next, and the system handles the complexity at every step.

Below is the full picture. Scan the stages for a quick overview, or click into any one for a hands-on walkthrough. Curious about the science behind the matchups? The deep dives are waiting at the bottom.

Not Your Usual Bracket

Most packs handle their derby one of two ways. Single-elimination brackets are fast but brutal — lose once and you're out, and a bad draw can put the wrong car in the finals. Round-robin is fair in theory — everyone races everyone — but with 24 racers, that's 276 races. Nobody has that kind of time.

Our system takes a different approach. It treats the tournament as a sorting problem: each race is a data point, and the algorithm picks the matchup that reveals the most about where everyone stands. No wasted races. No redundant pairings.

The numbers speak for themselves. With 24 racers, the system fully ranks everyone in about 55 races using the All Unified style — well under an hour on a two-lane track. Need a format that gives more races per person? Neighbors First gets there in about 87 — still under 90 minutes. Either way, adults, siblings, and guests race alongside the scouts.

And unlike a bracket, nobody sits out. The balancing system tracks everyone's participation and gets anyone falling behind back on the track. Every parent in the room follows along on their phone — live matchups, live results, the whole event transparent on every screen. Youth always come first — adults race to give kids more opportunities, not the other way around.

Is the balancing perfect? Not yet — it's evolving with every event. But you can switch between balancing modes, and we actively want your feedback. The goal is simple: every kid goes home having raced enough to feel like they were part of it.

Under the Hood

You don't need to understand the science to use the system — it just works. But if you're the kind of person who wants to know why it works, we've written it up.