RaceVIEW- the Ultimate Pinewood Derby Management Software

Customer Feedback

These are just a few of the typical comments we have received from users of RaceVIEW:

Rich Chudoba, Pack 270, Frankfort, IL

First of all, I'd like to compliment you on an excellent product. We ran our Pinewood Derby in February with a completely new system consisting of a 6-lane aluminum BestTrack, Micro Wizard K-2 timer, computer with an LCD projector, and RaceVIEW race management software. Compared with the old 4-lane wood track, manual double-elimination system we had been using in previous years, this system captured the interest of the entire audience from start to finish. When used with the projector, RaceVIEW did an excellent job of keeping everyone involved, interested and informed as the racing progressed. We received a lot of compliments afterwards from the parents. Even our Cub Master who is not a computer person and was very skeptical about adding the computer and race management software to the electronic finish line system commented after the race that this was definitely the way to run such an event and that there is no way we could ever go back to the old way of doing it. RaceVIEW made a believer out of him.

Thanks again for a highly successful 2003 Pack 270 Pinewood Derby!

Alan Tippett, Pack 124, Ridgefield, CT

We have recently completed our third Pinewood Derby using the RaceVIEW program. Each year has been very successful and we have added more features to our event. This year we had 105 entries in 5 Divisions, and everything worked beautifully! The event lasted just 3 1/2 hours with 123 races. We've added an overhead projector to display the results as they happen direct from the PC which really makes for an exciting atmosphere. Together with another camera viewing the track that also gets displayed on a large screen, everyone in the audience gets to see all the action and thrills of a great event.

Thanks!, we couldn't do it without you

Jim Gillies, Pack 1, North Salem, NY

I just finished setting up the race registration forms for this year. I have used RaceView and Race Editor with a Micro Wizard timer for FOUR YEARS without a single problem. It is Great! I pre print Registration forms and Car Labels (#5366) with Name rank & car # to place on the bottom of each car at registration. This helps the starters ensure the right car in the right lane. We project the Display on a 4 x 8 ft screen suspended above the finish line. The boys and the crowd love the AKA field and it adds an exciting element to the day. The Pack is very pleased. My son has graduated from scouting but we still goback to help with the pinewood. Great Product!

Jeff Marrah, Pack 3513, Kokomo, Indiana

I operated your program for the first time this year in our Pack 3513 Boy Scout Pinewood Derby. The program really makes the Derby fun for the kids and much easier for us parents to host.

Vincent Nascone, Pack 17, Short Hills, New Jersey

We ran the PACK 17 Derby this week-end (4/01)...Another success with RACEVIEW. (connected to Micro Wizard finish line).

Mark Jaffry, Cub Master, Pack 850, Stafford, VA

Our Pack 850 race committee made the decision to purchased your RaceVIEW software three years ago. I can only say that the decision was an unqualified success! We have now run three Pack Derbies and this month our Pack hosted the District event.
The parents of Pack 850 have come to appreciate the benefits of the software and timer combination, we use The Judge, during our pack event with several races coming down to the thousandths decimal place! No parent wanted to judge the event anymore because it simply got to difficult for human eyes. In addition, tracking the race manually with pencil and paper was becoming a major chore as our pack increased in number to 75 boys.
But, with the winners from 16 packs racing in our District Derby, it was appreciated even more! We had quite a few races that ended up .001, .002, .003 for finishers.

You have a great product! and we look forward to many, many more races running it in the years to come.

Richard Garon, Cubmaster, Pack 260

I wanted to thank you for helping me with the set up of our system. After we talked, I couldn't wait to get to the school to start laying the track out. Installing the updated video driver fixed the initial error message from RaceVIEW.

[Doug: Some older video drivers don't work well with RaceVIEW. Installing updated drivers from the manufacturer will usually correct this problem].

Your software stole the show. We faced the monitor to the crowd so there was no doubt about 1st , 2nd ,3rd ,or even 4th place. Having the software automatically set the next lane assignments was the BEST. The leaders had more time just to have fun instead of trying to figure out who's running and what lane they were in.
WE HAD FUN FUN FUN.....
From all of us at Pack 260, THANK YOU !!!!!!

Tom Adams, District Commissioner, Pine Ridge District, Ontario, Canada

Hi, we completed our District Kub Car Rally on March 25th. This is the first year in anyone's memory that there were no challenges by parents about the results. The kids loved the 'computer' that was running the rally. Kids accept this stuff a lot more readily than adults.
Our results are posted at: http://www.vnet.on.ca/pineridge/finals2.htm

Jim Maguire, Cubmaster, Pack 1, New Rochelle

I just wanted to send you the enclosed photo and congratulate you on the best pinewood derby software available. After trying several different race formats and software, RaceVIEW has been our standard for several years now. I'd also like to report some information on systems compatibility. For the second year now, we have successfully run RaceVIEW on a Dell Laptop running Windows 2000. There were no problems of any kind experienced.

There was one notable setup item which would be useful to include in a FAQ. I would expect that the majority of races would be held on a laptop computer. I did find a problem starting RaceVIEW with Microsoft ActiveSync running. Since ActiveSync monitors the com port (there's only one on most laptops) RaceVIEW reports an error. I opted for the surest solution and removed it from the machine. Thank You.

[Doug: Palm and other PDA background software is one of the most common causes of timer communication errors. I will improve on RaceVIEW's error reporting mechanism in the next major release].

Thomas F. Stanek, TFS Consulting

We used the RaceVIEW software along with the Race Editor software at our Pinewood Derby last month and I wanted to provide you with some feedback.

We had tremendous success with the software. Displaying the results on a TV screen was especially enjoyable for both the parents and the boys. I'm sure we will be using the software next year. The Race Editor was especially helpful during the car check-in process. [Doug: Race Editor may still be used, but this functionality is now built-in to RaceVIEW]

Thanks for the nice job on the software. It really helped make our 2001 Pinewood Derby races a big success.

Stuart Martin, Committee Chairman Pack 691 Hinesburg, Vermont

Last Friday we held our first Pinewood Derby with an electronic timer and your RaceVIEW software. Your software worked flawlessly and permitted us to conduct an exciting and fair race for all the contestants. The "elimination process" really keeps the kids at the edge of their seat while their division is racing. By attaching an LCD projector to my laptop, I was able to display the entire race step-by-step to the audience. They loved it! With an electronic timer and your software, we were able to conduct 93 races within 5 divisions in 1 hour and 45 minutes with a threshold of 9 on our four lane track. Much quicker and fairer than our old method. This year, there wasn't one parent or Scout dissatisfied with the results of the race!

I would also highly recommend that everybody use the Race Edit software program from Rhino Software. A really nifty program for organizing and entering data on Derby contestants!

John Noetzel of Pack 551

Nothing but positive comments from the parents and participants of Pack 551's Pine Wood Derby. RaceVIEW was the center of attention for all the participants. We had RaceVIEW displayed on a big screen at the front of our auditorium via a projector connected to a laptop. The program provided a tool that made managing the race straight forward from registration to checking to the race itself.

John I. Griffiths, Chair - London District Kub Kar Rally

We had another successful KubKar Rally using RaceVIEW. We still can not believe how much pressure is taken off of organising and running our Rally with the use of your software. We had so many people come up to us afterwards and compliment us on such a FUN and Smooth Running day of racing. Thank you! (He also reported some glitches and suggested improvements, which are being addressed.)

Curt T. of Cub Scout Pack 181 of Lancaster, PA

Since using your software our derby's have gone from 6 hours to 3 hours with a pack increase of 35 boys. One heck of a product-- it takes all the guessing and work out of who races who and the paperwork of tracking results. We have boys and their parents pose for pictures up on the results screen which I project onto a wall. It's been fantastic! Every boy, parent, and grandparent can be involved with the race and understand the standings.

Sam J. of Pack 475, West Central Florida Council, Palm Harbor, Florida

We just completed our third year of racing with RaceVIEW, The Judge, and our home-made six lane track. This year's events were nearly flawless. I have noticed that the software (v1.5.5) is a bit more robust, such as when it warns us that the gate is still down. We were visited by several leaders from other Packs, and all commented that our set up was the best that they ever saw. This year we had 74 racers, including 18 open (parent, siblings) division racers. The elimination threshold was set to 15 or 16, ensuring that everyone raced at least three times. The entire event, with 5 divisions and a grand finale, took 6 hours and 14 minutes. (We could do it in less time with a lower threshold, but we prefer the extra races.)

The bottom line is that we are very satisfied with RaceVIEW. It is a big factor in our successful PWD events. We have zero arguments about the results, and by displaying the actual times, create another source of entertainment, i.e., watching for the fastest times. BTW, we had one car that consistently ran in the 2.49s and better.

Craig B. of Pack 290, Wauconda IL

First of all I want to say that utilizing RaceVIEW allowed us and our boys to experience a hassle free race. It was such a pleasure to allow the software to manage the race for us and afford our leaders to concentrate on the boys not the mechanics of the race.
As mentioned in my previous e-mail we were having communication problems between the DT8000 timer, the laptop and RaceVIEW software. Unfortunately by race time we still did not establish communications. (We are still looking into this!) However, using the software in manual mode worked out just fine. We are hoping that by next year we will have this resolved.

Scott S. Cub Master - Pack 46, Modesto, CA

All of us from Pack 46 here in California just wanted to say well done!!!!
Your RaceVIEW program is just what we needed. Our Pinewood Derby was the best ever.