Adam Gardner, 7, stared at the floor and crossed his fingers recently as his homemade Pinewood Derby car zipped down a wooden track toward the finish line.

For weeks he and his father, Kelly Gardner, of Cub Pack 363 in Slidell, withered a 6-inch by 4-inch block of wood into the zooming car now neck-to-neck with three others in the day's biggest event.

This was it, Adam said. The race at Bayou Woods Elementary School near Slidell determined the top speed racer of all pine wood derby races in Pack 363's first through fifth-grade divisions.

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Within seconds, Adam's car zipped past into first place and into the winner's circle. The boy pumped his fist and smiled ear to ear.

"I was nervous when racing," he said, clinching a trophy after the race. "Especially when I'm racing against people bigger than me."

Adam was one of 50 Cub Scout and Wolf Scout boys who turned out for the annual Pack 363 Pine Wood Derby Race. Started in 1953 in California by Cub Scout master Don Murphy to foster craftsmanship along and father-son bonding time, derby races have become synonymous with Cub Scouts. Since its inception, an estimated 43 million fans have participated in pinewood derby races nationwide.

The tradition continued on a recent Saturday in Slidell. While speed racing was a major competition, now trophies are dolled out for a variety of top prizes such as best original design, best scouting theme, the most beautiful and most unusual.

Mike Brasher of Pearl River has likely won them all. With three children, Stephen, 14, Daniel, 12 and Andrew, 11, Brasher has spent more than eight years perfecting the Pinewood Derby car. At first he started out with simple carving tools, withering away layer by layer of a wood block until a car formed. Since then, his garage has turned into a makeshift studio of sorts where blueprints are drawn and a specialized paint sprayer used to design T-shirts is used to coat the cars. He even once used real window tint to tint the black car windows until he discovered it wouldn't stick.

"We really enjoy it," Brasher said. "It's father-son time, and of course the excitement of race day. You know we don't always win, but we enjoy it."

His pleasure is evident in the product. Pulling a box out of his car trunk filled with roughly 20 previously constructed derby cars, Brasher starts pointing out his carving techniques, polished axels, even the electronic lights he affixed to a police car. A small crowd gathered, marveling at the craftsmanship.

Some pointed to derby car carved into a red and white snake in a coil. Another favored the purple hot rod with yellow flames.

Brasher smiled.

"Every day after work we come home and work on these things," he said adding at times he and his boys spend eight hours a day during weekends to perfect the cars.

Several minutes earlier, after looking at some of Brasher's cars, Adam, the overall speed winner, was asked if he is going to win again next year.

Bashful, he stared at the floor and shook his head.

"I think so," he answered.