Big Bear Lake, CA — The Mountain Lions of Baldwin Lane Elementary School are once again the victors in the annual 5th grade Pinewood Derby, which is sponsored each year by the Big Bear Lake Antique Car Club. During this weekend’s Show and Shine event, featuring the classic cars of the club, fifth grade students from Baldwin Lane, Big Bear and North Shore Elementaries participated in the derby run-off, using pinewood cars they’d created and decorated in recent weeks. Individual winners in the competition were Big Bear Elementary’s Monica Bocanegra in fourth place, Baldwin Lane’s Emerson Warren in third and Jessi Grabe in second, and the first place trophy went to Dylan Popovich of North Shore. In the school-wide competition, Baldwin Lane students earned 22 points (over the other schools’ 14 each), and have secured the perpetual Pinewood Derby trophy, which will be presented to their school in an assembly on Monday morning. In 2009, Big Bear Elementary housed the trophy, which was won by Baldwin Lane in 2008 and 2006, and North Shore in 2007. The Antique Car Club also presented prizes donated by Blauer’s Ski and Board Shops to six students, whose car craftsmanship earned them Best in Show honors; those students are Seth Sebree, James DeGree, Jessica Lehner, Granite Shelton, Dylan Burnley and Tristan Courtney. The grownups also won awards for their cars in the May 30 Show and Shine. People’s Choice Awards were given to Bud Nelson for his ’57 Ford Thunderbird, Gwin Ramoneda for her ’64½ Ford Mustang, Ken Carlson for his 1910 Sears and Deanna Fleming for a vehicle best described as a firefighter-themed rat rod.
