Family Fun: How to Direct a Hot Wheels Race

by Cambria VandeMerwe on October 10th, 2012 | 2 Comments »

A few months ago, an event took place that made history. Something that has never happened before. An epic affair that had my family in an uproar.

Though it may have not have affected anyone other than those involved in our cool basement on a hot summer evening, the occurrence that took place involved that of a family tradition. This is the larger-than-life tradition of Hot Wheels Races.

Our tradition has evolved through the years. My dad held races with his brother when he was young and they never stopped. After getting their kids involved and holding races with each other on Super Bowl Sundays, it has grown into an event held on special occasions. Of course, you can always practice and train your cars whenever you want.

How to Sponsor a Hot Wheel Race: The Rules of the Game

Make a track. Get creative and add twists and loops. Test the track by making sure at least one car can make it down successfully.
Choose how many cars each person can enter into the race. By now, we all have our own collection of prized cars and, of course, the ones we race just because they hold sentimental value.
Take turns sending your cars down the track, sending one car for each turn. Here’s the catch, you can’t pick up, move, or even touch your cars until everyone has sent down all of their cars regardless of build up in the track.
Collect only the living. Everyone can now pick up only their cars that are upright or could drive away. We judge this by having at least two wheels on the track. Carefully remove cars from the wreckage without moving any of the “dead” cars.
Do it again! You can change the order by letting those with the most cars go first. It’s amazing to see how cars completely upside down one round can come back alive in another. You always have the chance that you cars can come back to life after a few rounds.
Continue to dwindle the cars until you have a winner. The final car must win by making it down the track two times without dying. If you get down to two or three cars that aren’t flipping over, try sending them backwards, all at the same time, with one wheel off the track or any other creative way until there is one survivor!

There you have it. Your own car race in mini version that still brings shouts of disappointment as champions crash, zeal as the forgotten cars return to the race, fury as your biggest competitor flips your car, and bewilderment as you complete four races without a winner, making family history.