Thursday, April 22, 2010

My Neverending Quest to Get the New Era to Publish a Pinewood Derby Gag

As I mentioned during the first couple of weeks of this blog, one of my unfulfilled items on my cartooning bucket list is to see the New Era publish a pinewood derby gag submitted by me.

Here's one of the half dozen or so gags that I submitted to the New Era that they didn't purchase. It made it into my book Mormon Life, but that didn't deaden my dream. Right now I am preparing a series of gags to submit to the New Era and I'm sending in another pinewood derby one. I'll keep you posted...

10 comments:

  1. Ha! I'm afraid pinewood derby may be one of those sacred cows no one dares to touch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sigh, you could be right, Mormon Hermit Mom. I also worry that the poorly-received, quasi-LDS film Down and Derby might have tainted the subject matter completely.

    But, undaunted I press on!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That Down and Derby show is Aidan's favorite movie. And it has HUGE star power. After witnessing my first pinewood derby competition, I decided that they are hilarious in and of itself. That's why they won't publish your cartoons. You can't mess with that kind of comedic perfection.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think MHMom may be right. There are a lot of cartoon possibilities, but I've never seen or sold one to the New Era either.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think you cartoon just hits a little too close to my childhood.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great cartoon. However, like most have already alluded to. The Pinewood Derby is still sacred ground so to speak. Not many are willing to show it in a negative light. However, your cartoon is representative of many Pinewood Derby races across the country. A lot of derby car builders brag about being some type of engineer or scientist. It used to be they were the only dads who knew how to build fast cars. Now, with the internet, anyone can build a fast car. Most derby officials know what cars were built by dad yet they turn a blind eye.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the comment, Derby Monkey, most of the gags I've submitted in the past have been about fathers building their boys' cars. The gag I'm submitting, however, isn't about that per say which is one of the reasons I'm hopeful the New Era will publish it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congrats! Finally, a pinewood derby gag in the new era! (March 2011)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, I'm pretty excited about this month's New Era. With all of my cartooning goals accomplished, I'm also wondering what to do with the rest of my life.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Haha! My dad IS a nuclear physicist. Ironically, our "blue racer" won all but one race, when it jumped the track. I still have it, after 27 years. He sent this link to me.

    Go dad! Er... I mean... Go car we built together and to which I contributed more than 50% of construction labor! (I did the sawing, sanding, and painting; he came up with the structure.

    ReplyDelete