HOULTON, Wis. — Breaking a world record isn’t easy.
It takes hard work, planning and a dedicated team to make it happen.
A group of Cub Scouts and parents in western Wisconsin had it all, and decided to make a go of it Tuesday afternoon.
The group was trying to build the world’s longest Hot Wheels track and send a car down the entire way.
Scout leader Greg Ball says the current world record is held by a team from Australia.
“They were able to build one that was 2,464 feet and four inches,” Ball says.
The team of scouts felt they could build one that was longer.
They found the perfect location in Houlton, Wisconsin. In this small town, there is a long bike trail that goes down a slight hill and runs all the way across the Lift Bridge into Stillwater, Minnesota.
“There’s a lot of room to go down,” Ball explains.
More than 120 volunteers set up nearly 3,500 feet of track, just to be safe.
Not only did they want to break the record, but they also wanted to hold the record for a very long time.
After a few practice runs, the scouts were ready to go.
They sent the car down the track for their first run. The car hit a leaf a few hundred feet and skidded off the track.
Their next few attempts didn’t go much better.
Scout leaders say the hot sun was wreaking havoc on the track.
There were several sections of the track that were warped and bent in the heat of the sun.
Scouts were constantly running up and down the track to try and fix problem sections before the car came down, but they were fighting a losing battle. After two-and-a-half hours of trying, and a few dozen attempts, the scouts called it a day.
Their best run was about 1,200 feet, which is less than half the length of the current world record.
Leaders say the hot sun was too much for them as it caused a lot of damage and obstructions to the track. They’re hoping to take another shot at the record in the near future when the weather isn’t so hot.
“We’ll see what happens,” Ball says. “Maybe we’ll try it again when it’s cooler and we won’t have some of these problems.”
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