Bill Kjeldsen and his 9-year-old son, Zachary, didn’t win the Tri-Town YMCA Guides annual Pinewood Action Car Race on Saturday, but the two had a good time.

“It went very well,” Kjeldsen said. “It was a lot of fun.”

For the event, the father/son teams got a pinewood car kit beforehand to make their own race car.

“You had to cut it, paint it, design it,” he said. “At the event, they were all weighed, so they were all the same exact weight.

The race, the “nation” event for March, was fairly typical of the things the Guides do.

“It’s about fathers spending time with the boys,” he said. “It’s a wonderful program. ... All the events we do are a lot of fun.”

The Guides program is for boys in first through fifth grades and their fathers, said Chuck Pickeril, program director at the Tri-Town YMCA.

“It’s a father/son program,” Pickeril said. “The purpose is for fathers to bond with their sons.”

The program, which has about 150 members, is open to anyone, he said.

“We don’t turn anyone away,” he said.

Kjeldsen said the group is always looking for new members.

The father/son duos are divided into tribes, which are usually grouped by school and have boys of all ages. There are six tribes in all, he said. Events are usually done as a group of tribes, also called a nation.

“The (boys) usually know each other,” he said. “The older kids kind of help the younger kids.”

Other events during the year include three campouts, including the spring campout at Camp Crosley in Indiana the second weekend in April, a rocket launch and a visit to an indoor water park during the winter.

“We encourage each tribe to have a monthly tribe meeting,” he said.