Popsicle stick races

My brother related something to me last weekend about how he spent some of his time when he was a boy. He would have Popsicle stick races -- in the gutter, around the sewer drain, and back into the gutter down to the pike.

Here's how it works -- and I think I got this correct.

He would take two Popsicle sticks -- they were free -- and you'll see the ingenuity of a child who didn't have Wii or other video technology. Just loads of fun back in the 50s.

He could only do have these races after a rainy day or an afternoon shower, so the timing was limited. Anyway, the trail of the race was from the gutter down on Central Avenue, between Second and First, and then apparently there was a loop around the actual storm sewer, so the sticks didn't go down the drain, so to speak, and the route continued down First Avenue to Jack's Five and Ten -- at the Pike and First Avenue.

Mark would put two Popsicle sticks into the stream in the gutter making sure they were at the starting line together, then he would pick one, and hope that the one he chose was the one that won the race. He would give them both a little nudge and off they would go and he would race along side the stream in the gutter down the block and around the corner and down the next block, following his Popsicle sticks until the finish line.

He didn't say what his percentage of wins was, but I gather he was ahead in the end.

How many kids today would race Popsicle sticks in the gutter?

ttfn