About the Author

Hello my name is Robert Gage II, I go by Bobby all the time. I have been working with electronics since I was in the second grade and wrote my first program in the fifth. I have worked on this project for over five years now and am still hard at work on it. I have just now started to have the time to work on my WebPages to display my software, electronics and other products.

I am currently a Computer Technician at a local retail store and work on customers computer systems. I also help out in the youth department at my local Seventh-day Adventist Church. Before this I helped out in the sound room for about four years. I am currently in school at World College (correspondence school) getting my BA in Electronics Engineering. Previous to this I was at Home Study International. I have been taking correspondence school since I was in the 6th grade.

My work with the derby racing all started back when I was 15 years old. Our church burned down and the electronic timing device that they used to connect to the derby track was damaged badly. It was not working all that well. So the Pathfinder leader asked if I would be willing to help rebuild it. I decided instead to make an entire new system from scratch. So during the winter of 1995 I modified an old electronic device that I had built that was designed to be a digital camera. Never finishing it, I decided to modify this device to work with the derby track.

That's all it took. I was off and away. First I simply made it that when the cars came across the finish line it showed on the computer screen how they placed. Then I added names to the system by making a data base and login program. And now 9 thousand lines of code later, I am having a race every year for the local School and Pathfinder club. A few other people and myself in the church have now formed a group of about 7 people, and we go out and host races for other clubs.

Thus in 1999 our group was asked to host the derby race for the international Pathfinder Camporee at Oshkosh Wisconsin. This is a time where kids from Pathfinder clubs all around the world come together to camp for a week. One of the activities was our derby race. I expected to have several hundred cars to race, I knew just one computer would not be able to handle it. So I added network support to the programs and we had 5 computers logging in names, one server, two track computers (although we only used one), and a big screen TV so everyone could see how their car was doing.

We still have several yearly activities. It averages out to be about three times a year. I have decided to make this software and hardware available to all Pathfinder and non profit clubs. I still don't know how much of a need there is for this product, but I hope someone can use it. I am not making any money on any of these products, as it's all the Lords work.

Have fun and God Bless,
Bobby Gage