Dirt spit out wildly from underneath the rapidly spinning wheels of the derby driver’s vehicles as they headed out onto the wetted-down soil to take their places for the Best-in-Show contest. The winner is selected by measuring the loudness of crowd’s cheers for the originality and creativity of each car. Waves of people filed up into the stands carrying cool refreshments to relieve the blistering heat of the day. The song Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd echoed in the background as the Demolition Derby got underway at the Stampede fair on Sunday.
The crowd stood up as a penetrating voice rang through the stands singing the National Anthem before the start of the event. The blazing sun was ignored with the rising excitement of the countdown from ten that began the start of the first heat (or round) of the derby. The driver’s gunned their engines and off they went!
For big cars there were three heats going on Sunday and all drivers were competing for the $1,000 prize. The top drivers of each heat would advance into the final heat. Divers compete by deliberately ramming their vehicles into one another until only two or three cars are still operational. Each heat on Sunday consisted of seven cars but according to Monty Dobson of Deer Lodge, “The times have certainly changed”. Dobson has been participating in Demolition Derbies since 1989, and can recall there being 60 cars in attendance and 12 cars in a heat at one time. He says high gas prices are limiting the number of entries. Dobson will also be competing in the herbie category and will be driving a mustang herbie. The winner of the herbies division receives a $500 prize.
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The entrance fee for the Demolition Derby was $50 and you had to be 18 years of age to participate. For most of the drivers there is a different derby every week during July and August. “It’s like a big family reunion at every derby…everybody knows everybody and we all have a lot of fun”, says Barbara Gagnon of Whitehall, whose husband, Larry, was participating in today’s event. However, Barbara also participates in the derbies and drives both the big cars and the herbies. “It’s such an adrenaline rush”, she says.
It’s mandatory for the drivers to wear helmets and they can paint their car any color as long as the driver’s side door is white with their car number on it. The cars can smash into each other as much as they want but have to make a hit at the minimum every three minutes. Drivers are disqualified if they hit another driver’s door. Most of the heat’s last for 15 minutes. Those heats are composed of ear deafening rumbles of engines, dirt spraying in every direction, crashing of cars as they collide into one another, and the potential for engines to start on fire.
Alecia Rusek, 9, says “I love when they crash into each other; it’s funny”! Rusek’s brother, Broc Harris, 21, and his friends were running the Sunday derby. Friends of the families, Jim Wagner and his brother Richard Wagner, of Helena were all competing for the top prize.
There was plenty of action at the Derby events on Sunday complete with the Helena Fire Departments putting out engine fires on two derby cars.
