Drivin' Dirty

Children screaming on fair rides, barns of prize livestock and the smells of sugary and fried food pervaded the Monroe County Fairgrounds all last week. But the fair’s biggest event came over the weekend: the demolition derby.

The fair raked in thousands of people Friday and Saturday evening at the fairground grandstand who watched drivers slam each other’s revamped junk cars through the mud, pushing them up on banks and blowing out engines. Smells of motor fuel, cigarettes and wet dirt permeated the air as children and adults alike anticipated the sounds of crashing metal and the sights of cars falling apart in front of their eyes.

“I come out just to watch my friends race, have a good time, holler,” said Corey McKinley, a 15-year-old student at Eastern Greene High School in Bloomfield, Ind. “I love watching the guys get ready, get riled up, get ready to smash it all up.”

First Vice President of the Monroe County Fair Board Rick Routon said every year the demolition derby pulls in the biggest crowds of all the events at the fair.

Some of the cars started the derby with few dents, looking like 1970s models one might see on the roads, minus being stripped of their interiors with all their glass punched out. Others started out with a lot of dents. Most had been redecorated with spray-paint and had their exhaust pipes repositioned near the car hood. But by the end of the race, all the cars were heavily banged up.

Just fewer than 60 cars were racing in Saturday night’s derby in four heats, said Wally Hamilton, chairman for the derby.

Hamilton explained that seven to 15 cars race per heat, with all categories – minis, midsize, full-size and powder puff – having one heat each. The contestants crash into each other until three cars are left running in each heat. The remaining three per category win $100 and go to the “feature” race, while the others go to a consolation race. Three from the consolation race go with the three from each of the winning categories to the feature race until one ultimate winner is left running.

Drivers said they liked the derby because it gave them the chance to be destructive where they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to do so.

Driver Bryan Davis, a 5-year derby veteran, said his favorite part of being in the derby was “being able to hit stuff.”

“It’s a good way to take out aggression,” Davis said.

Driver David Sosbe, who has been driving in the derby since 2001, said he also enjoyed “being able to crash into people and not get in trouble for it.”

Hamilton, who said he has been involved in demolition derbies since 1971 and has served as chairman of the Monroe County derby for seven years, said his personal favorite groups are the mini cars and the powder puff – the women-only race.

“The ladies, they don’t care. They just go out there and beat the daylights out of each other,” he said.