Demolition Derby pictures

[bosky]

I was lucky enough to get out to day 1 of the Drumheller Demolition Derby. They host it every year but this is the first one I've been too. Definitely a fun time as they had 30+ cars. There were 4 heats of V8s, each with 5-6 cars. Then a single big heat of 7 V4 cars. Then a one on one women's match.
Tons of solid hits, roaring engines, and even some fire.

Photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunny-h...7624665905659/

Now all the event needs is "Crazy Joe" Harshman to spice things up with a .50 caliber machine gun!

[ak_aramis]

Brings back childhood memories of watching demolition derby on TV.

And Roller Derby....

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Brings back childhood memories of watching demolition derby on TV.
And Roller Derby....

Three words: "_American Sports Cavalcade_".

*GOD*, I'm *OLD*.... :)

[Earlburt]

The "arena" looks tiny. It's hard to get perspective, but was it kind of oval or egg shaped? In Car Wars terms, maybe 8" (car lengths) the long way and 5" the other?

Regardless of exact size, I can't imagine how they get up to any real speed. Maybe they're not supposed to for safety reasons.

["Crazy" Carroll]

Originally Posted by Earlburt

The "arena" looks tiny. It's hard to get perspective, but was it kind of oval or egg shaped? In Car Wars terms, maybe 8" (car lengths) the long way and 5" the other?

Regardless of exact size, I can't imagine how they get up to any real speed. Maybe they're not supposed to for safety reasons.

The arena (called a track) at the Lake County (Illinois) Fairgrounds is retangular. It serves as the arena for the cattle roping and bronco riding on the previous day. It is a dirt "track," and is wetted down prior to the demo derby (which, according to Wikipedia, is to slow the vehicles). The result is that not all of what spatters the audience on the first few rows is mud. At the Lake County Fairgrounds, very large concrete blocks are put in place to make the "track" smaller than the roping/riding arena. Your estimate of size is about right.

This is ONLY a guess, but I would place the top speed of any vehicle at no more than 25 mph., perhaps only 15.

As a side note, my brother-in-law won the grand prize for the midsize division, defined by Dark Horse Racing as 105” (that's real inches, not game inches!) wheelbase or larger, 4 or 6 cylinder front wheel drive only, 1980 and newer. He (my brother-in-law, remember him?) also won for Most Aggressive Driver.

[bosky]

Originally Posted by Earlburt

The "arena" looks tiny. It's hard to get perspective, but was it kind of oval or egg shaped? In Car Wars terms, maybe 8" (car lengths) the long way and 5" the other?

Regardless of exact size, I can't imagine how they get up to any real speed. Maybe they're not supposed to for safety reasons.

The low angle perspective makes it seem a bit smaller, but yes, in general the pit was MUCH smaller than I expected. This was after the widened it a bit too, haha. Some of the cars could really accelerate, so 25mph sounds about right. I imagine this was a combination of safety and not wanting to tear up the main dirt area, which was being used the next weekend.
Still impressive what collisions at those speeds could do to a car. No wonder 70+mph hits in CW are buckets of dice.

[Earlburt]

Originally Posted by "Crazy" Carroll

He also won for Most Aggressive Driver.

+1 Pr bonus!

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by bosky

Still impressive what collisions at those speeds could do to a car. No wonder 70+mph hits in CW are buckets of dice.

It's more to do with the fact those cars are POSes, esp. the 4-banger "pregnant rollerskates".