by Luke Vidic
BARTON — Traffic entering the Barton fairgrounds was backed up to the Interstate on July 4. The primary cause was the long-awaited Demolition Derby.
COVID restrictions prevented the usual Memorial Day derby, and so it was delayed to Independence Day.
Crowds packed the grandstand, filling it end to end with spectators sprawling along the adjacent hillsides. With creemees and funnel cakes in hand, they awaited the destruction.
The derby featured two events; a truck heat, and a four-cylinder heat. Rusty Dionne won the truck event, and Cory Seymour won the four-cylinder event.
A women’s heat was planned, but only two of seven competitors showed up. The two women, Hunter Cota and Kaycee Sabens, joined the men’s heat. They competed against each other, as well as against the men. Ms. Cota was first of the two women, and placed third overall.
The trucks, Dylan Tester’s eighteen-foot-long SUV and Mr. Dionne’s dented pickup, kicked off the event with a one-on-one matchup.
“They’re going to come out and smash the crap out of each other,” Dick Therrien, the derby’s organizer and announcer, shouted.
The crowd roared as the weighty vehicles collided, raising clouds of dust. Mr. Dionne’s pickup suffered the most damage, bending in the middle like a taco. By the derby’s end, its front and rear axles pointed in different directions.
But in a Demolition Derby, what matters is whether or not the vehicle can still move, and Mr. Dionne’s pickup never stopped driving… except in a straight line.
Even after Mr. Tester’s SUV became disabled, its driver still egged Mr. Dionne on. Mr. Tester waved his arm, urging his competitor to the opposite end of the track. Mr. Dionne obliged and prepared for one final hit. The crowd cheered them on, ready for a climactic strike.
As Mr. Dionne’s pickup reversed towards the SUV, it was clear that neither vehicle could handle the situation. The pickup swerved, slowly, through the mud, and laid a meager hit on the stalled SUV.
The earlier excitement filled both competitors with adrenaline, and both climbed from their cars with ecstatic expressions. They shook hands and shared a laugh.
Many in the pits did not expect Mr. Tester’s vehicle to make it to the track. After arriving, vehicle inspectors informed him that he would have to remove his front axle’s CV joint.
In a modern vehicle with so many electronics, such modifications can have unintended consequences. After removing the joint, the vehicle wouldn’t start.
With half an hour until the event, Mr. Tester and his crew needed a solution. They pulled a handful of tools from their trailer and got to work.
“We’ll weld something and hope for the best,” said Mr. Tester.
With an angle grinder and welder, he and his crew MacGyvered a solution. Sparks flew, and a crowd gathered around the vehicle. Many predicted the car wouldn’t even make it to the track.
The next time Mr. Tester turned the ignition, the car revved to life. The crew cheered — not that they could be heard over what Mr. Therrien called the loudest car of the evening.
“It moves,” a crew member shouted as the car roared to life.
Mr. Tester drove the car up for re-inspection, and just as he did, the front driveshaft rattled and dropped from the vehicle.
He had forgotten two bolts, and the crew and friends scavenged for the two pieces amidst the grass.
With only minutes to go before the event, inspections were done, but if the car could be driven to the queue, it could enter the derby.
The bolts were found, and crew members crawled under the car, screwed them in, and Mr. Tester’s car roared into the lineup.
Following the brief bout between Mr. Dionne and Mr. Tester, the four-cylinder cars filled the track.
The small turnout meant there would be no preliminaries. The first heat would be the only one, and the last car moving would win.
The women were originally scheduled to go at one another before the men, but during the drivers’ meeting, Ms. Cota questioned that arrangement.
“I want to go in with them,” she said.
Ms. Sabens agreed.
Mr. Therrien obliged, although there was some controversy over how winnings should be split.
Mr. Seymour said he thought the money from the men’s and women’s pot should be combined.
Early in the afternoon as the pit was filling, Ms. Cota said the women can hit harder than men. The arena, she said, is usually drier and therefore faster for the women.
She’s been in multiple derbies, so many that her dad “is tired of the cars in the backyard.” Her best finish, so far, has been second place.
Murmurs and conversation circled throughout the drivers. Ultimately, everyone agreed the women and men would have separate prizes, but the women could compete for the men’s purse as well.
The cars packed onto the track, encircled by concrete barriers. The state has mandated new safety precautions, including a requirement that the track be moved at least 30 feet from spectators, even when they are seated 20 feet above the contest.
Mr. Therrien started the countdown, and before he reached one the destruction had begun. Cars rammed one another with abandon bordering on recklessness. Dirt sprayed onto the stage, and nothing could be heard except small, four-cylinder engines red-lining as their wheels spun, fighting for the traction necessary to overpower their opponents.
The action moved around the arena. Small battles formed within the larger fight. Fluid leaked from radiators, and white smoke billowed from Mr. Seymour’s Camry. His car would not stop, though, and ultimately proved victorious.
Mr. Seymour went home with a trophy and $500. Travis Collins’ second-place finish was worth $300, and Ms. Cota won $200 for finishing third.
As winner of the women’s event, Ms. Cota also took home an additional $200. Kaycee Sabens, the only other competitor in the women’s group and the defending champ, finished second, winning a $100 prize.
Every contestant took home $50 for participating, courtesy of Barton Fairgrounds.
“I missed it,” Ms. Cota said after winning.
“That’s why we do it,” said her father, Tim Cota.
Mr. Seymour said he knew it was over from the start. “It’s not the car,” he said. “It’s the driver.”
He drove all the way from Plattsburgh, New York, for the event.
Dick Therrien has hosted derbies for over 13 years.
He said that “if [someone is] bored of it, they don’t even need bother coming to the fair.”
He called motorsports an addiction. “I keep coming back because I’m a junky,” he said. He has never participated in a derby himself, but still enjoys the action as a viewer.
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