Mechanized Mayhem In the Dixon May Fair Arena

Stripped-down, souped-up, weapons-grade American cars and trucks – built pre-1980, when Detroit meant business – rolled into and circled the arena, allowing drivers to show off all the work put into readying their rides for battle.

Girlfriends, family, friends and sponsors perched on the roofs and fenders of the lumbering Fords and Chevys and waved at the cheering crowd.

Slipping transmissions into neutral, drivers gunned their V-8 engines. Smoke poured out tailpipes, filling the air with a nostril-cringing, hydro-carbon stench. The proceedings would have not impressed a politically-correct environmentalist.

A red-shirted flagman/judge signaled the demolition drivers back to the pit area. A water-tanker truck emerged, circled, wetting down the bare dirt arena as a safety measure. When the Derby begins, the arena will soon turn to mud, slowing vehicular velocity. Also, the drivers’ side doors are re-painted with bright, garish standout colors and identifying numbers. Derby judges frown on aiming for drivers.

The cars take center stage, solely occupied now by helmeted drivers, and line up in front of the bleacher audience, whose cheers are almost louder than the thunderous engines.

The announcer, who identified each driver, car and sponsor as they rolled neatly into place in the line now shouts through the loudspeakers: “Go!”

The line immediately disintegrates into mud-churning, auto-destruct chaos. A black 64 Ford Galaxie spins its tires deep in the mud, lurches forward, crashes into a smaller car -- ironically sponsored by Metro Auto Wreckers -- that careens off into another. Chain reactions ensue. Engines roar some more and accidents-on-purpose galore explode across the arena.

Out of the tangle one car inches ahead, though with the tires spinning into blurs the speedometer must be reading 110 mph or so, dragging another. They're locked by the bumpers. One finally gives way, they roar apart, leaving the bumper slowly rocking in the middle of the arena.

The announcer calls time. Two red-shirted judges run out and drag it off. 

Action resumes. The Ford Galaxie--now about two-thirds its original length, the trunk accordioned -- runs for daylight. The driver has a clear shot, two hundred feet across nearly the whole arena, at a smaller car slowly maneuvering out of the pack.

CRASH.

He hits him a sideswipe along the front fender, knocking something important loose under the hood -- flames shoot skyward. The closest judge waves a black flag. All action halts in the arena.

Wind whips thick clouds of smoke back in the driver's face, who calmly waits inside for pit crews to come running with fire extinguishers and put out the fire. Miraculously, the starter still works; he fires up the engine once more and heads back into the thick of the mud-spattered action.

And so it went as the sun set over the May Fair arena, Sunday, May 8 -- mechanized mayhem punctuated by the crash and rending of metal, errant car parts tumbling up in the sky here and there, the crowd cheering and engines backfiring as vehicles beaten into surreal shapes lurched and struck.

After four heats, all the cars and trucks returned to the pits, some under their own power. Others were lifted out of the way by front-end loaders. In the pits, crews wielded sledge-hammers to knock bent fenders clear of tires, blow-torches to cut away tortured metal. Mechanics worked under battered hoods replacing starters, carburetors and other essential equipment. 

There were two finals, for the car division and the truck division. Winners were determined by the judges who did not consider how long a vehicle stayed in the derby. Rather, analogous to a boxing match, the derby judges awarded points, the number of which determined the winner. A long clear shot across the arena, for example, garners many points, explained Mike Doyle, the Demolition Derby Chief Judge. Other types of hits and maneuvers help drivers increase their scores. Interestingly, Demolition Derby scoring incorporates subtle judgments.

The Official Dixon Mayfair Demolition Derby Scoreboard:

Car Division

1. Derek Mendez - $2,000 prize

2. Matt Bradley - $1,000

3. Matt Hilton - $500

4. Alex Segovia - $200

Truck Division

1. Curtis Van Foeken - $2,000 prize

2. Bubba Moore - $1,000

3. Randy Acquirre - $500

4. Joe Bowers - $200

Most Aggressive Cars

Matt Bradley - $100

Trucks

Joe Bowers - $100

The Demolition Derby returns to the Dixon May Fair grounds on the 4th of July.

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