Demolition Derbies are Radical
I had the fabulous experience a couple weeks ago of shooting video at very close up at a demolition derby in the Poconos. I was right above the action, on the infield, in the middle of the mud. The producers parked a big truck for me to set up a tripod just ten feet from the edge of the dirt pit where the hulking skeleton cars were smashing each other up. Pure awesomeness! No, I won’t be videoblogging it, unfortunately. It was a gig for an ESPN show.
One of the most interesting thing about a demo derby is the people involved, of course. First of all, what would possess a person to spend untold hours modding an old car just to trash it in the matter of minutes? The prize money for this event was like $1000 for first place. I can’t imagine after buying the car, fixing it up, flatbedding it to the event, the gas, the food, etc. they’d even break even.
I guess that’s what makes it a uniquely American affair. Cars. Crashing. Loudness. Mud. Lots of mud. All because, well, it’s fun.
Technorati Tags: driving, cars, americana, demolition derby, hobbies
August 19th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
You’ll let us know when that’s on ESPN, right — I would like to see it.
When I was growing up, in driving distance to Pomona and the weekly auto events, we had the “Sunday Sunday Sunday” announcer on radio and TV all week — so I can’t help hearing that every time there’s an auto event….
tf
August 19th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
A friend of mine was just talking about that triple-word announcement so indicative of car culture. I guess the the whole point was to emphasize key words by repeating them over the roar of combustion. Interesting.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:51 am
that takes real passion. or something. that’s real interesting, glad you brought it up.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Awesome gig you got!
There was a woman where I worked who was the most up tight, conservative person, yet she competed in demolition derby’s…for Jesus. Her hubcaps had crosses painted on them! She boggled the mind.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:21 am
I’d never been to a demo derby before last summer at the Delaware County Fair in the Catskills, and I have to agree with your awesomeness rating. Once you get over the incomprehensibility of it, it’s really fun, and our kids loved it. The drivers were mostly high schoolers, and everyone cheered for their friends. Some of the cars had great names and wonderful paint jobs. I loved the way they just kept smashing into each other slower and slower in the mud until they couldn’t move anymore, with the local volunteer firefighters on the sidelines waiting for the first fire. They didn’t have to wait long.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
i tired to go to this demolition derby in april (without success, we had to take a raincheck). but i heard this gig was superfun. and i’m so jealous. i still totally want to see a demolition derby…
November 6th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
this is my first year of demo derbying im going to derby in gardner ks it should be fun any pointers