Here’s The Dirt About This Year’s Demolition Derby
Anyone remember last year’s Demolition Derby? If you were there, you know how disappointing it was. I mean, a Geo Metro won. A Geo Metro! Come on!!
I am pretty sure the Fair Office got an earful from some really annoyed derby fans. I know I passed along my thoughts. I have been poking around all week trying to find out if things will be new and improved for this year’s Demolition Derby that happens on Friday. I talked to some people who seemed to know a few things and here is what I have been able to piece together.
Bottom line: it should be better than last year but I’m not convinced it will be as good as prior years. Call me cautiously optimistic.
WGAS Motorsports was the promoter last year and they are returning this year. Best I can tell, they are pretty much the only demolition derby promoters left on the west coast. The folks who used to run the Clark County Fair demo derbies seem to have gone out of business. Apparently when the economy tanked, the demolition derby industry did, too. Plus a lot of prime derby car inventory disappeared in the Cash for Clunkers program.
Judging from the collection of derby cars in the parking lot outside the Grandstands on Thursday, Creekside Painting is again the key sponsor because once again all the cars are painted very similarly by them. Sigh. Gone is the fun variety of cars decorated individually by the owners and drivers. I really missed the M&M car and the Mooncruncher siblings from Kalama last year. There is a chance they will show up this year, though, as I was told there are four professional drivers that are bringing their own cars to compete. So we will find out soon.
Some good news: the track will be bigger and there will be more cars competing. Last year the track was about one-quarter the size of the Grandstands arena. This year it should be closer to one-third the size. Although that doesn’t sound like much improvement, I was promised it will make a big difference.
Last year only ten cars crashed and banged around. This year I counted 27 cars in the parking lot. Plus the four professionals that hadn’t arrived yet. There will also be an RV round again, with at least 4 RVs lumbering about.
I couldn’t really nail down what is happening in the 2:00pm show versus the 7:00pm show. I do know that whatever cars get banged up in the afternoon will be worked on quickly to try to get them running again by the evening show. So I can’t imagine all 27ish cars will compete in the afternoon because that’s a lot of repair work and I got the impression the number of mechanics is limited.
I will be in the Grandstands for both shows, hoping with great intensity that I will get my Clark County Fair Demolition Derby back. Or at least a version that isn’t as pathetic as last year’s was. Stay tuned!
Fair Food Feast Parade!
Today’s general wandering around and eating yielded a respectable 4.48 miles on my pedometer and a suitable buffet of Fair Food delights. Thanks to a bean burrito, today’s Tums count is 1.
Yakisoba noodles and Kalua Pork from Patrick’s Hawaiian Cafe. The noodles are still good. The pork was fine but I prefer their teriyaki chicken.
Sweet Tea from Big E’s BBQ. It was not very good. It was more like bitter tea with some sugar thrown in. The first sip was really good. It was downhill from there.
Rob and I shared some fries from the Philly Cheesesteak vendor. They were a bit underdone. We agreed we should have tried the onion rings from Big E’s BBQ instead. Stay tuned!
Soft serve chocolate and vanilla ice cream swirl from the Dairy Women’s Milkshake Barn. Very good! I think I prefer the Church Ladies Pie soft serve, though. You get more for your money there. Both taste great, though.
Much better Sweet Tea from a small booth just outside the Food Court to the west of Patrick’s Hawaiian Cafe. The people are from Texas. It shows in their tea.
The Texas Sweet Tea booth also sells chocolate covered frozen bananas. This is my second one of the Fair. Or maybe third? A great little treat when I want something sweet. And when I want to rhyme about it.
Beef, bean, and cheese burrito from Chewy’s in the horse arena. It tasted OK but they rolled it such that the first two-thirds was all beans and the last third was beef. That was disappointing. And frankly rather boring.
Free samples always hit the spot! Pink frozen lemonade from the Young Life booth.
The horse arena is always so hot! Today’s Hawaiian Ice flavors: lime and coconut. It was a pretty good combination. The coconut was strong, though, so you need to be careful what you mix it with. They let me sample the vanilla flavor. That was waaaay too strong to mix with anything.
Deep fried Twinkie from Sweet Cheeks. The best way to have a Twinkie. Deep fried chocolate chip cookie dough is still the front-runner, though.
Highlights for Friday’s Schedule:
- 4-H Small Animal Round Robin in various barns at 12:00pm
- Demolition Derby in the Grandstands at 2:00pm
- 4-H Dog Rally Obedience Competition at 5:00pm
- Demolition Derby in the Grandstands at 7:00pm
- Jerry Harris Hypnosis Show on the Columbian Community Stage at 8:00pm and 10:00pm
Toni Woodard
I am a Clark County Fair Fanatic and eat all things fried during the glorious 10 days of The Fair. I have lived in Clark County since 2004 and consider it the second-best decision of my life. I am married to a great guy named Rob (first-best decision) who graciously carries my stuff and takes my picture every time I eat something at The Fair. We have two indoor cats and lots of deer, rabbits, and coyotes who are kind enough to stay outside.