An Evening at the Demolition Derby

Saturday, August 24, 2002: Our purple minivan pulled up to the Hendicks County 4-H Fairgrounds, ready for an evening of demolition derby fun. Upon arriving, we realized that we were in for some demolation derby fun instead.

Why was a vanful of suburban software developers coming to the demolition derby? To cheer on our summer intern, Tammy, of course! Some folks might not think that computer programmers can crash up cars as well as other people, but they'd be wrong.

We went back to the pit area to visit Tammy.

Brent, Gina, Jeff, Michael, Audrey and Tom took a closer look at Tammy's fine ride ...

... then Debbie got up the courage to photograph the interior. Luxury was not one of Tammy's priorities when selecting the right car for this derby.

Here came Tammy's fiancé, Marcus, in the baddest Car #82 ever. Take note of the shape of Marcus' trunk. This is important later in our story.

Our evening got off to an enjoyable start with several heats before our heroine arrived. This gave us a chance to eat some hot dogs and figure out the rules before Tammy's heat. Out came the cars, and Tammy's blue car was in position to start.

Crash! Pow! Tammy was off and beating up on the other cars, as was Marcus.

Sadly, her car was disabled and she did not win her heat, nor did Marcus. That was not the end of our story, however, so read on.

We were quite taken with car #05, featuring SpongeBob SquarePants painted on the side.

Oops! There was an engine fire of some sort. To novice Derby attendees (such as us), this might appear dangerous to the driver, but you can see that the fireman was relaxing, so this kind of thing must happen all the time.

It's the end of the heat, and what a thrilling show it was! Our heroine, Tammy, was victorious, but she had to take down her own fiancé in order to win. Here is a shot of Marcus in the distance, standing on his car. Please note the shape of the trunk (or what's left of it) now.

After that excitement, it started to rain. Did we mind? Heck no! We converted our blanket into a tarp in no time flat.

The rain passed, and the minicars came out next. They were just so adorable.

We took comfort in knowing that all those Escorts sold in the 1980s have a noble end awaiting them some day.

We took a brief moment to admire some local wildlife.

The announcer worked his way through the crowd, occasionally interviewing the audience. Here are some young derby fans sharing their views on the show.

Yes! Daddy won!

The carnage finally ended, and what's left of the cars was hauled off the field. Here's a sturdy vehicle with just a little rear damage.

We think this one was left for dead. All in all, it was a fun night, and we city folks just might venture out to the Derby again some day!