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June 29, 2003
Condoned violence
For the last 8 or 10 years, part of my family's Independence Day celebration has included a demolition derby. We haven't made it every year, sometimes we've gone with the kids and sometimes without. We started going to the Lion's Club demolition derby in Hooper, Utah for the first several years, but the last few we've started going to the one in West Jordan.
I really liked the experience in Hooper. It just seemed more like a real demolition derby. We were clearly in the minority, since we (1) didn't drive a pickup (2) didn't wear Wranglers and (3) had neither a cowboy hat nor mullet. It was great people-watching.
In West Jordan, it's still a fun experience, but it's not quite as authentic. Some Hooper-types show up, but the majority of people are kind of out of their element. Still interesting people-watching, but not nearly as good.
We went again last night. It's great to sit and enjoy purely unrestrained violence and destruction, in the name of good fun. This year was much more thrilling than last. There weren't any fires, but there was one roll-over, which is much more entertaining than a fire.
It's very interesting to see how long some cars can run, in spite of being so beat up. One car last night almost won the final heat with only one rear wheel, several others made it to the last few running cars with no steering. These were all American-made cars, though. There was one "mini" round of mostly foreign compact cars, which was one of the largest rounds by numbers of cars, but the shortest time-wise. But it was also the most exciting round, when one of the cars rolled over (and then two guys pushed it back).
The next couple of weeks are one of my favorite times of the year, and the demolition derby was a great way to kick it off.
Posted by pete at June 29, 2003 03:40 PM
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