I went to my first derby in West Valley City, Utah with some some friends while I was in university and I was hooked immediately. We went to a one or two more before I graduated and we moved to Ottawa, where we managed to see two derbies that were part of small town fairs, but they were held on small tracks with compact cars and just didn't compare to "the real thing" that I'd witnessed in WVC. So when we were planning our reunion tour through several US states over a period of 16 days, I did searched out derby dates and found us a winner: The Wasatch County Demolition Derby in Heber, Utah.
I invited my brother and his family to join us, and volunteered their home as the launch point for our venture. My next job was to buy tickets, which nearly didn't pan out. I went on the website and noted the start date for ticket sales into my calendar. I went online on that date and found a notice that it had been delayed for technical reasons and a new date was given. I happened to be up late the night before that new date and tried the site after midnight but it didn't work -- I figured it was more technical problems and they would need to reschedule. The next morning I tried it again just to see and found that tickets were selling like hotcakes. I barely managed to get 9 tickets all together in a decent section of the grandstands. Who knew that I had settled on one of the most popular demolition derbies in Utah?
The hype was well justified. There were tons of experienced entrants and the elimination heats were savage. I screamed myself hoarse (as usual), calling for bigger hits and leaped out of my seat with the rest of the crowd when a car was tipped right over. I may be a city boy raised in peace-lovin' Canada, but watching a driver ram his car into the side of an opponent tears me right down to a barbarian.
My brother managed to snag a box of popsicles tossed out into the stands. We also came away with a small ball, but I totally let the t-shirt slip out of my hands (I decided not to fight the lady for it -- I guess I'm not quite 100% barbarian). You might wonder how an 18-month-old baby would enjoy such an event. She did okay as long as the treats held out, and she quite liked to get up and dance when the music came on between heats.
When one of the trucks was turned over, even the victim-driver could be seen pumping his fists and cheering -- hanging upside down by his seatbelt. Everybody loves a good collision.
I was thinking about it. Watching the derby is like watching a fight break out at a hockey game -- everybody is thrilled at the fights -- but the derby is like a bench-clearing brawl ...one that resets every few minutes. I don't understand why it seems to be dwindling in popularity in many places. You would think people would be screaming for more. I sure am.
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