SEMO District Fair: Demo derby cars meant for short haul

Before grandstand gates opened Tuesday at the SEMO District Fair, drivers and their pit crews made modifications to their demolition derby cars, knowing there was a possibility it would never run again.

For most of the dual demolition derby participants, Tuesday's competition wasn't their first of the year, or even the summer, and unless drivers spent their heat "sandbagging" their car -- not taking hits -- and many of the parts will be hitting the junkyard sometime this week.

"It'll be done tonight unless something easy breaks that we can fix," said Keith Zoellner of Oak Ridge, pointing to his 1983 Mercury Grand Marquis. "If the motor or transmission goes, the car's done."

Zoellner, 27, has been participating in demolition derbies for 10 years, and the derby at Arena Park was his fourth this year. And even though he has $3,000, which includes help from sponsors, invested into his car, competing isn't about the win, considering there was no cash prize.

"It's the best adrenaline rush you can get legally," Zoellner said. "I grew up around this; I had a lifelong buddy who did it."

Steve Baker, racing in the full-size car division, said it's about doing something that you've never done before, or at least not regularly throughout the year. Baker drove a car sponsored by Grace Fellowship Family Worship Center in Marble Hill, Mo., that was signed by all the church's members.

"You can get two years of frustration out in one night," said his rider, the Rev. Mike Sowers.

Their car, with an entirely new body, cost the team about $500, and was never driven in a derby before. The motor and transition, however, had been used in a derby car before, Baker said.

Although Jordon Barnhart of Cape Girardeau and Bobby Burrows of Jackson competed in a different heat, driving "mini" or compact cars, the two entered the derby for the same reason as Zoellner and many of the other participants -- the adrenaline rush.

"It's a stress reliever, too," said Burrows, who's no stranger to the Arena Park track. He won in the full-size car class at the Fourth of July demolition derby.

Burrows competed in the "mini" car heat, though, Tuesday, driving a Chevrolet Cavalier. He said he spent $800 to prepare it for the competition.

Barnhart, who drove a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera -- spray painted nearly every color of a rainbow -- also competed on the Arena Park track once this summer. Just before the competition, Barnhart was making minor adjustments to his car, hoping to pass a mandatory inspection.

"With my work, school and being in the National Guard, any weekend I could I worked on this car," he said. "Total it was three or four full weekends, eight or nine hours each day."

Although demolition derbies aren't known as a safe competition, and participants get their adrenaline rush knowing the dangers, drivers do what they can to make their cars safe.

Zoellner cages his car, while Burrows said he put a piece of conveyor belt over the gas tank, which sits directly behind the front seats.

"If it blows up, it'll push your fumes down and out the back," Burrows said.

And like most of the drivers, Baker's car has safety bars behind the front seats and by the dash and also steel plates on the doors.

Do the safety precautions really help?

"Not really," Zoellner said, chuckling. "You hope for the best, I guess."

ehevern@semissourian.com

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