2016 Logan County Fair

The 80th Annual Logan County Fair comes to an end
Demolition Derby draws large crowd

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[August 10, 2016]  Demo Derby Night begins with Power Wheels - On Sunday evening, at the beginning of the last night of grandstand entertainment at the Logan County Fair, the little kids took to the track for the Power Wheels Demolition Derby.

This event is a little different than what the big kids play in that there are no losers. Everyone has a chance to play a game of redneck bumper cars in a timed session.

Before waving the green flag on the event, a drawing was held by Crash for a Cure, a demo team that is working to raise funds for the Logan County Relay for Life. The drawing would give one youngster a chance to drive a Power Wheels in the event.

Jaron Allen with the Crash for the Cure team brought out the bucket of tickets and a youngster from the crowd was called on to draw the winning number. When the number was announced, a young man named Nate was the winner. When he was equipped with a safety helmet, Nate took to the track to join in the fun.

New this year, each car had a large balloon taped to the front and back bumper. The announcer explained that the kids were to work to bust everyone’s balloons, including their own. Having broken balloons, had no impact on the event, except that it added some noise fun for the youngsters behind the wheel.

When the kids were given the signal to go, it was then several minutes of watching and chuckling as the kids tore into each other, the “pop, pop, pop” of balloons brought laughter from the kids as well as the audience.

At the end of the timed session, each participant received a souvenir checkered flag and a small monetary award.

The big kids play with the Bone Stock cars

During the Power Wheels event, the kids played on a dry track. But for the big kids, the track was turned into a muddy mess, to make the show all the more entertaining. The water on the track was applied by the Atlanta Ag Center.

When the track was wet, the announcer asked everyone to stand as local vocal artist Lesleigh Bennett sang the National Anthem. Following her performance, the call was sent out for the Bone Stock class to come to the track.

Also during this time, the name was drawn for the free ride in the Crash for the Cure car that would be entered in the Compact Class. Michelle Paulus, Miss Logan County Fair drew the name of Cody Leevey. Cody came down from the grandstand and was escorted by Jaron Allen to the pit area for his safety gear, and possibly a few tips on what to expect on the track later in the evening.

This heat included at least two lady drivers, who both did very well on Sunday night. Also in this class was well known local attorney Jim Grimaldi in the .08 car. Grimaldi made a few good runs and hits but went out early in the show. It was later reported, he will be entering this same vehicle in several “Redneck” events at the Illinois State Fair.

In total, there were 18 vehicles in this class, and the track was full right from the start. With so many cars, there were often times when the track looked like a rush hour gridlock, with no one able to move. This led to a series of bumps and pushes, to get vehicles out of the way so the top contenders could make their classic high speed runs in reverse.

As the cars died on the track one-by-one, the area became much like an obstacle course, and again, some with the nerve and know-how used their own vehicles to push the stalled ones out of the way for those high-speed runs.

When the event was over, there was a lot of carnage to be disposed of from the track. The big fork lifts and bucket tractors came in and made quick work of clearing the track for the next class.

The Compact Class; small cars make for big entertainment

As stated earlier; the Relay for Life Crash for the Cure car raffle resulted in Cody Leevey winning an opportunity to drive a car built by Brad Whiteman in the Compact Class. Leevey did a great job on the track and was stopped only when his car died, and he was unable to restart it.

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At the beginning of the heat, again there were approximately 18 or 19 vehicles on the track and gridlock followed on a few occasions. With the smaller size of the cars versus the Bone Stock, there was a little more “wiggle room” and drivers took advantage of it to the fullest.

During the heat, the number 43 car was among the first to be knocked out of the competition. While it is against the rules to hit a car on the driver’s side door, there are no rules against pushing the car until it meets an unmovable object. During the heat, the number 43 took a hard hit to the passenger side and the rear simultaneously, pushing the car into the concrete barriers at the front and against a second immovable object on the driver’s side. The end result was the already small car became even smaller; pancake fashion. With numerous safety features as well as helmets and neck braces, the driver was unharmed, though he was also more than willing to get out of the car and watch the rest of the show from the sidelines when the officials threw the red flag.

Another red flag came out when a small fire broke out in the engine compartment of the number 33 car. Both the city of Lincoln and the Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District had trucks and personnel on hand throughout the evening. The fire was quickly extinguished, and after the smoke had cleared, literally, everyone continued to enjoy the heat.

Semi-stock produces a small class for the bigger cars

The Semi Stock class at the Sunday evening Demolition Derby hosted seven competitors, including Brad Whiteman with his Crash for the Cure car. Whiteman had pledged that he would give proceeds from the raffle of the Power Wheels, the Compact car ride, the sale of Crash for the Cure apparel and his own winnings, if any, in the Semi Stock class, to the Logan County Relay for Life.

Whiteman did not win his heat, but in the end, he did raise, and donate more than $800 to Relay for life, and added a lot to the last show of the evening.

This is the heat that, though smaller, seems to draw more enthusiasm from the crowd. The grandstand on Sunday night was filled with derby fans, and as this class got down to the wire at the end, fans could not remain seated. They stood waving their arms and hollering, all in support of one of the three final cars.

The final minutes of the heat were exciting, as at one point it came down to all three cars being dead, and everyone waiting to see if any of them would be able to “start their engines” one last time.

With only seven cars on the track, there was plenty of room for the high-speed reverse runs that are the proven best method for putting an opponent out of commission. This being the semi stock class, these cars had a little more ‘juice' than the other two classes, so those high-speed runs were very impressive.

This year the derby at the fairground began at 4 p.m. and wrapped up a little past 7 p.m. Therefore, there was plenty of daylight from start to finish. However, at the end of the last heat, long shadows from the grandstand structure were interspersed with bright sunshine creeping through the openings of the grandstand. It made the drive challenging for the competitors as they sped through shadow and sunlight, searching for their next targets.

After the battle of the ignitions, three cars were quickly reduced to two, then one, and with that, the derby came to an end.

Before the crowd left the grandstands, several cash drawings took place, including a 50-50 drawing to benefit the Lincoln Rural Fire District. That drawing resulted in $435 being given away to one lucky winner. There were a few other $100 drawings including an entry that could be made as the result of purchasing a box seat on Sunday evening. This year, there was also an entry form printed on the back of the season parking tickets. Entries as a result, were eligible for a cash drawing as well.

[Nila Smith]

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