Crash test maniacs

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Crash test maniacs

Demolition derby brings out a unique bunch of competitiors
Ted Neergaard, left, delivers a shot to Kevin Rice during the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Demolition Derby Saturday night.
With steam spewing from his engine, Kent Newkirk, looks for another victim to ram while going in reverse. Newkirk won the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Demolition Derby Saturday night.
Kent Newkirk rams an opponent on his way to first place in the 2011 demolition derby.
Randa Olson
Kevin Rice (in coveralls) and members of his pit crew work to bend the frame of his station wagon before the finals.
Ted Neergaard uses a torch to cut dented metal away from the left rear tire.
Kent Newkirk looks around for opponents to slam into during the 2011 demolition derby.
Ted Neergaard, left, delivers a shot to Kevin Rice during the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Saturday night. Neergaard finished second in the competition.

Crash test maniacs

Ted Neergaard, left, delivers a shot to Kevin Rice during the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Demolition Derby Saturday night.
With steam spewing from his engine, Kent Newkirk, looks for another victim to ram while going in reverse. Newkirk won the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Demolition Derby Saturday night.
Kent Newkirk rams an opponent on his way to first place in the 2011 demolition derby.
Randa Olson
Kevin Rice (in coveralls) and members of his pit crew work to bend the frame of his station wagon before the finals.
Ted Neergaard uses a torch to cut dented metal away from the left rear tire.
Kent Newkirk looks around for opponents to slam into during the 2011 demolition derby.
Ted Neergaard, left, delivers a shot to Kevin Rice during the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Saturday night. Neergaard finished second in the competition.
Lone woman in derby wants to smash stereotype

Women drivers!
Randa Olson doesn’t care for that stereotype.
As the only woman driver in the 2011 Montezuma County Fair Demolition Derby, she says it motivates her.
“I like hitting people (with her car) and I like being the only girl out here,” the 24-year-old Durango woman said. “Guys think I’m weak, but I like to show them I’m not.”
Driving her red and black number 22 car nicknamed “Lady Bug,” Olson got a huge ovation when introduced.
Last year in Cortez was her first derby. She drove an old hearse and finished fourth.
She brought one valuable lesson from last year to this year’s derby.
“Don’t use the front end,” she said with a laugh.
“Last year, in the hearse, I couldn’t see out the back very well.”
Her step-dad, Ted Neergaard, is the defending champ and helped her get her car ready.
Olson admitted to being a little nervous but she said that you have to have a steely mentality when the flag drops.
“I have to go for it and I can’t be scared,” she said.
Olson was hoping that her Lady Bug would be a pest to the competition, but instead, it turned out to be a frustrating evening.
She didn’t have a hearse this year but in the end, the Lady Bug suffered an unmerciful death on the track.
And the final coup de gras came from Neergaard, who zipped across the track in reverse slamming into the Lady Bug’s grill and snapping the drive line.
“Oops, I guess that wasn’t very nice of me,” Neergaard said afterwards with a smile.
With that collision, the Lady Bug was dead and Olson bummed.
“It was fun but it kinda sucked. I didn’t do as good as I did last year. I hoped to do better but it was still fun,” she said.
After the finals, a tow truck, the demolition derby’s version of the hearse made its appearance, scooping up the Lady Bug and pulling it back to the pits.
Olson said she hopes to be back next year and her goal will remain the same — smash and demolish that stereotype about women drivers.

demolition Derby History

The beginning of the demolition derby has a few historic theories.
One is a stock car driver named Larry Mendelsohnstaged the first derby in New York in 1958. He had noticed how spectators were attracted by the crashes and smashes of stock car racing. However, according to one source the term Demolition Derby was added to the Webster’s Dictionary in 1953.
One of the most common explanations for the start of demolition derbies was that during World War II all automotive plants shut down car production to build guns, tanks and airplanes. After World War II, new cars began rolling off the assembly line. At the same time,a boom of automotive racing and other thrill shows began.In order to find a use for the so-called undesirable pre-war cars,demolition derby was born.
Sources: www.nationwidedemoderby.com; www.derbyicons.com

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