I've been to smash-up derbys before. I've even seen a motorcycle derby. I had never seen a Combine smash-up derby though. Yeah, Combines. If you're too lazy to follow the link, a Combine is used to harvest grain. They are relatively expensive, and can be quite large. On to the pictures:
There were 5 heats. Each heat had either 5 or 6 combines. They started off with the older, smaller models, and worked up to the larger ones.
I was cheering for the Pink Panther, and he did pretty good, but only the last two combines from each heat move to the finals. Pink didn't make it.
As each combine came out, the announcer would tell us the year, make, model and price of the vehicle. The first ones cost around $10,000 new, which at the time of purchase was a lot of money. I think the most expensive one cost $85k, new.
There were broken axels, one guy lost a main drive wheel. We saw a yellow combine get pushed from one end of the field all the way to our end, right into the concrete wall, and he had both of his steering wheels torn off from the impact.
Love that diesel smell...
Throughout the evening, folks commented on my niece's jacket:
Again and again, she was compared to Sgt. Pepper. Eventually, she asked me, "Who IS this Sgt Pepper guy, anyway?" After I stopped laughing, I told her, "Ever hear of a group called the 'Beatles'?" She told me she was going for the Michael Jackson look. Oh well, generation gap. It reminded me of the Mindset List.
My nephew (background) and his cousin (foreground) expressed their enthusiasm.
Between the 5th heat and the final heat, they had the pick-up derby. THAT looked like a lot of fun! Come to think of it, my dad has a 1988 Ford Ranger at home that he isn't using....
Me, my sister, my niece, and my nephew's cousin, as well as my brother, brother-in-law, and nephew went to the show.
The final heat was the longest. It lasted about 15 minutes. Overall, the derby lasted about 3 hours. Not bad for 8 bucks.
By the end, we were cold, hungry, and ready to go home. I didn't pay attention to who won. I was thinking about that 45 minute motorcycle ride I still had to get home.
It was pretty cool to see, but I put that in the "Once is enough" category.
