Destruction Derby brings fair to an end

Bull riding is nice and the Tuff Truck, Tuff Cars and Mud Bogs competition on Saturday night is always a fan favorite, but year after year nothing seems to fill the grandstands at the Yuba-Sutter Fair more than the TNT Motorsports Destruction Derby.

The sweet sound of engines revving and metal banging filled the fairgrounds once again on Sunday night, much to the delight of the capacity crowd.

After all, people who head to the race track each weekend often come to see the big crashes as much as they do to see cars tearing up the track.

And on this evening, big collisions are all but guaranteed.

"People just like to see stuff get wrecked I guess," said Gridley's Chad Mathews, whose mother and father worked as scorekeeper and derby official, respectively. "It's fun to watch and sometimes the cars will flip, so it gets pretty crazy."

Sunday's competition consisted of two classes. The first was the "full size" division, which is basically made up of any American-made cars. Drawing the most entries, the division saw three heat races, a consolation heat as well as a 20-car main event.

The second class was the "mini" division which was comprised of cars with four-cylinder engines and a wheel base of less than 100 inches. Only one 19-car main event was held.

The top five in points for each five-minute heat advanced to the main event. Drivers were rewarded a point for each "hit" and three points for each "hard hit" during the competition.

But while the action in the arena is always exciting, the real chaos begins once the cars leave the track as drivers and pit crews do their best to get the vehicles ready for the next run.

Equipped with everything from a sledge hammer to a blow torch, pit crews cut, welded and bent metal away from the tires and did everything they could to make the vehicles absorb more damage in the arena.

"You don't really want to win your heat, you just want to qualify for the main event," said Yuba City's Wes Schamanski, a former derby champion. "You have to have your car in good shape in the final."

Prize money for the winners were doubled this year with the full-size champion winning $2,000 and the mini-class winner taking home $1,000.

"It's our 10th year doing this so we decided to double it," derby promoter Tim Thomas said. "If you get in a wreck on the street you get in trouble. Here you can take out your aggression and win some money at the same time."

Guy Mullins of Modesto took the full-size main event while Jake Lauria of Beale Air Force Base won the mini main.