Demolition Derby

Kent and I took Brandt to the demolition derby in Midway a couple of weeks ago.  It was on the Saturday following my dad's death, and it felt weird to be doing such a normal, fun thing when Dad had only just died.  I felt, however, that Dad would have wanted Brandt to go and would have gone along if he had been here.

A demolition derby is such a boy thing.  Big boys and little boys.  Does it get any better than watching cars drive around smashing into each other, on purpose?  I don't think so.  Kent sent over a clip that was part of the advertisement, and I showed it to Brandt so he could see what we were going to be doing.  He watched, mesmerized, and at the end turned to me and said, "Can we sit on the front row?"  We weren't on the front row, but pretty close.  Row six.

Oddly enough, Brandt's interest in the actual demolition lasted through only two heats.  Each heat takes a while.  There is much action and excitement during the driving/smashing, but then there is a lull while the unmoving vehicles are hauled off by tow trucks.  It isn't exactly a lull because a bunch of big equipment comes into the arena, but the action is slow compared to the driving.  So Brandt wanted to see other stuff surrounding the ring, and Kent was very good to wander around with him.  He made a little girl friend who seemed as interested in Brandt as Brandt was interested in a Gator, a real, big version of his green vehicle.  As his mother, I must say I strongly countenance a greater interest in trucks than girls at this point.  But as I have said before, Brandt is so handsome, I'm going to have to beat the girls off with a stick.  Apparently, I should have brought one with me to the derby.

I found the people watching as entertaining as the demolishing.  One man had on a shirt that said, "Out on bail."  If I were a betting sort of woman, I would put vast sums of money on the odds that he wasn't the only one. There was an eclectic mix of families with children (large and small), teens to the elderly, and all sorts of folks looking for a good time (in or out of the arena).  Many people were heavily tattooed and far too many scantily dressed.  Aside from the "out on bail" shirt, my favorite article of clothing was a cowboy hat made from a beer container (picture below).

We had a good time at the derby.  I think we will probably do it again.

The staging area.

All the cars lined up ready to go into the arena.

Brandt is here, in the midst of this large crowd of people, directing everyone to 

"take a seat" because "the derby is going to start."

This is such a good example of Brandt crawling all over Kent, which he does all the time.

We all wore earplugs to protect from the engine noise as well as the loud music.

Watching from closer than the front row.

Kent is trying to convince Brandt to come sit with us again.

Brandt is considering.

They ended up even further away from our seats.

A car was hit so hard it flipped on its side.  

Much cheering from the crowd!

During one of the truck heats, a pickup knocked over and then ran up onto another truck.

More wild cheering from the crowd!

The Coors hat.  

Classy.