Drivers share appetite for destruction

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This article was published 03/02/2023 (1157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s strapped into the driver’s seat, helmet on tight with the V-8 engine revving high and loud. Peering through his safety glasses, he measures up the five other drivers who are all thinking the same thing — to be the last one standing.

Rob Prettie is a self-proclaimed demolition derby fanatic, and he has the mileage to prove it.

“I did 20,000 kilometres travelling to derbies last year,” Prettie said. “I ran in California, Kansas, Manitoba, Alberta and B.C.”

The demo derby has been a part of the Canadian small-town landscape since the 1950s and ’60s, in most cases they were the big draw for enthusiastic fans at summer festivals and fairs.

Derbies hit their heyday in the 1970s, when American television network ABC started airing the events, including the world championships until 1992.

These days, the big derbies are in the U.S., in places like Topeka, Kan., with its Blizzard Bash, the world’s largest indoor demo derby attracting up to 13,000 fans with thousands of dollars in prize money up for grabs. Prettie was there last November as one of the 250 drivers, but said no matter where he’s competing, it’s always an adrenalin rush.

“You get in your car and there’s nothing else to worry about, nothing else to think about except trying not to take a hit and trying to make the right hits.”

The rules may vary depending on the event, but the goal is always the same — to be the last one with a drivable vehicle after trying to demolish the others. And when it comes down to just two in the ring, officials start the stopwatch. If one driver makes a hit and his car dies leaving him a sitting duck, the other has one minute to make that last hit. But if he doesn’t, he loses.

In Manitoba, vehicles must have a factory car bumper, but other than that, anything goes as far as the type of vehicle that drivers can use. In some places, the Chrysler Imperial is banned because, as Prettie said, it’s a much stronger car than others. He himself has three of them as part of his 85-vehicle inventory.

“Everything I do in life is derby, derby, derby. Everywhere I go my mind is rolling as I look for random parts or the next derby car. It never ends,” Prettie said as he chuckled.

Besides the crashing and smashing, there’s a strategy that plays a big part in trying to win, and it’s not about who’s the loudest and proudest.

“They’re usually the ones putting around, and they make the odd hit but only a hit that will maximize the damage on someone else,” Prettie said. “They are able to push somebody out of the way or get them stuck or hold them until their tires spin and they can’t move. That’s a strategic driver.”

Shawn Gardner, who has been living the derby life for more than 26 years, said he drives to win, but not always by going forward.

“You want to think about using the back end first because the back end is a lot stronger if you build them right,” Gardner said. “So, you need to have a strong battery as well as a strong powertrain.”

The force of impact in the ring can vary, depending on where the vehicle is hit. It’s against the rules to aim for a driver’s door and if someone is judged to have done so on purpose, they can be disqualified.

Getting constantly hit from all angles, at anywhere from 20 to 30 kilometres per hour, can cause serious injuries. Prettie laughed as he said he never notices where it hurts until the next day. For Gardner, the adrenalin keeps him going.

“I like that sort of thing. You get hit pretty hard, and you’re like, whoa, my bell just got rung, who hit me, let’s go get that guy and run into him,” Gardner said.

Both Gardner and Prettie got their derby start through outside influences, which made big impacts leaving them with good memories to this day.

For Gardner, it was a co-worker named Doug who sold him a fixer-upper Chrysler for $25 and helped him rebuild it. Doug died at the age of 55, but is memorialized on one of Gardner’s derby cars as 55D.

Prettie, meanwhile, grew up in The Pas and a generous tow-truck operator next door let him and his brother drive — and wreck — many of the cars destined for the junkyard.

That’s why Prettie is always trying to attract new people to the sport. At a derby this summer in Assiniboia, Sask., he’ll donate a new set of rims to a first-timer.

“I’ve donated a special set of rims that I built to give to somebody who has just competed in his or her first or second derby, so that maybe they’ll come away with a new set of rims, and they’ll be encouraged to do it again.”

Other popular demo derbies coming up this summer include Virden, Glenboro, Deloraine, Boissevain, Dauphin, Carman and Selkirk. Officials with the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba say to stay tuned for an announcement about a derby in Brandon.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com