Demo Derby set to return
Arguably one of the biggest highlights to the annual Sanders County Fair is the all exciting, adrenaline-pumping Demolition Derby.
The 2017 Demolition Derby presented by the Plains Lions Club is set to smash and roar to town in September.
Held at the Sanders County Fairgrounds in Plains, right beside the Clark Fork River, motor fans from around the county will converge to the arena to watch some great motor car sport.
“We have a great arena, great drivers and great fans that are gearing up for the event,” said lead organizer Paige Carney. “We’re hoping to get a lot of locals to enter in this years competition.”
He went on to say that in the past the annual event has seen upwards of 50 drivers and cars entering. Though in past years numbers have dropped due to a range of factors that directly relate to the building and maintenance of the derby cars.
With steel and scrap prices having been on the rise and also time factors for working on the cars, it can be difficult for competitors to be able to keep up to traveling and entering events. The expenses can add up quickly which in turn makes drivers more selective to which events they choose to enter in.
Carney knows all to well of the challenges, as he is also a driver and has been involved in the sport for many years.
“I’ve been driving for around 15 years, but this will be my second year heading the event on the day. It’s a great event to be involved in and Lions have done a great job with their support and involvement for many years,” said Carney.
Carney said that for this particular sport there isn’t much of a pre-enter that happens, as most drivers end up entering on the day.
Pre-checks are also part of the behind-the-scenes that happens before they kick off the action, and officials aim to match the cars and drivers evenly for each heat.
“I know first-hand what it can be like to place fourth and be just out of the money, so I get really excited that drivers can earn some prize money as we pay up to fifth,” said Carney.
With an attractive prize pool for drivers, Carney is hoping to get entries from all over the Northwest.
“I’ve been talking to a buddy of mine in Utah and he’s hoping he’ll be able to make it across for our event. There are also some great drivers in Canada, Idaho and across Montana that are all eyeing off the upcoming event here in Plains,” said Carney.
Last year the Derby saw around 29 cars entered and this year they are hoping to beef up numbers again to around 35 entries.
“The more cars we have, the more crashes we’ll see,” said Carney.
“It’s a great event to watch, especially when you get a crowd like you get here in Plains. The drivers feed off the crowds energy and the crowd feeds off the drivers performance. They really go hand-in-hand to creating a great performance,” added Carney.
Carney says with the aid of great local sponsors he’s able to continue to elevate the event to make it attractable to some of the best Derby drivers around; giving locals a great memorable time each year during the Sanders County Rodeo.