CHATHAM — The sound of crunching metal and the aroma of burning gasoline filled the air Thursday as the annual demolition derby drew fans by the hundreds to the Columbia County Fair.
The second day of the Columbia County Fair packed stands with cheering spectators watching four-cylinder cars crash into each other, rev back-and-forth along the track and fill the sky with smoke. One vehicle caught fire.
Dozens of custom designed and decorated demolition vehicles lined up at the start of each of five heats, the last cars left running were the winners of each heat.
The first three heats of the night were for four-cylinder cars. Other heats for mini-trucks and one for mini-vans followed. Those finalists then faced off to determine the winner of the night’s $1,400 prize.
“We watch the demo every year — best part of the fair,” said Ryan McDonald, 58, of Hudson. “We always took the kids, now we watch with the grandkids, that rumble gets you going, gets us all excited. It’s great.”
Michael Sitzer Jr. of Nassau won first prize Thursday. Second place was awarded to Blyn Anderson of Hudson and third place went to James Kramer of East Nassau.
At the start of each heat, cars lined up along the edge of the track as their drivers’ names were announced over the public address system. The audience counted down from three when the round would begin and the cars would race into one another. The last vehicles left still able to run in each round would advance to the next round and compete for the grand prize.
“We come here for two things — the food and the demo,” said Aaron Liberwischitz 30 of Coxsackie. “It’s just great, man, gotta love it. What’s not to love? Cars getting smashed. Used to work at a mechanic so I live for this right here. Woo!”
Throughout the night the crowd watched as pieces of cars flew off vehicles, smoke seeped out of all sides of others and at one point a small fire started under the hood of one vehicle prompting the demo to be briefly paused while stand-by firefighters put it out and the driver safely escaped through the windowless front of his car.
“Oh my God, we love the demo,” said Cheyanne Smith, 24, of Chatham. “We meet up with friends get here early, get a front spot. It gets so loud you feel it in your gut. And it’s just a good time, good end to the night. It’s back and we love it.”
There was an additional competition for the best appearing vehicle for this year’s theme, “Heroes of the Pandemic.” At the start, the two cars competing for the best appearance award took the field. The winner was determined by which car received the most audience applause. The winner, Steven Crawly of Craryville, fashioned a large red cape on the back of his black No. 77 car, which depicted a heartbeat along the sides.
The demolition started at 6:30 p.m. but the stands were filling up about 5. By the start of the night’s derby the stands, which can hold about 750 people, Fair Director Angelo Nero said, were nearly full. Hundreds more lined up along the fence along the derby track. The fence and concrete barriers separate fans safely from the action on the track.
“It’s so cool,” said 8-year-old Justin Summers of East Greenbush. “The whole side blew up and it was smoking everywhere. It was so cool. When the guy smashed it in and the other one squished him over, it was smoking. The whole back part got smashed off and it went way over and got smashed. They just had the little cars get squished today, they have big ones when we come tomorrow. It was so cool.”
Large trucks, SUVs and other 6-cylinder vehicles were scheduled to compete at the demolition derby Friday night for another $1,400 prize.
"Demo" - Google News
September 04, 2021 at 02:09AM
https://ift.tt/2WLgdRj
Fans cheer heavy metal thunder of 'The Demo' - Hudson Valley 360
"Demo" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35q1UQ2
https://ift.tt/2Wis8la
No comments:
Post a Comment