Ya Win Some, Ya Lose Some (Richfield Demolition Derby 2013)

Derby season strikes again! You know how we can't resist derbies.

This year, Dustin and his buddies decided to be ambitious and build four trucks this year! One for Dustin, his brother Josh, Dustin's best friend Robert, and Dustin's cousin's fiancee DJ. They build all four trucks at Dustin's Grandpa's house in Circleville, since Grandpa Daugherty has a nice big garage/workshop. Dustin and the boys spent several weekends in C-ville working on the trucks. It was a BIG and very ambitious project. One derby truck is a lot of work, four is just crazy. Luckily, three of the trucks have been run in derbies before and didn't need quite as much work. Dustin really enjoyed working on the trucks with the boys and his grandpa, but there is a lot of stress and frustration in building a derby truck. A lot of trial and error and mistakes and winging it.

The boys were getting nervous before the big day because Paul Cox had signed up to do the Richfield Derby. Cox is a veteran driver notorious for building tough trucks and driving really aggressively. As soon as Dustin heard Cox had signed up, he knew someone was going to get rolled. The mix of adrenaline, nervous anticipation, excitement, and a bit of fear made it an exciting weekend before the show. Everyone was busy doing last-minute fixes and painting. It was crazy! The weekend before the derby is always that way. Fun, but crazy.

Dustin's truck before the derby. 

Derby day is all about rushing around, inspections in the pits, saving seats three hours early, wrangling kids in the stands, snacking, putting last-minute touches on the trucks, and sizing up the competition. The truck heat was after the first three car heats, and as with every time Dustin is in a derby, I got butterflies in my stomach.

The heat ended up being over sooner than any of us anticipated. Five seconds after the heat started, Paul Cox made a hit on Robert that flipped him onto his side, and immediately after that Dustin slammed him on the passenger side door and Josh rear-ended him. Dustin and Josh pinned Cox down so he was unable to make any more hits, but the four of them plus one other truck were stuck together and couldn't move for the rest of the heat. (DJ's truck died last minute and he wasn't able to make it to the heat at all.) They were all a bit disappointed that it was over so soon, but it was pretty amazing to watch! The derby officials decided that since the truck heat was so short, the fans in the stands deserved to see them have another go. Five trucks made it back into the "wipeout" heat. Out of Dustin, Josh, and Robert, Dustin's truck was the only one still running. Robert decided he wanted to be the one to go back in, driving Dustin's truck. Once again, the trucks were pinned up together within a few minutes of the heat starting, and for some bizarre reason the officials decided to bring in bulldozers and free the trucks up so they could keep duking it out. I've never seen that happen before. Dustin's truck was pretty much toast, with no steering or brakes. Robert managed to make one hit with it, but then got stuck and Cox pushed him into the middle of the arena and hit him from across the arena and rolled him--again! Robert was fine, in fact he had the time of his life, but it was pretty nuts.

All in all it wasn't the best derby Dustin has competed in, but it was still fun. As soon as the derby was over, Dustin claimed he was done with derbies forever. By the next morning, though, he wasn't sure anymore....of course!

Enna was so happy when Dustin finally came back from the pits! She was not happy with mommy.  (That's because I kept getting after her for throwing things and other mischief.)

Josh with his truck before.

Dustin and Cox's truck stuck together after the truck heat.

Josh's truck stuck in the 5-truck pile-up. 

Dustin's truck after being murdered by Paul Cox all night!

If you look in that top picture, you can see the 1/4 inch I-beam Dustin put in to strengthen the passenger side door. The truck was hit so hard it bent the I-beam. The roof popped up when it rolled too.

Robert's truck, also after being rolled by Paul Cox.

It was a dang hard hit! The passenger side is totally caved in.

More of Dustin's truck "after."

Game Over! 

Poor Lia was so pooped she fell asleep right on Kim's lap. We didn't even get back to Circleville that night until almost 1 o'clock in the morning. My girls were so tired!

One more "after" picture of Dustin's truck.