Have any of you ever been in a demolition derby?

[bull]

Just curious what all it entails. I can't imagine they don't have some safety standards where you just jump in an old LTD and go crazy so what kind of regulations, if any, do you have to follow? If I were to ever do such a thing I'm sure I'd want a harness, nets and a roll cage at minimum. Looks like fun but I don't want to break my fool neck. Any input?

For now I'm happy with this addicting game: http://flashgames247.com/game/flash-racing-games/crash-car-combat.html

[RCKSTR]

Sure have! They do have rules and regulations. You must have a drivers roll cage and drivers door protection, you cannot protect the radiator, you cant fill the doors/fenders with concrete, you must run pnumatic tires, no studs, no glass allowed on the car, you must have a fire extiguisher, 5 point harness, and a fuel cell... Its a lot of fun, if you can get on old car for free, it will only cost you a couple hundred bucks and a weekend of hackin and welding. Running the exhaust up through the hood doesnt hurt either 

[Brock Samson]

 you mean the buddy baker thread?.. 

[Cooter]

Just try and get in one in a 1972 Chrysler Imperial with reinforced frame rails one time.....



Been banned a few times...

[moparstuart]

you mean the buddy baker thread?.. 

thats more of a train wreck   

[hemigeno]

A good friend of mine and I decided to demo-derby a 1973 Plymouth Fury III station wagon one summer while I was in college.  I had picked the car up for $50 from a college friend who couldn't get the car into gear anymore and thought the transmission was trashed.  Turned out, the cotter pin had fallen out of the shift linkage and the trans was just stuck in neutral.  Found that out after I had towed it a bit with a towbar which smoked the transmission anyway

This was probably 1985 or 86, so maybe the regulations weren't as strict then as they are now.  Back then, all we had to do was have a hole cut over the carburetor (so the officials could see if there was an engine fire), paint the doors white (door hits were outlawed), break all the glass out, relocate the battery and fuel tank, and chain or weld the doors.  That was about all I remember in the way of "safety" at the time, although there were other requirements such as not relocating the engine back too much, no reinforcing the frame, no studded tires, etc. etc. -- and Chrysler Imperials were outlawed back then too.

My friend and I had a blast for about a month getting the car all ready for the derby.  We cut "V" notches in the back subframe which were intended to help the back end "fold up" when hit, which would help keep the back end from dragging the ground after a while.  Another friend had a pair of decent truck rims with the same bolt pattern and wide off-road tires which we put inner tubes in and installed on the rear axle.  We found some much skinnier snow tires for up front, figuring that they would "cut into" the mud and help the car turn quicker.  Then, we took gray house paint and brushed on a nice thick coat, spraypainted the doors, used duct tape for numbering, and cut a big fin shape in the roof and then folded it up.  After spraypainting gills behind the front wheels, the LandShark was officially in action.  Did I mention we had a blast?

In the actual demo, we didn't fare so well.  We had cobbled together our own shift linkage with flat steel bar stock, all-thread and cutting a hole in the transmission tunnel... didn't work real well when you're getting slammed from all directions... it was really hard for my friend (who won the coin toss and got to drive) to find the gears.  A ratcheting shifter would have been the way to go, but we did this on a poor college student budget.  We also had problems with the battery.  Little did we realize that two hardware store eye hooks and a bungee strap stretched guitar-string tight was nowhere near as secure as we thought it would be.  First side hit the car took, the battery ended up in my friend's lap!    

Anyway, the car ended up being disabled in the first race because my friend couldn't get the battery put back in place and restart the car in time.  In the Consolation round he did much better, but the battery eventually came loose again and out we went.  Oh, and we found out really quickly that we should have put a different seat in the car too... first hard shot he took from the back end broke the seat hinges, and he couldn't lean back the rest of the night.  The car was absolutely demolished by the end of the night, and we couldn't get it winched onto the flatbed trailer (plus we were under "penalty of death" orders NOT to take it back to my friend's farm) so I had to pay $50 for it to be loaded and hauled off after we yanked the 383 and 727 out of it - which didn't get hurt.  Sold the engine and trans for $75.

We learned a lot about what NOT to do from that race, but neither of us ever did another car.  Did I mention we had a blast doing it though?

[PocketThunder]

My Dad helped his buddy do a demo derby every year when i was growing up as a kid in the late 70's and 80's.  We had the shop and i got to spray paint the wheels.  Pretty big stuff for a 5 year old kid to be let loose on a car with a can of spray paint!

[TylerCharger69]

In Blythe California about 8 yrs ago...we had a 2-door Lincoln Continental....a 76 or 77 i believe.   We called it the "Stinkin' Linkin"  We had to weld a cage between the door posts behind the seat, remove all the glass, including headlamps and tail lamps,  all trim,  could only run stock steel wheels, battery had to be relocated behind the seat as well as a fuel cell...protected by some sort of device....whatever would work,  They DID however allow us to relocate the radiator...which also went behind the seats and was plumbed with 40 schedule pvc pipe with an electric push fan. (it didn't cool very well) The exhaust...straight upward out of the hood...and...they frowned upon taking a hard deliberate shot at a drivers door.  And of course....you had to have a seat belt and a helmet.   I imagine rules vary depending on who is funding it and location matters.  We did silicone the hell out of the distributor in case water leaked from our pipe or water pump to keep that firing good.....Needless to say....the pvc pipe shattered when it took a hit from the front....it did buy some time though.....we were the second to last car out there....not too shabby!!!

[bull]

It sounds like a lot of fun to me. I was looking at the rules from an 09 derby last night where they mentioned that you can't use an Imperial. Then I got on craigslist and found some $100-$500 cars that would work. Seems like any big American car between 71-79 would be decent contenders. Then I just remembered there's an old New Yorker (I think) down the road at a pumpkin patch I might have to ask about. It's been sitting there for years. I'd kind of like to stick with Chrysler so I know my way around it somewhat. Hmmm. I've got to think about this some more.

One question though, how do you get rid of the thing once it's toast? Wrecking yard?

[hemigeno]

One question though, how do you get rid of the thing once it's toast? Wrecking yard?

There is almost always a wrecking yard guy hanging around at the end of the derby who will charge a fee to load and dispose of the car.  Or, you can load it yourself, haul it to the same wrecking yard, and they'll pay you for the scrap value of the car.  Go figure.

[moparstuart]

One question though, how do you get rid of the thing once it's toast? Wrecking yard?

There is almost always a wrecking yard guy hanging around at the end of the derby who will charge a fee to load and dispose of the car.  Or, you can load it yourself, haul it to the same wrecking yard, and they'll pay you for the scrap value of the car.  Go figure.

those darn wrecking yard guys   

[billssuperbird]

i did it for 4 years. it was a lot of fun.

[bill440rt]

Driving in a demo has been something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. I remember going to them as a kid, man that looked like fun.

Curtis, if you like that game you'll LOVE this one (Test Drive: Eve of Destruction):

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/driving/tdeveofdestruction/index.html

It's available for PS2 and X-Box, it is hands down my fave demo game by far. Check it out when you get the chance.

[Khyron]

Im entering the Charger next year




common, someone had to say it.

[skip68]

Im entering the Charger next year

I think you ment,  I'm      not Im, or eye'm...not even Ie'm....       

I would love to do a derby.      Any chance to go out and trash a car for fun would be sweet.   

[Khyron]

Im entering the Charger next year

I think you ment,  I'm      not Im, or eye'm...not even Ie'm....       

I would love to do a derby.      Any chance to go out and trash a car for fun would be sweet.   

im being tyred and wants to posts to be not understandinz waz eye bee tiping!

[Khyron]

and if someone was to type but got the keyboard from someone else but the someone else dthat sold the keyboard wanted it back then the person who soled them the keyboard didnt do what the person who now owns the keyboard said to do hen its the owners privalage to never type a ' on it if the person doesnt want him too!


so there!

[skip68]

    You had me at hello "im".....      

and if someone was to type but got the keyboard from someone else but the someone else dthat sold the keyboard wanted it back then the person who soled them the keyboard didnt do what the person who now owns the keyboard said to do hen its the owners privalage to never type a ' on it if the person doesnt want him too!

so there!

 So you say, but I don't believe you.        I think the first three (that's 3) people are plain crazy.    

[Black Charger]

My biggest problem with demo derbies is that some people still enter classic iron in them. Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvxgMf7Oag

In addition to the full-size Chryslers that look pretty straight, notice the 1958 Chevy that pulls out. I know this is a Mopar board, but that is still a sad waste of a classic car. WTF is wrong with people?

By the way, my hatred of demo derbies began when I saw a 1969 Coronet two-door after it was used in a demo derby. The sight of what had been done to the car was sickening enough, I just didn't have it in me to check the VIN tag, as I was kind of afraid to see what had been lost.

[69bronzeT5]

Driving in a demo has been something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. I remember going to them as a kid, man that looked like fun.

Curtis, if you like that game you'll LOVE this one (Test Drive: Eve of Destruction):

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/driving/tdeveofdestruction/index.html

It's available for PS2 and X-Box, it is hands down my fave demo game by far. Check it out when you get the chance.

LOVE that game!

[TheGhost]

We have some "Junior" Demo Derby's around here, involving smaller cars from the 80s.  Was tempted to take some 80s GM FWD pile of crap into one, just never had the ambition.  I'd rather trash those cars than a 60s-70s RWD boat.

[bill440rt]

My biggest problem with demo derbies is that some people still enter classic iron in them. Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvxgMf7Oag

In addition to the full-size Chryslers that look pretty straight, notice the 1958 Chevy that pulls out. I know this is a Mopar board, but that is still a sad waste of a classic car. WTF is wrong with people?

By the way, my hatred of demo derbies began when I saw a 1969 Coronet two-door after it was used in a demo derby. The sight of what had been done to the car was sickening enough, I just didn't have it in me to check the VIN tag, as I was kind of afraid to see what had been lost.

I wholeheartedly agree. 
Is that clip REALLY from 2009?? That's so hard to believe. Early/mid-'80's you'd see all those cars. Where did they find all those RUNNING classic cars to destroy?? And they allow passengers??     I thought I saw one car pull in, and the driver/passenger weren't even wearing helmets! Another guy had on just a tank top. Where are the safety regulations at that one?
VERY sad to see those old cars erased forever. I would hope to think most demos these days don't have that amount of classic iron.

[PocketThunder]

My biggest problem with demo derbies is that some people still enter classic iron in them. Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIvxgMf7Oag

In addition to the full-size Chryslers that look pretty straight, notice the 1958 Chevy that pulls out. I know this is a Mopar board, but that is still a sad waste of a classic car. WTF is wrong with people?

By the way, my hatred of demo derbies began when I saw a 1969 Coronet two-door after it was used in a demo derby. The sight of what had been done to the car was sickening enough, I just didn't have it in me to check the VIN tag, as I was kind of afraid to see what had been lost.

I'm sure that was just an introduction run for the fans and they drove back to the pits before the actual race.


I wholeheartedly agree. 
Is that clip REALLY from 2009?? That's so hard to believe. Early/mid-'80's you'd see all those cars. Where did they find all those RUNNING classic cars to destroy?? And they allow passengers??     I thought I saw one car pull in, and the driver/passenger weren't even wearing helmets! Another guy had on just a tank top. Where are the safety regulations at that one?
VERY sad to see those old cars erased forever. I would hope to think most demos these days don't have that amount of classic iron.

[bull]

Yea, I did look at some cars for sale cheap that I wouldn't consider putting in a derby. Although I think it would be kind of fun to run something like this if I were rich, just to piss someone off:

[Black Charger]

This wasn't just an introduction run. Even though the actual derby itself wasn't shown in the clip, if you scroll down and read the comments, some of the people who actually DID participate wrote in to talk about how long their cars lasted, etc. There were several people who expressed their disgust as what happened to that '58 Chevy.