A Karl Pearson column: It’s loud, muddy, violent... and a blast!

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

August 09, 2008 02:21 am

— JEFFERSON — Why would anyone devote untold hours, energy and precious financial resources to do something they know probably isn’t going to last very long?
There are some fairly simple answers. Many do it because they love the persons for whom they’re doing it. There’s nothing like the joy they see on the faces that have benefited from their act. Who knows, there might even be a thank you that results from it?
Ladies, you know all about this. Why invest hours in preparing a sumptuous Thanksgiving meal, only to see it polished off in 20 minutes? Why spend hours sewing a dress or knitting a sweater, only to see it worn once or twice and then cast aside? Because it’s a labor of love.
If they’re fortunate, they might receive some accolades for their efforts. There might be some applause attached. Perhaps there is some monetary reward that goes with it, but it isn’t much.
It’s probably a bit of a stretch, but there is evidence the same elements apply to competitors in the Nationwide Demolition Derby at the Ashtabula County Fair. They do it because they love it, their families have signed on for the ride and they enjoy putting on a show for the crowds that pack the grandstands.
Dean Clark of Pierpont has been competing in demolition derby at the fair since shortly after he earned his driver’s license. At 32 years old, the 1995 Pymatuning Valley High School graduate was in Friday’s competition with a 1984 Buick station wagon he bought for $250 as part of a seven-car package deal that cost him $900. He had also competed in Thursday night’s demolition derby.
Clark has had some success over the years in demolition derby, earning “a lot of fourths and fifths in some of the features.” But it’s probably not anything approaching the amount of time and energy he invests in his vehicles.
So why does he do it?
“My kids just love it,” Clark said of his sons Wesley, 5, and Rodney, 16 months. “They’re sitting up there in the grandstand tonight. They just sit and laugh about it.”
He’s definitely not in it for the money.
“It’s all a hobby,” Clark said. “There’s definitely no money in it. I’m not in it for the trophies.”
Neither is Adam Pilarczyk of Leroy, who was driving a 1974 Buick Electra Limited. He was in his third year of racing at the Ashtabula County Fair and his 10th year in the sport overall.
“I just enjoy being in the garage trying to make the car stronger,” the 29-year-old said. “I like playing around in the mud (which the area where the demolition derby is held quickly becomes).”
The thing is, Pilarczyk’s wife, Amanda, probably loves the sport nearly as much as he does. How much, you ask? Consider the following:
“This car cost $500,” she said. “I bought it for his birthday off of eBay. We drove out to Illinois to pick it up.
“He and I painted the car (a combination neon green and canary yellow). He’s No. 9 for tonight. He’s normally been No. 42, but this is a different car.”
So why do the Pilarczyks invest so much time — they estimated two months worth of evenings and other spare time — on their vehicles?
“I love the adrenaline rush,” Adam, a stone and brick mason by day, said.
It’s an overflow of his days playing football for Don Andersen at Riverside High School before he graduated in 1997.
“I compare it to being under the lights for Friday night football,” Pilarczyk said. “You get to go out and hit someone and play in the mud. It’s great.”
Jeremy Hejduk of Madison had invested $1,200 in a 1976 Buick Estate station wagon that looked like it might not make it off the track where the harness racing is held into the pit where the competition was going to take place. There was no tailgate left, the wheels appeared to be going at angles they were never intended to go and there was no hood, either.
B.J. Dewey of Chardon was in charge of putting Hejduk’s car through its paces. He was cranked up for the event.
“This is a thrill,” the 31-year-old Dewey said. “This is my first time out here (at the Ashtabula County Fair) in six years.”
So what brought him back after so long?
“I have a score to settle with some people here,” he said with a sly smile that made one wonder how serious he was.
There’s more to Dewey’s involvement in the sport than getting even, though.
“I just love it,” he said. “I’ve won a few of these, but I don’t do it for the trophies.
“I just want to put on a good show for the crowd. I know when I’m sitting up in the stands, and I’ve traveled to see quite a few of these, I’m looking for a good show, so I want to give the people one when I’m out here. I want to make sure I get in some good hits and get the people up on their feet.”
Eddie Marsh of Leavittsburg has definitely developed a taste for the excitement of the sport, even though the 20-year-old has only been involved in it for three years. He was taking his 1987 Dodge Diplomat into battle. He was fortunate enough to get it from friend Jerry Rigg for free, but he’d already invested plenty of the currency of elbow grease into it.
“It took me a couple of weeks to strip it out, another couple weeks to build it back up and then a couple weeks more to really get it ready,” he said. “The biggest thing was putting the engine in. We put a Chevy motor in it (no small task for what was a Dodge).
“I spent about $150 to put a new front clip on it. The rest has gone into gas and oil.”
And his reason for doing it all? Marsh cut right to the nuts and bolts of the matter.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I just like doing it.”

Pearson is a sports writer for the Star Beacon. Reach him at kpearson@starbeacon.com.

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