Wed, Nov 25 2009
|
A Karl Pearson column: It’s loud, muddy, violent... and a blast! Demolition derby competitors keep coming back KARL PEARSONStar Beacon “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). 
More from the Home Page section
A Don McCormack column: Answering the call... |
Print this story
Post to del.icio.us
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
© 2009, Ashtabula Star Beacon
P.O. Box 2100, Ashtabula OH 44005-2100 (440) 998-2323, Send news tips and feedback 
|
Popular Business directory links - Ashtabula Apartments | Ashtabula Attorneys | Ashtabula Auto Dealers | Ashtabula Auto Parts | Ashtabula Auto Repair | Ashtabula Beauty Salons | Ashtabula Car Rental | Ashtabula Dentists | Ashtabula Doctors | Ashtabula Flowers | Ashtabula Hotels | Ashtabula Insurance | Ashtabula Loans | Ashtabula Mortgages | Ashtabula Movers | Ashtabula Pizza | Ashtabula Realtors | Ashtabula Restaurants | Ashtabula Storage | Ashtabula Tax Preparation | Ashtabula Travel | Ashtabula Featured | More...
|
|
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service |
