XENIA — With the capacity crowd roaring its approval with every big hit, the annual Smash It demolition derby was once again a big hit of its own, Monday night July 29 at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
From an opening 22-car Power Wheel demolition derby for the youngsters, to Smash It events involving full-size sedans, drivers from around the region provided plenty of excitement and lots of sparks.
The Power Wheels event left all 22 kids’ cars a little worse for wear, but each driver was happy to leave the Chip Noble Memorial Racetrack’s front stretch with a shiny new trophy.
The big kids then began the night with a battle of souped up riding lawnmowers. Quinten Adams, of Washington Court House ended his battle with Xenia’s Austin Burrell with a jarring hit that completely knocked Burrell’s machine’s engine off its frame.
The crowd shouted its appreciation with each hard hit.
Another Washington Court House driver — R.J. Shiltz — claimed the win in the Smash It Mini Cars with a solid battle against fellow WCH driver Austin Joseph, with Celina’s Matt Toler finishing third.
Fourteen cars lined up just for the first heat of the Street Stock Compact division’s derby.
The car driven by Jamestown’s Charlie Richards appeared to have working tail lights when the event began, but by the time things ended the lights were working but there was no tail end of the car left to light! Richards later drew the only red flag of the Street Stock event when his mangled car went up in flames.
Moments later, Brandon Pinkerton of New Vienna piled into Sabina driver Austin Bronner’s machine in the southwest corner of the infield pen. Pinkerton’s machine aptly smashed Bronner’s 13X car into the concrete corner barriers, bending the car into a C shape and ending the competition.
After the race, Pinkerton climbed through the empty front windshield area of his car and stood on its hood in celebration while the machine smoked and steamed. Pinkerton then went over to congratulate Bronner for a good match, and the two drivers gave each other a congratulatory hug.
A second heat of the Street Stock Compact cars, and several heats of the full-size cars were contested well into the evening, but too late in the evening to meet our deadline. It’s pretty certain that more metal mangling fun was had in the evening sessions as well.