August 15, 2022 |
At $25,000, the Demolition Derby in Rawlins capping off the county fair offers what Lonnie Pacheco says is “the best purse in the State of Wyoming.”
Pictured above: File photo of the Demolition Derby in Rawlins. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
The derby draws a crowd, and not just to the packed grandstands. Pacheco said this year’s derby drew about 10 more entries than last year, with some new names behind the wheel. Drivers flock to the event to claim some of the purse money. One of winners this year was from Saratoga. Jeremiah Johnson won the limited weld class, earning $4,500.
Rawlins driver Brad Franz won the bone stock class. The bone stock is a crowd favorite because the cars are not reinforced with welds. They crumble like any street-legal car would under the punishment of the hits.
Casper driver Rob Lang won the new category introduced this year, Unified Big Horn Basin. Pacheco reached out to the group whose vehicles are armored tanks compared to the bone stock and limited weld cars.
A lot of the unified drivers hail from the northern part of the state, Casper, Gillette, Powell and Thermopolis.
Every seat in the house is sold out on Derby Day because people want to see the crashes. So Pacheco rewards the drivers who give the fans the most bangs for their buck. The Mad Dog awards go to the most aggressive drivers on the track.
Just like that old saying, “good guys finish last,” Mad Dogs often don’t finish first. Their aggressiveness comes with a cost. Their vehicles don’t survive the punishment to make it to the end.
The winners are the crowd who thrill to the rock ‘em, sock ‘em punishment they came to see. Pacheco said that other than a few sore necks, the drivers came through this year’s derby safe and sound with no reported injuries.
