It’s not full-throttle, high-octane chaos
Victories in demolition derbies don’t happen by accident
Blair Meiklejohn doesn’t need a crash course in math to figure he’s been involved in more than his share of collisions driving in demolition derbies.
Since he first began keeping his head on a swivel and bracing for the unexpected about 25 years year ago, Meiklejohn has had enough bumper-thumpers, fender-benders and T-bones to keep an insurance investigator busy for decades.
On Saturday, a 1999 Toyota Camry that he bought for $300 was the last vehicle that was still mobile at a $5,000-to-win demolition derby at Wreck Fest 2020 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold.
Meiklejohn, 44, laughed at the suggestion that he could have hit someone else — and been hit — at least once every minute in a 21-minute feature.
“It’s more than that. When you have that many cars, you could hit three times in one second or you could go a whole minute without getting hit,” he said in an interview from his home in Campbellford, Ont., near Cobourg.
The top prize at an event that featured 185 competitors and speeds of up to 35 km/h under the Merrittville flag tour was the biggest payday of his career equalling the $5,000 he won last year at a derby in Dresden, Ont.
Meiklejohn, a roads department employee with the County of Northumberland, knows from experience that demo derbies are either feast or famine for drivers.
“I went to Humberstone, and I think I placed fifth, and came home emptyhanded,” he said.
While the risk of getting hurt in a crash is ever-present in derbying, he finds a level of solace — not to mention, some extra safety — in the protective cages he puts in his cars.
“I’m a pretty good welder so I’m never worried about my cage breaking apart,” he said.
Still, there’s a limit to how much equipment such as helmets, eye protection, elbow and knee pads can cushion the inevitable blows.
“You’re always sore after,” Meiklejohn said, speaking from experience. “I don’t care if
“The worst hits I’ve ever taken are the ones that come from behind my left side because I can’t really see it coming.” BLAIR MEIKLEJOHN DEMOLITION DERBY DRIVER
you’re in there for two minutes or 20 minutes, you’re going to be sore.”
In demo derbies, drivers ignore blind spots at their peril.
“You have to have your head on a swivel. You have to be aware,” Meiklejohn said. “The worst hits I’ve ever taken are the ones that come from behind my left side because I can’t really see it coming.
“I never try to put the car in that path. I also try to keep it so I can see.”
Demo derbies appear like fullthrottle, high-octane chaos, but that’s not the way veterans of the sport see the action from behind the wheel. When going into a heat or feature, Meiklejohn looks for cars that are “hurting.”
“By ‘hurting,’ I mean really bent,” he said. “If I see those cars, I’m going to hit them where they’re bent to try to cripple them.
“The key is to not your front wheels hit because they’re your main drive wheels.”
Meiklejohn has suffered enough aches and pains over the years to know that it’s “100 per cent better” to be on the giving end of a hit in a demo derby.
“I try to avoid the big hits if I can, and I like to lay them if I can. You just have to pick your spots, that’s the easiest way to explain it.”
More than 200 drivers registered for Saturday’s show and there about as many strategies on display on the track.
“All drivers are different. Some guys put the throttle right down to the floor, that’s how they drive the whole heat,” Meiklejohn said. “Then there are guys who are the exact opposite. They baby it the whole time.
“They make their hits and they try to hang around until the end.”
While his compact made it the pit area under its own power, there’s no chance it can make a return visit to victory lane.
“No, that’s a one and done. That car is junk now,” Meiklejohn said with a laugh.
“It was fresh when I took it.” He won’t be using some of his winnings to buy a new old car.
The reason? He already has seven or eight cars waiting to have their interiors modified.
“This year we haven’t been able to run them. My stockpile hasn’t gone down,” Meiklejohn said.
Twenty-nine competitors advanced to the feature of a 3 p.m. show that didn’t wrap up until after midnight.
Ground rules from Wreck Fest 2020 at Merrittville had the win going to the driver who made the last hit.
“It came down who made the last hit and if the other person can’t make a hit back at you, then you’re the winner. Each driver had 60 seconds to make contact,” said Reg Bonneau, one of the show’s organizers.
One woman suffered a slight concussion.
“Someone hit her. She didn’t see it coming, banged her head off the post,” Bonneau said.
Other than that, there were some “cuts and bruises.” “That’s normal in demolition.” The 4-cylinder compact class, with 80 vehicles registered, had the most entries. There were also heats for 8-cylinders, fullsize pickups, minivans as well as small SUVs.