I ran this $300 93 Civic EX coupe in the Montgomery County Fair demolition derby a few weeks ago, and won first place and $500. It was heavily damaged and had no radiator after that, but it still ran well, so I entered it in the derby at Potomac Speedway last Saturday night. There were 14 well prepped cars in the 4 cylinder class, and most of them refused to die! It ended up being the longest derby Ive ever seen, lasting almost 40 minutes, with two brief stops to extinguish fires. Knowing my car was already used up and had no coolant, I figured I wouldnt last very long. I delivered big hit after big hit, trying to finish demolishing the car before it overheated and died. My trunk was in the rear seat area and so flattened it extended to the roof, so I could no longer see to reverse into the other cars. I started hitting with the front, and with each hit I fully expected the engine to tear free of its mounts and finally quit. It simply refused to die! About 20 minutes in I took such a hard hit that the seatback broke and went all the way back. I gripped the wheel tightly and sat up, and kept going. My buddy Mike accidentally slammed into my drivers door. Drivers door hits are a BIG no-no, but because everyone is constantly moving, they are sometimes unavoidable. The hit caved the door way in, and sent me flying into the passenger side. Time and again the little Civic would stall, and I would start cranking it. I couldnt hear it crank over the other cars, but I could sometimes feel it. I would feather the throttle, trying different positions and watching the tach. Every time it would eventually start after 30-45 seconds of near-continuous cranking! You can only go one minute without hitting before being disqualified, and at the end, it came down to my buddy Jason and I. Jasons Toyota Camry was running so poorly it could barely move, and I was hitting him solidly. Then I stalled. Jason backed up and hit me very slowly, with barely enough force to jostle my car. He reversed and did it again, even more gently, then his car also stalled. He told me later that he was floored the whole time, and the car simply had nothing left. With all the engines off, I could hear the announcer counting down, and I kept cranking the Civics engine. Black smoke was billowing from my tailpipe, and I could hear cheers of encouragement from the crowd. With only about ten seconds remaining, the engine fired up once more, and I revved it to six thousand RPMs and kept it there. I backed up, went forward, and nailed Jasons right front wheel. Kicking in the clutch quickly, I kept the revs up and did it again, even harder. Jason frantically tried to restart his Camry. Usually at this point, you stop hitting a disabled car and wait for the horns to blow announcing the end of the derby, but the officials instructed me to keep hitting Jason. I backed up even further, still keeping the revs at 6k, knowing the smoking, seriously overcooked little 4 banger would stall if I didnt. I nailed Jasons front right tire again, HARD. Backing up as far as I could, I put my arm out the window and held one finger up in the air, then pointed it towards Jason. The crowd was really into it, and they were cheering like crazy! I kept it floored and hit that Camry as hard as I could, send it crashing into other cars. The horns sounded and the derby was over. The little Civic that could had won again! I got out of the car and hugged Jason, congratulating him on second place. The officials came up to me and told me that I had won both the derby AND the Mad Dog trophy for most aggressive hitting! Then I realized I couldnt catch my breath. I was sweating profusely and totally fatigued. Id never experienced that before after a derby, and was confused for a moment as to why, and then I remembered that my seatback had failed about 20 minutes before, and I had basically been doing a sit-up that whole time, with one hand keeping a death grip on the wheel, and the other on the shifter. It wore me out! I received my Overall winners trophy, a champion sweatshirt, and $300 cash, and another trophy for the Mad Dog award, along with a free $25 entry coupon for the next derby. Thats two first place finishes in one little Civic, against some seriously tough competition. The car still started and ran afterwards, and drove on the trailer! I got it home and sold it for scrap, netting another $200 in the process. Thats a $1,025 return on a $300 investment, along with three more trophies to add to my collection. This Saturday night Ill be there again with a 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, ready to do battle once more... :D
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 14:36:25 +0000
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