“Lawn mowers are cheaper to buy than cars,” said Chris Scalf of Hamilton, who was at the derby with his wife, Cari.
“It’s the new thing,” she said.
Entering the derby has been a Scalf family tradition for more than 15 years, but now they’ve switched from cars to mowers, which take weeks versus months to prepare for a derby at a quarter of the cost, said Chris Scalf. It costs a $100 to fix up a lawn mower, while it’s a minimum $500 to fix up a car. The costs to enter a car include the cost of the car, car parts and manpower, he said.
Twenty to 30 years ago, when derbies averaged 60 to 70 cars a night, a participant could buy a car and enter it the same night, Rutherford said. Since then, cars have become progressively more expensive, with high-power engines, braces and parts from different brands.
“I want to make it so more people can participate,” said Rutherford, owner of JR’s Tires of Hamilton. He hopes to bring costs down to a couple hundred dollars a car by making all cars closer to stock cars, which means the frames can’t be reinforced, parts are all one brand and there’s no bars except in safety positions.
“Right now it’s out of control. It costs too much to do,” said Brad Wagers of Oxford, who won third-place in the stock car class.
The derby driver invested about $2,000 in a car to compete last month at a derby in Indianapolis. Monday night, it cost $200 because he got the car and parts from a friend.
But he agrees the sport needs to change because it’s starting to die.
Winners of each car class Monday night received $1,500, and the winner of the lawn mower class received $1,000. The winners were: Compacts, Jason Pennington; Lawn mowers, James Philpot; Stock, Benny Barrow; and Modified heat, Lynn Lewis.
Another demolition derby at 7 p.m. Friday is billed to have “twice the cars and twice the crowd,” and the lawn mower derby will be moved next to the grandstands gate. Tonight is the tractor and truck pull, Wednesday night is the rodeo, Thursday night is a tractor pull and Saturday is Tug-A-Truck.
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