At The County Fair

At the county Fair

Sorry, this should have been posted sooner but its been a busy couple of days. Besides the normal meetings, classes and appointments that usher in the start of the school year, a dead battery in my 1985 Jeep turned into a long few days of testing the alternator, replacing electrical lines, and for the heck of it replacing the power steering pump. On top of all this Saturday afternoon was the 23rd annual draft for my fantasy football league. And yes - our league has been at is so long that when we started there was no internet and we all anxiously waited for the Monday morning newspaper for player stats!

Heading up the grandstands

As a coach one thing I try to do with my team is get off campus to see the surrounding area(s). It would be a shame to spend the first week of college only spending time in the library, dorm room and courts. Besides, Walla Walla is fun to explore and, in fact, was recently named the friendliest town in the United States! And at the beginning of September there is no more interesting place to explore than the oldest fair in the state of Washington -- the Walla Walla Fair & Frontier Days!

Plus I wanted to give the guys on the team a very special experience -- a huge demo derby! The Walla Walla fair demo derby is one serious event. Its 3+ hours of speed, smashing and collisions in front of 4K yelling fans. Throw in some delicious (and very unhealthy) fair food, a beautiful evening and good friends for a very fun and very interesting evening.

flipped car at the derby

The first part of the demo derby is a series of heat races around the dirt track. Even though these heats are lap races there is plenty of bumping, crashing and broken down cars. In fact, this unlucky driver got pushed on his side and the fire trucks had to come out to make sure all was ok. Sam Sadeghi wasn't that impressed with the heat races and said driving in rush hour LA was a "bit like the demo derby except you don't get to go that fast."

Crazy time at the Demo Derby

 The end of the derby is a the-last-car-moving- wins race. All the cars line up around the arena and at the starting signal drivers try to a) disable other cars and b) try not to get disabled. Its a lot of loud cars, parts/tires falling off, crashes, and screaming fans. In this photo you can see unlucky car #19 getting pushed over the concrete barrier! Probably not a redeeming social value in attending the demo derby but I have to say everyone had a smashing good time.

Click here for more photos of the fair/demo derby