North State Destruction Derby Winner Gets Personal

Aleah Gracia

Staff Writer

When Don Case has a good day, he’s in a car accident. “Yeah, most people spend their whole lives trying to avoid them but I go looking for them,” he says, laughing. “It makes people scratch their heads when they ask what I do for fun.” Fortunately for him, that’s what demolition derby is all about.

Don, who grew up in Hayfork, has been fascinated with demolition derbies since seeing the cars on parade when he was four years old. Now he’s been crashing demolition derby cars for four years.

Don won all four derbies he entered this year, including the last one where he became the North State Champion of 2006. He drove his ‘63 Ford Galaxy 500 out onto the arena measuring 17 feet. He drove it off of the arena measuring 13. It takes about 30 hours to build up a demolition derby car, but it will only take about 30 minutes to reduce the cars to economy size.

“I got thrown around this way and crashed into from that way and it still starts right up!” he says. Turning the car on and revving the engine, Don grins and lets out a “Whoop!”

In order to win a derby, the car must be the last car standing (or running, in this case). If the car has not been made according to the rules however, it will be disqualified regardless of whether the other cars are running. Don originally won 3^rd place because his radiator was damaged, causing the car to overheat. He watched the last tow cars fight it out until the end.

“I was happy just placing at all!” said Don, “but then they had to look over the cars and make sure nobody added anything they weren’t supposed to.” The last two cars running were looked over by the judges and found to be built against the rules. “I was like, what? Me? I get first place? No way! All right!” Don’s car withstood the judges’ tests and he took the trophy home.

But winning is not the best part of a demolition derby for Don. The best part is when he tows the cars back and forth. “I don’t know why, but when people see those cars their faces just light up. It’s really neat doing something that I enjoy and makes other people happy too. I like that.”

Don keeps a couple of different cars on hand in his back yard but they all have a few things in common. They all have the name “Jenny” written on them and they all have the number 3. Jenny is the name of his sweetheart since high school but the #3? “I just like it. Three this, three that, three of everything. It’s better than two!”

Some days Don pulls his goggles off and leaves white marks in the dirt on his face and some days he smiles and his teeth are black from the dust. Most of those days are spent behind the wheel of an old car that he built in his back yard crashing into someone else. According to Don, those are the best days of all.