--- title: Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers | TIME description: At the Delaware County Fair in New York state, demolition derby entrants crash their clunkers on the muddy track of the grandstand canonical: https://time.com/video/jxPIQgRr/ og:title: Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers og:description: At the Delaware County Fair in New York state, demolition derby entrants crash their clunkers on the muddy track of the grandstand og:url: https://time.com/video/jxPIQgRr/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jxPIQgRr/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers twitter:description: At the Delaware County Fair in New York state, demolition derby entrants crash their clunkers on the muddy track of the grandstand twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jxPIQgRr/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=d0ad5c21-e45b-4469-96d9-89613ed595a4&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=d0ad5c21-e45b-4469-96d9-89613ed595a4&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers [Watch (HLS stream): Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jxPIQgRr.m3u8) (7:23)  _Published 2009-09-01. At the Delaware County Fair in New York state, demolition derby entrants crash their clunkers on the muddy track of the grandstand_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:13 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [A Demolition Goes Wrong in Denmark, Sending a Silo Crashing Down on a Cultural Center](/video/RfXwheEK/) ### A Demolition Goes Wrong in Denmark, Sending a Silo Crashing Down on a Cultural Center [CNN's The Seventies: Disco Demolition](/video/zK2QpFAn/) ### CNN's The Seventies: Disco Demolition [The Secrets to Cash for Clunkers' Success](/video/HfS6jW3V/) ### The Secrets to Cash for Clunkers' Success --- ## Transcript -[ unk ] halftime [ unk ] a lot of time! Give us a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! >> I've been a fan of demolition derby ever since I was probably tall enough to look up in the stands, you know. >> Just watching the cars give them out [ unk ] >> Just hit another person with another car. >> Demolition derby was the original Cash for Clunkers program. Buy an old beater destined for the junkyard, strip it down and remove anything that will fly off. Start it up, head to the mud track and ram into every car you see. If your clunker's the last one running, you win some cash. -[ unk ] is the winner! >> At least that's the way it's always worked here at the Delaware County Fair in Walton, New York. >> While we're all farm boys we raced out on the track when we were young. We had a racetrack up on the hill. When I was young we just raced and we liked speed and we like crashing. So-- >> John Macrabie's family has a long history in the derby. His son Randy has been crashing cars here since he was 16 years old. This year will be his 18th and last derby appearance. >> Every year you just-- there comes our time, you just gotta go find a car. It's just that much fun. >> Smashing the car >> Smashing up the car. >> Legally. >> Pam Finch and her brother Adam are both driving 4- cylinder cars in the same heat. >> This one right here is my sister's car. And that's her. We are on the other and hope we try to win it. >> I don't care as long as I kick my brother's butt. >> Everyone does this for fun. But some use the occasion to promote a cause, like this car which raised money for breast cancer research. Jessica Elam dedicated her car to a nonprofit that works with intellectually disabled people. >> The Delaware County Fair is a big community event. It's something that everybody gets involved in, and everybody loves the derby. So, this is a great way for them to get involved and to have someone to cheer for and to root for and-- So brought it down a few weeks ago and everybody came out and painted their names on it. >> Jessica's boyfriend, Bruce Baldy, had a car in the derby for 17 years. He's sitting out this year, but has helped Jessica get her car in shape. >> The last car running is the winner. Okay? And we try to make sure the cars are safe for the drivers because we don't want anything to hurt-- happen to the people. >> Drivers pay a $ 25 entrance fee to join the derby. But the first order of business is buying a clunker suitable for demolition. >> We road hunt. We do the derby one time a year, you know, at the one day out of a year and you spend the other 364 days going around back roads and looking to see what people have in their lawns and you go from there. Some folks here said the government's recent Cash for Clunkers program was no friend to the demolition derby. They say the program took too many crashable cars out of play. >> It's very hard to find good cars. Everybody's getting rid of them and-- >> We're going down to North Carolina and I got to [ unk ] I got this off and bought in Michigan. >> It's simply hard to find the cars in the next few 5 years. >> Plus the cost of scrap metal has gone up. Meaning, some clunkers are going to the crusher for cash. >> Everybody and their brother was getting rid of good cars. Just sell them in the crusher and get extra money. >> But Bruce and Jessica see the scrap metal price as a positive. >> We paid $ 100 for this car. She's gonna have fun with it tonight. When we take it to the crusher, we'll get $ 80 for it. So, it cost us $ 20 for the car per se, but she had fun. You know, it's like a ticket to-- well, you walk with a choco fudge. You know, it's the golden ticket. >> As the sun sets over the midway on a Friday night, the demolition derby begins. >> I am here to wave the flag for the demolition derby. This is my first time. They tell me to wave and run like the dickens. So, I'm gonna do it. >> Following an afternoon of heavy rain, the dirt track is ankle deep and cars are picking up mud like a Woodstock hippie. There is smoke, fire, and head- on collisions. Cheers and jeers from the grandstand when the crowd doesn't agree with the outcome. >> Well, thank you. Let me tell you thank you. I know how you feel, and I agree with you. But unfortunately that should be done. That's the way the rule works. >> Derby organizer Garry Tweedie has been announcing the shows since 1970. But he plans to hand over the microphone to someone else next year. >> Pam Finch. And number 1, Adam Finch. >> In the fifth heat of the night, Adam and Pam Finch face off against Jessica Elam and about a dozen other cars. -[ unk ] time. We need some help from you! Give us a 5, 4, 3, 1! [ unk ] >> I know a lot of people are gonna be rooting for this car, and had a lot of fun putting it together. So, that's what it's really about. >> So these cars probably end up in the junkyard anyway. But what more noble way for a car to end its life than to have one last hurrah on the track, heated up beautifully and then end up in a-- in a junkyard anyhow or the crusher? >> In the smoke, 3 cars are still running. But one of them can no longer move. Jessica's car comes alive and emerges from the smoke. >> Car number 20 made the last [ unk ] hit. >> But because another car made the last hit, Jessica will take second place. >> How about number 5? >> Two women drivers end up winning the heat. >> Thanks God. >> Four seconds too short. >> Four seconds too short. >> Now the car is gonna get towed over to the pits and that's probably where we'll be walking to. >> And now the fun begins-- >> Yehey! >> when we get to have some free time. >> Yehey! >> Go have some root beers. >> And start road hunting for next year's car. >> There you go. >> The grandstand will ooh and aah as cars crash in the final heat. The most anticipated night in the annual county fair does not disappoint. And the scrap yards and chiropractors at Delaware County will see brisk business tomorrow. I'm Craid Duff for TIME. com, Walton, New York. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers","description":"At the Delaware County Fair in New York state, demolition derby entrants crash their clunkers on the muddy track of the grandstand","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jxPIQgRr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-09-01T02:58:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jxPIQgRr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/jxPIQgRr/","duration":"PT7M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/jxPIQgRr/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```