{"id":128,"date":"2014-10-17T19:51:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T18:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cabophoto.com\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2015-11-13T13:52:24","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T12:52:24","slug":"demolition-derby-in-shelby-mt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cabophoto.com\/blog\/demolition-derby-in-shelby-mt\/","title":{"rendered":"Demolition Derby in Shelby, MT"},"content":{"rendered":"

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More than 40 years ago, I was a little boy then, my father would sometimes take me to an event where people deliberately did what was to be avoided in road traffic at all cost: run automobiles into each other with the intent of causing maximum damage. I remember how excited the audience was and how they cheered the last driver whose car still moved. For some reason events of this kind don't seem to take place in my native Germany any more.<\/p>\n

Enter Shelby, a small town on the Hi-Line, a long stretch of road following the original railway tracks across northern Montana. This part of the world is dominated by highly efficient, large-scale farming and has a very low population density. Miles of road between towns. Not a lot of opportunities for entertainment. The annual\u00a0Marias 4-County Fair<\/em>\u00a0is a big thing for anyone living here. And the main\u00a0event on its last day, just before the closing fireworks, is that deliberate destruction of cars that I remember from my youth: the\u00a0Demolition Derby<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Demolition Derby on the Shelby Fairground.<\/div><\/div><\/div>

For a fee of $75 drivers can enter the derby that offers the chance to win $2,500 for finishing in first place. There are a number of rules describing what types of cars can be run and what modifications are legal. Some cars make you wonder if they will run at all, others show the creative side of their owners.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>