I wanted to write a short note and wish you a final farewell, for Saturday is the Utah County Fair Demolition Derby in Spanish Fork. If I am killed, may this note serve as a memory of my existence. ---------- It was 1969. Richard Nixon was president, turmoil is brewing in Vietnam and Neil Armstrong takes the first steps on the Moon in the Apollo 11 mission (July 20th). The New York Mets defeat the Baltimore Orioles in an unprecedented victory and one of the greatest baseball upsets of all time. Ford was producing millions of cars, including the Falcon, Fairlane, Torino, Ranchero, Pickup, LTD, Thunderbird, Mustang, and Galaxie.
I will be driving one of those Galaxies.
A 1969 Galaxie 500 Sports Roof. 1 of 217 made. The car began its life with a woman named Norma Anderson who purchased the car brand new in 1969 at a Ford/Mercury dealer in Ft. Collins, Colorado. The car was garage kept and driven every day for 30 years. Gentle care kept the car in showroom condition until the transmission failed with about 75,000 miles on it, she then gave the car to her grandson who now resides in Nephi, UT. He repaired the transmission and drove it for several years before an electrical issue caused the interior of the car to be burned to a crisp… it was more or less a total loss. It sat in his backyard until my neighbor in Spanish Fork sourced the car to participate in a demolition derby for a scene in an (apparently) upcoming LDS film. The car was half prepared for a derby so that it would look like a derby car, but didn’t actually function as one. The plan was to get a couple great wrecks on film, then trash the car. As luck would have it, the first hit in the scene caused a small part to fail in the engine would rendered the car useless. The car was towed back to the pit area and put back on the trailer where it would later be towed to a gravel pit and blown up in a last ditch effort to salvage some production value. After it was burned to a crisp (again), I happen to be driving by when my neighbor was unloading the car at his house, and I offered to buy it for $150. After tearing the engine down, it turns out all it needed was a timing chain for $27. The derby will be a fitting end for this old girl. She lived a glorious life and will go out in another blaze of glory (preferably without me inside of the car). It took three months to prepare, tireless welding, cutting, hammering and engine tuning.
I plan to destroy her in about 6 minutes.
This is my second derby. In 2009 I ran a 1988 Chrysler Fifth Avenue. The car was given to me by a woman who won the car in a divorce settlement. The car was her husband’s and she wanted to see it destroyed, despite having only 65,000 original miles and in mint condition. She attended the derby, filmed the entire thing (she thanked me graciously afterwards). Later on the that heat, my car caught on fire due to a pinched fuel line. To this day, I am the only one who has ever caught fire in the history of the Utah County Fair Derby. I was on the front page of the Spanish Fork press, the entry form for the next year’s derby and an instant celebrity around town. I had people from all walks sending facebook friends requests, emails and phone calls. “Were you the guy that caught on fire?!” It was true euphoria for me… total star power. Because of that, and because of my dangerous, risk-taking lifestyle, I was drawn to the derby again this year with my 69’ Galaxie 500, dubbed: “Proud Mary”.
LONG LIVE DEMOLITION DERBY!
-Serrated
