Route66 Team Demolition Derby

World Finals!

Featuring Bearfoot and Scorpian King!!

    The night of August 16th was an international night of mayhem at Route66 Raceway as teams from all corners of the world came to battle it out in the largest Team Demolition Derby event ever! Outback Attack from Austrailia, Dirty Rottens from New Zealand, Border Patrol from Canada and The Full Mounties also from Canada made the long journey to the U.S. to be put up against the four best American teams that call Route66 home. Road Rage, Havoc, Stranglehold and the 2003 points champions JunkYard Dogs were not going to be very friendly in their welcomes and were ready to mash some metal.

    If you don't know what Team Demo Derby is all about you have either been living under a rock or you've been spending too much time at the county fair. There are NO rules!! I suggest you check out my first Team Demo coverage, which also has Bearfoot and Scorpian King action, for a refresher course. The first match of the night would pit two American teams against each other as Road Rage took on Havoc and there would be plenty of both!

    Usually the track is soaked down before the races to keep speeds down a bit and protect the drivers more. But someone had the bright idea to not put hardly any water on the track to "make it more exciting." YIKES! Road Rage was the first on attack and was not wasting time making scrap metal out of Havoc. The Road Rage cars were laying in some incredibly hard hits the likes of which no one had ever seen before and had people cringing when the cars collided. Cars were delivering death blows on the first hit with the amount of damage created. Havoc didn't put up much of a fight and were quickly slaughtered by Road Rage who moved on to Round 2.

   For the next matchup featuring Stranglehold vs. JunkYard Dogs, the track was heavily watered down after the insane hard hits in the first race. The track was now a total mud pit but the teams were used to the conditions and went about their usual bashing. This was a really good match that saw the 2003 point champs JunkYard Dogs fall to the legendary Stranglehold and move to the next round.

       The next two races pitted the Canadians verse each other and New Zealand vs. Austraila. Let me sum up both races in two words: THEY SUCKED!!!!  Boo's reigned supreme in these races as the cars barely crawled around the track hardly touching one another. Even the announcers, one of which is Jan Gabriel, were heckling the teams and making fun of them. It was pathetic. I don't even remember who won and have no pics of it. The junk was cleared off the track and it was time to meet the monsters!!!

    B.J. Johnson and Larry Swim were back at Route66 to tear more stuff up and to play in the mud once more with Bearfoot and Scorpian King. In their last appearance at Route66 in June, Larry and BJ wow'd the crowd and put on a freestyle spectacle the likes of which Route66 had never seen. They are back to do the same and also get exposure for the big monster truck event in October at Route66. After they were introduced to the crowd, Larry pulled Scorpian King off while B.J. had to go do what B.J. does best and thats go crazy. He went to the middle of the track and slid Bearfoot around trying and trying to get a donut going in the nasty mud. He was even being red flagged to stop, HA! like that's going to happen. B.J. finally got the truck spinning and ripped of some mean donuts much to the crowd's approval.

    Another cool addition to this show and a first for me to see was the Lil' Red Beer Hauler jet truck! This sucker has a one of a kind Allison aircraft centrifical engine that produces all kinds of horsepower and plenty of flames to go with it! The Beer Hauler had to blast its way down the front stretch in the mud to avoid getting stuck. It would come back later in the show to melt a car.

    Round 2 demo matchups would have Road Rage up against Border Patrol and Stranglehold taking on Outback Attack. Road Rage went berzerk on the Canadians and had all their cars mangled within the first couple laps and continued to gang up on cars and easily cruised their way into the Championship race. Meanwhile, Stranglehold had little bit more of a challenge from Outback Attack. The Austrailians decided not to run away like scared Dingos and came to fight this time. Stranglehold took the early advantage but the Outback Attack did some trickery to get back in it. Cars whom were thought to be dead would fire back up and blast the Stranglehold cars in a blink of an eye. The most notorious and biggest hit of the night came near the end of the race with Stranglehold in complete control and makin' laps. All the Outback Attack cars were again thought to be dead when from the far left side of the track one of them fired up and was heading full speed towards an on-coming Stranglehold car. Everyone in the crowd saw it coming and started going crazy and jumped to their feet right as the two hit with a huge bang! With everyone jumping up, I missed the initial impact shot too....crap. The Outback Attack got maybe their only cheer of the night by anihilating that Stranglehold car. But even that big hit wasn't enough and Stranglehold sent the foriegners packing back to the land down under as they moved to the finals against Road Rage.

    Time to let the monsters loose! A car-van-car pyramid was placed on the track for Bearfoot and Scorpian King to go after plus there was plenty of mud for playing in. Larry was first to attack the pyramid and knocked the van down flat as he couldn't get much speed built up in the mud. B.J. blasted off it next and got some big air and then had some trouble stopping as the truck slid all the way across the track and hit the concrete barriers. Not a hard hit but enough to rock the barriers.

    Both the trucks slipped and slided their way back to the right side of the track and turned towards the pyramid for another run at it. B.J. flew over it perfect carrying the front tires all the way over and could've pulled up a slap wheelie if it wasn't so slick. Larry blasted over it as well in fine fashion and then found himself a spot to whip off some crazy donuts!

    B.J. was on his way back to the pyramid and smashed it down with another nice wheelstand that sent him sliding down the track again. Larry was done being dizzy and took another shot on the pyramid as well.

    The mud was piling up in a hurry on these trucks but the guy's weren't done having fun just yet. B.J. rocketed off the pyramid with a huge sideways leap and took a very rough landing causing the truck to lean severly to the right side. Larry ignored the pyramid and went back to his donut spot and tore off the most incredible donut display I'VE EVER SEEN!! No joke! INSANE! The truck kept spinning and spinning and spinning with mind boggling speed. The wheels were lifting off the ground and he just kept on going! The intensity was so great that the rear body panels tore off from the wind! Must of been a good 15-20 revolutions, he was going so fast there was no way to keep track. The sellout crowd went absolutely bonkers and Bearfoot and Scorpian King leave with a standing ovation. Not to mention the pounds upon pounds of mud caked on the trucks and whatever damage had been done. Scorpian King would need a tow off and Bearfoot didn't look too hot leaning to the right like that. Another great freestyle performance by Larry Swim and B.J. Johnson.

    The Lil Red Beer Hauler made its presence felt next as a car was setup to play victim to the beer hauler's awesome power. This cookout went on for several minutes and the fans just ate it up and how could you not love a car being melted! I'm still partial to Green Mamba but thats just me.

    Even with all the destruction that has taken place, there was still a champion to be crowned. It was an All-American World Finals as Stranglehold locked up with Road Rage. This was the kind of hard hitting match that Route66 is known for. It was over within the first few laps but still one helluva match. Road Rage wasn't holding anything back and put a fleet of stationwagons in this race and the big boats simple out powered Stranglehold.  Road Rage won its first ever event back in June and now are crowned the 2003 Team Demolition Derby World Champions.

    A fantastic night at Route66 that sent everyone away happy, well, unless you're from Canada, New Zealand or Austrailia. Lots of mud, lots of smashing, and lots of fun. I hope to get to another Team Demo Derby next summer espcially if monster trucks are apart of it. Thanks for stopping by! Jason Twite.

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