garden tractor demolition derby - for real!

[TimJr]

All right guys, I witnessed a garden tractor demolition derby this past Wednesday at our local county fair. It was put on by a car demolition derby promoter call Unique Motor Sports out of Sand Lake, MI - pretty sure. As far as I know, no one was injured, but there is no way I would do this. Some basic rules from what their website says - no batteries - must be recoil or jump started - if it quits, you are done. Must have leg protection guards. If you roll over, you are done. They encourage speeding up the tractors - governor or pullies. No shaft drive tractors. However, there was a 7000 and 7100 series Simplicity - not completely shaft driven. The redneck in me just had to see it. The green 7000 series ended up on its side. The purple 7100 died and was abandoned. Two old MF's were first and second. I have been to a motorcycle demolition derby before too - for real. People did get hurt at that, but hey, they entered it.

Sorry for the grainy pics - it was too dark to get a good pic - I enhanced them with the computer, but lost some clarity. Can we upload video here, or can someone get video posted for me - I have some short video of this event. Tim

[captainweezy]

I'm speechless:O

[Burntime]

I can honestly say that is one of the most foolish things I have heard. I can not imagine what goes thru their mind. Where do you sign up?:D

[perry]

here is a vid :O [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsQxdnPyXsc&feature=related[/url]

[Simplicity314]

Looks to be pretty safe with the leg protection installed on them. I think racing them would be more dangerous since you're rounding corners on a dirt track on a vehicle that wants to tip over. Still, I wouldn't do either of them.

[captainweezy]

Now since watching the vid, It actually looks funny as h#@^. I think I would go at least watch if beer is allowed on the premises.

[Simpleton7016]

I had a guy drive 5 hours from Minnesota to buy a non-running 3416 with shuttle shift. He specifically wanted it for a demolition derby. He thought that the shuttle option would work well and you guessed it, a few months later he called to say he won. I never actually drove a shuttle shift, so I don't understand what advantage it might have over standard or hydro, but it worked.

[SmilinSam]

What was it Forrest said?.... " My mama always told me Stupid is as Stupid does"

[timflury]

quote:

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Originally posted by SmilinSam
What was it Forrest said?.... " My mama always told me Stupid is as Stupid does"

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yup, I got better things to spend me money on.

[IronPony]

Shuttle = same speed forward and reverse. Change direction by moving only the shuttle control, no foot movement required. Could be a great advantage.

[IronPony]

Great video!! No helmets and no fire extinguishers standing by! No way! Still looks like fun:p

[joshuaareed]

that looks crazy!

[firefoxz1]

I'm with you Dan, first thing I noticed was a lot had no helmets on.

[osenga]

I think it would be fun to watch it .But dont think I could tear one up to do that with

[3314WV]

although no doubt fun....it is a tremendous waste of otherwise expensive parts.......yikes.:)

[Chris727]

Nice way to bust up a $150 nose cone on the MF7C Personally I've never seen the allure of a demo derby, just seem like a waste to me.

[THEPATRIOT]

They should have just used stanped out box store junk.Why destroy vintage iron??? :(!

[TimJr]

Wow, I just had a few minutes to sit and watch that video of the Illinois derby - crazy. Most of the tractors that ran here in MI were completely stock. They encouraged guys to crank them up and change pullies for more speed, but only one or two seemed to really have any speed. Those Illinois tractors were definitely built for the event. I just don't understand the no helmet guys. Tractors are for pulling, not racing or crashing. JMO. Tim

[dentwizz]

Agreed. The costs involved are just crazy, not to mention in our context the Simplicity chassis are braced so well I doubt anyone would score much of a take-out. 8D If they did, you know it wouldn't be friendly or cheap. Pulling or obstacle course challenges are much better indeed.