Combine Derby busts equipment, breaks attendance records

Event participants, spectators rejoice in event that captures American spirit

LIND — During Friday night's 18th Annual Combine Demolition Derby, competitors ripped each other's farm equipment apart until Jaws won in the final round of competition. All the while, Lind Lions Club members stuffed their donation banks with profits from both record-setting attendance and concession sales.

International media coverage, including reporters from as far away as Israel and Great Britain were there to record what their foreign audiences love so much about American culture. Country Music Television and Farmer's Almanac Television taped the derby for future broadcast. The dates and times of those broadcasts have yet to be determined.

"America is just the best place. They know how to break loose and have fun. These things are so visual," said Dea Hader, who was covering the event for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in Tel Aviv. "We just love American stories."

"The French would love this, we just don't have the extra equipment. This is what we like about Americans," said Lionel Delevingne, a photographer who moved to New York from France to work with a colleague creating a book about farming culture.

"It's farmers taking the ultimate revenge on the machines that cost them so much money, but break down," Delevingne said, adding that he has loved working in such a friendly environment.

As for the crowd, the advantage to watching the derby in Lind is that you are extremely close to the action. The violent clashes of farming machinery are happening just a few feet from the faces pressed against the rodeo fencing. As the machines lumbered around the arena, dust and diesel fumes hung over the audience all night.

In the fields adjacent to the rodeo ring, combine crews worked briskly to rejuvenate their jazzed up machines in time for the next heat. Some required completely repaired rear axles, which almost always prove to be the most vulnerable part of these massive pieces of farm equipment. Others needed repaired armor or bracing that becomes so important towards the later heats.

In the middle of all the hammering and welding, people were keeping their thirsts quenched at all-night tailgate parties.

The Car Demolition Derby on Saturday was also a big success, as crowds filled the bleachers. This was the first time in 62 consecutive years that Lind has not had its rodeo on that day. The rodeo was replaced by the Car Demolition Derby after the rodeo continued to lose organizers thousands of dollars because of lack of interest.

"The money we made on Saturday is going to help our donations a lot," said Dale Stevenson, the Lind Lions Club president. "It just amazes me that this gets bigger and better every year."

"I tell you it was great and I think we had the biggest crowd ever, probably 4,500 to 5,000 people. There was no place to sit down," said Bill Loomis, a Lind Lions Club member and the derby's founding father.

This was the first year for the grain truck races during the Friday intermission. There was plenty of action as one grain truck's driver stopped in front of the beer garden, stood up on top of the cab of his truck, quickly drank a beer and saluted the audience. Others drove so hard that the grain boxes on the back of the trucks fell off, spilling empty beer cans onto the course.

Next year's Combine Demolition Derby will be held on Saturday to accommodate those who have complained about not being able to attend on Friday night. There will also be more seating next year. Organizers had more bleachers, but were not able to set them up in time for this year's derby.

In the main event this weekend, as the last three combines were slugging it out in the final, the turquoise colored combine Jaws, driven by Josh Knodel, ended up victorious after the judge's scoring showed he was the fiercest competitor. Even though Knodel's combine was towed out because of a blown front tire, he had earned more points than the others' by relentlessly attacking opponents throughout the competition and providing the most action.

He was swarmed by his family, friends and the media as he came down from his jumbo shark combine in his shiny green helmet as the winner of $1,500 and the derby.

"It was perfect, couldn't have been any better. This is what we wanted tonight, this is what we came here to do. The machine held up good enough to get the job done, just barely," Knodel said, as he stood next to Jaws, with its ominous looking dorsal fin, in the middle of the torn-up rodeo grounds. "We had to rebuild the whole rear-end from scratch there and we got her figured out. And, just long enough, I guess, is all you can say."