70 participants at demo derby Saturday despite snow

Weekend snowfall did little to curb demo derby enthausits spirts Saturday as the percipation turned the Old Threshers grounds muddy just in time for the Henry County Fair Fall Brawl Demo Derby.

The derby, which was held on Saturday, Nov. 17, brought 70 participants from all across the Midwest to the Old Threshers grounds. The derby was held in Mt. Pleasant after a derby in Riverside was canceled because of flooding conditions, said Tad Billmeyer, promoter for the event. Participants were from western and northern Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri, he said.

Despite the constant drizzly snowfall, the grandstand was filled with a few dozen people watching the derby.

Michael Pollinder, of Albert Lea, Minnesota, made a last-minute decision to come to the derby.

Although Pollinder wasn't able to drive his car Saturday because of 'bad luck,” he still enjoyed the atmosphere of it.

Pollinder said that coming to Iowa felt like a heat wave because it was 19 degrees and they had just gotten five inches of snow in Minnesota.

'We started seeing grass and hoped the track wouldn't be so bad,” Pollinder said, adding that the drizzly snow that began Saturday morning made it muddy really quickly.

Justin Oilar, of Revere, Missouri, found himself at the derby Saturday because he knows Billmeyer. Oilar drives in derbies because he said it's an adrenaline rush similar to how he felt playing football in high school.

The demo derby during the summer is one of the biggest moneymakers for the fair, Benson said. This past summer, the derby drew 40 participants, said Mark Benson, with the Henry County fair board.

'If we had weather like (Friday), the stands would be filled,” Benson said.