The mayhem of Figure 8 racing and demolition derby bring excitement to the Knox County Fair, year after year. The grandstand area was packed on Thursday to watch what may be termed the gladiators of motor sports facing off for fun and some prize money. The field was a mix of local drivers and a few from neighboring counties.
For Jerry Compton of Cardington, owner of 4JC Trucking, Figure 8 racing is just plain fun.
“It’s an old truck, and it’s probably paid for itself,” Compton said. “In my last 10 races, I’ve won six out of 10. I just had some old, spare parts and a motor in the garage, and I decided to take that and go to Figure 8.”
It’s usually the little things that turn into big things and knock drivers out of the race. One led to a small engine fire that was more smoke than anything.
“I had a power steering pump break apart,” Compton said. “It threw all the power steering fluid all over the motor and onto the pipes, and that’s what actually flamed up. Power steering fluid is just as flammable as gasoline.”
Compton, unhurt from the incident, climbed out the back window of his truck to the cheers of the crowd.
Tim Hoffman used to run in demolition derbies before he switched to Figure 8 in 2012. Since then, he’s had the same truck.
“It’s a lot of work,” Hoffman said. “It gets a lot of beating.”
Figure 8 cars last longer than demolition derby cars because the rules are different.
“On a demolition derby car, you cannot do any type of reinforcement other than safety,” Hoffman said. “On these (Figure 8 cars), there were, basically no rules when we started. The only rules were: No four-wheel drives, and eventually the gas tank and the battery moved out of the way.”
Hoffman, the owner of an office supply store in Mount Gilead, is a regular at the Knox County Fair and races all over the state.
“I got into this as a side gig,” Hoffman said. “I’ve been doing motor sports since 1989, including derby. I retired from derby and stuck with Figure 8, because we could run in about seven races a year.”
Ricky Punches is a heavy equipment operator for Delaware County engineers. He made the jump from derby to Figure 8 a few years ago. Punches’ truck with the name of his sponsor, Garage Haunted House, is also complete with a passenger – a (plastic) skeleton named Mia.
“I put it all together, from a junkyard truck to this,” Punches said. “I’ve been running this for three years. I’ve had three different motors.”
Galion’s Tim Justice, who works for Penske in Mansfield, brought out his green No. 14 for the first time on Thursday.
Justice races on dirt tracks and used to run derby until he discovered Figure 8.
“This is a lot more fun,” Justice said. “I’ve been around racing all my life. Anything I can get in that has a steering wheel.”
Some drivers, like Tim Jensen of Howard, still like the demolition derby. He survived a spewing radiator from his Toyota Camry long enough to win the compact car division of Thursday’s derby. He estimates that he has won 50 derbies in 21 years.
“This is our home fair,” Jensen said. “We always try to have our best cars here. We’re all friends here. It’s all just fun.”
