StrangePegs: Loss

Before reading this, you should go back and read part one if you haven't already.

The first two rounds of the demolition derby were meant to work as elimination rounds, and they did, but it was rather haphazard. Like, there were twice as many cars involved in round two as in round one. One of the cars that was meant to compete in round one, after driving by during the segment when they announced the cars, broke down and never made it into the arena. So they worked on that car during round one and it made into round two. It made me wonder how many other cars didn't make it into round one because they just weren't ready to compete. They also said that it would be the winners of the first two rounds that would compete for the final prize money ($4000? I don't remember for sure), but, when we got to the third and final round, they let any cars compete that were able, which didn't seem exactly fair to me, but, then, it was my first one. Maybe, that's normal?

The favorite car from round two was Party Artie.

And he won, too, but he's the car I mentioned last time that, once he had won, he had to have his car towed off the field. I kind of feel like he was also the one that was supposed to be in round one and couldn't get his car started for it, but I'm not sure about that. At any rate, he was a fun car to watch. Fast and bouncy and the driver was very experienced. They even held the third round for him while he finished getting his car going again, but his car gave out on him pretty early in round three.

And this is probably the most smashed up car of the event:

He managed to survive round two and compete in the final round.
This car, however, didn't make it:

That other car there is car #1. Here are some better views:

My daughter was very impressed with car #1, and I have to admit that he had shown some impressive persistence in his driving. He was one of those cars that would just barrel on through and do some smashing. A real powerhouse of a car.

Another very impressive car was #63:

63 was really good at staying to the edges and building up speed, then dashing in and smashing a car and backing out again. As my wife said, he was "wily."
And don't forget

#42, the shark car, that lost a tire in round one and kept competing.

It got too dark for my camera to take pictures by the time the third round was starting so a brief down without pictures:

The cars that were going to compete came into the arena, which included the shark car. As soon as it came in, my wife said she was going to root for that car.
When car #1 came in, I asked my daughter if she was going for that car, but she was undecided. She remained undecided through a large part of round three, which sort of defeats the purpose of choosing whom you are rooting for beforehand, but, oh, well...
When #63 pulled in, I announced, "I'm for 63!"
My wife immediately announced that she was for #63. That caused a short argument over the validity of that after having already picked a car. Her only defense was, "I didn't know #63 was going to be in this round." I gave her the pick.
I took car #1 since my daughter was still being ambivalent.
The round started and 4 or 5 cars were knocked out almost immediately, including "Party Artie," whose car just died.
It came down to cars 1 and 63, hence the reason that my wife and I joined so willing into the cheering. My daughter remained ambivalent.
63 hung to the outskirts, speeding around the track and looking for opportunities to strike. 1 tended to bash his way through the "dead" cars in the middle of the arena. 63 took the advantage early on and looked like he had it wrapped up.
But #1 was persistent and managed to get 63 hung up on another car and proceeded to bash him several times. Eventually 63 got away.
And car 1 got stuck on another car while moving through the center melee. It looked like it was the end.
But 63 moved in to strike 1; 1 managed to power into the other car and move it so that he avoided a direct hit. Instead of smashing 1, 63 just knocked him loose, and that gave 1 all the opportunity he needed.
He caught 63 in the same place where 63 had been stuck before and plowed into him several more times until 63 went dead.

It was all very exciting, and, yes, I do realize that, to a certain extent, you just had to be there.
Here are a few more cool pictures from the event:

Yes, that is one of the cars pushed up the embankment and another stuck in one. They had to stop the derby to get 777 down. Getting stuck in embankments became more common as the derby progressed.

Yes, those are teddy bears on the burning car.

Those cars are stuck together. That happened more than once.

If given the chance, I'm sure I'd go see another demolition derby. It really was much more fun than I thought it would be.

Also, today!
Today is the release of "Part Twenty-nine: Loss." It's FREE! today, August 26 and tomorrow, August 27!
Also, remember, the first 5 parts of Shadow Spinner are available as one collection, which you can get here.