Lane's SCA - Eve of Destruction 9/29/2001 (1)

Any racing event with the word "destruction" in the title is sure to be interesting. This was a two-day event that began the day before, and had a great deal of racing and exhibition. Spinning, bumping, rolling over, and catching on fire were not only permitted, but encouraged and really enjoyed by the crowd.

Through my local Saturn retailer, I'd recently come to know a guy in my area who I was told "did some insane things with Saturns". His name is Rodney, and this was a night where he'd show how much abuse a Saturn could truly endure.

The evening started out with 1-man and 2-man cruiser racing. In the 2-man races, the driver works the steering, shifter, and brake, while the co-pilot works the gas. Next was a burnout contest, where each car puts 2 wheels against a parking curb, while the drive wheels are on a large metal plate. The cars roast the tires for 30 seconds, and the crowd judges who the contest winner is at the end. A guy in a nice street-driven vintage Camaro blew his motor (and subsequently won the event because of it), while several others managed to roast 'em until the tires exploded. A few cycles entered also, with one of them being a Harley with a 350 cu in Chevy motor.

In addition to several Saturn race cars that he brought out for the evening's events, Rodney enjoyed some serious burnout action in his daily driver. It just happened to be a Hennessey Viper, and we all got to witness a set of 335-width Michelin Pilots destroyed in under a minute. The roar of the motor as white smoke rolled out from the wheelwells all the way up into thrid gear was something to behold.

Click the link below for some Viper burnout video. Be sure to turn up your sound.

.AVI (requires Indeo codec) - 560k

Indeo 5 codec can be downloaded HERE.

The relay race was next, and a first generation SL2 painted like a zebra would take part. Two-car teams line up at the starting line. The first cars are sent on their way to complete one lap, and each must 'tag' his teammate (by physically hitting their car) back at the starting line to send him on his way.

Zebra SL2 (26k)
The relay race SL2.

Here's a shot of the SL2 after the evening's events. The damage you see here did not occur tonight, however. The car had survived demolition derby prior to this day and came out of it in good enough shape to race again.

Zebra SL2 (29k)