SKOWHEGAN — A.J. Barter spins his steering wheel as fast as he can, and he guns his car in reverse, but it’s no use. The right front tire on the passenger side is caught on the barrier, and all of Barter’s work just makes his car swing in big, herky-jerky arcs, like a pink fish trying to break free from a hook.

The judges tell Barter what he already knows. He’s out of this heat of the Skowhegan State Fair’s Demolition Derby.

Friday night was the second of two demolition derbys at the Skowhegan State Fair this summer. Each drew more than 40 competitors, and each packed the grandstand with fans. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. The demolition derby combines two of America’s great joys: automobiles and breaking stuff.

“It’s a rush,” Barter, a 21-year-old Skowhegan native, said. “It’s like an honest man’s cocaine.”

Friday night was just Barter’s third demolition derby. He tried it two years ago and again a week ago, when the Skowhegan State Fair hosted its first derby of the season. It’s $25 to enter, with a first-place prize of $1,000. There’s $600 for second place and $400 for third. On this Friday night, Skowhegan’s Zach Audet takes home the top prize.

The rules couldn’t be simpler. Anywhere from nine to 12 cars line up on the edges of the derby rink, which is slightly smaller than the sheet of ice you’d find in a hockey rink. On the starter’s signal, each driver backs up into the center until he or she hits another car. Then, it’s a steady stream of crashes until only one or two cars can move. Road rage is encouraged.

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“It’s like getting beat in the back of your head by a two by four,” Barter says.

Drivers must wear a helmet, and Barter adds a neck brace. Friday’s first heat was halted when a driver’s helmet was knocked off and into the back seat. The previous week, Matt Davis had to be helped from his car, and another car burst into flames, sending fire 20 feet into the sky.

Barter’s weapon of choice is a 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis. The car came courtesy of a former employer and came from Florida. It has 70,000 miles, rear wheel drive and, most importantly, not a speck of rust.

“A nice southern car,” Barter says.

Barter ran the fuel lines and battery cables through the cabin.

“That way they won’t get cut or pinched,” he says. “Inside the car, they won’t get touched. Or, shouldn’t.”

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Barter painted it Mary Kay pink to make the car stand out, and in a field that includes a station wagon painted bright orange, another station wagon painted yellow to resemble a school bus, and one former Machias Police Department cruiser, Barter’s car is certainly an eye-catcher.

Barter’s number is 17x.

“It’s a lucky number. That’s the day I was born. Everybody has a 17, so I put an X so nobody would have it,” Barter says.

And the radio — which shows off its age in the form of a cassette deck — works, so Barter is able to turn up the music as he competes. It’s usually rock n’ roll, music to crash by.

The doors are chained shut, and Barter rigged seat belts to hold the trunk shut because rope snaps too easily. As per the rules, all the glass has been removed, except for the windshield. That features a nice spiderweb crack. From a particularly hard collision? Not quite.

“That’s where he got mad and punched it,” Mike Barter, A.J.’s father, said.

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Mike sells chemicals used to clean cars, so A.J. was around cars all the time when growing up. Mike serves as a one-man pit crew.

This week, Barter spent $200 replacing ball joints and tie rods damaged in last week’s event. So when he gets caught up on the barrier during his heat, then pushed farther onto the barrier by another collision, it’s a small favor. His car sustains little damage, and he doesn’t need to do much to get it ready for the consolation round, where he’ll have one more shot at the finals.

“I was more worried about rolling over than anything else,” Barter says. “There’s still air in all four tires.”

While other drivers need to replace tires or do hasty work under the hood to prepare for the consolation round, all Barter does is give the rear passenger side wheel well a few whacks with a sledgehammer to decrease his chances of cutting a tire. He also takes a few cuts with the sledgehammer to the trunk, making sure it won’t give way. Chips of pink paint fly with each blow.

When the four heats are complete, Barter is the first to line up for the first of two consolation races. During competition, you have 45 seconds to get your car moving after a collision, but it doesn’t have to move well. So you get cars with wheels bent at a 45 degree angle, back ends that look like crushed beer cans or tires that are merely ornamental.

Barter’s pink Marquis took more damage getting pulled off of the barrier than it did from contact, so he’s in good shape to employ his favorite strategy in this round: play possum and move just enough to stay in the game. Give love taps to the other cars until the field thins out a bit, then go for it.

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For a while, Barter’s strategy works. He lays low in the corner, doing just enough to stay alive. When it’s down to four cars, Barter heads to the middle. Through a cloud of thick, wretched-smelling smoke, it’s tough to see what’s happening, but then it’s clear. Barter isn’t moving. He’ll finish third in this consolation heat, not good enough for a spot in the finals.

Barter felt the rear give way.

“I just shut it off and gave up,” he says.

There’s another demolition derby at the Harmony Fair in early September. There’s that rush that comes when rubber and steel collide. The pink 17x will be ready.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com


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