While the crowd was diminished slightly from years past due to triple-digit heat, those who attended Friday’s auto demolition derby at the Monroe County Fair were treated to hot and heavy action throughout the night.

A total of 85 cars participated in four derby events this year. 

The first event of the night was a 16-car full-size bone stock class. The final four cars standing were the gray No. 45 of Mike Seymour, orange No. 26x of Jacob Killy, gray No. 46 of Adam Eckart and white No. 42 of Glen Lutman. 

In the end, Seymour rammed Killy’s car midway over the concrete wall to win. 

Derby veteran Brad Yearian won the Mad Dog award for aggressiveness with his maroon No. 74 car.

The next event featured 26 entries in the compact bone stock class. This one came down to the orange-and-black entries of No. 81 Ronnie Werle of St. Libory and No. 33 Nick Wood of Valmeyer, along with the red No. 1113 car of Millstadt’s Alexis Klingerman. 

Werle had Wood on the ropes, with Wood’s car seemingly rendered immobile. But Werle held back, thinking Wood was on the clock to make a hit. Unbeknownst to him, it was Werle that needed to make a final blow. So, Wood won this event. 

The Mad Dog award went to Tyler Barnes in his orange- and-gray No. 87x car. 

The full-size semi stock event was a marathon, lasting more than an hour as large metal beasts tried to bull their way to a trophy. The event featured plenty of familiar derby names, including two Seymours, two Laramores, two Allscheids and two Krebels.

After more than 30 minutes, the field was eventually whittled down to eight cars. It got down to seven cars after more than 40 minutes and finally down five entries after 50 minutes of action. 

The final four cars were the red No. 17 of Kinmundy’s Jesse Fitzwater, the tan No. 46 of Waterloo’s Tony Ahrens, the black No. 117 of Bartelso’s Jacob Winkeler and white No. 331 of Marissa’s Thomas Laramore. 

Fitzwater’s car kept battling until it was down to just rims for his rear wheels, after which it had to surrender. Ahrens followed, leaving Laramore and Winkeler to duel it out. 

In the end, Winkeler emerged victorious. Shawn Seymour won the Mad Dog Award.

The final event of the night was a fast and furious 22-car weld compact class. A car driven by first-time derby goer Garrett Brandt of Fults ran up against the concrete wall – resulting in a fractured hand for him – and came to rest on its side, plus several other cars were knocked out quickly. 

The final four cars left in this one were the navy No. 21 of Waterloo’s Scott Nanney, gray No. 34e car of Columbia’s TJ Ervin, black and white No. 22e car of Columbia’s Tyler Ervin and black No. 23 car of DuQuoin’s Braden Heape. 

After Heape’s car was eliminated, it came down to the Ervin brothers and Nanney. 

In the end, TJ Ervin took first and Tyler Ervin claimed second place. Nanney won the Mad Dog award.

For a collection of photos from the derby – which are available for purchase – click here.

For videos from the derby, click here.