I’ll Try Anything Once ON-AIR PROMO» Demolition Derby – Rainbow Media

I’ll Try Anything Once, Episode 1: Demolition Derby in Macy, Indiana

Die-hard New York subway rider Touré couldn’t be more out of his element when he travels 500 miles to rural Indiana, the heart of demolition derby country, to apprentice with 100-time crash and bash champion Larry Staats. The intrepid wordsmith has four short days to learn it all – from experiencing a full impact collision to how to inflict maximum damage on another car– before he’s entered into a three heat competition with the nation’s most legendary demo derby artists.

Touré’s Real World Tip

One of Larry’s most important lessons was if someone’s going to make impact with your car, especially if they’re going to hit your wheels, you don’t want to be holding tight to your steering wheel with your thumbs because the impact with your wheels could send your steering wheel spinning violently and that could break your thumbs. Something to think about when you’re driving.

Touré’s Journal Entry

You never really get to see it in the episode but on the top of my derby car I spray-painted the words Carpe Diem. That’s Latin for seize the day, as in, live in the moment, enjoy the present to the fullest, give it your all today. I wrote that to remind myself to somehow enjoy this race. Because I was really, really scared every minute leading up to the derby. It was the first episode of this new show, made with people I didn’t know, and all I could think about is that derbies can be really dangerous. We were going to crash into each other with cars. I wasn’t certain I wouldn’t end up paralyzed. My mentor Larry and his derby friends kept talking about “full-track hits,” as in someone zooming the full length of the track, getting their car going as fast as possible, then smashing into a car. How would that feel? And in derby cars the seat belts are meager. Just a single belt across your waist, nothing at all restraining your upper half. (They say the chest belt would leave you bruised.) Talking to Larry and his friends I came to understand that this was what this area of the country considers a crazy guy sport. I grew up playing tennis. Why was I going?

The Sunday we drove to the derby I sat in the back of Larry’s car wondering if I was quietly riding to my own lynching. We stopped at a convenience store to get gas and a small part of me wondered if it was worth it to just run for it. When we got to the arena I prayed that just a few people would come and join the derby. But there ended up being over thirty entrants. Larry and I were the second group of drivers to arrive at the track and when we went over to the first group to introduce ourselves I extended my hand to a man even though I saw his hat had a Confederate flag on it. He had six or seven teeth missing and there was a small, flat hole where his left ear should’ve been and he was pleasant and polite and he shook my hand and looked me in the eye, just like he would’ve done with anyone else. He didn’t say much beyond hello but I didn’t suspect that wasn’t because he was racist, it was because he couldn’t hear well.

He was cool, but for my comfort there were too many confederate flags on cars and t-shirts and hats. No one said anything rude to me and I know during the race the guys treated me fairly, but that small town on that particular Sunday in 2007 was a tough place to be. Someone asked our director, “Are you with the nigger? Cuz he ain’t welcome around here.” Some told me that as little as fifteen years earlier I wouldn’t have been able to spend time in that county. Some told me there were bars nearby that if I’d walked in I would’ve been made to leave post-haste. And I could feel that vibe, but most of the people I encountered were cool or kept their prejudices to themselves. And Larry and his family treated me like a son. His daughter and her husband held my hands in prayer just before the race. I never pray, but that day I closed my eyes and bowed my head and spoke to God and said please don’t let me get hurt in this derby. He came through.

I chose #23 for my car’s number not because of Michael Jordan, but because of my mother. Her birthday is the 23rd of December and I wanted some reminder of her to help somehow promote the idea of me being safe in this craziness.

This is how derbying warps your mind – for days after I got back to New York, I drove around in my BMW evaluating other cars on the road and considering whether or not they were good derby cars. New York is filled with old, battered cars and trucks that somehow still rumble along despite holes and decaying edges, not unlike derby cars. I saw where I could crash into them and leave them crippled. Derbying had truly infected me.

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VOOM HD Networks, Rainbow Media
Treasure HD Channel
Touré BIOGRAPHY: Writer, Journalist, Critic and Television Host
Reality Show: I’ll Try Anything Once – 13 x 30′

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New Paris Speedway
Demolition Derby Drivers Association