Tuesday’s demolition derby had to be canceled due to severe weather, but to the delight of derby fans throughout the Chelsea area (and probably the fair board, too), Thursday’s derby had no such trouble.

As you may recall from the figure 8 demolition derby post, the goal of this non-numerical demolition derby is not to complete any number of laps, but to use your car to demolish your opponents’ cars until they can no longer move.

When this car was on the road, it had a trunk:

One of the more fragile and vulnerable parts of a car is the radiator. When something happens to the radiator, it’s often hard to miss.

Especially for the driver.

There are three reasons the officials will pause the derby: an injured driver, a fire, or a potentially dangerous car part lying on the ground. You know, like this one:

There was one round of trucks mixed into the Thursday derby:

This driver exhorted the crowd to make some noise before he resumed smashing into the 4570 truck:

When the trucks finished, the cars were back at it.

Remember what I said about the radiator?

One of the more fascinating events at the Chelsea fair is the horse pull.

There are a couple different types of horse pulls. This pull used a stone boat.

Each of those blocks weighs 1,000 pounds. Draft horses are POWERFUL.

One horse took a moment to smile for a photo.

They kept adding weight.

The winning team ended with a full pull at 9,000 pounds. Like I said, draft horses are POWERFUL.

When the horses are pulling, they’re kicking up plenty of dirt.

When they’re not pulling, they’re just hanging out.

It’s not the highest-profile event on the fair schedule, but it’s well worth the time. It’s fascinating to see what draft horses can do.

Have I mentioned that they’re POWERFUL?

They might have been having fun:

Maybe a little bit:

But, you know, not TOO much:

The demolition derbies are one of the Chelsea Fair’s big draws because everybody loves an evening of controlled vehicular violence. Tuesday’s derby was canceled due to heavy storms, but Wednesday’s weather was considerably more cooperative, so the figure 8 derby was good to go.

Before we begin, let’s go over the difference between a regular derby and a figure 8 derby:

• In the regular derby, the goal is to use your car to batter all the other cars until they can no longer move. In other words, the goal is to be like a typical Michigan road.

• In the figure 8 derby, the goal is to be the first to complete twelve laps. If in the process of completing twelve laps you have the opportunity to push other cars out of the way and/or into the wall, you can go right ahead and do it. In other words, the goal is to be like a typical east coast driver.

Okay, on to the action.