B2
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Driving to glory in demolition derby
Local man refl ects
on taking 2nd
place at Haines
Demolition Derby
BY IAN CRAWFORD
Baker City Herald
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Steer wrestler Dirk Tavenner, of Rigby, Idaho, brings down
his steer in 3.9 seconds to win the round on Thursday,
Aug. 11, 2022, at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston.
Rodeo:
Continued from Page B1
“I have never been on
her before,” Tutor said,
“but I knew she would be
good. It’s a good day to be
in Oregon. This is a great
rodeo.”
Tutor hopes his score
holds up for a paycheck.
He’s sitting 19th in the
world standings and needs
every dollar he can get to
earn his third trip to the
NFR.
“I would love to go
back,” he said.
Steer wrestling
Dirk Tavenner is hold-
ing on by a thread in the top
15, but after his run of 3.9
seconds Thursday night,
he leads the average on two
at 7.6 seconds, just a step
ahead of Will Lummus
(7.7).
“I just needed to hit the
barrier and make a good
run,” he said. “I’m in the
top 15, and good money
here would go a long way.
I love this rodeo.”
Tie-down roping
Reese Riemer likes the
August:
Continued from Page B1
one. That’d be fun to go
stay there and hike and pick
berries.
After the fl oor was laid
in my offi ce, I spent two
days getting my offi ce back
in order. ... translates to two
good fi shing days wasted
doing that. My four-wheeler
has been in the shop. I
think the bears poured
sugar water in the gas tank
to keep me from being up
in the mountains chasing
them. Pretty ungrateful,
huh, seeing how many
hundreds of pounds of bait
I feed them every year.
But despite the bears
(there are haters every-
where, you can’t let them
bother you) with the heat
pounding us like it is, Katy
wants to go up high where
it’s a little cooler and do
some trail riding. Hmm,
not a bad option anytime a
good-looking girl wants to
go four-wheeling with you.
And lest I give you a big
list of outdoor things to do
and you get sidetracked,
don’t forget, it is back-
packing season. I haven’t
got to go yet. I just got me
FCPR so much that when
he sits down in January to
plan his calendar he makes
sure it’s on there.
Riemer had the hot run
of the night at 9.3 seconds,
and sits fi fth in the second
go round.
“There are so many guys
who are roping so good
right now that you can’t
back off,” Riemer said.
“The $20,000 added money
means a lot when this is
what we do for a living.”
Barrel racing
Jennifer Kalafatic had
her own cheering section
at the FCPR, and the Idaho
cowgirl used their cheers
to help her record a time
of 17.26 seconds for the
top run of the night, and is
sitting this overall.
“I have lots of family
here in Hermiston,” she
said. “I love coming here.
I came last year and we
placed ninth.”
Kalafatic got a solid
performance from her
young horse Rockin’ the
Guns, who is just 7 years
old.
“I’m extremely proud of
him,” Kalafatic said, “espe-
cially on a big stage like
this. He loves this arena.”
HAINES — Imagine
you’re a pinata, sewn out
of leather, dangling at a
sugar-loaded kid’s birthday
party. And, wouldn’t you
know it, the little champ
just unwrapped a Louisville
Slugger.
Karmen O’Dell, a local
auto tech and chain-and-bang
demolition derby driver,
knows that feeling, and like
the pinata, from the inside it’s
pretty sweet.
O’Dell competed in the
2022 Haines Demolition
Derby on Aug. 6. Hundreds
turned out for the fundraiser
for Shriners Hospitals for
Children, and by showtime
the cars were still lined up for
half a mile.
O’Dell, though, was
focused on only one.
H is 1978 Ch r ysle r
Cordoba. Or what’s left of it.
“Everyone wants this
car. It’s a big car, it’s heavy
and it can take a beating,”
O’Dell said prior to the derby,
popping open the doors and
hood for preparation. “That’s
what you want in a demoli-
tion derby.”
There wasn’t a speck of
gleaming chrome left on the
original machine, the bones
if not the very tattered soul
of the Cordoba, given life and
fuel. The dash is gone. So is
the dome light and the speed-
ometer.
But when O’Dell pressed
down on the gas pedal the
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Karmen O’Dell behind the wheel of his ‘78 Chrysler Cordoba, a car later transformed to sur-
vive the Haines Demolition Derby on Aug. 6, 2022.
V-8 made nearby windows
rattle.
Stock Cordoba engines
ranged up to 190 horsepower
in peak conditions.
“ S o m e p e o ple ge t
really serious, some are
in it for money,” O’Dell
said. “There’s two differ-
ent classes. This is a chain
and bang car, it all has to be
factory standard. If you take
a car and just drive it off the
road, and then hook some
chains and pull it into the
derby, this is like that.”
At his Precision Import
Auto Repair shop in Baker
City, O’Dell prepared the
machine for the rigors of
vehicular mayhem.
“The other class is what
they call the unlimited class,
and they get really serious
with that,” he said, allowing
more extreme modifi cations
than simple reinforcement —
short of outright weaponry
and hazards of course.
Gloves, safety harness,
helmet, Hans neck brace
aside, the beams he’s welded
to the car protect it and him
from the damage of a serious
roll, reinforced with a gauge
of steel tubing you might
more expect to connect to a
fi re hydrant. Even then, it’s
against the rules to bash in
the driver’s door in derbies
entirely.
Paying in part, O’Dell
also lined up support from
Baker Brothers Mobile Tire,
Ladd’s Auto, Robert and Ben
Cutshall and Baker Beverage
and Mixer Shoppe.
“Also I want to thank
Terry Yates, Rocky Soder
and why not, Jesse Chris-
tensen here,” said O’Dell,
pointing out his mechanic.
“Terry had done a lot of
demolition derbies in Lakev-
iew, where he grew up,”
O’Dell said. “He brought it
to my attention, (off ering to
drive) and I said yes,” and
Snake:
Continued from Page B1
and Kolby some new Alps
Mountaineering day packs
and HybridLight fl ash-
lights I want us to test out.
Oh, then Kolby and I also
have some Danner and La
Crosse boots that we’re
dying to go backpacking
in. Backpacking is a big
daddy/daughter event every
summer.
What’s more fun than
to hit a wilderness with a
backpack on your shoul-
ders? You can momentarily
forget about the skyrocket-
ing infl ation, installing new
fl ooring in your house, $5/
gallon gas and whatever
else is bothering you. Set up
a camp and take off on day
hikes and view awesome
country. Build a fi re at dusk
and cook dinner over it and
then watch the stars. And
fi nally crawl off to your tent
dead tired.
Gee, I’ve got to get in
gear. This is quite a list
of activities that I have to
get accomplished before
summer is over. Luckily
we have global warming so
summer should last until
December this year so I’ll
be able to fi t it all in.
———
Tom Claycomb is an
outdoor writer from Merid-
ian, Idaho.
head, while the second two
were less than an inch apart,
about three inches below
the head. Even after three
hits and three minutes in the
water, it still was trying to
snap at me. I cut its head off
and put the dangerous part
in the creek where no other
creature would step on it.
We were rattled.
Jennifer, who had my
camera when the shooting
started, captured the action
in stills, the fi rst two of
which she took with the lens
cap on. When we encoun-
tered the rattler, Jennifer
was only a few feet behind
me. When I looked again
she was way up on the hill.
“I was scrambling up
the cliff ,” she said, “shoot-
ing with the camera back
over my shoulder. I wanted
to get a good angle for the
pictures.”
That’s my girl.
I try to avoid snakes and,
for the most part, they try to
avoid me. A week before the
rattlesnake incident, we had
a brush with a puff adder
on a red dirt two-track in
South Africa. That snake,
when provoked, bit my
photographer’s GoPro and
venom slid down the lens.
But the puff adder was so far
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
Before a morning’s dry fl y action, Jennifer Lewis catches up
on her adventure reading — “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer.
from any village it was no
threat. We took its picture
and shooed it back into the
brush.
Usually, when I encoun-
ter a rattlesnake it’s with
a fi shing rod in my hand.
I hear a rattle and I jump.
One time I jumped over a
snake in the tall grass along
the river. I leapt so high in
my waders, I think I might
have caught the eye of an
NBA scout if one had been
there instead of my lout-
ish companions, who got
more comedic value out of
the incident. I tried to point
out to them how much hang
time I had at the top of the
leap, but they were too busy
laughing.
Skirmishes with snakes
tend to be brief, adrenalized
and punctuated by profan-
ity. Often the snake goes
the other way and there is
no need to shoot. But if the
snake is aggressive, it may
take one shot to slow it down
and another to fi nish it.
Often the snake is on a
trail and the fi rst rattle goes
unheard. Or they don’t rattle
at all.
Once we packed into a
roadless area on a hunt in
Baker County. Bringing up
simple as that, O’Dell was
getting strapped in, helmed
up and knuckled down in
demolition driving.
Awards included best
and worst looking, hardest
hit delivered and most miles
traveled, but grand prizes
were all about endurance, last
one standing taking the pot.
O’Dell was there to have a
blast, prizes or nay, but after
nearly 30 minutes of bash-
ing, two 15-minute heats
with a pit stop between them,
Karmen smashed his way
to the fi nals and ultimately
took home second place,
$1,000 and a shining trophy
for proof.
The trophy is on display
in O’Dell’s offi ce at Precision
Import but whatever you do,
don’t wipe off the dust and
grime.
“It’s still covered in dirt
from the derby,” said O’Dell,
and for him it’s all part
of the glory.
the rear was my friend Ken,
who didn’t have a bear tag
that year. He brought along a
Ruger Single-Six.
“In case we see a snake,”
he said.
When we started up the
trail, I noticed it was not on
his hip, and asked him about
it.
“It’s in the backpack.
I’ll load it if we see one,” he
said.
“If you need it,” I said,
“you’ll want to have it
loaded, on your hip.”
He laughed.
A day later we were in
camp, making dinner. Ken
was sitting on a campstool
tending to his backpack
stove and a can of soup. We
spotted the rattler when it
was between his feet.
The usual things
happened. Leaping. Profan-
ity. Flailing. Which contrib-
uted to spilled soup and a
small grass fi re when the
stove tipped over.
By the time the fi re was
stomped out, the snake had
made a quick exit between
boulders. Ken unzipped his
backpack, unwrapped his
revolver and loaded the gun
with shaky fi ngers.
———
Gary Lewis is the author
of Fishing Central Oregon
and Oregon Lake Maps and
Fishing Guide and other titles.
To contact Gary, visit www.
garylewisoutdoors.com.
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