So I went to a demolition derby Saturday, after a break of four years. (I had to balance out the early music concert somehow.) It did not disappoint. There was beer:
There were cars:
There were people who rushed out to tip a car back over that had rolled:
And there was this–perhaps the single most sociologically fascinating thing I’ve seen in an event that gives you PLENTY of things to be sociologically fascinated by. It was the brown car. That says “Butt Bomber” and “San Francisco here I come” on on side…
…and “Hershey Highway” on the other.
What prompted these messages? Small-town homophobia? A puerile (and still homophobic) commentary on the car’s original paint color? Or is the driver really gay and making a statement? We may never know. But I’m hoping for an out and proud driver, because he kicked ass.
August 16, 2011 @ 8:33 am
Ugh. I hate to think that you’re right. Can’t we all just wreck cars and get along?
August 15, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
Sadly, I would guess the sociological phenomenon in question is probably plain old-fashioned homophobia, as opposed to a gay driver making a show of toughness. Remember, I grew up in the rural, county-fair/demolition derby milieu, and I still hear things from my neighbors. (My dad reported to me the other day that his neighbor, a man younger than ourselves, wished the other day that the soldiers would come home from Afghanistan to “kill the gays before they wreck the country.” Dad, to his credit, told the kid that was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard.)
Glad you enjoyed the car-smashing, though…