County fair gets demo derby back on track

The demolition derby promoter who had withdrawn his proposal has reconsidered and agreed to do the derby this year, but at a much higher cost to the county.

The Sanders County Fair Commission accepted the proposal by Tim Denson of FOS Promotions to operate this year's Carnage on the Clark Fork demolition derby at a special fair board meeting at the fairgrounds pavilion last Wednesday evening. After nearly an hour of negotiations, board member Brian Crain made a motion to accept the proposal of $87,500. It was seconded by member Jim Newman and passed 4-1 with Newman, Crain, Jolene Burke, and Randy Woods voting in favor of the new contract and Rick Sanders voting against it.

Sanders, the board's newest member, and Denson have been at odds with each other for years. Sanders has been trying to get the contract for the derby for five years, but has been unsuccessful. He had applied for the fair commission position for the past five years and was appointed to the board to replace Ted Forkum of Heron the previous week.

Denson's initial proposal a week earlier was $71,000, but his most recent one was for $95,000 prior to negotiations about seating, which took it down to $87,500. "It doesn't make sense for us to do it for anything less than that," Denson told the board at last Wednesday's special meeting. Breanna Denson, Tim's wife, said the hike was based on the increased car competitor numbers and the reduced time frame to put on the show this year, but she said it's a proposal that could be negotiated.

Denson had nearly 80 cars at last year's demo derby, but Levi Falck, Denison's head judge, said they're hoping to have over 100 this year. FOS Promotions has put on the derby for the last four years, but Denson has competed in demolition derbies for 24 years. He grew up in Thompson Falls, graduating in 2003, and now lives in Three Forks.

He enjoys putting on the Sanders County Fair demolition derby and looks forward to doing it again. "We love it. I've always been passionate about it and happy to see the drivers every year. We're like a family," said the 40-year-old Denson. The most recent contract will be for only one year. Falck, a resident of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, is also a veteran derby driver and has been putting on demo shows in Idaho for 14 years.

In the contract, Denson is getting 160 free seats for derby drivers and crew. Fair Manager Kristy Sheehan said FOS Promotions is also getting nearly 500 seats in the west bleacher section at a discounted price, which took $7,500 off of the original proposal amount of $95,000. "They can sell the 489 seats at $25 each, so they are able to make a total of $12,225, which is $4,890 over the original proposal amount of $95,000," said Sheehan.

The contract also stipulated that drivers can't work on their vehicles after midnight Saturday night due to the noise. In addition, Denson agreed to provide his own fire extinguishers and have his crew clean up the arena of debris during daylight hours after the derby.

Burke said she found a lot of metal and other debris on the day after the derby last year and is concerned that a horse or rider would be injured by a piece of derby vehicle in the arena.

Denson plans to get a high powered magnet that would be attached to a tractor that would improve the likelihood of finding car parts below the dirt surface.

With the increased cost of putting on the derby, Crain asked if the board will be increasing the derby ticket prices, but Woods, the commission chairman, said the board has yet to discuss ticket prices for this year. Sheehan was against raising the ticket price.

Denson and Sanders were the only two to bid on running the derby. Sanders withdrew his proposal when he was notified that the Sanders County commissioners selected him to be on the fair board. Denson withdrew his proposal when he got word Sanders was on the board. Days later, he changed his mind and put in his revised bid last Wednesday. Commissioner Dan Rowan suggested having the county attorney look over the contract. Commissioner Johnny Holland also attended the special meeting.

Sanders was not pleased that the board approved the contract with Denson. "I think the county people need to know how much the fair board is causing the fair to lose by approving that contract for the derby," said Sanders, a veteran derby driver of more than 40 years. Sanders said that Denson knew the fair board was in a tight spot in getting someone to run this year's derby. The Thompson Falls resident said he'd like to see the fair run the event themselves and hire a crew to set it up and tear it down. Woods said he liked that Denson and his crew would be doing everything and the board didn't have to do anything but sell tickets. Woods said the demolition derby is the most popular event and the biggest moneymaker of the fair.

"For him to run the derby, the fair is losing a lot of money," said Sanders, referring to FOS Promotions. "Last year's profit after it was all done was $52,000, and this year's profit is estimated at around $21,000," said Sanders. "I don't believe the fair board is looking at the best interest of the county money. You can't do it when you're giving county money away like this. It's not good business sense," he added.