The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 1, 1998 - 11A ' The Grind Mark Snyder Sectade ofdemolition erb excftes al ki'zd& ere's nothing like the crunch of chrome on chrome. The spinning of the wheels, the spitting of the dirt, the crashing of the cars - oh, I can remem- ber the scene like it was yesterday. fter all, who forgets a car accident? On a spectacular day in late August, my relatively pristine ride and I traveled from Ann Arbor, and its haughty air of sparkling automobiles, to Monroe County, Mich., ir the county fair. : As one might expect, the lineup to enter the fairgrounds stretched as far as the eye Gould see. The quasi-parking lot lay rows deep with pickup trucks, sedans and sport- $tility vehicles, but mostly it was swarming with ordinary people. For a young child, a fair of this magnitude, with rides, games and animals, is like an offensive lineman at Old Country Buffet. There are just too many options. ut my sheltered suburban existence drew me away from the tilt-a-whirl, cotton nd blue ribbons for the fattest pig. My ears dragged me to the roar of the gines and the cranking of carbeurators. I was going to watch a demolition derby. Entering the event, I was determined to keep an open mind. Sports are sports and, after all, aren't events like this keeping the hallowed Silverdome on life support? The track itself was nothing special. A large expanse of dirt sat awaiting its next moment of glory. But the grandstands surrounding the event were enormous. Thousands packed the wooden benches, shoulder-to-shoulder in anticipation. Not a single witness went home unfulfilled. The goal of the event? To bust up everyone else's car until yours is the only one running, regardless of its condition. Talk about road rage ... this was encouraged fury. And the fans loved it. Whe derby began with the monster car introduction. "Welcome to the Monroe County Fair for this evening's demolition derby!" bel- lowed'the announcer from his rinkside perch. The crowd roared its approval. One by one, the first heat of damaged, refurbished, generally old-and-shitty quasi-automobiles lined up side-by-side facing the covered gtandstand. And as the engines fired on the 1.5 cylinders that remained after they had been stripped of nearly all'dignity, another thunderous roar emanated from the masses. But because this was a family event, safety became an issue. So the fair organizers established some rules - purportedly for the drivers' safe- ty, but more for the fans' reassurance. The rules were: 1.Make sure your doors are welded shut. .Get out of the car when it catches fire. Now tell me that's not a conflict of interest. .But, judging from the clientele, personal safety was secondary to the little copper trophy awarded to the winner. The image of a new spitoon was enough to motivate niany of the drivers. Once the game began it was war. Backward, forward, sideways, it didn't matter. Cars crunched, fans ooohed and aahed and pieces of bodies (car bodies, not people bodies) launched in all directions. Each car that fell casualty to a dead engine or an inability to move - like it was stif or the cinderblocks at home - was stripped of its white flag and eliminated fron the competition. is continued through seven or eight heats, before the top two finishers from ca h.outing advanced to the championship round. As I strode around the grandstand, the comments varied from excitement to cau- tion to anticipation. One distinguished gentleman, after eating a faceful of mud from a spinning wheel, began screaming eloquently back at the now-immobile cars. "Dammit! I gots sprayed!" The devastated cars, whose owners used the Dukes of Hazzard method to exit their vehicles, received the royal treatment. Bulldozers entered the track from one end zone, picked up three cars at a time and promptly deposited them into the world's largest trash compactor. You think Superman had it rough in Superman II? These cars got squashed like jaws of life in reverse. It was chrome sandwiches for all. The sad part of all this is the time and effort each driver displayed. While it may not take extreme effort to crash into other cars - I have friends who could teach thse drivers a thing or two - painstaking preparation occurred in the design phase. Each car - before it was squashed like the New York Mets' playoff hopes - was See SNYDER, Page 12A mot Freshmen get chance i. k tto shine at Western By Nick Feizn For the Daffy Michigan men's tennis coach Brian Eisner feels very confident about this year's squad. Eisner recruited a promising crop of freshman players, including a steal from Florida in Danny McCain. As a high school senior, McCain was too old to participate in the Florida 18-and-under division. Left with no alternative, he competed in the men's division, where he finished ranked second in the state. Ben Cox and Henry Beam, both of whom hail from Michigan, also had impressive results in their junior league showings. The other two freshmen, Jeronie Barnes and Chris Schultz, are competing hard to make the team. This weekend, McCain, Cox and Beam will compete at Western Michigan, where they will battle players from Michigan State and Depaul. This tournament, however, will not count in the team's record, because fewer than four players are competing. Eisner- plans to use the tournament to help the freshmen "jumpstart" the season. Eisner said this young and enthusias- tic team has great potential. The team lost some of the firepower it had last year, in captain and No. I singles play- er David Paradzik, but the Wolverines still have a strong nucleus of upper- classmen to guide the younger players. "The team's goals are to finish ranked in the top 25 nationally and to make the NCAA tournament," Eisner said. This season's tournament will field 64 teams, rather than 16 as it has in years past. Eisner said a solid start is vital in order to reach these goals. To attain success this season, the Wolverines must dispose of this year's strongest Big Ten teams - Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota. The toughest nonconference matches are against Notre Dame, Boise State, Louisville, Virginia and Virginia Tech. LgUIdsRdsWN/.aily The Michigan men's tennis team sends four freshmen to Kalamazoo. G offers to host invite with 10 Big Ten teams By David Alfred Daily Sports Writer There is no place like home for the Michigan women's golf team, which is playing its first and only home match this upcoming weekend. This Saturday and Sunday, the Wolverines will host the annual Wolverine Invitational at the Michigan golf course. In just the third match of this early sea- son, the team is already looking to make a turnaround. Last weekend in West Lafayette, at the Lady Northern Intercollegiate, the Wolverines placed 10th in a 14-team field. Senior captain Sharon Park was the ladies' top finisher in the competition, tying for 31st, with a final score of 247. "We need strong performances from our upperclassmen," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "Our experienced golfers will need to really step it up, adding a sense of strong leadership" There is still a lot of choosing to be done. Currently, the women are in a mid- week qualification process. In the days leading up to the invitational, each golfer competes against all others for the right to participate as one of six starters in this weekend's match. Surprisingly enough, it is the newcom- ers who are stealing the spotlight. Finishing close behind Park were freshman Bess Bowers and Misia Lemanski. Bowers finished in a tie for 35th, with a three-round score of 249. While Lemanski finished one shot shy of Bowers and tied for 40th, it was another freshman standout, Stephanie Bezilla, who shot a final score of 268, tying her for 69th place. "Our putting is gradually improving as we progress in the season," Teichert said. "The entire team is improving on their course management skills. Exactly where to place the ball is a very essential skill to possess as a golfer." Michigan State, which won last week- end's Lady Northern Intercollegiate, is expected to attend, as are 10 of I1 Big Ten teams. The Spartans dominated the Wolverines, defeating them by a total of 56 shots. Fortunately for Michigan, Indiana, last weekend's second-place fin- isher, will not be competing at the Wolverine Invitational. The Wolverines are beginning to foresee this weekend as a possible grudge match. The Wolverine are very optimistic about their chances for this weekend. "I feel that our team can have a major impact on the outcome of the invitation- al,' Teichert said. "Obviously we would like to win, but I would like for each member to seize any opportunity for improvement". This year's invitational begins with two rounds of golf on Saturday. The tour- nament will conclude with a final round Sunday, with tee times for both days scheduled at 9 a.m. Last year the par 73, 5,960-yard course seemed to help the Wolverines, who fin- ished 6th overall. T ": olp " hh J I 6 "mh.AhsetdUh am"Otbawm.a mIemx 0513 Mkb* nim 530 SoatmSu ~tis Ann Abw. Mkb~n 48100.1349 734 464 4311 tel 734 764 1 '"9 fh '*t Start thinking now about STUDYABROCAD! +Experience a freign culture, learn another language +Earn in-rtsidence credit and lose no time towards the completion of your degree +Apply your financial aid and OIP scholarships to U-M programs The University ofMichigan sponsors programs in Eu- rope, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America and the Caribbean for the academic year, semesterand summer. Come to the OIP's annualStudyAbroadFair on Thursday, October 1, from 4 to 6p.m. in the Michigan Union Ballroom, or stop by the office to find out about study abroad options through the University ofMichigan. --4 v,. I? le 14 -- .... .. mmmmmmmmm",- 4, w ......ff...:..-.... a 4T T' 4T 4T D T. T4' LIVE ON STAGE in SHOW and CONCERT 4' 4' 4' 4' .... 't... }.. ;'F2 ..:.. '.h'v. T a"RSRis:2'dY?.±1p 3"t:^A A$Sii;i4