Naiman fifth in fair's media demolition derby

Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News correspondent Joe Naiman took fifth place in the San Diego County Fair's media demolition derby June 30.

Naiman drove a Buick Park Avenue; although he did not know the year, the odometer reading of 159,293 miles narrowed the year to after General Motors added the hundreds of thousands digit to odometers but before the conversion to digital odometers.

The demolition derby was the sixth for Naiman, but the first in which he had his own helmet. Earlier this year he purchased a helmet from a neighbor who sought to sell it at a discount before she moved to Oregon. Naiman only tested the helmet for how it fit when he acquired it and did not know how to adjust the face shield.

"I need to figure out how to keep the visor from fogging up so I can see what I should and shouldn't be hitting," he said.

Demolition derby rules prohibit hitting the driver's side door. Naiman was able to see front and back ends and hit several of those as well as passenger sides when he was able to determine that he was not pursuing the driver's side. Naiman acknowledged hitting one driver's side door when he hit the left front fender and the other car's movement brought the Buick's rear into the driver's side, but since that was neither intentional nor head-on there was no violation of the rules.

Naiman himself was hit in the driver's side door. "I don't fault the driver," he said. "I know it wasn't intentional."

Naiman knew he had been hit on the driver's side door but was unaware how much of an impact it made until after the demolition derby was completed.

"I didn't even realize how hard the driver's side door was hit until I got out of the car and looked at it," he said.

Other than slight soreness in his neck that night and the following morning, Naiman was unhurt from the demolition derby. The car fared worse, and Naiman had a visual warning of imminent failure. "Once my car started steaming, I had a feeling my competition was coming to an end," he said.

"Shortly afterward the car would start but wouldn't move," Naiman said. "It's still more enjoyable to watch the rest of the demolition derby from a car in the arena than from the stands."

Although plaques were only given to the final three finishers, Naiman received a ribbon when he returned to the fair July 3.

The Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour at the fair is the only Farrell's remaining in San Diego County. Naiman said he tries to eat at Farrell's at least once during each year's fair. The chalkboard menu indicated that Farrell's had the Pig's Trough, a banana split with six scoops of ice cream, and Naiman decided to make that a late lunch. When he finished the Pig's Trough he received a ribbon which said, "I made a pig of myself at Farrell's".