SIBLEY, Iowa | Mike Van Westen drove from home to his job at a dairy farm each day this summer. He kept one eye on the road and one eye scanning farmsteads and groves for cars that, apparently, had been idled for some time.
"I was driving by a place near Sibley and finally just pulled in and asked if I could talk to a guy about a car," Van Westen says.
The fellow at the farmstead asked, "What car?"
"I said, 'That car that's sitting out in the grove,'" Van Westen replied.
The two examined the old car. Van Westen offered a price that was a bit north of what the owner would get from a salvage yard.
"I try to give salvage price plus a little bit," he says. "That saves the owner the cost of having the car hauled away."
The two men agreed on a price. Both were satisfied as the farmer got rid of an old clunker. Van Westen got the chance to breathe new life into the old car. It's in his garage now, getting parts and metal plates, destined for new life (and maybe a short life) as the No. 14 car for Mike Van Westen, demolition derby driver.
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Van Westen, 44, toils as a dairy farm mechanic by day. By weekend, he's a demo derby driver, focusing on ramming, twisting, turning and colliding his way to titles and high finishes in derbies that play out on dirt tracks from places like the Osceola County Fair, the Nobles County Fair, the Pipestone County Fair and the Woodbury County Fair.
"I raced go-carts years ago, but then it got too costly," Van Westen says. "I got into demolition derby and have really enjoyed it."
Van Westen prefers to use a Lincoln Town Car or a Ford Crown Victoria for his derby entries. Those cars are common, which helps when he's in search of something like the front suspension. Those cars are also heavy and solid and can take a punch, so to speak.
"They're heavy cars that can hold up to the older iron that's out there," he says.
Van Westen often spends up to $2,000 on this hobby, much of it in materials to make his car safer. He put metal plates inside the doors to help fortify the area. He's invested in a fire-retardant suit and gloves he dons before each race. The last thing to go on: His helmet, a must in this line of play.
Van Westen praises demolition derby officials who are serious about examining each car before the race. Fuel tanks are mounted in the back seat and must be bolted down. The battery must be bolted in place as well, another safeguard for drivers.
"I remember when you could buy a car on a Saturday morning, hammer out the windows and put chains or cables on the door and you'd have a demolition derby car in four hours," Van Westen says. "It's not that easy these days and that's a good thing. Safety is a huge concern."
It takes time to wrench on a car, propping it up to pass the eye-test from seven to eight track officials who climb all over a vehicle before allowing it into a demo derby.
Those extra levels of security have kept Van Westen coming back. He never has been sidelined by injury. The worst he's suffered? A sore leg from a collision on the driver's side door.
Van Westen has won the demo derby at the Osceola County fair twice. He's finished second and third a number of times.
The 26-year derby veteran has made the hobby a family affair. Wife Jodi Van Westen often takes daughter Shaylee Van Westen, 15, and son, Phillip Van Westen, 8, on the road ahead of Mike when they head to a county fair.
"I'll load up the car and head to a fair with a friend, while Jodi and the kids go ahead and enjoy a day at the fair," he says. "We've always got vehicles full. Everyone enjoys it."
