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Aaron Haring competes in a demolition derby in an undated photo. (Courtesy Eric Brown)

Courtesy Eric Brown

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Aaron Haring competes in a demolition derby in an undated photo. (Courtesy Eric Brown)

Courtesy Eric Brown

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With big crowds, expensive purses and fast driving, Utah is considered a premier destination for demolition derbies.

Just ask the drivers brave enough to compete here.

“These are hard-hitting derbies up here, man,” said Southern California-based demolition derby driver Aaron Haring, who earlier this year won the Red Rock Rampage derby in Hurricane. “If you can derby in Utah, you could derby anywhere.

“Some of the derbies on the East Coast, those guys run out of gas, and that’s how they lose. Nobody’s going to run out of gas over here, trust me. Everybody’s car is going to be destroyed before it gets to that point.” 

The demolition derby will take center stage in Spanish Fork at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Utah County Fair, in what derby promoter and founder of Full Contact Racing Eric Brown said will be the state’s largest derby and one of the three biggest in the country this year.

According to Brown, there will be approximately 140 drivers coming from as far away as California to New York and even Canada. He said more than $200,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded over the course of the weekend.

“This will be the largest derby we’ve ever put on,” Brown said.

That sets the stage for a massive logistical ordeal akin to a large stock car race.

Drivers don’t arrive at the derby by themselves in a beat-up sedan. Instead, Brown said most drivers have professional teams, with some pulling up in giant enclosed trailers carrying cars and spare parts.

Haring said crews plan for everything, bringing extra sets of tires, wheels, torches and welders. He said teams with additional resources will also bring extra transmissions and rear ends. 

Haring’s motor, made by Chris Schrade, is designed to run “long and hot” and continue running even without a radiator or cooling system. 

At a two-day event, such as this weekend, the goal is to get through Friday’s qualifying with minimal damage. But oftentimes drivers won’t advance with their cars unscathed. 

“They’re going to run on Friday, and then Saturday morning at 7 a.m. they can start working on their cars,” Brown said. “You’ll see engines pulled out, frames straightened, basically cars rebuilt from the ground up in about eight hours.”

Added Haring: “Every promoter has different rules, so you have to stay within those rules, and you have to be able to pass tech. So it kind of comes down to bending it straight and reinforcing it when and where you’re allowed to.”

Brown said making space for everyone’s cars and trailers will make for a busy fairgrounds. He said organizers are still trying to figure out how they’re going to fit everything.

“We’re getting our giant plungers out, and we’re just going to keep shoving till everybody’s in,” he said. “We’re looking at options of expanding out into their grass fields, just some different options. But obviously, it’s the first year for something this big there, and we’re just looking forward to seeing what happens.”

There will be a variety of competitions including the iron trucks, which Brown described as 700-horsepower full-frame trucks. Limited-weld cars, a powderpuff competition, mini cars and racing lawnmowers will also compete. 

It will be a large-scale event for what Brown said has grown into the biggest professional motorsport in the state in the absence of NASCAR. That culture has been celebrated in the Discovery Channel show “Kings of Crash,” and is reflected in the large crowds that pack derbies across the state, he said. 

“Everybody goes to NASCAR to watch the crashes, not the racing,” he said. “Why not skip the boring racing part and just go straight to the crashing?”