Columbia Falls driver hopes to ace demo derby

Chris Cheff has a straightforward explanation about his love of demolition derbies: “It’s not every day you can beat the hell out of another car.”

Cheff, of Columbia Falls, spent most of last week getting his 1976 Buick ready for tonight’s demolition derby at the Northwest Montana Fair. Luckily, it was his week off from his fracking job in the North Dakota oil fields because getting a car ready is, frankly, a lot of work.

After a steel-pipe cage is built inside the gutted-out car, the doors have to be welded shut, the windshields are removed and there are all sorts of other reinforcements that come with readying a car to be batted around by other cars.

“All the chrome, the headlights, taillights come out,” Cheff said. “A lot of work goes into a car.”

Cheff, 26, and his good friend Les Keller were born into the sport of demolition derbies. They both will be driving ’76 Buicks in tonight’s derby.

“We’ve been helping our dads since 1997. We grew up in the business. I don’t know any better,” Cheff said with a smile.

Cheff’s father, Scott Cheff, retired from derby participation in 2007, while Keller’s father, Lonnie Keller, “will run one more” show. So for all practical purposes, Cheff said, the torch has been passed to his generation.

Older cars do best in the competitions because they simply have more steel in their frames.

“They’re starting to get hard to find,” Cheff said about the vintage models.

Crashes among the derby cars are what thrill spectators. But there’s strategy in a winning vehicle that begins with the way it’s built.

“We spend a lot of time on the front of the car, to protect it,” Cheff said. “It’s spending time in the areas that need it. It’s building it right and driving it smart.”

Cheff won his very first demolition derby in 2003 at the Sanders County Fair in Plains, where one of the area’s biggest derbies is an annual attraction over Labor Day weekend. He hasn’t been able to duplicate that beginner’s luck, but has come in second and third some years.

“At this fair I haven’t done so good,” he said. “Last year I burned up my tranny.”

Cheff plans to compete at both the Kalispell and Plains derbies and may get over to Bozeman for that event. His girlfriend, Amy Beye, will drive for the first time in the “powder puff” division at the Plains derby. The Kalispell event doesn’t have a division for women’s competition.

“I’ll drive a full weld,” Beye said. “They’re a little tougher than the chain-and-bangs.”

Beye has been around long enough to talk the talk when it comes to derbies. Chain-and-bang cars have the doors and bumpers secured with chains, making them more vulnerable to crash damage.

“It’s a waste of a car,” Cheff said of chain-and-bangs.

Practicing for a demolition derby isn’t really practical, he said, though he and Keller get their cars out and drive them around a bit beforehand.

It’s tricky but not at all unusual to get more than one derby out of a car.

Cheff pointed to Les Keller’s 1972 Chrysler that survived four crash contests. Cheff and Keller work on their cars at Keller’s garage, where an expansive side yard doubles as an auto wrecking yard. Tires, radiators and lots of spare parts are interspersed among scrap vehicles and other models ready and waiting for future derby action.

Cheff’s standing derby number is 146, while Keller’s is 147.

In addition to winning the prize money that accompany the shows, there’s an added bonus for Cheff: “It’s great anger management.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.