TRUMBULL COUNTY FAIR Gear up for motocross and monster engines

Pounding hooves and churning wheels offer thrills at the fair in Bazetta.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BAZETTA -- Forget about sweet songs of love in a gentle country twang.
For 2003, it is all about monster engines, flying mud and the sweet smell of exhaust.
On Tuesday, the gates open on the most revved-up Trumbull County Fair ever from the looks of the entertainment lineup.
"This appears to be a motor-sports area," said fair board president Richard Roscoe, himself a motor-sports guy.
The racing starts Tuesday evening, even before the fair's opening ceremonies.
School buses -- decommissioned by their districts and unloaded, of course -- will race in four heats in front of the grandstand.
They are a little slow, but it is not just for show. The first-place driver in the final race takes home $1,000.
A powder-puff race follows, allowing the wives of drivers to show their stuff.
Traffic continues throughout the week. Following recent fair tradition, there are two demolition derbies -- Wednesday and Sunday -- and a tractor pull Saturday.
On Friday, American Motorcycle Association motocross racing returns for the second year.
"It was very successful," Roscoe said. "We had a line of kids at the event and the grandstand was packed."
The exception to prove that motor sports rule is Friday, with Bull-A-Rama -- a rodeo event, with all the dirt, squeals and excitement of a motor sport, but without the heavy metal.
An outside group has been hired to run the rodeo, which includes roping and riding.
The event is sanctioned by the organization that gives points to riders trying to work their way up the professional rodeo circuit, Roscoe said.
No headlining music act
Pushed out of the way by all the snorting vehicles, animals and riders is the headline musical act, traditionally appearing Friday night.
Roscoe said poor turnout for those acts in recent years convinced the fair board to try something else.
The lackluster turnout for the country group Emerson Drive last year had fair board members wondering if it could even be time for the fair to turn pop.