Woman continues derby tradition at fair

By D.A. Wilkinson

The popular demolition derby always ends the fair.

LISBON — Chester Rotroff died this spring, but the “Cavalcade of Thrills Demolition Derby” will go on.

Columbiana County Fair Board member Don Humphrey said this week that Rotroff, of Russell, Ky., had been at the fair every year since 1959, except in 2007, when he was too ill to attend. He died in May.

Humphrey said the board noted his passing, since Wednesday and Sunday nights at the fair always belonged to the crash crowd.

Now, the crowd-pleaser is run by a woman.

Yvona Stahl, a friend and business partner of Rotroff’s, is continuing the tradition. She said she’s been with the show since 1973.

Stahl said the show, well before her time, began as “The All Girl Thrill Show.” The show had all female drivers performing stunt driving.

“They would do a couple of shows a night,” Stahl said. “It was the only all-girl thrill show ever in existence. He was an innovator.”

Rotroff also did shows with Ford cars. “When the Mustang came out in 1965, he did the first Mustang show,” Stahl said.

The show had eight new cars, wide-track tires, and, of course, all girl drivers. They worked throughout nine Midwest states.

It was, she said, good family entertainment.

The thrill show ended at the end of 1973 when the United States had its first taste of high gas prices or no gas at all.

But while drivers were dumping huge autos, watching clunker cars ram each other took off.

Rotroff then created the “Cavalcade of Thrills Demolition Derby.”

Stahl said demo derbies are found in “the better fairs,” especially New York, Pennsylvania, and, of course, Ohio.

Before the show Wednesday, Stahl was at the fairgrounds to prepare.

Stahl oversees events from the announcing booth above the track. Below, the referees work on the track.

Stahl said that if a car konks out after a hit, the refs will determine whether it was restarted in the allowed time. Or, the refs will decide whether damage to a car exceeds safety limits.

Stahl said the refs are also “another set of eyes” that can see things on the track that can’t be seen from the booth. The refs are in constant radio contact during the derbies.

And the show will go on.

Stahl said of her late partner: “He should be recognized.”

wilkinson@vindy.com