Demolition derby fans like to see the big hits and there were plenty of them on Saturday night at the Tooele County Fair Demolition Derby.

Trevor Daniels, a newcomer to the demolition derby scene, earned the championship trophy when his No. 13 car was still running while the other 10 finalists were battered into submission.

Daniels received $2,700 for his efforts with Zack Mikesell finishing second earning $1,700 and Joey Sandoval third earning $1,000.

Zeb Hansen driving his No. 2 station wagon grabbed a lot of cash for his aggressive driving. He earned $2,000 when he was voted most aggressive driver for the entire derby. He earned another $200 for the most aggressive driver in heat 2 and another $100 for finishing in the top two in Heat 2 of the demoltion derby.

“I like the rush and think it is a lot of fun,” Hansen said. “My family has been doing this forever. I built most of the car and my dad helped me tune it up for the derby. You need a lot of luck to win and the main thing you need is a good running car.”

Recent rule changes to the derby have evened out the competition according to some drivers. “With the new rules the cars are a little weaker, but it evens out the competition,” Hansen said.

A lot more welding was allowed on the cars in previous years. Derby organizer Rob Bender said the new rules have helped, but there still needs to be some tweaking.

“We’ll make some slight changes for the 2009 derby and post those on the Tooele County Fair website. We have a seven-member committee that will meet next Tuesday and then we’ll meet with the county commissioners and review the rules,” Bender said. He said they may allow a bit more welding on the doors.

“It was a good derby. It was one of the hardest hitting derbies we’ve had in a long time,” he added.

The bleechers were jammed to capacity for the event and it was standing room only. “If we could get more seating we could fill it. Of course about 15 percent of the people like to just walk around and socialize,” he said.

The night started when 11 skydivers jumped out high above the arena. Two jumpers landed just east of the motorized arena and the other nine landed over on the horse race track to the north.

A total of 27 cars were entered in either the figure 8 races or the demolition derby.

In the first heat the No. 85 car driven by Travis Nielson rammed hard into a charging Zach Mikesell and the two vehicles were locked together for most of the heat. In the second heat the action turned up a degree and cars were being tipped on their sides. One gas tank was punctured and fuel was gushing up in the arena. In the fourth heat there was not a lot of loved lost between Joey and Mario Sandoval as they engaged in a fierce battle. The Sandovals ended up the top two in the heat and Joey Sandoval was awarded most aggressive driver for the fourth heat.

Steven Henwood’s car won best paint job while Chad Mecham’s vehicle was awarded most outrageous paint job. Travis Nielson and Mikesell were the final two in heat 1 and earned $100 each while Nielson also earned most aggressive driver.

In heat 2 Hansen and Daniels were the two finalists earning $100 each with Hansen earning most aggressive.

In heat 3 Chris Desmond and Kansas Garrard were the two finalists and earned $100 each with Cody Nielson earning most aggressive.

In heat 4 it was Joey and Mario Sandoval earning $100 each with Joey most aggressive.

Winning the final Figure 8 race was Robbie Perry ($500) followed by John Mikesell ($300) and Roy Bakker ($200).

Tawny Dewsnup and Chad Mecham were the final two standing in the grudge match and each was awarded $50. Cheri Stewart won the powder puff and was good enough for $60.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com