GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Shawn Raddatz had a simple game plan on Thursday, April 10: push the gas pedal to the floor and hit as many cars as possible with his rear bumper.

Although the Middleburg employee at Black Creek Tractor and Equipment had never competed in a demolition derby before, he said his father drove in them. His father left him with words of wisdom, which proved significant in an otherwise chaotic environment of smoke, sparks, fire and collision in the inaugural Demolition Derby at the Clay County Agricultural Fair.

There was seating for 1,000 fans, and those seats sold out quickly. However, with an overflow of spectators, Fair Executive Director Tasha Hyder called for 80 extra seats to be carted from the warehouse to meet the demands.

The fair association hired Demo Dave Family Motorsports to run the demolition derby.

“Usually a first one, you usually get somewhere around 300 to 600 (people) for a small county fair like that,” said Demo Dave owner Dave Berrer. “The Clay County turnout was amazing. Everyone had a great time. The drivers, you could not smack the smile off their faces.

"I do this around the country. That was very much a success there. People loved it. The drivers loved it. Everybody loves to see destruction, and they certainly got to see that.”

Hyder was pleased with the results.

“We tried for three years to make this happen,” she said. “We knew it fits our demographics. It was a big success. We will tweak it for next year – more seating and a bigger show. Everybody we heard from had a great time.”

None more than the 14 drivers who left a heaping pile of twisted, hissing and smoldering cars in a 60-foot-by-40-foot arena.

“I’m still shaking,” Raddatz said. “That was the biggest adrenaline rush of my life. That was so much fun. I can’t wait to do it again.”

Hyder said the demolition derby will return next year, so drivers can start looking for front-wheel-drive junkers now.

While extra seats were needed, everyone was on their feet once the main event started. Drivers immediately piled into one another. Most were competing in a demolition derby for the first time, and the action was nonstop and at full speed. One car got airborne midway into the event, and Clay County Fire Rescue ordered a red-flag period to extinguish fires in two cars.

“The engine started smoking really bad, and it stopped going,” said Green Cove Springs’ Rich Goacher. “I looked down and saw that my battery cable was on fire. Then I saw under the hood, and the engine was on fire. I had an extinguisher in the car, so I started to put it out, and the fire started coming through the floorboard. The fire guys got there, and they finished putting it out.

“Still, it was the most fun I’ve ever had. I will do it again if the opportunity presents itself. All the beating and banging and the fire – it was a blast. It was better than I ever could have expected.”

Goacher had one of the final four cars running before his chances went up in smoke.

Thirteen of the 14 cars had to be carried out by a tractor and a forklift like a pile of junk. Goacher laughed when his charred, fire-retardant-covered car fell off the lift and crashed one more time on the hardened clay.

After the delay, Raddatz and Henry Balcer drove the only cars still running. Three minutes later, Balcer’s car rattled to a stop.

In the end, Raddatz’s car was the only one still running.

“I think I can still drive it back on to the trailer,” he said. “I never stopped once they said to go. I floored it, and I tried to hit everybody I could with the back of my car so I could save my engine.”

Raddatz won $300 but admitted it wasn’t about the money.

“It was about the thrill,” he said. “I would have paid $300 for this.”