The Altamont Enterprise - Thursday, August 22,2002
20
Hell Drivers: The last of a 'dying breed'
By William Marley Leight
ALTAMONT — Lights may
shine soon on East Berne businesses. Last Wednesday was the
end of an era at the Altamont
Fair. The crowds that packed the
stands for decades to see stunt
drivers had thinned.
A skeletal announcer in scarlet
pants and a white dinner jacket
answered a heckler. He touted
the age of "Pat Paul from
Montreal, a 75-year-old stuntdriver" and challenged anyone
to do better.
The stunt driver's wife, who
lost her hand years ago during a
show; now drives a pink monster
truck she's named "The OneArmed Bandit."
The Imperial Hell Drivers performed in Altamont for the last
time. When they roll into New
Hampshire on Sept. 17, it will be
their finale.
After a half century of driving,
they will retire, leaving only one
other old-time stunt driving
team in the country.
What was once a thriving industry, with regular circuits and
37 stunt teams with names like
Death Dodgers, is limping
around the track one last time.
Cars and courtship
Early Wednesday afternoon,
humidity strangles the aisles of
the Altamont Fair, driving fair' goers to shade; Toby Thibodeau
surveys the dirt track.
"It needs work," she says,
squinting beneath her Imperial
Hell Drivers' visor.
The track is uneven and filled
with ruts. The keen eye of a precision driver knows when flaws
could affect the performance.
She is pleased with the 2002
P.T. Cruisers used for the stunts.
The retro look of the shiny cars
is reminiscent of the golden age
of auto shows. "We were afraid
they might be top heavy," she
says. "The P.T. Cruisers are
handling well."
"And they're roomy," she
added with a smile. Her husband
is a big man as well as a legendary driver.
Paul Riddell has driven in
stunt shows for half a century.
The Enterprise — William Marley Leight
Blaze of glory: Mike Merryweather rides on the hood of a car as it drives through a flaming wooden barricade at the Altamont Fair on
Wednesday..
conditioned Winnebago, occasionally opening a sliding window and surveying the activity
outside. Mike Merryweather,
who drives and sets himself on
fire, prepares cars in the infield
— breaking out windshields
from junk cars and raising
hoods.
"All equipment has to be gone
over," Thibodeau says. Last
night the Hell Drivers van broke
down on the highway. "Mikey
was covered in grease from
head to toe," she said.
The track at the Altamont Fair,
once used for harness racing, is
familiar to Thibodeau, who met
cision driving and she became a
motorcycle stunt driver. "I always drove motorcycles . . . I
was always Evel Knevel," she
says.
Her career came to an abrupt
end when she lost her left hand
and forearm in a pyrotechnic
accident during a show at the
Melfort Fair, in Saskatchewan.
Thibodeau's recovery in the
hospital was brief. "Eight days
later, I checked myself out," she
says. The Hell Drivers had
moved on to the next show and
she was eager to rejoin them. "I
called up my husband and flew
in," she says. "I did a show the
Thibodeau teaches driving
techniques to the Hell Drivers'
new members. "Some people
have to have a knack," she says.
Drivers aren't recruited. "They
usually find us . . . If they're really into it, they ask," she says.
The skills come in handy in
everyday life, Thibodeau says.
"On the highway, you need a lot
of that," she says. "We avoid a lot
of accidents."
She makes sure the drivers excite the audience. "We drive the
hardest and do really exciting
things," she said. Acts range
from driving a car on two
wheels to driving off ramps. The
"We did five show's a day
during Klondike Days," she says
of a run in Alaska. The indoor
track there was slick so the
drivers spilled Coca-Cola on the
floor to make it sticky, she says.
Like all performers, they feed
off a crowd's response. A
crowd's hostility leaves them deflated.
"The only place we've been
heckled is in New York," says
Riddell. Memories of a particularly hostile crowd at a track in
Riverhead, Long Island have
died hard.
Thibodeau is a woman of few
words.
She
remembers
'The best one is the old guy.'
The Enterprise — William Marley Leight
Guts: Paul Riddell stands next to his P.T. Cruiser after the Hell Drivers' Wednesday performance. He
is retiring after 50 years on the stunt show circuit.
Since the 1950's, he has led the
Imperial Hell Drivers through a
tour of 31 countries and 42
states. Riddell started his career
with the Joie Chitwood Show,
popular in Altamont as elsewhere.
On Wednesday afternoon,
Riddell, who doesn't give his
age, sits inside the couple's air-
Riddell 20 years ago whileJ
driving a starting gate at a similar fair in Windsor, Maine.
When they were dating, hee
drafted her into the show. "HeJ
Said 'My announcer's in thee
hospital; he had a neart attack,'""
says Thibodeau. "I became thes
announcer."
Riddell introduced her to pre-!-
next day." Without pain medication, she adds.
She had to give up riding and
doing stunts on her motorcycle
because of her missing hand. "It
was too hard . . . Without a hand,
I can't shift," she says. Prosthetic
clamps didn't allow the tension
and quick release necessary for
precision driving.
lead motorcycle driver, Ken Riverhead with a shrug of the
Mackow, holds several jumping shoulders and a shake of the
records.
head. "I couldn't believe it," she
Besides driving, Merry- says.
weather becomes a human
Her children have enjoyed the
torch. For one stunt, he rides on pleasures of a childhood on the
the hood of a car as it drives fair circuit.
through a burning wooden
On Tuesday, their 12-year-old
barrier. His clothes catch on fire daughter, Ashley, just back from
and he runs across-the track in riding an elephant on the midflames.
way, sits in a folding chair next
"I do pretty much everything," to the camper, enjoying the fair
he says.
atmosphere.
Derrick, their 15-year-old son,
The crowd dissolves
"Paul's getting at the age and Ashley have both learned to
where he's getting old enough to drive. "He drives really great
retire," says Thibodeau. Soaring right now," Thibodeau says of
insurance costs have made it her son.
The family spends four-and-adifficult to keep the show runhalf months on the road before
ning, she says.
"We're kind of a dying breed," • returning home '..bo Canada.
Domestic life on the road can be
says Thibodeau.
The couple has enjoyed tour- difficult.
Thibodeau is looking for the
ing with their children. "My kids
are great," Thibodeau says. The nearest Sears to maker her
Hell Drivers performed 45 to 85 credit-card payment. When she
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shows a year.