DEMOLITION DERBY CAR TO HONOR SPECIAL OLYMPIAN (7 PHOTOS) (2019-08-05)
BY TIM TAYLOR Valley Sports Report OWEGO - Jared's Olympic Journey has traveled many a mile to locations like Seattle, Washington and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It's been an exciting trek for Special Olympian Jared Lamb, but that ride is about to get a little bit rough.
That's OK, however, because Jared's Olympic Journey is heading to the demolition derby at the 53rd Annual Tioga County Fair. Tioga Central High School senior Trevor Shedden is paying tribute to his longtime friend and classmate by dedicating one of his three derby cars to Lamb. He's even decorated it in honor of Jared's Olympic Journey and painted "Team Jared" on it.
Shedden wanted "to represent Jared and let him know there's more support out there than he thinks he has.
"I've known Jared forever," Shedden added. "He lives right over the hill."
The idea for the Team Jared car came to Shedden several months ago, about the same time he began preparing for the derby.
"We probably had four or five months left in school," Shedden said.
Lamb has seen the car and Shedden said he was impressed.
"He thought it was awesome," Shedden said. "He was excited."
"Jared is excited to watch Trevor," Lamb's mother, Julie, said. "It's pretty special what he did for Jared."
Prepping this car and two others for the demo derby has been a major undertaking for Shedden. He would spend about four or five hours per day after school working on the cars and 11 or 12 hours on the weekends.
"I've been up here every week for months, just working on it every day after school and weekends," he said.
There is a lot involved in preparing a car for the derby and much of the work put into the vehicle can't be seen by the fans sitting in the audience. Much of the prep work has to be done to make the vehicle safe and keep it running through multiple hits by opposing drivers.
"You have to move your battery," Shedden said. "My battery is in front of the passenger side seat on the floor and my gas tank is behind both the seats up off the floor. All the doors are welded completely shut. I had to take all the windows out. All the wiring in the car, I had to take out and move. All the wires under the hood are all moved.
"I stripped the whole thing out. I actually learned how to stick load on this car, because I had to weld in the whole cage and the bumper and all that. There's a lot of welding in it."
The Team Jared car, a Mercury Sable, will run in the Modified division Friday night at 7 p.m. Shedden is also competing with an other car in the Stock division and will also have a car competing in Modified Wednesday.
This will be Shedden's second time competing in the county fair derby. Last year, he took first place in the Modified 4- and 6-cylinder division. However, repeating as champion is not his number one priority.
"I'd like to win, but I'm not really looking forward to winning," Shedden said. "I just want to make a lot of hard hits and be seen."
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IN PHOTO 1: Jared Lamb (L) and Trevor Shedden with the Team Jared car. PHOTOS 1-5 COURTESY OF JULIE LAMB. PHOTOS 6-7 BY TIM TAYLOR
