The Polk County Fair: Home of Nebraska’s greatest (demolition derby) hits

Reflecting on his years as a competitor, Cory Schlesinger homed in on age 15. Years before he’d win a national championship with the Huskers and play fullback in the NFL, Schlesinger came to a realization: “I’m starting to do a lot more damage and taking guys out.”

Schlesinger wasn’t talking about his gridiron days, though. His athletic prowess was shining through in a different Nebraska pastime: demolition derby. 

Throughout his later teen years, Schlesinger drove in many of the hundreds of derbies held each summer at county fairs throughout Nebraska. In places like Platte County, where Schlesinger grew up, derbies are as much a tradition as livestock judging and amusement rides.

In fact, Schlesinger picked up his love of fender-on-fender blows from his father, Gary, whom Cory calls the king of demolition derby drivers. 

“He was such a hard hitter in the demo arena,” said Schlesinger, who now lives outside of Detroit since retiring in 2006 from a 12-year NFL career as a fullback with the Lions. “I remember a few times when, man, he did the most damage to guys’ cars with one hit.”

Nebraska’s gearhead capital

With red, white and blue bunting banners still draped on the porches of homes in Osceola from the previous weekend’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday, the demolition derby season unofficially unfurled at the Polk County Fair in the gearhead capital of Nebraska.

The derby has been an annual tradition here since 1971, but it’s not just demolition enthusiasts. The county is home to Garrett Davidson, a tractor puller who built his 3,000-horsepowered rig two miles east of Osceola; Todd McMeekin, an Osceola motorcycle enthusiast who purchased a motorcycle previously owned by Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia Brady on “The Brady Bunch”; and several other reputable racers like Dylan Smith, who drove open-wheelers on oval tracks around the region.

“I’d be hard-pressed to find another county with as many gearheads as us,” Davidson said from the grandstand area just after the conclusion of the Polk County derby. 

Almost 40 four-wheeled scrap-metal vehicles entered this year’s derby.

In the packed grandstands on a Saturday night, while watching the new blood compete on the oval dirt surface, fan Lorren Coffin still remembers Gary Schlesinger. He was the equivalent, Coffin said, of NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt: the most successful driver that everyone loved to hate.

“I remember Gary pulling up to the grandstand every time, get out of the car, get up his hood pointing his fingers both ways and goes, ‘It’s showtime,’” recalled Coffin, who grew up in Osceola and now lives in York. “Of course everybody booed him. The louder you booed, the harder he’d hit.”

Gary Schlesinger, now 76, said he competed in 289 derbies and earned a lot more money than his previous motorsports stints driving on the nearby oval track and drag strip. When he wasn’t smashing into hunks of scrap metal, Schlesinger owned and operated a garbage collection business. 

In demolition derbies, before the used-up pile of heavy metal was shipped off to the nearby salvage yard, Schlesinger developed a strategy.

The format then was to run in a heat and a feature, so Schlesinger’s plan was to win the $25 for capturing the heat while saving his car for the bigger cash amount later on.

“When you get down to about the last four cars, now it’s showtime. It’s time to put ’em out,” he said.

Schlesinger won the Polk County derby three years in a row, then was temporarily barred from competing – his winning habits weren’t welcomed, he said. But he returned after a two-year absence and proceeded to win the next two derbies.

Despite his reputation as a derby antihero, Coffin appreciated seeing Schlesinger on the track.

“It was the other drivers that probably didn’t like him as much,” said Coffin. “But Gary was fun to watch.”   

An empire strikes back

Even before the heats started at the most recent Polk County Fair, Stacy Kopecky called it a dream-come-true type of day. It marked the first time three of the Garland woman’s sons would be competing in a single demolition derby. The youngest of the trio, 16-year old Kysen, made his derby debut in a “brand new” 1998 Chevrolet Lumina. 

The brothers were entered in the Bone Stock Compact class, one of three classes in the evening’s program operated by Wreckless Promotions of Kearney. The other two were Pure Stock and Limited Weld. 

Karter, 21, is the oldest of the three Kopeckys and the self-appointed derby team captain because he’s “the one that got everyone into this.” He said about $4,500 was invested in Kysen’s Lumina. Roughly $15,000 has been invested in all three cars combined.

The Limited Weld class is more expensive. It’s not unfathomable for derby teams to spend about $25,000 on a car in that class.

Insider’s tip if you own a station wagon on his last legs: Sell it to a derby driver.

“They’re hard to find and, when you do find them, people want a bunch of money for them,” Karter Kopecky said. The going rate is said to be around $10,000. 

The Kopecky enterprise goes beyond the smash hits on the dirt. They’re hoping that enough hits on their YouTube channel amount to profitability. Everyone on their team wore merchandise, such as T-shirts, which were available for sale.

All three Kopeckys cashed in that night. Karter won his feature. Kysen and Keaton, 17, placed second and third, respectively, in their feature.

Stacy, the team matriarch, was relieved once all three got through without any injuries. “My heart is still beating too fast,” she said in the pit area shortly after they finished competing.” The guy next to me was literally like, ‘Your hands are shaking.’”

She hoped that Kysen, the youngest, would say he didn’t want to do it anymore, but didn’t get that impression. “I wish they’d play golf,” she added.

On the other side of the cost spectrum, Noah Tworek of Clarks said he spent just $56 — entirely for paint — on his derby car and used scrap iron from his shop to re-enforce safety areas like the driver’s door. 

Tworek wanted to know if he’d still feel the rush that helped draw him to the sport in the first place. He competed in his first derby at the Polk County fair in 2017 and decided to make his 2026 debut at the same venue. 

He was one of the earliest arrivals at the fairgrounds this year, showing up in his 2007 Chevy Impala with 260,000 miles on the odometer. His dad used the car before he became its owner. 

Though it turned out to be a short night, Tworek said afterward, “It’s more fun than I remembered.”

He planned to repair the damage and hopes to have it ready for the derby at the Seward County Fair this Sunday, July 26.

Generational talent

The Schlesingers are far from the only Nebraska family to pass a passion for demolition derbies down through the generations.

Travis Boden, of Osceola, gazed at all the cars in the Polk County fair pit area and counted out loud the number of fathers, including himself, who used to run in derbies and are now assisting their sons.

Boden, 55, participated in the Polk County derby as recently as last year, but plans changed this year.

“My wife wanted to redo our kitchen instead,” Boden said.

So, instead, he put all his effort behind his son Carter, whose Limited Weld car was on the verge of entering a derby arena for a third time, but with the appearance by the dents of having several more derby shows on its record.

Jason Nuttelman, a dairy farmer, spent two years preparing the Limited Weld car for his son, Devin, that made its debut at the Polk County Fair. 

But Dad still dabbles in derbies from time to time and remembers the feeling from his first one.

“You have some adrenaline and (feel) like you’re going to pee before you’re ready to go,” said the elder Nuttelman.

“But once that first hit takes place, it’s down to business,” he added.

The feeling that derby drivers are intent on avoiding: fear. That’s what Cory Schlesinger carried from his demo derby days onto the field at Memorial Stadium.

“You’ve got to be fearless,” he said. “Go out there and do it.”