Police and fire chiefs smash RVs at OC Fair to raise money for children’s hospital

Burnt rubber and a haze of dirt filled the Action Sports Arena in Costa Mesa as six customized motorhomes collided. Behind the wheels were police and fire chiefs from across Orange County, strapped in to raise money for the local children’s hospital.

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The promoter, Sunnyside Promotions Racing, has staged motorsports at the OC Fair for 25 years. Its Motorhome Derby began with civilian drivers in 2009 before the company collaborated with Southside Towing owner Dave Padua in 2014 to build RVs and invite local police and fire chiefs to smash into each other for bragging rights.

Participating on the popular event’s first night Wednesday, Aug. 5, were Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, Cypress Police Chief Mark Lauderback, Costa Mesa Police Chief Joyce LaPointe, Orange Fire Chief Alan Velasco, Brea Fire Chief Dan Mielke and Newport Beach Fire Chief Jeff Boyles.

For the second year in a row, Boyles helmed the last vehicle still moving. He drove an RV custom-wrapped with a colorful Wahoo’s-themed design, featuring three surfers riding a wave and a pelican wearing sunglasses.

Departments customize their rigs with elaborate paint jobs, marking their entrance to the crowd with K9 units, helicopters, sirens and other special touches.

LaPointe, who came in second, said she signed up for the demolition derby because of her long history with CHOC, now Rady Children’s Hospital after a recent merger.

Early in her career, LaPointe responded to calls at the hospital and was struck by the dedicated medical staff, she said. She and her team later visited pediatric patients and handed out police-themed teddy bears to critically ill children.

When she learned the derby supported the hospital, she was “all fired up,” LaPointe said. She added, “For me, this is all about raising money for CHOC. It’s all about the families and the medical staff there. I’m just trying to do my part.”

A mannequin dressed in a firefighter uniform sat on the left side of her van — LaPointe said her fire chief retired last year, and she wanted him there in spirit.

Sheriff Don Barnes said this was his third year strapping into an RV for the demolition derby. Barnes customized his motorhome through a partnership with the Orange County School of the Arts, contributing $5,000 and event tickets so students could paint an American-themed eagle design commemorating the country’s 250th anniversary on the vehicle.

“There’s so many variables. Will this start? Will it run? How long will it run? And if all those things line up, I just want to put on a good show for the spectators,” said Barnes.

The event raised roughly $53,000 so far, with checks still coming in, according to Padua, who helped organize the competition and donated the vehicles alongside Aliso Viejo Towing.

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“They’re all custom-painted, smashing into each other, backing into each other. And you just see these little kids jumping up and down,” said Padua, who added it was his son, then 6 years old, who gave him the idea.

From its inception, the competition has been framed as a fundraiser, with early editions supporting the Police 999 Foundation and the National Firefighters Burn Institute before all proceeds were directed to the children’s hospital. The schedule has grown to two Motorhome Derby nights, each preceded by a Figure-8 race starring local police officers, firefighters and city council members.

San Clemente Councilmember Steve Knoblock’s car Wednesday night, a 1989 Lexus, was a regular on the Newport Beach Police Department’s firing range before it was fixed up and painted for the event — though the bullet holes stayed.

“It looked like a dog, but we had it painted,” he said. “They dialed up the holes with the paint job to make it look dramatic.”

On the roof, as a nod to San Clemente holding the LA 2028 Olympic surfing competition at nearby Lower Trestles, the car had a foam board and surfer mannequin on top.

The only in and out of the vehicle was through the driver’s side window — a bit unnerving, he said.

“I’m told it’s relatively safe in terms of possibilities for injuries,” Knoblock said. “It’s a figure eight so you don’t have a lot of open space to crank it up. It’s mostly banging people and pushing them off the track. When you get into the center, that’s when there can be some nasty impacts.”

Other participants in the race this week included Newport Beach councilmembers Noah Blom, Joe Stapleton and Sara J. Weber, Lake Forest Councilmember Scott Voigts and Laguna Hills Councilmember and Orange County Fire Authority Board Chair Joshua Sweeney.

“When someone came to us asking, ‘Hey, do you want to do a charity event?’ we always say yes,” said Blom. “If you ask if we want to do a charity event and smash cars together, then the answer is emphatically yes over and over again, especially when it benefits children.”

The next Motorhome Derby event will be Aug. 12, with Laguna Beach Police Chief Jeff Calvert and Fire Chief Niko King, Fountain Valley Police Chief Craig Heredia, Anaheim Police Chief Manuel “Manny” Cid, Fire Chief Pat Russell, and Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra set to drive.

But the fair’s motorsports spree doesn’t end with the chiefs. On Aug. 8 is Damsels of Destruction, on Aug. 9 and 15 is Orange Crush, a Minivan Crash-Up Derby is set for Aug. 13, followed by a car smash-up that puts police officers behind the wheel of junkyard-bound cruisers on Aug. 16.

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Staff Writer Erika Ritchie contributed to this report.