Derby Girls Create the Manic Mobile!
Last week, Derby Girl "Val Capone" told us about
how she came up with her nickname. In today's "Derby Diary", the
Manic Attacker tells us about the creation of the team car, the
Manic Mobile!:
To the Manic Mobile! by Val CaponeA random Saturday of team bonding at "Maul Holla's" house led us to the discussion of an old car that barely made it out to the suburbs for rink time. The car in question was the perfect shade of navy blue matching the sleeves of the Manic Attackers shirts sold as league merchandise.
"If only it had yellow lightning bolts along side of it," said Amy Nonamey.
With that, the Manics within earshot -- Bork Bork Bork, Maul Holla and I -- had a moment of devious clarity. There would be a Manic Mobile in our near future.
In this gallery
A select few teammates were enlisted in the most special of arts and crafts projects, after deciding we’d surprise the majority of our team, and most certainly the league, with our masterpiece. Di Richmond was most certainly the Martha Stewart of derby, so she was a must to be a part of Team Manic Mobile, in addition to Nonamey, Maul, Bork and myself. We planned on making our painting party dream come true the Saturday prior to our team dinner before the February 21st bout against the Double Crossers. No one, of course was allowed to know outside Team Manic Mobile.
Arrival at Maul’s house was a bit of giddy in anticipation of our painting party, all of us wondering if it was just a random pipe dream or could we make it work. With Di at the helm, the stencils were cut. Side panels and roof of the car would sport lightning bolts three to four feet in length and a foot or two in width. In addition, Di fashioned the most perfect "M" for the hood of the car. The legs of it would be made out of lightning bolts, of course. 
Amy and Bork supervised the placement of the stencils and held up lighting to make it easier on us as the sun went down, as it was far too cold to have the garage wide open. Maul supplied the car and prepped a pizza for us inside. Me? I put growing up in Chicago to good use and did the actual spray painting of the yellow onto the blue. In addition to the sides and roof, we added flashes of yellow to the side mirrors, the hubcaps, the trunk and even the gas tank flap! The glove box and the steering wheel also had fallen victim to my aim.
Throughout the day we had several visitors from other teams drop in because they'd heard rumors of some secret project. Jackie Daniels, Mel Content and Tori Adore of The Fury, as well as the All-Stars' own Hoosier Mama were all in agreement: only the Manic Attackers would spray paint one of their cars as a makeshift mascot. They even assisted with detailing and reminding us to take breaks from the cold. Our new Manic Mobile was unveiled at the team dinner the following week, with no other Roller any the wiser but each and every Manic thoroughly impressed and surprised by our secret project. 
Flash forward to Sunday night, February 21st, post-bout, Manic locker room. All of the Manics were quite a bit bummed at the outcome of the evening. It had been our first loss as a team for a while, losing by 21 points to the Double Crossers. Almost out of nowhere the mood switched from disappointment to delight as someone, I believe it was Amy, shouted “let’s get to the Bottom Lounge and WIN that afterparty!” It was a small consolation prize for leaving our venue at 1-1 in the standings, but the ride there was worth it. Maul, Bork, Amy and I piled into our pet project and CRANKED the music as we drove to what we saw as a sure victory. With every stop light we decided to pop her in park and have a Manic fire drill. Numerous cars honking at us in support, as though their cars themselves were smiling at the newest Manic Attacker: our car. Once we arrived at the Bottom Lounge the bouncers allowed us to park the Manic Mobile right out front, in the loading zone, proclaiming that they wouldn’t dare tow it, it was far too impressive.
A select few teammates were enlisted in the most special of arts and crafts projects, after deciding we’d surprise the majority of our team, and most certainly the league, with our masterpiece. Di Richmond was most certainly the Martha Stewart of derby, so she was a must to be a part of Team Manic Mobile, in addition to Nonamey, Maul, Bork and myself. We planned on making our painting party dream come true the Saturday prior to our team dinner before the February 21st bout against the Double Crossers. No one, of course was allowed to know outside Team Manic Mobile.
After almost six years as a
Windy City Roller, I can honestly say the look on my league- and team-mate's faces was priceless that night. People were in awe, and a bit confused, when they saw us driving from UIC Pavillion to the afterparty that night. It's definitely one of the memories I'll tell others about when the question why I would do this 100% for free.
Oh, and the Manics most certainly went home winners that night, even if the final score of the bout didn't reflect that.
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